Catherine Holland England

This month's featured quilter is Catherine Holland England.

The earliest memories of her quilting career start under the quilt framethat was lowered from the ceiling. The Holland family met every week toquilt, while she, as a small child, would sit beneath the quilt and playwith the fabric scraps.(Does that sound like heaven - or what?) Catherine explains childhood quilting (QuickTimemovie, 1.3MB)

When she was 13 the family moved from Jonesboro, Ark. to New Orleans."I remember carding the cotton." she told me, and then teasedme about not having to card my own cotton. "They would pick the cottonand they'd bring it in. You had what they'd call 'cards' with pins on them.You'd pull it and pull it and pull it - you'd get the seed out of it - andyou keep pulling it until you get pieces about this long and about yay wide(12" x 4"). That's what you laid in your quilt on the lining.It all had to be quilted within half-an-inch because the cotton would shiftif you didn't quilt it close enough together."

In 1948 Cathy married Bill England and they moved to the Michigan City,In. area. They had three children, losing the oldest one, William, to aheart attack in 1982. She has one daughter, Connie, and a son, George, plusthree grand children and three great-grandchildren.

Cathy and Connie had a shop in Zionsville, In. called "Lazy Acres".Cathy's rustic looking quilts, throws and wall hangings were a hit. Herrecipe: Old, simple patterns like nine patch, log cabin or Ohio star; Homespunfabric; Cotton batting; Stitch-in-the-ditch quilting; Wash it after it'sdone so it will shrink up, giving it that puckered look; And then, if allof that doesn't do it, dunk it in a nice cup of tea (or should I say vat)for that "yellowed" look.

In l995 Cathy's heart needed operating on, and she had to close the shop.While hospitalized, Bill died of cancer.

"Bill liked cotton," she told me. So, she designed an appliquedsquare of a cotton plant. She filled up the rest of the queen size quiltwith warm, brown log cabin squares featuring a golden "hearth".

Her elaborately hand-quilted items hang throughout the house. Some ofthem are her own design, such as the "Gramma's magic basket" wallhanging. I believe her when she said she had a "dickens of a time"getting the right angle on the sewing basket! It is perfect to the pointthat one doesn't even think about it.

An active member of the "Dunes Country Quilters" and the "GourmetQuilters", she helps with all the fund raising, raffling off, charityquilts too.

Even though Cathy is carrying an oxygen tank around with her half ofthe time she is still an avid quilter. "It's relaxing. You can solveall the worlds problems when I'm quilting."

Contact Maribeth Peterka (who authored this page)

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