Besides quilting, canning in the old time way is another passion of Doris Hicks.

Doris Hicks, 82, of N. Belmont is not only a cancer survivor, she's a quilter and canner extraordinaire who loves to share her covering and culinary creations with others.
Hicks learned the crafts of quilting and canning as a young girl growing up on the family farm in the Cleveland County community of Mooresboro.
"I would sit and watch my mother make quilts from little squares of cloth," Hicks said. "The quilts weren't decorations, they were practical and kept us warm."
Her mother also taught Hicks how to can food.
"We always had a garden and put fruit and vegetables in jars," she said.
By and by Hicks married and moved to McAdenville in 1950. She worked at Pharr Yarns for several decades as a winder, raising a family at the same time. In 1992, her first husband died and she felt lost. She also got, and beat, cancer.
"My doctor told me to not sit around and dwell on things," she said. "So I started quilting and canning again."
When Hicks makes a quilt (so far she's done over 50 of them), she doesn't use modern shortcuts.
"I do each stitch by hand like my mother used to," she says. "It takes at least a month to do each one. It's real finger working."
One quilt she did that won a blue ribbon is called a yoyo quilt. It has hundreds of circular pieces of cloth each with a button in the middle.
"It took me a year to make that one," Hicks said.
Her choice of quilt themes is eclectic. Some are made from small cloth squares like her mother made back on the farm. Others have scenes from the Wizard of Oz, Dale Earnhardt, geometric patterns, Christmas toys, and Elvis. Hicks loves Elvis.
"Woo hoo," she said at the mention of "The King's" name. "He loved his mother and people too."
Hicks also made a series of Carolina Panthers quilts for her grandchildren.
When she's not quilting, Hicks is practicing the agricultural art of canning. She gets her fruit and vegetables from a guy in Stanley, farmer markets, and trips to the NC mountains. The inside of her house on Melody Dr. is a cornucopia of jars containing all sorts of good things to eat. Items include soups, kraut, chow chow, salsa, jelly, green beans,okra, apple sauce, apple butter, etc. etc.
"Canning is a lot of work, sir," Hicks says.
Unfortunately, Hicks lost her second husband, Carroll, about a month ago, but she's bouncing back again and keeping herself busy as always.
"Quilting and canning have been great therapy for me," she says.
Importantly, Hicks doesn't horde her wares. She gives some of her goods away to her doctors and folks in need.
"I help anyone I can," she said.
As for the future, Hicks intends to pass on the skills she learned long ago in Mooresville and continues in Belmont to her own daughters and granddaughters.
"I'm going to keep at it as long as the Lord lets these hands and eyes work," she said.

By Alan Hodge
alan.bannernews@gmail.com