Art in stitches

By Ginny Privitar

GOSHEN — It was hard to know where to look first. As visitors entered the church was the newly restored Tiffany window, “Christ and the Pilgrims.” The colors glowed like brilliant jewels, some iridescent.

In front of the visitor were even more jewels. As far as the eye could see, every pew was covered by antique and new quilts of every conceivable pattern and colors, from many areas of the country. There were also examples of fine small handwork, including crewel, embroidery and cross-stitch.

This is the fifth year of the quilt show, an idea the organizers came up with when there was dwindling attendance at the earlier program, “Festival of Trees,” where local business were invited to decorate a theme tree and bring it in for display. Some visitors complained that the trees were the same every year. The quilt show, on the other hand, has had some return favorites and some new ones every year.

The organizers of last Saturday’s quilt show, including co-chairs Wendy Paffenroth, Barbara Hankins and Kathy Alevras, had asked everyone who brought an item to fill out a card with pertinent information, which was placed on the work. And what stories they told.

A history in quilts

Jean Strong brought in some heirlooms that have been in her husband’s family for years. There was ancestor Mary Jane Bennet’s blue and white hand pieced quilt that she made at age nine, in 1874. You can see her progression in skill in two fine lace tablecloths, made sometime in the late 1800s. And then there was the stunner — a remnant of lace that she made in 1888 for her wedding gown. It’s an incredibly intricate pattern — and the work must have taken many hours. There were many oohs and aahhs over those pieces.

Then there were two quilts with the same pattern, one behind the other; the first was a brown 8-pointed star pattern, made by Fannie Strong in the 1800s. The one behind it was a green and yellow eight-pointed star pattern made in the 1980s. The older quilt looked in as good condition as the new one. Many of the treasured older ones were never in daily use, but carefully preserved as heirlooms.

One old linen and wool quilt, made in the 1870s, that was in use and still covers a bed today, has an interesting history. It is a blue, red and white overshot coverlet made in Monroe County, West Virginia, by Josephine Hutchinson Wikel, great-grandmother of Kathleen Lowry Alevras. There is a photo of Josephine, who died in her 30s, leaving a six-year old son, who was Kathy’s grandfather. The information states that Josephine grew the flax for the linen, raised the sheep for the wool, and then spun, dyed and wove the fabric. The red is a little faded, but the blue and white is still vibrant. Alevras keeps the quilt on the bed that used to be her daughter’s.

Goshen resident Barbara Glaser said she comes every year to the quilt show. “We’re just so thrilled to see these — and now, this year, they’ve added one or two with pictures of the people” who made them.

Quilt show visitor Patty Whelan said, “It’s amazing to see the antique quilts. They are wonderful.” Her friend and fellow quilter Cindy Becker said, “I love them; it’s a wonderful show — I like the mix of the old and the new, with the different techniques they use.”

Becker and Whelan are co-founders of the Chester Quilt Guild. Individuals and members of other guilds, including Warwick and Florida, also contributed items to the show.

There was a whimsical modern quilt with flip-flops as the design motif. Another quilt, “Friendship,” was hand pieced and hand quilted from feed sacks, sometime between 1945-1950, in Anson, Texas, by Lena Norman Valliant.

There were some small quilts made by Charlene Klieverik, and lovingly contributed by her widower, Ron. The card with them states she moved in 1990 to Holland with her husband and son, where she started designing and making quilts. In 1995, she moved to Goshen, where she continued her craft until her passing in 2004. The quilts include “Fall Footprints,” with colorful autumn leaves and another one, with coffee cups, whose title, possibly written in Dutch, translates as “Coffee Time Cosy.” Yet another with bird and birdhouse and other items is “Through the Window.”

A red sawtooth pattern with a blue and brown-leafed vine border is another stunning quilt that has a modern feel; yet it was pieced circa 1850s by Abigail Amelia Barrett Horton in Rye, New York.

One purple beauty that might have caused the quilter some dizziness is “Weaver Fever.” The card reads, “Think you like to strip piece? Try this one. It starts with 10 sets of strip piecing.”

Up at the front of the sanctuary were two quilts. One was a section of a circa 1900s crazy quilt, pieced and embroidered by Louella Griffin Ashworth. The card attached states “preserving my grandmother’s work.” Granddaughter Alberta Kelsey completed the borders, backing and binding in 2010.

The other one is named “All blues with a dash of lime.” It was made by Nancy Brandt for a grandson who has lived most of his life in France. She hopes to see him and give him his quilt this December.

There is a lovely “block of the month” Christmas quilt with 3-D elements, including padded bells that have real bells sewn at the bottom as clappers. It was Barbara Hankins’ first effort at quilt-making and it’s a doozy.

The baked goods table in the side lobby had quite a mouth-watering assortment, with crumb cakes and pastries and a pumpkin pie decorated with pie-crust maple leaves, along with good coffee. Bakers Charlene Bischof, Fran Hoffman and Toni Neidel worked the table: they sold out by early afternoon.

Upstairs in the kitchen, coffee, bagels, hearty soups and some first-rate chili were available. Lori Baird and Lori Kilmer manned the kitchen and had a steady run of customers.

And the craft fair had tables on three levels with wonderful and unusual wares. In the lobby, along with baked goods and coffee, there were hand-painted piano keys and finely crocheted lap robes or baby blankets.

Up the first flight of stairs, a small crowd vied for position around Wendy Paffenroth’s table, where she sold angel figures made of sea glass, which some people refer to as “mermaid’s tears” for lost sailors.

Inside the airy Fellowship Hall were most of the vendors. You could purchase attractive and fun handbags made from recycled jeans; there were sparkling necklaces and glass globes filled with color that could be placed on an illuminated base for even greater effect. Sisters Jean Lumley and Mickey Weaver made hats and scarves and sisters Nancy Warner and Carol Lewis made colorful, reversible girls jumpers.

There was jewelry: colorful bead necklaces, jewelry made from chainmail, and stunning leaf jewelry — made by Michale Dancer with real leaves as a base, put through different processes, and then covered with real gold or silver.

In the basement, there were photographs for sale and unusual walking sticks made by Ken Tocyloski. There was recycled and repurposed metalware decorated by Susan Wright. Angie Greco offered multi-colored pillowcases and Wanda Mendoza of the Three Sisters Doll Boutique, offered dozens of outfits for American Girl Dolls, even cute cheerleader outfits including pom-poms.

Commenting on the day, organizer Barbara Hankins said, “I was very pleased because we got lots of very nice comments.” Proceeds benefited the Goshen food pantry. People enjoyed coming and seeing the church and its Tiffany windows. There was truly something for everyone at the First Presbyterian Church’s quilt show and craft fair.

Editor’s note: More work is required to preserve this historic church; the congregation hopes to re-point the bricks outside to prevent water damage and eventually restore the large three-paneled Tiffany window, “The Resurrection,” over the chancel. Donations would be most welcome. And to see many more photos of the quilts discussed here, visit chroniclenewspaper.com.