Sarah lives simply, as all Amish women do, yet thoroughly enjoys every moment of her day. Waking before daylight begins, Sarah starts to work on her Amish Quilt as her husband tends the farm chores. Their farm is smaller now, since her children have taken over the actual family farm, but the handful of cows still need to be milked twice a day, and the list of chores that still need to be tended to, never seems to end. That is one reason Sarah loves to quilt so much. Years of experience have made it a joy to see the small paths carved out by thread, and the thrill of getting a job done is exciting to her. Her quilt frame is rarely empty, as she quilts for her grandchildrens Amish school auctions each year. Sarah is an Amish quilter from Pennsylvania.
Taught how to quilt by her Mennonite mother, Mary Grace has since passed down both the skill and the love for quilting to her daughter. "I just love to quilt", she says, and both her enthusiasm and extensive skill show in the way she can thread the trails through the quilt. Mary Grace quilts because she loves it, and has given away to the local Mennonite schools about a dozen quilts over the years for their various fundraisers. Mary Grace is a Mennonite quilter from Pennsylvania.
Suzie bubbles with delight when showing her quilted items and quilt she is working on (there is always one in the frame). She loves to quilt first thing in the morning, and she lives in a smaller two-story Amish dawdy house, nestled next to a slow moving stream and a one-lane bridge, all in a tiny village of about a dozen houses, surrounded by small Amish farms. Suzie is an Amish quilter from Pennsylvania.
Emma can look back on a long life filled with family, friends and serving others. She loves to create Amish Quilts, and over the past half-century has quilted innumerable works of art. Her husband is now working only part time in their family business, now run by one of their sons, so Emma has time she can spend over her quilting frame, tracing with thread the patterns and designs handed down for what seems like ages. Emma is an Amish quilter from Pennsylvania.
Katie has been quilting the Amish way ever since she can remember, and now supplements her husbands farming income with quilting for others. Living right in the center of Lancaster County PA, with her grown children only a buggies ride away, Katie divides her time between family, her community and serving others. Quilting fills her early morning hours with creativity and color. Katie is an Amish quilter from Pennsylvania.
Frannie still has children at home, so she is one of our younger quilters, with only about 30 years - give or take a few - of experience quilting. She loves to garden and preserve the bounty of the Lord for the long winters months, and she loves color and beauty. Her husband and older sons do their farming with horse and plow, so their farm is just big enough for them to be able to work - about 35 acres. Supplementing the farm income with quilting at home is a job Frannie loves, because she can quilt early in the morning and again in the afternoon, making masterpieces with beauty and color . Frannie is an Old Order Mennonite Quilter from Pennsylvania.
Anna loves the land, loves her family and church, and loves to make Amish Quilts. Living with her husband in the smaller dawdy house attached to her sons home, Anna fills her days with service to her large extended family, by baking pies and breads for the grandchildren to fill up on, and quilting for others. Like the woman from Proverbs, her children are all clothed in purple (a favorite amish color), and they rise up and call her blessed. Anna does most of her quilting in the early to mid morning, and again in mid afternoon in order to take advantage of the natural sunlight. On cloudy days, the lantern is set high to supplement the light. Anna is an Amish Quilter, and lives in Pennsylvania.