Local woman still crafting masterpieces, 9 decades into life
Dorothy Rogers has made over 300 quilts in her 91 years. She began quilting as a teenager.
Rogers was raised by her grandmother, who taught her the art of quilt making. It was a time when everyone made quilts to keep their families warm. Many of the early quilts made by Rogers were made with feedsacks.
Rogers began honing her craft in 1989, when health concerns caused her to leave her job at Stanley Furniture Plant. Once she found herself at home, she needed something to fill her time. She always liked to stay busy, so she picked up her needle and thread, and began what would become a beloved pastime and a labor of love for many residents of Graham County.
Over the years, she has made quilts to be raffled off for charities, including the Shriners Hospital, Eastern Star, churches, Appalachian Angels, Broyhill Home and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. She has made and sold quilts for a few people upon request, but most of them are given to family and friends. She has also gifted and had raffle winners, including judges, lawyers and doctors – including our own doctors, Patricia Johnson and Katie Lynch.
She even spent time making quilts for the military. She prides herself on quality work, and there was one time when a quilt didn’t turn out as well as she would have liked, “I took it to the dump.”
The proud mother of five and grandmother of 14 grandchildren, 28 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren, she has given many of her quilts to her family.
“I made him and his roommate Shane Garland quilts for their room,” Rogers recalled about when her son Steve Rogers went to college. “I charged his mama $20.”
That was the first quilt she could remember selling.
Rogers remembers when she and her friends would come together and have Quilting Bees. It was a time of work and fellowship. She remembered it fondly as many of her quilting buddies were gone now, or they are not able to quilt.
At 91, few days pass by without Rogers sitting at her quilting frame doing what she loves. The hardest pattern she can recall making was the Hunter Star. The “Flower Garden” pattern is intricate, but a beautiful quilt when it is finished.
Her favorite patterns would be the “Dogwood Flower” and “Step Around the Mountain.”
She also has a quilt she pieced together when someone had cleaned out an old house and gave her the quilt top. It was a Star Quilt and is well over 100 years old.
She has realized that quilting is a dying art. She has many patterns and a huge stash of fabric with intentions to keep doing what she loves to do, but she expressed concern that there would soon be no one to carry on the art.
“I have made a couple of pattern quilts to leave for someone,” said Rogers. “It’s hard sometimes to figure out how the pieces fit together without a pattern.”
At 91 years old, it takes her about a month to make a quilt, which she still does by hand. In 2024, she has made 14-15.
She spent time in the nursing home this year, where she completed 18-out-of-20 blocks, quilting every moment she felt like it. When she returned home, she made several quilts for some of the caregivers who had taken such good care of her.
“Every quilt is a little bit different,” Rogers admitted. “I make a little difference in every one I make.”
When asked if she had advice for anyone interested in learning to quilt, she said, “If they can use a needle and thread, get a thimble and get started.”
She did suggest starting out easy with one of the pattern-stamped designs – if they were intimidated.