I’m from the state of Missouri.  The one pronounced Mi-zor-uh.  And there’s a famous dude that came from the same town in which I was born.  So today I’m sending some love to Hannibal!

There is an adorable quilt shop there called the Hickory Stick.  I spend hours there every time I visit my mom.  I blame that shop (and my mom) for my newish obsession with quilting.  On my last trip I saw the most amazing quilt with Mark Twain’s head on it.  And I knew it must be mine.

They used the Mark Twain/Hannibal fabrics, which are way too muted for my loud tastes.  And I’ve been longing for a red, white and blue quilt.  So tuh-duh!  Meet my patriotic friend Mark!

We’ve got your boyhood home there on the bottom, along with a fence, freshly whitewashed.  The swirly star thingies are paddlewheel blocks, and they look like paddlewheels (in case you live under a rock and don’t know what paddlewheels look like.)

By the way, Mark is NOT a printed panel, I machine appliquéd his cute little head on there.  That was some fussy work!  And I scanned his autograph on my cool new Destiny sewing machine and stitched it out with the press of a button.  (Now I’m just bragging.  Sorry.)

I changed Mark’s quote to one that better suits my own badass outlook on life.  Stitched that puppy out on my machine also.  The quote used in the pattern is, “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.”  I seriously considered using my very favorite quote, “Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company.”

When you go to Hannibal, give a shout out to Pat and the wonderful folks at the Hickory Stick Quilt Shop.  And check them out on Facebook.  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hickory-Stick-Quilt-Shop/283780778455063  They have this cool pattern by Susan Marth, it’s called A Tribute to Mark Twain.  And say hi to my mom on the hill.