Bernice Oliver combined her love of quilting with her late husband's affinity for beekeeping to produce a new addition to her garage.
Oliver recently had a green and yellow barn quilt featuring a honey bee affixed to the structure behind her home on West Seventh Street.
She recalls seeing these pieces before, but got an idea for one of her own while visiting Hatton Hall with her sister.
"I thought it was interesting, but I said, "I don't have a barn to put it on,'" Oliver said. "Then I got to thinking that I could put that on my garage because it's the same deal."
Not wanting to order the piece and then put it up illegally, Oliver wanted to get confirmation from city hall that the quilt could be posted. After receiving the go-ahead, Oliver placed an order for the quilt at Sunrise Sign Co., consulted on the design and had the pattern put up last week.
The bee is a tribute to her late husband, Craig, who was an avid beekeeper. The quilt pattern itself is an homage to Oliver's passion for quilt making, something she's done since she was 9 years old.
Bernice and Craig moved into the house in 1968, though the property had been in her husband's family since 1919. Craig Oliver worked full time as a mail clerk before taking up beekeeping as a hobby.
His wife would accompany him on many of these excursions.
"I'm not crazy about the bees, but he enjoyed them," Oliver said. "...He had bees over in Illinois and we'd take the ferry across to take care of them and he wanted me to go with him in case he got stung real bad.
"I'd take a book or needlework or something and go off somewhere under a peach tree or an apple tree. Every time I went, I got stung."
Craig Oliver eventually turned the practice into almost a full-time undertaking after his retirement and up until his death almost five years ago. Though Bernice wasn't wild about bees or many of the stings she racked up on these adventures, she found some enjoyment by incorporating bees into many of her quilt designs.
She still has the first quilt she ever put together, the beginning of a hobby she passed down to her daughters, Pam and Marilyn. Both girls eventually opened their own quilt shops.
"It's just in our family; we've always been quilters," Bernice said.
Josh Mosley can be reached at (573) 826-2423, or by email at [email protected].