AUNT DINAH'S QUILTING PARTY

Sung by Carol Phillips of Mineral Virginia in 2017. Carol lives on the same land her "Grand-Dad's-Great-Grand-Dad" settled on a land grant from the mid-1700s. When she was growing up, it was still farmland, but much of it was flooded to create the Lake Anna reservoir and recreation area in the mid-1970s. Carol's home is filled with paintings, photographs, and furniture that tell the story of 300 years of her family history. 

Carol first learned piano from her grandmother, before moving onto guitar and then the autoharp. Of her signature autoharp style she said, "One day in '93, after my dad died, I pulled it out and I started foolin' with it, and then it all came to me, my style of playing." After spending her early years gathered round with family playing music, she now shares her music at festivals and area senior facilities where she's found that "as soon as you start playing, you see the spark come in their eyes."

This Song Quilt is a transcription of how Carol sang Aunt Dinah's Quilting Party, but I did leave out the instrumental interludes. The root color is a sunny orange picked to pay homage to her band Sunny Side. The backing fabric is a blue gingham, a picnic scene.  The Virginia Star block inspired the quilting pattern since Virginia, and her connection to the land, is such an important part of her story.