The INDEPENDENT, November 20, 2003 Page 15 Quilters relax and help raise funds for Senior Center operations By Rebecca McGaugh So, sew. Every Tuesday for 1-1/2 hours, three dedicated lady quilters do sew at the Vernonia Senior Center. Faith Reynolds, Louise Hamnett and Susan Goodhope complete an aver- age of two quilts per year which are then raffled off to benefit the senior center. They are joined from time to time by oth- er quilters and there is space for more. The ladies find quilt tops or blocks at auctions or by dona- tion. Then they put the top to- gether and transform all those little pieces of fabric into a beautiful and functional quilt. The latest was put together February 25 and the quilting, which started the end of April, is nearing completion. Sitting and watching the ladies work is soothing, though the quilting itself looks as though it requires patience, which these three seem to have in abundance. Faith Reynolds made her first block (fabric pieces ap- pliqued onto other pieces in a square pattern) in 1933, and learned to quilt in the 1940s, here in Vernonia. She didn’t make her next quilt until 1985 or ‘86 when she did one at home. Quilting at the senior center started about nine years ago. Faith is not sure whether she learned patience because it was useful to her in her ca- reer as a teacher, or if being a teacher taught her patience. “Finishing a quilt is satisfying, that’s where patience comes in.” said Reynolds. “Everybody’s got to have a hobby to stay healthy,” accord- ing to Louise Hamnett. She says she has always had pa- tience and uses some of it to do lots of home canning, in addi- tion to her quilting. Her first quilt started as blocks when she was nine. In 1974, she turned the blocks into her first quilt and has been quilting ever since. Susan Goodhope came to quilting later than her two co- quilters. She and an already- quilting sister went to a quilt re- treat in 1998. Susan did ma- chine quilting while her sister did hers by hand. Susan decid- ed she preferred her sister’s work to her own and was a con- vert to hand quilting. Her first quilt was made from blocks won in a raffle from Fiber and Stitches, in St. Helens. She has been quilting at the senior center for about a year and, so far, has worked on four quilts. Susan recently submitted a block to Ruralite magazine that was selected as one of 50 (out of 125 submissions) used in their 50th anniversary quilt. In fact, she made two identical blocks, as Ruralite had two quilts made, one for exhibit at their office in Forest Grove and the other for a traveling exhibit. Susan received a commemora- tive wall plaque and a picture of her block. If you have the itch to make a quilt and have – or wish to ac- quire – patience, there is a standing invitation to join this trio of dedicated quilters in cre- ating beauty while helping the senior center. So, sew. M IKE ’ S Above, from left: Faith Reynolds, Susan Goodhope and Louise Hamnett obviously enjoy quilting. Left: Susan Goodhope displays the wall plaque she re- ceived from Ruralite magazine. Pacific University offers jazz nite with Tom Grant Kick off your holiday season and spend an evening with jazz great Tom Grant, one of Ore- gon’s finest musicians. Grant will be joined by vocalist and percussionist Valerie Day for a special concert at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 6, at McCready Hall on Pacific University’s campus in Forest Grove. This concert is part of Pacific Uni- versity’s 2003-04 Performing Arts Series, sponsored by Tual- ity Healthcare and Bank of the West. Since 1983, Grant’s records have repeatedly topped the smooth jazz charts. Through- out his career, he has been a pioneer for smooth jazz, and he made headlines when he be- came the first non-classical pi- anist in the Northwest to be awarded the prestigious status of Steinway Artist. At home on stage, Grant has toured and recorded with such jazz greats as Woody Shaw, Joe Hender- son, Charles Lloyd, and Tony Williams, and he has been fea- tured on CNN and the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Valerie Day has been a vo- calist, percussionist, and song- writer for many years, most no- tably with the R&B/Pop group Nu Shooz. During her tenure with the band (from 1980 to 1992) she toured extensively in the United States, Canada and Europe, appeared on national and international TV programs, sold over a million records worldwide, and in 1987 was C HRISTMAS T REES You Choose • We Cut Many Varieties to choice from $ 1. 00 OFF any tree W/2 cans of food for Vernonia Cares O PEN W EEKENDS O NLY C UT T REES A VAILABLE M ONDAY THRU F RIDAY 65736 Nehalem Hwy. N. (Hwy. 47) 10 Miles north of Vernonia Home Style Thanksgiving Dinner With All The Trimmings Reservations Required Call 503-359-4921 At the Corner of HWY 26 & Timber Rd. Restaurant Open 7 Days a Week Bar is Open Till Midnight Fri - Sat 503-359-4921 nominated for a Best New Artist Grammy by the National Asso- ciation of Recording Arts and Sciences. Tickets are $20. To reserve your tickets, call Pacific Univer- sity’s Box office at 503-352- 2918. United Way gets forestry help Wauna Mill employees and Georgia-Pacific raised $223,452 for three United Way agencies in their 2004 campaign. Of the total, employees raised $164,452 and $59,000 was contributed by Georgia-Pacific’s corporate foundation. Wauna Mill ex- ceeded its goal of $200,000 by 12 percent. United Way of Columbia County will receive $89,772 of the funds, the Clatsop County United Way agency will receive $84,079 of the funds raised, and $49,601 will go to the Cowlitz/Wahkiakum United Way.