'Mountain Mist, Historical Quilts'
After she retired a few years ago, Linda Pumphrey wrote an article published in “Love of Quilting” magazine about historical quilts. The article led to a book and the book led her to a fulltime job. Now, Pumphrey works full time for the company that created the quilts she wrote about in her new book, “Mountain Mist, Historical Quilts.”
Pumphrey had worked for Mountain Mist before and had also been on the board of the International Quilt Study Center and Museum at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. She left Mountain Mist to go to another company in the quilting business, then moved to Bella Vista when she retired. But she knew the story of the Mountain Mist quilts.
It started, she explained, in the 1930s. Mountain Mist sold the batting that goes inside of a quilt. Today quilters might purchase batting in a plastic bag, but in the ’30s it came wrapped in paper. At first the paper was printed with an attractive design on the front, but somebody at Mountain Mist had a marketing idea. They started to print quilt patterns on the inside of the paper.
Mountain Mist quilt patterns were based on traditional patterns, but they were a little different. Each one was designed to be made with solid-colored fabric, which kept them from being dated. The company’s sales people would tell department store owners that any customer who bought their batting would also probably buy fabric, thread and needles.
They also produced a book that promoted the art of quilting.
Another feature of the marketing campaign was the quilts that were made from each pattern. Each of the quilts had its own wooden shipping box so it could be sent to the department stores to use in displays, and then return to the company to go out on another marketing mission.
Before Mountain Mist patterns were available, women made quilts from patterns that were passed down through families, Pumphrey said, so quilting patterns tended to be regional. Mountain Mist made the same patterns popular all over the country.
Because the patterns were on the inside of the packaging, no one knew which one they would get. Eventually, Mountain Mist allowed people to order specific patterns through the mail. The story, still told at the company, is that customers ordering patterns were encouraged to pay in coins because the president of Mountain Mist was a coin collector. Every week, he had employees bring him everything they received so he could sort out any valuable coins before the money was deposited.
In 2012 Mountain Mist’s parent company, Sterns & Foster, donated all the quilts and patterns to the museum at University of Nebraska. Several are on display there right now, Pumphrey said.
When Pumphrey started work on the magazine article, she contacted her former employer to make sure they would let her use the copyrighted patterns. They did — and they offered her a job. Now she’s their senior account manager.
While the history of the Mountain Mist quilts is interesting, it’s only a small part of the book, Pumphrey said. She took 14 of the original patterns and updated them. Her 2016 versions are close the original, but not the same. For some, she changed the size of each quilt piece so they’re more like what today’s quilters are used to. She also changed some colors to make them look more contemporary. When she started making the new quilts — with a little help from some friends — she didn’t limit herself to solid colors. Her quilts use fabrics with subtle patterns.
Some of the new patterns are actually wall hangings, she said, because many quilters enjoy hanging their work.
With the book mostly written, the publishers asked Pumphrey for photographs that felt like Appalachia. By then she was already living in the Ozarks and her photographer was living in Arizona, so she brought the photographer to Bella Vista and they used the Artist Retreat Center for their back drop. The effect is attractive and looks a little like Appalachia. Lake Avalon is in one of the photos.
Not yet ready to retire again, she is working on another book and more quilting projects.