King George Farmers Market is a fabulous community effort and event. Today I would like to share the story of our beautiful Mason Jar Quilts, a story that embodies this sense of community through and through.
The seed was planted when flower vendor Suzanne Pryor handed me a bag of fabric remnants left from the days of Dr. Pallotti’s Family Health Food Store. Suzanne suggested we make a quilt as a market fund-raiser.
I, in turn, passed the brightly colored blueberry, corn, green pepper and tomato fabrics to Brenda Mitchell, market supporter and member of KG Bees Quilting Club.

Brenda took the fabric and idea to the club and “for the first time that I can remember, we had a unanimous vote on a project!”
The ladies of KG Bees combed through their personal fabric collections and scoured fabric shops around the state for more fruit and vegetable fabrics.
Brenda, who was the chief block-maker for this project, and who pieced the first quilt top, had help from club member Phyllis Sawyers designing and creating the individual blocks. The two women, with their husbands, even made a trip to Pennsylvania’s Amish country — and the best fabric shops in the land.
“We went into Verna’s Fabrics,” says Brenda, “and it was the most gorgeous fabric you ever saw! And the prices were $3-4 a yard, instead of $10-11 we’d pay here at home! I said ‘Phyllis, we really have got to focus!’” Well, focus they did, and only after their stack of fruit and veggie fabrics was paid for and packed in the car did they go back into Verna’s “for fun!”
At a fabric store in Warsaw, a club member lamented that they could not find green bean fabric anywhere. The store owner did an online search for them and they learned that the green bean print had been discontinued in 2007. In the end, it was club member Naomi Gaor who found a piece of green bean fabric in her own collection.
All in all, the KG Bees came up with 45 different fruits and vegetable fabrics for this project. “That’s why we decided to make two quilts in the end. We couldn’t fit all the blocks into one top!” explains Brenda, whose favorite of all the luscious prints is “the purple grapes. It is absolutely beautiful!”
Jan Long, Pat Rogers, Phyllis Flohr and other club members helped with layout and design of both tops and Phyllis Flohr pieced the second top. Tickets for the second quilt will be available after Sept. 4, when we pull the winner of the first quilt. The two quilts look very much the same, but there are no repeats of any fabric except for the borders.
The KG Bees Quilting Club grew out of a quilting class offered by Diane Walters a number of years ago. The club meets every Wednesday from 1:30-3:30 p.m. at the Citizens Center. Membership is free and open to anyone who is interested. “We’re all just learning to quilt, you see,” explains Jan Long, one of the original members of the group.
In 2008, the club made 90 child-sized quilts for the kids in All God’s Children camp, in Richmond, a camp serving children whose mothers are imprisoned. “We thought we’d never make all 90 — but we did! We were pretty proud of ourselves,” Jan said with a smile.
The club has also made pillowcases and quilts to give to the Air Care Medi-Vac team at Shannon Airport, Seniors in the RAAA Meals program and residents of Heritage Hall Nursing Home. “We really are looking for those in need right here in King George County,” says Jan. “Sometimes it is not easy to find homes for our handiwork.”
We of King George Farmers Market are honored and grateful for the opportunity to help find homes for the two spectacular Mason Jar Quilts this season. Thank you to all KG Bees members for the gift of the beautiful quilts and to everyone who has purchased a ticket to help support King George Farmers Market!

YMCA Walking Club
Note the date change and join Elizabeth Clark of the YMCA at 7:30 am on Saturday Aug. 28 at the market for her Walking Club! The workout will be for three miles of interval walking (moderate and fast walking) around the Market and school grounds. There is no charge to walk and all are invited! Please wear good walking shoes and bring your own water bottle.  
As always, I look forward to seeing you at the Market real soon!

DeLaura Padovan
Market Manager