Collector Showing A Lifetime of Quilts.

Jo Duff has saved a lifetime of quilts. "My earliest memories," she says, "Are of Sunday mornings and my grandmother starting breakfast while I lay on a small bed next to the front window barely able to turn over under the weight of those warm handmade quilts." When she grew up and moved out of her parents' house, quilts came with her, and they kept coming for Christmas and special events.

Now she is sharing her collection of quilts in an exhibit at the Cape River Heritage Museum, 538 Independence, as part of the Quilt Tour, on Saturday, September 24, and Sunday, September 25, from 9 am to 4 pm. The Oliver House in Jackson, the Glenn House in Cape Girardeau, and the Museum are cooperating to make the Quilt Tour an exciting and meaningful event. Tickets are on sale for $5 for each location. A "super ticket" for $10 includes admission to all three quilt shows. Tickets can be purchased at each of the museums and at all Bank of Missouri locations in Cape Girardeau and Jackson.

Jo Duff is a realtor and a board member of the Cape River Heritage Museum. She grew up in the small mining town of Elvins, Missouri, where she learned to appreciate the love and skill that went into making each of the quilts that she has cherished over the years.