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Sunshine and shoes featured in winning quilts

By Staff | Jul 30, 2015

PHOTO BY CAROL SHETLER/The Luminary Cinda Printzenhoff of Watsontown and Frances Spring of Clarkstown are two traditional quilters who earned awards at the Muncy Quilt Show held July 17 and 18. Spring's quilt "Good Morning Sunshine" is hanging is the background and won second place.

MUNCY – Winning second and third place in the applique division at the annual Muncy quilt show last weekend at Myers Elementary School were Frances Spring of Clarkstown and Cinda Printzenhoff of Watsontown. Both are traditionalists in hand applique and hand quilting.

“Good Morning Sunshine” was the pattern Frances found in a magazine. The second place winner used yellow pieced half triangles to form a likeness of the sun. Between the center and the ‘dog tooth’ outer border, ‘Dresden Plate’ half circles were appliqued and aligned in serpentine style.

“I never run out of scraps,” said Spring known for her use of various fabrics. The Happy Helpers, a group in Port Charlotte, Florida, aided Frances in the quilting.

Frances shared how and when she became interested in quilting. “As a youngster, I remember my mother (Laura Michael Dugan) quilting, but at the time I wasn’t interested. My brothers and sisters say I disappeared when household chores were to be done. They’d be sure to find me in the orchard beneath a tree with book in hand,” Frances said.

It wasn’t until the former history teacher retired that she became serious about quilting. “It was 1975, the next year was the country’s bicentennial which brought on a resurgence in quilting,” Frances said.

Printzenhoff is one of a group of 14 cousins sharing the third place honor in applique. Titled ‘Grandma’s High Top Shoes,’ the project is a memorial effort honoring the group’s ancestor, Phoebe Lowe Gardner (1880-1958).

The great-granddaughter traces her creative talents back to Phoebe when she was age five. For a short time, Cinda was among Phoebe’s household at 136 East Water Street in Muncy. “To keep little hands occupied, I was given a button box and instructed to divide them by color and size, then string them on a thread,” Cinda said.

Referring to the current project, Cinda said, “I was excited and honored to be a part of this unique experience and jumped at the chance to participate. Then I learned it was to be an applique project of which I’m a novice, but I was determined to do my best. It was a labor of love and a wonderful bonding experience.”

Additional descendants invested in the memorial quilt were Dorothy Biddle, Greta Biddle and Amanda Ballengee, Watsontown; Mildred DeWald and Gary DeWald, Millville; Cindy Gardner, Muncy; Carol Shetler, Hughesville; Krystna Yarish, Turbotville; Ann Burke, New Cumberland; and Brenda Bock, Philipsburg. Out of state cousins include Vivian Keller, NY; Betty Jean Wilkins, N. Canton, Ohio; and Jasmine Yarish, Santa Barbara, CA.

Other local winners included: Kay Rhinehart, Pennsdale, third place in Other Techniques; Rhonda Adams-Freezer, Hughesville, first for her entry in the Computer-guided Machine Quilting; and Teri Snyder, Muncy, who received second and third place in Domestic/Hand Guided Machine Quilting.

The annual show, a fundraiser for the Muncy Historical Society held July 17 and 18 at Myers Elementary School in Muncy, announced the following: Best of Show – Sally Maneval, Liberty; Best Original Design – Edith C. Bower family of Bastress; and Judges’ Choice – Barbara Stine, Bloomsburg.