My mother used to say, “Phyllis, settle down and smell the roses.” I was very busy. I went to church on Sundays, I was the president of the Methodist Youth Fellowship, I was a cheerleader, and for fourteen years I played classical piano. Growing up in Denton was a very normal, family-oriented childhood. We had dinner together every night at the dinner table. My grandmother George made quilts. I remember the old quilting frame when I would go over to Grandma’s house in Denton. I thought, “Oh, this is weird.” She would have those big bags of remnants and scraps of material from everybody’s clothes, and she would turn them into a beautiful quilt. She would give me quilts, and I kept them. They weren’t quite like the ones I collect now, but they mean just as much to me. Of course, when I was young, I thought, “I wish Grandmother would give me money. Another quilt? Awww.”
Phyllis George was born in Denton in 1949 and attended North Texas State University. A former Miss America, she was the first woman sportscaster on network television. She is a co-host of the new Pax Net TV show Woman’s Day, which debuted in August, and the author of Living With Quilts (GT Publishing), which hit bookstores in October.
