Airing pretty laundry for all Sussex residents

Colorful quilts adorn the landscape at history society event Vernon - On Sunday, the Vernon Historical Society’s annual quilt airing took place in the shady front garden of the 1831 Apple Valley Inn in Glenwood, owned by Lauren Brophy and Leigh Petroski. Featured among the exquisite quilts on display was the richly colored quilt the Vernon Historical Society will auction on Dec. 7, will all proceeds going to benefit the restoration of the 19th-century High Breeze Farm on Barrett Road. Proudly displaying a collection of quilts she had designed and crafted, Bernadette Coppola, owner of Log Cabin Quilts in Wantage, said that she loves her business because it enables her to meet so many interesting people. “I love the fact that it can provide a place for quilters to meet and make friends with other quilters, and I really love it when a first-time quilter comes in as says ‘look what I made, can you believe it’.” Also displaying their handicraft were Barbara Etzel of Highland Lakes, and her mother Ilda Deming of Highland Lakes and Venice, Florida. Deming said that she had been inspired to begin quilting when she discovered a stash of already-cut quilt pieces her mother had loving prepared during the 1930s, but had never used. “I love quilting together with my daughter and carrying on the family quilting tradition,” Deming said. Quilting as a uniquely American craft began at sometime during the early 1840s when cotton was king in the south, and the Northeastern textile industry was producing $100 million worth of cloth each year, putting inexpensive printed cotton fabrics within the reach of many American craftswomen. During the Civil War, Confederate and Northern quilters often would sell their handicraft to raise funds for the war effort.