Quilting in Memory of the Mountains

By Megan Naylor
Megan is a frequent contributor to The Appalachian Voice publication, and served as Appalachian Voices’ Communications intern during Spring and Fall 2010.

The Floating Lab Collective, a Washington, D.C arts collective, is looking for submissions of quilt patches to honor mountains damaged or lost due to mountaintop removal.

Patches can vary in size and shape but need to have the name of the mountain which they are dedicated to embroidered or written onto the piece.

The aim of this project according to Floating Lab Collective member Lindsay Hawks is for the final product to serve as a mapped representation of people’s individualized relationship with the land that has been affected by strip mining.

After the deadline submissions will be organized and a quilt assembly event will be held July 11th at Wiley’s Last Resort located atop Pine Mountain in Whitesburg, Kentucky.

The event is open to all quilters and will feature local musicians performing songs dedicated to the mountains of Appalachia.

Quilt participants are invited to camp on the property after the event.

More information on the collective can be found at: floatinglabcollective.org.

For details on camping at Wiley’s Last Resort make sure to check out: wileyslastresort.com.