Virginia Murphree (left) pieced the quilt designed and embroidered by Patsy Maxey (right) in a tribute to Elvis Presley, straight from Patsy’s heart.

The Panolian photos by Rita Howell

By Rita Howell

With her own passion for everything Elvis, and with help from her fellow Teasdale Quilters, Patsy Maxey has created a striking quilt that pays homage to the King of Rock and Roll.

Patsy, 71, and a life-long Elvis fan, used bold black borders to frame 30 quilt blocks, each with an embroidered image from Presley’s career. The colorful icons she created using a set of Elvis-themed embroidery templates she purchased for her monogramming machine.

There are recreations of vignettes from his movies (she can’t name a favorite–she’s seen them all), song titles, and in one block, a chapel, a nod to Elvis’ gospel songs. Another space holds an embroidered image of Graceland’s gates, where Patsy experienced her one and only Elvis sighting.

The project took more than a year, with her pal Virginia Murphree actually assembling the quilt and the other Teasdale quilters completing the work by hand-stitching around the details in each block. The quilters meet weekly, and it took them five weeks to finish the quilt.

The one-of-a-kind piece was “a labor of love” and is not for sale, Patsy quickly noted. But it can be viewed at the Teasdale Quilters’ booth at Merea Ministries’ Arts and Crafts Fair October 7 at Batesville First Baptist Church.

The ladies will be selling tickets for another quilt in a fund-raiser so they can continue their on-going assistance to families in their community who are dealing with serious illness.