October 1997, 35" wide by 49" high, Private Collection, © 1997 Maria Elkins, All Rights Reserved.
"First December in Ohio" is the quilt that motivated me to start my other website, Lost Quilt Come Home Page (http://lostquilt.com). It was sent to the NQA (National Quilting Association) 30th Annual Quilt Show in Omaha, Nebraska held June 24-27, 1999. This quilt received second place in the Wall Quilt, Mixed Techniques, Machine Quilted category at that show.In June 1999, UPS (United Parcel Service) lost this quilt during the return shipment after the show. It took nearly two full months for UPS to get this quilt from Omaha, Nebraska to Ohio and, according to the tracking information retrieved from the Internet, they included a side trip to Anaheim, California at no extra charge!
During the two month period that the package was lost, UPS was unable to locate this quilt even though, when it finally arrived, the shipping label was completely intact. The shipping box was crushed, heavily taped, and in very bad shape but the quilt survived with absolutely no damage. There was no explanation as to how or why it got lost.
The entire story about this quilt can be read at "What’s the Story Behind This Website?"