- Artist Gail Thomas of Canada created this quilt of Cynthia Ann Parker and her son The Great Chief Quannah Parker.
A skill used in early Texas history was quilting. Quilting to a lot of people, brings up an image of a bed cover, blanket, some type of utilitarian object used to keep warm or throw on the ground for a picnic. Today’s quilts are artistic expressions. Instead of oils or watercolor, the artist uses fabric as their medium. The results are sometimes used on beds, but you will find more and more displayed on walls, like you would a prized painting.
Mason County has several outstanding, highly skilled quilters and fiber artists. The first week in November…just a few weeks ago…the 37th Annual International Quilt Festival was held in Houston, Texas. It’s the largest quilt show, sale and quilt making academy in the world.
For a week, people from around the world descend on Houston — the nation’s oil capital (and my hometown) — with only one thing on their minds: quilting. The numbers are truly staggering: sixty-thousand attendees, one thousand booths where vendors display everything from books to sewing machines. According to the show’s organizers, quilters in the United States alone spend more than three and a half billion dollars on quilting every year. That’s more than hunters spend on hunting or golfers spend on golfing.
As I wandered the floor of the George R. Brown Convention Center, I am always amazed by the quilts. My vocabulary shrinks down to…”oh my, wow, unbelievable, will you look at this?” They weren’t just beautiful to look at, they showed tremendous artistry. The experience was very much like walking through an art gallery.
The quilts were displayed in categories with a write up on each quilt. I looked at one quilt with a beautiful Indian woman and child on it and then looked down at the write up. Someone Found was the name of the quilt, and it was an original design created by Gail Thomas of Vernon, BC, Canada. Then I read the description: In 1836 in Texas, Cynthia Ann Parker, age 9, was kidnapped, adopted, renamed Nadauh (which means Someone Found), and spent 24 years with the Comanche Indians. The Comanche consider children their most precious gift. Her son, Quannah Parker, is called the Great Chief of the Comanche. This quilt expresses the contrast and blending of two traditional cultures. It was
opening night, and standing beside this quilt was the artist. I asked the artist, “In your research, did you find that Cynthia was taken from Mason County?” Yes, she replied. And that is when my friend, Judith and I proudly showed her our name badges that reflected that we lived in Mason, Texas. Gail was delighted that we knew the story about Cynthia Ann. We have invited her to Mason, so she can learn more about our rich, intriguing history. And she has agreed to come. While she is here, I want to introduce her to the other Mason County quilters, especially the eleven of us who attend the Houston Quilt Show.