THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 21, 1996 TAG: 9607190221
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 22 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: 92 lines
Chesapeake's Carole L. Thorpe was at the Atlanta games this week.
Her ticket there was a 54-by-70-inch quilt.
While living in Atlanta four years ago, the 51-year-old Thorpe participated in a project called ``America's Welcome to the World.''
America's Welcome collected nearly 400 quilts made by Georgia residents past and present. Two quilts were presented to each of the participating Olympic nations.
The project started four years ago, under the chairmanship of quilting enthusiast Anita Weinraub, who asked Thorpe to create a quilt.
``It was a way for me to be a part of the Olympics,'' said Thorpe. ``It seemed like a nice way to show everybody coming here part of what we're about in this country.''
She started her quilt in Atlanta, worked on it at a retreat in Hilton Head, S.C., and finished the quilt here after moving to Chesapeake when her husband, Paul W. Thorpe Jr., became a manager at Wang Laboratories.
Her quilt was presented to the flag bearer from Seychelles, a republic of about 90 islands east of the African mainland. It is about one-seventh the size of Rhode Island.
Thorpe, a lively woman with dark curls and a quick smile, has never been to Seychelles.
She has a picture of one of the islands.
It looks tropical. The island in the photo is dotted by coconut palms.
Thorpe's quilt is patterned with triangular pines. She said trees seemed like a fitting theme for the quilt.
``Georgia is known for its trees,'' said Thorpe, of the pines, live oaks and hardwoods that cover about two-thirds of the largest state east of the Mississippi.
Thorpe soon learned that the quilt project was a bigger deal than she'd originally anticipated. She thought she would finish the quilt and send it off, end of story.
But the Atlanta Olympic committee had other ideas for the quilters.
The committee was excited about the project. Quilts were displayed in the Georgia capital from Jan. 20 to May 12, and the quilters were invited to a reception there. The media came.
The quilts were documented in their own full-color book.
Then the quilters were invited to the Games.
``The committee thought quilt makers should be part of the ceremonies,'' said Thorpe. Two quilters were allowed at each ceremony during the opening festivities last week, and Thorpe took advantage of the opportunity. She journeyed to Atlanta, where her son still lives, to be a part of the excitement.
It was a perfect way for her to get to see some high-priced pageantry. Especially because, she said, ``I wasn't about to spend $600 on tickets to the opening ceremony.''
Quilting has experienced a boom in recent years. When Thorpe started her first quilt in 1979, there were two quilting magazines out on the stands.
And today?
``Zillions,'' she estimated.
The surge in popularity has benefited Thorpe, who has felt her hobby grow into a passion, then into a profession.
She has become a quilter for hire, and a member of the Tidewater Quilters Guild. She teaches quilting at two local craft stores. She sells her own work and even finishes the work of other quilters.
The home she shares with Paul is dominated by quilts and quilting-related artifacts.
Small quilts hang on the walls like tapestries. Neat piles of folded quilts lay in their living room. Her coffee mugs bear slogans like ``Before I learned to quilt . . . I could cook!'' and ``Quilters don't do buttons.''
``We quilters get a bit crazy,'' said Thorpe.
To help meet the demand for her quilts, she bought a quilting machine, a giant contraption that occupies a hall on her home's second floor. The machine is the size of two tournament pool tables placed end to end. It speeds the quilting process considerably.
There is a sewing room stocked with fabrics and patterns, and with a thread rack against one wall. The rack holds hundreds of thread spools.
There are bookcases, shoulder to shoulder in a hallway, jam-packed with fabrics.
It was in this home that Thorpe finished her tree-patterned masterpiece, a work of art that will soon find a its place on an island off the coast of Africa.
Because of the quilt's special destination, Thorpe did something she normally doesn't do to the hundreds of creations she has quilted.
She gave this one a name.
``Because I left Georgia and worked on it here I called the quilt `Memories of Georgia,' '' the quilter said. ``Hopefully the person who got it will have fond memories of Georgia.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
``Georgia is known for its trees,'' said Carole Thorpe of the pines,
live oaks and hardwoods that cover the state and her quilt. by CNB