Our Quilters

Anna K

Meet Anna K - I've adopted Anna K as my "Mommy", which is the Amish term for Grandma. She has the biggest heart in the world, and her kitchen always has a treat baking that she's ready to share with all the neighbors and friends that visit her. Anna lives (with her tiny teacup dog) in a separate 'apartment' in her daughter and son-in-law's home, and has lived there since her husband got sick with MS many years ago, and subsequently passed away.

You can read her story in the Lizzie Book Series written by her daughter Linda Byler about Linda's Amish home life growing up. It's a fictionalized real story, and is a wonderful read! .... Here's an interesting side note: we moved into the little old farmhouse Amish home that Linda and her family moved from, so now Linda lives about 1 mile west of us, and her sister is 6 houses down our road, and "Mommy Anna" lives about 2 miles east of us.

One real benefit of living so close to Anna, is she bakes for us, giving us pumpkin pies, peach pies, molasses cookies and vegetable soup, better than any restaurant! We're right in the midst of the warmest Amish around! Anna K is Old Order Amish.

Annie S

Meet Annie S - Annie S is a busy Amish lady. Besides quilting - she runs a tiny general store up the hill from her home along her long packed gravel lane, and does hand quilting for us and others in the little precious spare time she has left, simply because she loves the beauty and peace that quilting brings. Her Amish home is so small, that she does her quilting in the Old Order Amish square quilting frame, but her quilting frame is raised and lowered by a pulley system, so it won't take up the floor space in her tiny cottage, and yet it's always right at hand. When she is done and needs the space, she just raises it up. Needless to say, her home is meticulous and organized so the small space appears cozy and welcoming.

If you are in her neighborhood and stop by, she may be in the store, she may be in the garden or you may find her gathering grapes from her neighbors grape vine to make grape juice. Nothing better than fresh grape juice right off the vine.

Across the lane from her store, you can see the water tower that is windmill fed which stores and supplies the water for her home and the next door Amish farmhouse. She has an ample vegetable garden in the spring and summer time, so she is also busy canning those tasty foods.

When visiting you'll see Amish children running, playing and doing some gardening next door along with the various farm animals like chickens running around. Annie S is Old Order Amish, and she wouldn't let me take a picture of her but here are photos of her windmill, shelves of various canned goods, applique quilting that is being worked on and a summer kitchen brick building.

Fannie P

Meet Fannie P - Fannie P lives in a large Amish farmhouse with her husband's invalid grandparents, caring for them and their daily needs, plus the needs of her own large brood of now teenage children and her husband. You should see her home on laundry day, it is amazing how much laundry they can hang on a laundry line that stretches upwards of 30 feet or more.

She has a full Amish home, full of love and life, and her joy is evident in the fine stitching she does on her quilts. The quilt frame is always full, and the beauty and peace that it represents are evident in the warmth of her Amish home. She is one Amish woman who really appreciates getting the quilt money to support her family. Her husband's Grandparents don't collect social security, all support comes from the Amish community at large and relatives. It always amazes me how the Amish can accomplish this task!

Living in the next Amish farm over is her sister (and her family), and just over a few lanes is the Amish farm where she grew up, the farm where her mom and dad still live (now in the Daudi house with her brother running the old farm). Fannie is surrounded by a close knit Amish family life, and feels blessed beyond comprehension.

I have included a couple photos of her buggies, a small quilt being quilted and a photo of her home.

January - We just visited Fannie today to check on a quilt she is working on, so I took a photo, here is that quilt.

Katie W

Meet Katie W - Katie W lives in a large Mennonite farmhouse, but is busy with the building of a smaller Daudi haus on the farm so her son and his family can live in the large Mennonite home and work the farm with Katie's husband. They have switched their farm from dairy farming to being a crop farmer, and she sells her brown eggs and produce at the local Farmers Market. As a side note: Katie makes the very best frozen corn - which I buy in bulk - it tastes just like the corn just came off the cob, delicious! Katie is an absolute wonder with the quilt tops she sews for us. She can make a pallet of colorful scraps into stunning quilts that are sure to be treasured and loved. Katie will also quilt for us very large quilts (up to 125 inches square) in the quilting frame that her husband has made and enlarged for her. We can never get a photo of Katie, not even her arm! She takes the 'no photo' ruling very seriously. Katie W is Old Order Mennonite which means like the Amish she gets around in her Horse and Buggy, doesn't ride bicycles, doesn't get her picture taken and works from sun rise to sun set.

Mary B

Meet Mary B - Everyone up and down the valley knows Mary B (and I mean valley, there is basically one road running through it), because she has the Amish Baked Goods stand in a small building on her farm. They make the very best of the best doughnuts around! Oh did I also say she bakes bread, cookies, whoppie pies, pumpkin pies, fruit pies and cakes too.

Sarah, her single daughter, still lives at home, and she is in charge of the weekend Amish bakery now that Mary is getting older. If you visit the bakery (you must try their baked goods) you will find Sarah with her helpers (her younger sisters and nieces), who have fun helping with the simple jobs. Mary can't help but be in the bakery shop when customers are there, but most times you will find Mary at her quilting frame. Between helping on the family farm and helping Sarah with the baking, she still keeps her Amish quilting frame filled with colorful Amish quilts.

Mary B is Old Order Amish. I have included photos of her Bake shop, cows out in the field and a recent colorful Lone Star quilt. One day when we were there, we got out of our car and all the pigs got up, walked to the fence to watch us - what a sight! If you ever want to meet real plain Amish in this valley that is tucked away from the bustle of life, all you need to do is stop by and get some doughnuts. You'll be glad you did.

Side note: Her Amish bake shop isn't listed in any directory (there is a tiny sign by the mail box on the street), so you would need exact directions to get there.

Mary Grace S

Meet Mary Grace - Mary Grace has quilted so many quilts for the Mennonite Relief Charities and for local Mennonite school fund raisers, that she is well known and respected for her great ability to quilt wonderful trails of stitching on quilts, and also for her generous heart that is always ready to share and lend a hand.

Mary Grace S is the wife of a retired Mennonite preacher, and she with her husband live in their daughter's home with her husband and teenage/adult children, where Mary Grace cooks, and bakes and quilts to her heart's content.

Last winter they were able to take the train (they won't fly) down to visit their son and his family for a couple weeks, all the way to Georgia. It was an adventure she cherishes! I believe they've used the bus and now the train to go there, I wonder what will happen next year!

Mary Grace S is involved in many quilting bees, and loves being able to go weekly to her church where the Bee Quilt is in frame, and stitch with all her closest friends. Mary Grace S is Mennonite.

Mary S

Meet Mary S - Mary S has a smile that makes any room brighter, and she spreads her joy often! Mary is famous for her tiny exquisite piecing with 1/2 inch squares on her postage stamp Quilt tops, which she pieces only in the traditional PA Dutch Amish Colors on her manual non-electric treadle sewing machine.

Mary and her single daughter live on the Amish family farm in a building that used to be the old chicken coop, which her sons converted into a small house for them.

Her son and his family live next door in the old Amish family farm house. Many times you can find Mary having supper with her 3 unmarried adult children.

As you probably surmise, Mary lives an extremely simple and plain Amish life, even by our local Amish standards. She is living proof that real joy is not found in possessions! Mary S is Old Order Amish. It is well known that many times the money she earns quilting will be sent to some needy Amish family to pay medical bills.

Nancy K

Nancy K lives on the Amish family farm that is now mostly a woodworking shop, in a very small house (called the Daudi haus) that is attached to the main Amish farm house where her oldest son and his family live. Whenever visiting Nancy, I first go next door to say hi to Ada (her daughter-in-law), and she comes with me to let me in because Nancy is quite hard of hearing, and would not hear me knock on the door.

Nancy is what I call "Very Plain Amish", since the community she is a part of seems to go beyond the 'no electricity' way of living, and steps even further back in time over 100 years. No propane lamps, no generators for this Amish community. Nancy gets her nights brightened with glass kerosene lanterns complete with wicks that you turn up to adjust the lighting. Only a scattering of hand made rag rugs, wonderfully colorful and practical. You can see there is nothing much on the walls except a calendar, a clock or a small decorative piece.

Her large Amish quilting frame (which is about 10 feet plus wide, also it was made by her husband) takes up an entire room, and the beauty of an entire quilt being worked on is a sight to behold. Nancy's quilting room looks out over the lane to where the woodshop is that her son now runs. Her husband was well known in the area for the finest Hickory Rockers, and his love of wood and working with his hands has been passed down to her son.

Nancy also spends much of her time helping her many grown Amish children with their canning and sewing, going for an afternoon to each of their various homes to help out almost every other week (the rotation takes that many days!). Nancy K has been widowed for quite a while, and as she helps and visits with her many adult children, they also help and provide for her (she collects no social security and has no medical insurance like all of the Amish) as they send necessities and food items back home with her when she returns in the evening back to her little Daudi Haus. Nancy K is Old Order Amish.

Naomi B

Meet our Amish Quilter Naomi B - Naomi B lives at the end of a curvy lane with her large white farmhouse set against a backdrop of trees sloping down the mountainside. Her Amish home is among a small group of other Amish homes. When we need to contact her - we either stop by or write a letter/note and wait a week for the reply. Joseph and Naomi farm this quiet spot in Pennsylvania where the valley touches the hills, and once a week (after spring time) he sends salad greens and vegetables down to Washington DC for restaurants in the city (that is main source of income). Naomi greeted me at the door the other day with a huge smile, because the quilt she was working on is completed, and she saw that I had another custom Amish quilt in my arms ready for her to work on. This is what Naomi does, she quilts full time, that is until the first little one arrives, so for now she is busy working and saving for when the money will be really needed. Although Naomi quilts full time, that doesn't mean that is all she does, she also cans, bakes her own bread (on a kerosene fired stove), makes both her clothes and her husband's clothes and much more. Naomi B is Old Order Amish.

It's the end of January, and I just dropped off Gerri's grandmother's antique quilt top to Naomi for her to quilt. What a fabulous collection of old feedbag fabrics, all sewn by her Grandma into a postage stamp quilt. We had to reinforce over 80 seams just to prepare it for quilting! Naomi is due the beginning of April, so she just glowed with happiness! and Joseph, her husband gave a cheery smile & wave as he was leaving the barn to complete his chores.

Sarah S

Sarah S and her husband have been blessed with many daughters and few sons, so she has the daughters that still live at home working in her tiny general store and also working at the end of their lane at their vegetable stand. This is an Amish shop you have never experienced and can't imagine. It is packed with homemade canned goods, homemade cloth items, Amish hats and aprons, even some treats for the kids. It's definitely not a Walmart.

The very best Amish Chow Chow is made by Sarah and sold in her stand (Chow Chow is a mixed pickled vegetable garnish that she cans in jars). Sarah's husband has his own Amish harness shop right there on the farm. When he's not sewing bridles, harnesses or doing leather repairs, you can find him in their garden crop farm getting the vegetables for their Amish stand.

Sarah's little grandson had a medical emergency at his birth this year, and with no insurance to cover the bills from his 2 week stay at Hershey Medical, she is working doubly hard to help out. (Good news - Baby Samuel is now ok!).

Sarah S is Old Order Amish. Sarah wouldn't let me take photos of her at all so I have included a few photos of her yard, her Amish horse and buggy and her home. By the way, her home is in the middle of nowhere and just about impossible to find, but the locals all know where to get these great homemade and homegrown goodies.

Lizzie S

Lizzie S, is an Amish Quilter who lives just over the mountain from us about 5 miles away. Lizzie lives on the side of a rather steep hill (although there are some flat areas), and to get to her front door you have to walk a gang plank that spans over her small garden that runs about 30 feet in length.

Lizzie enjoys quilting, but she also quilts to help make ends meet. Her husband has been disabled from a surgery problem over a year ago and hasn't been able to work since then, and with no insurance and not willing to fight in court, Lizzie quilts wonderful treasures and sews tops for other quilters to use. Shown here you can see an outside photo of her wash area on laundry day. Notice the water heater that is next to the wringer washing machine. In another photo see her iron is out and ready to be heated on the stove.

Lizzie lives a very plain Amish life, where simplicity and peace is the norm; and God and family are the most important things in her life. It's great to visit the Amish quilters and their families, the children are never sitting around the house or on the couch watching TV, they are busy being active, it's really fun to see.