By Sherri Coner
A blue ribbon, a blue champion reserve ribbon and a ribbon for winning reserve grand champion overall put a smile on Sharon Baker’s face.
Every inch of her masterpiece, beautifully displayed at Scott Hall during fair week, is hand quilted and pieced, Baker said.
Though she never kept track of actual hours she worked on it, Baker said that nearly a year was committed to the creation of this quilt and all the other quilts she has made.
“I grew up with quilting,” this longtime Franklin resident said. “My great-grandmother also quilted.”
When Baker grew up and married Jack, her husband of nearly 58 years, they started a family and the busy years of raising children didn’t allow time to sit down with a quilting project.
But then the children grew up and started families of their own.
When Baker’s first grandchild was born 30 years ago, her passion for quilting led her directly to swatches of fabric and needles.
“Quilting is my thing,” she said. “But I wanted my grandchild to have the spirit of old.”
Baker was so serious about that goal that she also joined a quilting club.
“I’m well blessed,” said this mother of two, grandmother of six and great-grandmother of 13. “They all have quilts, believe me.”
