By Clinton Martin
Quilting and Amish Country – the two just go together. But you might not know that quilting was not brought to America by the PA Dutch. Amish and Mennonite ladies largely learned quilting from their English-speaking neighbors, who had already arrived in America, and were well-established when the German-speaking waves of immigration took place.
Today, many visitors to Lancaster County associate quilting with the PA Dutch, and indeed the “Plain People” have developed their own style, aesthetic, and industry within the quilting world. There are many quilt shops down back roads and country lanes in the area, but there are a few shops that have built a reputation for exacting standards and fastidious quality.
Miller’s Quilt Shop (on site at the eponymous smorgasbord) is one such shop that prides itself on accepting only the most high-quality consignments. Basically, it takes many, many hours to create a quality quilt. Quilt shops in the area thus source their inventory from numerous local artisans who create the quilts at home and then consign them to the shops to sell.
Miller’s Quilt Shop recently shared a very special quilt with me, which is a one-of-a-kind, in other words “one-of-one” quilt. In celebration of America’s 250th birthday, Sarah, a local Mennonite woman who hand-stitches quilts for Miller’s, made a beautiful queen-size quilt using a preprinted panel in the middle and a careful selection of fabric blocks around it to match. The panel sports a patriotic eagle motif, and the surrounding piecing is a well-known quilt design called “Trip Around the World,” pieces of fabric cut and sewn together forming concentric rings of diamonds.
Many local quilters don’t do much of the stitching by hand. They use machines of various sizes, the largest of which can take up most of someone’s living room (so-called “Long-Arm” machines.) But Sarah hand stitched the entire quilt, making it a true work of artisanal folk art. While it is likely the quilt will be sold by the time you read this, if you want a similar quilt, Miller’s does have a very similar design, in King Size, coming from Sarah as a follow up to the Queen Size quilt. Miller’s does not take special orders or make custom quilts for customers. What they have in their inventory is what they have.
Visit Miller’s Quilt shop to see what the current lineup is, and prepare to be impressed with the colors, shapes, styles, and patterns. Miller’s is located at 2811 Lincoln Highway, Ronks, PA 17572. Call 717.687.8439 if you can’t visit in person. Lastly, Miller’s is open every day (even on Sundays).