Curling up with a good book and a homemade quilt can be the essence of comfort—especially if that book comes from a neighbor via a Little Free Library.
Snuggle Time
The 2017 Quilting in America Survey estimates as many as 8.3 million households in the U.S. include a quilter—part of a $3.7 billion industry. How’s that for a hobby that provides great comfort during and after the activity!
No wonder, then, that there is a National Quilting Day, March 16 this year. Two weeks after that, the Georgetown Quilt Show takes place on the downtown square. The show, March 29–30, is a fundraiser for Handcrafts Unlimited, a retail store and nonprofit where senior artisans market their crafts.
Chris Miller, co-chair of the show, says visitors can vote on their favorite quilts in multiple categories. The show includes vendors, a silent auction, scissor sharpening and a raffle.
“I have made quite a few quilts but nothing close to what many of the master quilters create,” says Miller, a member of Pedernales Electric Cooperative. Call (512) 658-6973 or visit handcraftsunlimited.com for more information.
Little Free Library, a neighborhood book exchange, turns 10 years old this year.
Roger Siljander | Dreamstime.com
By the Numbers: 1,500
There are roughly 1,500 registered Little Free libraries in communities around Texas.
Little Free Library is an organization that grew from an idea Todd Bol had when he built a 2-foot replica schoolhouse in 2009, put books in it and placed it in his front yard in Wisconsin with the hopes he would start a neighborhood book exchange.
Since then, 75,000 Little Free Library boxes, in myriad designs, have popped up in all 50 states and in 88 countries. Bol, 62, died in October 2018.
Military Zenith
The Medal of Honor, created in 1861, is the highest military honor in the U.S. On March 25, 1863, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton presented the first Medals of Honor to six members of the Andrews’ Raiders for their voluntary participation during a Union hijacking of a Confederate train in an attempt to destroy bridges and railroad tracks.
March 25 is National Medal of Honor Day. There have been 3,522 recipients of the medal.
Mary Edwards Walker, the Army’s first female surgeon, became the only woman to receive the medal, in 1865. It was rescinded in 1917 because she wasn’t a combatant but was restored in 1977.
Willie Johnston, 11, served as a drummer boy during the Civil War and became the youngest to receive the medal, in 1863.
Mark Your Calendar
Texas has 248,800 farms and ranches—more than any other state—covering 130.2 million acres. That’s something to think about March 19, National Ag Day.
