Passion project
By Kirsten Ballard
Published in News on December 8, 2014 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
Peggy Parks places the quilt she recently finished that was started by her mother, Dolly Parks, 40 years ago on the bed in her mother's room, where she will keep it in her memory.
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News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
Peggy proudly holds her second place ribbon from the Wayne County Regional Agricultural Fair.
Her shelves are full of salt and pepper shakers and lighthouses.
Every surface has a knickknack, a picture or a figurine.
Peggy Parks is a collector.
"Some call it junk," she says.
But to her, each one carries with it a memory.
And each has a story.
"They just mean a lot," she says.
After 44 years of work, she has something new to add to her collection -- a shiny red ribbon from the county fair on a quilt her mother started.
For Peggy, it wasn't about winning a prize.
It was about a daughter's love for the woman who adopted her.
"It didn't matter if I didn't place," she said. "It was the memories of the quilt and what it meant to me -- and sharing that with people."
Peggy was born in a barn and left on the steps of a hospital on Valentine's Day.
She was adopted by Dolly Parks, the only mother she ever knew or needed.
"Mama was a seamstress. She could sew or make anything," she said.
Dolly taught her how to embroider, smock and cross stitch.
It was Dolly who bought the pattern for the state bird quilt. She painstakingly stamped 50 birds onto squares for her daughter to hand embroider.
"It took me years and years. It was one of those things you didn't have to have, so you'd put it back and let it stay and you'd get it back out and put it back," Peggy said.
In 1970, Dolly passed away, leaving her daughter and an unfinished quilt.
"One day, I said, 'I have to finish it,'" Peggy said.
And in January, she finally did.
With help from her friend Irma Moore, Peggy labored over the quilt.
"We went to school together. We married around the same time. She had three boys. I had three girls. We've always been good friends," Peggy said.
So she knew she was leaving her quilt in good hands.
"She's real good at the sewing machine," Peggy said.
Irma kept the quilt and stitched the front together and pinned it.
When it was returned, Peggy got to finally quilt all the layers together.
And then, 44 years after Dolly's death, the quilt was done.
The finished product is going to rest in her back bedroom -- the final piece of her mother's 100-year-old bedroom collection.
"I felt good, I really did," Peggy said.