Quite a Quilter!

Lebanon County Quilter a Farm Show Regular

Sue Bowman
Southeastern Pa. Correspondent

CLEONA, Pa. — Gayle Hoffman of Cleona, Lebanon County, has found a new hobby thanks to the Pennsylvania Farm Show. The annual Quilt Square Contest at the Farm Show began back in 2004, and it was that first year’s entries that caught Gayle’s eye in 2005 while she was strolling through her favorite area of the farm show — the family living section. The theme that year was “Spring” and Hoffman was inspired when she learned that the next year’s quilt squares would be interpreting an autumn message.

She thought it looked like fun and, even though she doesn’t consider herself a quilter, Hoffman decided to give it a try.

As it turned out, Hoffman’s first attempt would prove to be her favorite quilt square and the one she considers her best effort to date. She opted for a Pennsylvania harvest theme, which included an outline of the state decked in wheat sheaves, corn, mushrooms and apples, all playing up a fall color scheme. Gayle was hooked, and has been participating in the event ever since then.

The quilt-square competition, which allows just one square twelve-and-a-half-by-twelve-and-a-half-inch submission per entrant, involves a three-year cycle. The first stage begins with the current year’s entry squares displayed on the Main Exhibit Hall’s front wall not far from the Cameron Street entrance to the Farm Show. The 2010 theme is “Pennsylvania Farms’ Finest.” Just below the wall-hung squares, Farm Show-goers will find a quilt frame surrounded by chairs. This is where the queen-sized quilt assembled from last year’s theme blocks (“Black and White and Red All Over”) is awaiting the help of passersby to help stitch together the colorful quilt top to the batting and backing beneath it. The army of folks taking needle in hand to add a few stitches to the quilt has been growing yearly.

Last year over 750 Farm Show attendees stitched together the 2008 “Summer Sensations”-themed quilt while it was positioned on the frame. That quilt will now be completing its third and final year of the Quilt Square Contest cycle, when it is raffled off to benefit the Pennsylvania Farm Show Foundation Scholarship Fund. The 2007 “Winter Blues” quilt, raffled in 2009, brought in proceeds of $2,700 for this worthy scholarship beneficiary.

Gayle Hoffman likes the challenge of being creative for a cause. Since coming up with an idea to interpret the theme is one of her biggest challenges, she starts thinking about how her quilt square will be laid out as early as the summer. It’s all the thought the competitors put into their squares that makes each one so unique, so Hoffman admits that she considers many options — should the fabric “say something” or should it be the actual design that makes a statement about the theme? For her part, Gayle feels that color selection is critical and she takes special pleasure in choosing just the right fabric before stitching it all together using her trusty Singer sewing machine. It’s a great way to use up fabric scraps, she notes.

After an idea, a color scheme and the fabric are chosen, the real “fun” begins, says Hoffman — piecing everything together on the block to get the size just right requires a degree of perfection that can be difficult to attain. Once that has been achieved, the sewing takes a relatively short amount of additional time. Then it’s time to send the piece to the Farm Show between early December and the week before the show actually starts. Gayle points out that entrants never know exactly what the judges will be looking for. She’s hoping to win their favor this year with her creation showing a basket filled with apples already sporting a big blue ribbon reading, “Pennsylvania Farms’ Finest.” While the first-prize winner will take home a $50 premium, it’s more about the honor than the money for Hoffman and her fellow competitors.

A graduate of Mansfield University with a degree in nutrition, Hoffman works as a registered dietician at Good Samaritan Hospital in Lebanon, Pa. While she enjoys her work, she also appreciates the pleasant change of pace provided by her quilt square creations.