The Alfred Moore Chapter of the DAR met Saturday, Sept. 9, at the Country Club of North Carolina. Mary Abbott Williams was the featured speaker. She presented a program on "Quilts of the Civil War Era."

Williams became interested in quilting at age five when she would watch the family housekeeper do hand-piecing in the evening when the housework was done.

She was allowed to choose the pieces to be sewn together and declares that from that point she became "hooked" on fabrics and quilting.

She made her first quilt over 35 years ago, all by hand, as a baby gift for her oldest niece.

Since then she has become a "machine piecer" but still enjoys hand quilting and tries to hand quilt one major piece each year. She has also become a machine quilter since there is not enough time to hand quilt everything she wants to make.

Williams has an abiding interest in antique quilts that was kindled by her mother's fine collection of antique quilts. She has added to her base of knowledge by reading widely and taking classes from well-respected quilt experts such as Marianne Fons, Barbara Brackman and Merikay Waldvogel.

She also enjoys any opportunity to view antique quilts in museums or special exhibits.

She is an award-winning quilter and has had quilts accepted for exhibition in New York, Pennsylvania, Indiana and the American Quilters' Society Show in Paducah, Ky., as well as numerous local and regional shows in N.C. She has taught quilting for a number of years and has done programs for quilt guilds and civic groups in three states.

She has also had an article about Civil War quilts and fabrics published in "Sew Many Quilts" magazine.