Wheat Centennial quilt, Virginia Jean Cox Mitchell

Exhibition Label: "Personal Geometry: Quilts by Yoshiko Jinzenji and Virginia Jean Cox Mitchell," Feb-2014, Susan Earle and Cassandra Mesick This quilt, dating from 1974-1975, is the earliest work by Mitchell displayed in this exhibition; the artist began making quilts in 1963. This quilt celebrates the arrival of “Turkey Red” hard winter wheat in Kansas in 1874. Depicted in the center block of this medallion quilt is the logo from the State Wheat Centennial Committee. Each block has word-based as well as visual symbolism, as with virtually all of Mitchell’s quilts. The borders include recognizable blocks such as Farmer’s Fields, The Disk, and Farm Friendliness. The embroidery includes the wheat-ear stitch, a Jean Mitchell hallmark. Around the perimeter, Mitchell has stitched the name of the friend as well as a the names of her parents, whose memory the quilt honors; the names are stitched by hand in cursive writing, no less, with its hard-to-sew curves.