“There’s an art to everything you do”

“There’s an art to everything you do”. Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park. In the Upper Suwannee River Valley folks continue to make items for decorative and daily use. As local quilter Nancy Morgan says, "There's an art to everything you do." From christening dresses to gourd birdhouses, handmade items reflect the values, beliefs and aesthetics of a community., (captions) , Native people began using gourd birdhouses thousands of years ago. Locals continue the tradition to attract mosquito-eating purple martins., Nancy Morgan often recalls the quilting bees of her youth. "We'd go to a different home each week to sit around the quilting frame and sew. Everybody took a covered dish. Young women came to learn the skills from older quilters. In late afternoon when the work was done, the women would wrap the finished quilt around one of the young girls and tell her she was the next to be married.”, Elizabeth Knight made this christening dress for her granddaughter from a pattern that has been in their family for generations.