Appliqued Sampler Quilt

There are 3

stunning vintage quilts by

Edith Shoppell

hanging right behind the front counter

at  the

Art of Quilting Show 

 at the Gilbert Museum

*going on now through the end of May

 These quilts are shared by 

Mike Shoppell

in tribute to his mother.

 Appliqued Sampler (1964)

Edith Shoppell

West Lawn, Pennsylvania

Hand Appliqued 

Hand Quilted

I loved the stories the family shared

with each quilt, and felt a

comfort and longing 

for an era now past.

 A grand daughter wrote:

"A lot of her work was influenced

by the Pennsylvania Dutch background

in which she was raised."

" A lot of the motifs she used were

traditional folk art. 

Others were her own design

as seen in this sampler quilt. "

 "She loved what she did, but never thought of her work

as being anything special.  

She was a very simple, humble woman

and this was her love and her gift to us."

Edith made two of these quilts 

with each square different.

No two of her quilts were ever the same.

 Her son Mike wrote:

"My favorite memory of my mother quilting

is of my parents sitting in the front room

with Dad controlling the TV,

always watching sports,

and mom in her chair with her

TV tray in front of her 

piled high with 

quilting-in-progress

and design papers."

Wouldn't it have been wonderful to sit next to Edith

and learn from her?

What kind of stories would she tell?

And it also made me wonder 

what kind of  memories will

our families share when

our quilts are viewed 

years from now?