SCENIC DRIVE QUILT A SOUTHEAST MISSOURI EFFORT

Most of the towns and sites along the Mississippi River Valley Scenic Drive have donated 14-by-14-inch pieces of themselves to the community event.

Those pieces of fabric, many of them depicting landmarks in the communities, have been joined together into a green- and mauve-colored queen-size quilt.

Called a sampler quilt because varied designs are employed, the quilt will be on display today at Madder Rose Ltd., 31 N. Main St., in downtown Cape Girardeau, and Friday at the Missouri National Guard Association Conference at the Holiday Inn Convention Center.

Friday night, the quilt will be shown at the Civil War re-enactment site near Burfordville. It will be back at Madder Rose Ltd. Saturday, and at the Black Forest Villages Sunday.

The quilt, the major source of income for the drive, will be raffled off after the completion of the event along with a ham, restaurant dinners, pottery, an evening bag, hand-embroidered and crocheted pillowcases and one-of-a-kind pottery.

Trisha Wischmann, who owns a bed and breakfast in Jackson, was in charge or organizing this year's quilt project, the three-year-old scenic drive's second. The city's Chamber of Commerce donated the material.

In most cases, the blocks were created and completed by individuals, and some are hand-embroidered. The final quilting was started by Wischmann's relatives and finished by Methodist, Lutheran and Catholic quilting circles in Jackson.

The whole process started way back in December in each of the communities, and the quilting circles began working in January.

"They came to my house and quilted," Wischmann said. "It was coming along well and then the snows hit."

Patton contributed an original design by Wendy Scarbrough. Brenda Puchbaurer, a quilter who often does demonstrations at Black Forest Villages, provided an appliqued depiction of one of the buildings at the site. Pocahontas' Marjorie Swan sent a traditional quilt pattern called grandmother's fan.

Marylene Elliott, one of the owners of the ranch called Rocky Holler USA, provided a design with a barn, a horse and cart and trees. Marie Exler, the historian at Trail of Tears State Park, fashioned the park's entrance into a block.

Sedgewickville's Lillie Skaggs included its population 138 in her applique.

Wilma Myers, who lives north of Daisy, contributed Biehle's hand-embroidered likeness of St. Maurus Church.

Marquand's Shirley Blecha sent in an applique featuring the town's restored log house.

Cape Girardeau's gift is Marj Suedekum's pieced and appliqued heart augmented by crochet work. Marble Hill's block is a floral design by Rose Ann Thiele.

Grandmother's flower garden, another traditional quilting design, was supplied by Milda Weber of Altenburg.

Pinecrest, the azalea farm owned by the Penzel family north of Millersville, offered a dogwood design by Lorene Walter.

Frohna's grandmother's fan includes a piece of calico and a list of town landmarks. Dorene Grebing designed the piece.

Dean Sides of Burfordville offered a pattern called the antebellum girl.

Vera Wagner created Jackson's appliqued and embroidered design, which includes a list of the town's attractions, including the steam train and the Old McKendree Church.

Wischmann said comparable quilts start at $500 in stores, but of course last year's quilt is the only similar one in existence.