May 6, 2026, Libertyville, IL - The Ansel Brainerd Cook Chapter, NSDAR awarded Jackie Maddock the National DAR Women in the Arts Recognition Award, at our annual awards dinner held at Austin’s.
The DAR Women in the Arts Recognition Award is a national honor presented by local DAR chapters to women for outstanding achievements in non-performance arts. The award acknowledges women artists who have made significant contributions to their artistic field and to their community. The purpose of this award is to recognize and honor a woman who has exhibited excellence in her chosen genre. This award is an art award; designed to recognize worthy women for outstanding achievements in the non-performance arts including fiber arts design and creation, fine arts, sculpture design and creation, music composition, literature and drama authorship, artisan design and creation including, but not limited to, jewelry, metalwork, decorative painting, and pottery. The American Heritage Committee may present the award, comprising a certificate and lapel pin, to DAR members and non-members. The criteria for this award are strict, and not all nominations are successful.
When Jackie became a member of the Ansel Brainerd Cook chapter on November 5, 2016, she quickly rediscovered her passion of fiber arts, and that ultimately became her purpose in life.
In 2016, before she was even a member, she turned her attention to crocheting "plarn" (plastic yarn) sleeping mats for those experiencing homelessness, she quickly purchased a large crochet hook and started saving clean plastic bags. She self-taught herself, made up her own pattern and learned how to crochet 3' x 5' plarn sleeping mats. She even single crocheted around the edges to make it "look nice, and lay flat" and crocheted a carrying strap. Each plarn sleeping mat took approximately 500-800 bags and at least 33-40 hours to complete. Sustainability wise, she kept approximately 36,000 plastic bags out of the landfill. A total of 45 sleeping mats were distributed from 2016-2018 at the Chicago Winter Stand down.
In 2018, someone in the chapter had read online that the American Heart Association had a program, "Little Hats, Big Hearts" which was a program that celebrated American Heart Month (February) by distributing knitted or crocheted red hats to newborns at participating hospitals. The initiative raised awareness of congenital heart defects (CHDs). She immediately got on board. Several different sized round looms were purchased along with a lot of red yarn. She self-taught herself how to loom and started making hats. She made over 450 little red hats that were distributed over the years to Hospitals in the Madison, WI area.
She then turned her attention to looming adult hats, scarfs and neck gaiters. Making up her own pattern for the scarfs and neck gaiters. These were ultimately donated to the Chicago Winter Standdown to be distributed to the Veterans experiencing homelessness,
She meticulously winds the yarn around each of the loom pegs keeping just the right tension to create these hat/gaiter sets. She matches colors that are eye appealing for the women, yet subtle for the men. To date, she has loomed over 1400 hats, scarfs and neck gaiter sets.
She has been crocheting/knitting and sewing for most of her adult life, she made everyone in her family crocheted slippers for Christmas, using her own patterns, colors and techniques.
Her creativity and ability to crochet just about anything, is a testament of her love of crocheting. She has even taught family and friends how to crochet and loom. She never exhibited any of her work, as she does it for sheer pleasure, although, laying all the hat and gaiter sets out at stand down for veterans to choose, I suppose one could say that was her exhibit!
At 93 years young, her preferred way to contribute is with her loom and an endless supply of yarn. Jackie looms/crochets with every fiber of her being, no pun intended.
She had finally found her purpose in life. She was making a difference, while keeping the time-honored tradition of fiber arts alive.
The DAR is a non-profit, non-political, volunteer women’s service organization dedicated to promoting patriotism, preserving American history, and securing America’s future through better education. Membership is open to any woman 18 years or older who can prove lineal, bloodline descent from an ancestor who served the cause of American independence.
Members of the Ansel Brainerd Cook Chapter have been proudly serving the Libertyville-Mundelein-Vernon Hills area of Lake County, Illinois since 1977. We are 180+ members strong and growing. Our members range in age from 18 to 100. Our roster includes women with careers, students, homemakers, young moms and retirees. We are mothers, grandmothers, and most importantly Daughters. We honor the service our patriot ancestors gave for American Independence by providing service to our communities.
For more information, please contact Ansel Brainerd Cook chapter at: https://www.ildar.org/chapters/anselbrainerdcook or email us at: ABC4DAR@gmail.com
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