Fall 2026 Club Session

Imagine Dolly Parton’s mom.

She was poor, lived in a one bedroom cabin, in the middle of nowhere in the thick woods of the smokey mountains - there wasn’t neighbors, stores, or nothing. And she was raising 12 kids, feeding them and clothing them with what they could scrape together.

One year, because she knew her 4th kid needed a new coat to keep her warm as she walked to school, she saved up every scratch piece of fabric she could find and creatively sewed together a coat made of many different pieces of fabric for her daughter to wear. (see image above!)

As her mother stitched this coat with love and creativity for her daughter she was simply doing the best she could with what she had. She had no idea that the little coat she was piecing together would become part of something much bigger.

One day, her daughter would write a song about it. That song would play on radios across America. The story would become a children’s book. Decades later, a movie made about it. And now, the coat is saved behind glass at Dolly’s museum in Dollywood for thousands to see and marvel at. Pretty impressive for a bag of fabric scraps.

In Dolly’s book, My Life and Other Unfinished Business, Dolly talks about being teased for wearing that coat. The other children saw a coat made from scraps. Dolly saw what her mother had made especially for her. She knew the love, work and creativity stitched into every piece.

Her mother’s love and effort mattered to one little girl. And that would have been enough.

Ya know, we don’t always get to see what becomes of the things we make, the traditions we start, the meals we cook, the encouragement we give, the homes we tend, or the small acts of service we piece into our ordinary days.

Most of them will never become songs or books or movies. They don’t need to.

Our best efforts with what we have can leave a lasting mark on even one person.

So use what you have. Make something out of the scraps. Don’t worry if the edges are a little wonky.

There might be more meaning stitched into your ordinary efforts than you know.

And that is exactly what we want to do this fall in The Proper Mountain Woman Club.

Stitch yourself to something important.

Put down your phone. Guard a little more of your wholesome leisure time. Make things. Learn things. Take care of yourself. Feed people. Get outside. Serve someone. Read a book. Try something you’ve been putting off. Use what you have and piece together something good.

This fall, our merit badge workbook is divided into 12 categories, and every category has its own limited-edition quilt block patch. Earn merit badges as you go, and when you complete five badges in a category, you’ll earn that quilt block. Collect a few or collect all 12.

By the end of the season, you won’t just have a collection of patches. You’ll have the evidence of a fall you actually lived.

It doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t have to be impressive. Your efforts can be scrappy. Your edges can be wonky. You just have to start stitching together the pieces.

Come join the quilt circle. Pay your club dues, earn some merit badges, do the best with what you have, and piece together something good this fall.

Pay your club dues here.