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.