Three Generations of Pennsylvania Quilters

Zola Junk's Flower Garden Quilt

My grandmother, Zola Junk (1891-1980), made tons of quilts in many different patterns. From the time I can remember, her sewing machine occupied a spot in her dining room. In the early years, she saved every piece of cotton fabric left from the clothing. At some point, our neighbor near the farm I grew up on  read more
began to pass on factory patches to her. One didn’t waste fabric in those days. As she did with her other quilts, she pieced it together, and then set up the quilting frame on one side of her dining room. After she finished her other work, she spent the long winter days on her quilts. Many different designs appeared on that quilting frame. My grandpa, a carpenter, worked away much of the time. I imagine the quilts helped her not to miss him so much. In the end years of her life, she no longer used a quilt frame but made crazy quilts which involved hand sewing. 

Zola Junk's Basket Quilt
from Factory Scraps

Details of one of Zola Junk's
Crazy Patch Quilts

Iva Book's Dalhia Quilt

I remember my mother, Iva Book, and my aunt Miriam Sheesley sitting at a quilting frame working on quilts together when I was young. Later, my mother began quilting in earnest. She made quilts for my brothers and I, and then the grandchildren. My quilt is a dahlia pattern. She used the log cabin pattern for our four children’s quilts. At 89 years of age, she still sews constantly to piece together 6-inch patch quilts that other ladies of her church finish to send to Lutheran World Relief.

One of Iva Book's Log Cabin Quilts

A Stack of Quilts
Made by St. Stephen's Members

Me, I’ve dabbled in quilting, making baby quilts before my children were born, a small puff quilt for a swing seat, a wall hanging, and recently, two T-shirt quilts. 

Details of My Puff Quilt