Amid the Lebanon Quilters Guild‘s 40th anniversary year, the group of quilters is preparing to celebrate the 15th Lebanon Quilters Guild Exhibition of Quilts on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 8-9, at the Lebanon Expo Center.
In anticipation of the quilt show, LebTown spoke with Marie Oberst, Maenad Widdershins, Jennie Woodring, Cheryl Maulfair, and Patricia Krall, five of the nearly 150 members of the self-proclaimed “diverse group of quilters.”
Woodring was born and raised in Lebanon County and married her high school sweetheart, with whom she recently celebrated 56 years of marriage. It was during her time as a school bus driver for the Cornwall-Lebanon School District, a job she held for 45 years, that she became a charter member of the guild.
Woodring reminisced, “During that time, a friend of mine said, ‘Hey, I saw in the paper they’re going to have a quilt guild. Would you like to go?’ and I said, ‘Of course,’ because I’ve been an avid sewer since I was a little girl.”
A conversation between churchgoers with an interest in quilting led to Marlene Williams — who would become the first president of the guild — placing a notice about an organizational meeting for the guild in the newspaper. Roughly 40 to 50 women attended the Jan. 9, 1984, organizational meeting in the cafeteria of South Lebanon Elementary School.
At that meeting, the Lebanon Quilters Guild was established. Alongside Williams, Sandy Klingler would become the first vice president, Cheryl Rhen the first treasurer, and Carmen Westenberger the first secretary, each serving in those positions until June 1985.
In the monthly meetings to follow and before the start of summer vacation for South Lebanon Elementary School, the quilting guild’s bylaws were written, membership, programs, and publicity committee were created — chaired by Patricia Underkoffler, Ruth Ross, and Audrey Kneasel, respectively — and dues were set at a rate of $10 per year.
From September 1988 to May 1989, the guild accepted submissions for a block contest with a Lebanon County theme. Underkoffler’s tulip design — now known by the guild as the Lebanon County Tulip — was the winner. The design continues to serve as the guild’s logo.
According to Woodring, guild members eventually tired of sitting on child-sized chairs at the elementary school and moved their meetings to Cornwall Manor, then to Philhaven, and then to Cedar Crest Middle School, which is their current meeting place.
Read More: Help the Lebanon Quilters Guild document our county’s rich quilt history
The Lebanon Quilters Guild starts its new year in September, coinciding with the school’s academic calendar. The guild meets in the cafeteria on the first Monday of each month — unless it’s a holiday, in which case the guild meets that Tuesday.
In addition to the monthly member meetings, the guild holds quarterly board meetings to make decisions regarding their future and, through monthly newsletters, update guild members.
To celebrate the 40th anniversary, charter members stood up at a guild meeting and talked about the guild’s humble beginnings and its growth over the past four decades. This growth continues as the guild continues to welcome new members, with all ages, abilities, and quilting styles welcome.
One source of pride for the guild is its project on display in the Lebanon Expo Center.
The guild hosted a contest for quilt blocks that represent Pennsylvania. From more than 100 submissions, two members of the Lebanon Quilters Guild, several representatives from guilds in Lancaster County and Middletown, as well as Patrick Kerwin, executive director of the Lebanon Expo Center, selected six quilt blocks, along with one quilt block of the quilting guild’s logo, to compose a barn quilt that was then painted onto a wooden piece that is on display.
Another proud moment for the Lebanon Quilters Guild was when each member contributed a square to a community quilt that pictured a suburban and rural landscape. What started out as a raffle quilt was eventually sold for around $3,600 to benefit the guild a few years ago at the Kutztown Folk Festival; the buyer ended up joining the guild.
The Lebanon Quilters Guild also collaborated with the Pennsylvania State Police for a notable project, deconstructing old trooper uniforms and using each piece to construct about 60 quilts. Each year, several quilts are donated to the families of state troopers who are killed in the line of duty.
The guild is run by a president, vice president, treasurer, and secretary, as well as the committee chairs, which also now include hospitality, membership, member at large (which accepts feedback from guild members and passes it along to the board), community service, and others. Dues are now $25 per year.
Maulfair, lifelong Lebanon County resident and current guild president, recounted how she got involved: “About — my guess is — 15 years ago, one of the guild members, Mary Ann Guldin, saw some of my work at my house and said, ‘You ought to join the guild.’ So, I walked in, and I was smitten. I was taken in by just the camaraderie in the room and this great, positive energy. And so, I became a member.”
She is self-taught, with Maulfair only starting to take classes in the past three years.
Similarly, Widdershins, the current vice president, said she has been sewing since childhood but has dealt with a curse in adulthood — every time she registers for a class, it ends up getting canceled.
Luckily, Widdershins, who has primarily lived in Seattle, said she has had better luck since moving to Lebanon County. Around the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, she moved to the area with her husband when their daughter decided to study at Penn State Hershey.
“I actually came to the guild show two years ago and went ‘Wow, these guys are like kind of pretty active, and they have got a lot of quilts.’ And so, I decided I’d show up and see what the meetings were like,” Widdershins said. “And then about three meetings later, I was silly enough to raise my hand when they were looking for a vice president.”
As for Krall’s introduction to the quilting guild in 2015: “I had gone through like four or five deaths in my family within a two-year period. I was at a very low period. … My father was in a nursing home, and while he was napping, I had walked around, and there was a trunk show going on at the nursing home, and Marie [Oberst] was there. So, I went in to see what was going on. … I had always worked in Harrisburg, so I was not aware there was a Lebanon quilt guild. So, she invited me to a meeting. I joined and have been very involved ever since.”
Krall, who was born and raised in Lebanon County, became vice president during her second year with the quilting guild and later became president. The COVID-19 pandemic struck during her term, which led her to serve as president for three years rather than the typical two.
After her term as president, Krall became treasurer — when the previous treasurer, who was from New Cumberland, lost her husband, who used to drive her to the evening quilting guild meetings — and has served as treasurer ever since. She also is co-chair of the quilt show.
According to Oberst, second-time co-chair of the quilt show, the 15th Lebanon Quilters Guild Exhibition of Quilts will feature a banner celebrating the quilting guild’s 40th anniversary as well as more than 100 quilts on display.
There will be a drawing on Saturday, Nov. 9, for two raffle quilts that the quilting guild has been selling tickets for since its last quilt show. There will also be raffle baskets, which have come to replace the silent auction due to their success, as well as quilt-related items for sale through a boutique.
In addition, the quilt show will feature special exhibits, such as the Hoffman challenge in which all the quilts were made using Hoffman supplies. There will be several quilts on display in two exhibits: one of the 2023 challenges and one of the 2024 challenges. In 2023, the challenges required all quilts to be at least 40% red, as ruby is the designated gift for the 40th anniversary.
In the last quarter of the year, the Lebanon Quilters Guild announces challenges. And then, from the start of January until the June meeting, the guild accepts quilt submissions. After the submission window closes, members of the guild vote to determine the winners.
The quilt show will also feature demonstrations of hand quilting and other techniques by guild members, about a dozen vendors from various areas including New York, New Jersey, and New Cumberland, as well as a raffle quilt benefiting another area quilting guild.
The quilt show, which is a tradition that started out as an annual event and later became a bi-annual event due to the amount of work that goes into the event, continues to draw residents from across the county and surrounding areas.
In addition to the bi-annual quilt show, the guild offers quilter’s retreats, which have additional costs associated with them, twice a year. The quilting guild also meets at Juniper Village for Sit n’ Sew, which are free events that many consider to be mini-retreats.
The guild coordinates with well-known quilters for programs throughout the year. These quilters discuss their unique area of expertise — whether that be their fabric line, pattern line, quilting method, or personal quilting journey — with a small group of guild members.
They also work alongside other area guilds for various initiatives throughout the year.
The Lebanon Quilters Guild places a heavy emphasis on community service, and there will be a booth showcasing this work at the quilt show. There will also be 12 quilts on display at the quilt show that were made by guild members for Quilts of Valor.
As part of Quilts of Valor, military personnel who are open to receiving a patriotic 60″x80″ quilt can be nominated to receive one. Typically, military personnel are presented with their Quilt of Valor by the maker of the quilt and a representative of the foundation at a ceremony along with a reading of a proclamation and the presentation of a certificate.
The guild also donates quilts to the hospice unit at the Lebanon VA Medical Center. After these servicemen pass away, their families can take the quilts home. The guild has donated 30-some twin-sized quilts to Lebanon Christian Ministries since the start of the program and about 100 quilts to survivors of domestic violence each year.
Other initiatives include donating colorful pillowcases to Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital as well as several area nursing homes.
The ladies who spoke with LebTown identified the quilting guild’s primary purpose as being education, with a close second being social connection.
“And it also ends up being a social thing. I think those social connections, you know, as hard as those got during COVID-19, these are the pieces of life that knit our communities together. … The guild’s there for each other in the bad times, too,” Widdershins said.
Those interested in the Lebanon Quilters Guild can get involved by visiting its website, contacting guild officials, and attending monthly meetings. Anyone is welcome, with younger people and retired people being the greatest demographics in the quilting guild.
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