The Quilt Cabinet

The Perkiomen Valley School Quilts

Evergreen Elementary School Quilt, 1996

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When my son was between second and third grade, our district built a new elementary school. I decided the new building needed its own quilt.

I believe this was the first quilt I designed. I started with the name. How easy was that? Evergreen. I asked Mr. Devaney, the principal, if he had a specific evergreen in mind for the school and he gave me a copy of the tree he was going to use to represent the school. This quilt hangs in Evergreen, at the end of the first hallway.

Skippack Elementary School Quilt, 1998

Skippack Elementary Quilt The Quilt Cabinet
Skippack Elementary is built on a property that was the old creamery. The area was known as Harmony Square. When the town went to get a Post Office they discovered Harmony Square was not available and the name Creamery was chosen (Montgomery County, The Second Hundred Years.) I decided the quilt should be named “Harmony Square.”

I used the symbol representing the four elements for the squares. Air and fire are the top triangles while water and earth are the bottom triangles. I made each square different through the use of color combination, presentation, and size. The colors were chosen to match the colors in the main office. I wanted every square different to represent diversity.

Schwenksville Elementary School Quilt, 2004

Schwenksville Elementary Quilt The Quilt Cabinet

This is a long story. It goes all the way back to when I was in 6th grade. Go grab a cup of tea, or coffee.

In 1969 my family moved from Norristown to Schwenksville. It was like moving to the other end of the earth; it seemed so far away. I was going into 6th grade. I would be going to Perkiomen Valley School district and would be attending elementary school in the Kulp building.

Junior high was split, 7th grade held classes in “the 7th grade hallway” which was in the “new” addition of the Kulp building. The rest of junior high was in the Landis building. Art classes were held in the Miller building.

The Miller building was located between the elementary and junior high schools. It was a two-story brick building with a bell tower. The stairway was amazing. The whole building was amazing.

Now fast forward, The Kulp building had become North Elementary, which Evergreen replaced. Then we needed another elementary school because of the building boom. The Miller building along with the Kulp building had been razed and Schwenksville Elementary was built.

The bell that hung in the bell tower of the Miller building is used as the symbol for the school.

Another easy quilt to design, just use the bell. It was the first quilt I made combining both hand quilting and machine quilting. It did make my job easier and it worked.

The quilt hangs in the main hallway of Schwenksville Elementary along with The Miller Building Quilt.

The Miller Building Quilt, 2008

Miller Building The Quilt Cabinet

Every year the first step in the process of the Fifth Grade Quilt is for the teachers to come up with themes for that years quilt. We like to do something that ties in with the curriculum.

In 2008, one of the ideas for Schwenksville Elementary was a one-room schoolhouse. I went to the books, Montgomery County, The Second Hundred Years. I found information about a one-room schoolhouse in Schwenksville on Main Street. I could not picture it. I made a few calls and not one person could come up with where the building was. Schwenksville Borough Hall would be the building.

In the meantime, we decided to use the Miller building. Old school building, used to be on the property, and then there is the connection with the bell that had hung in the bell tower. I started working on the design. Look what we ended up with!

Perkiomen Valley High School Quilt, 2003

High School Quilt The Quilt Cabinet

While I was in the reception room of the eye-doctor, I was reading a newspaper article, which spoke of a quilt pattern called the “Perkiomen Valley Quilt.” When I got home I ordered the book Lest I Shall Be Forgotten. It was from the Goschenhoppen Historians.

When I received the book, I realized it would be a great pattern to use for the high school quilt. Trying to figure out how to put the Viking, our school mascot, in the center of the quilt without making it stand out too much took a very long time. I did not want to take away from the pattern itself. Of course I chose orange and brown, our school colors! I have always loved our school colors. This quilt has about 350 hours in it.

The Middle School Quilts, 2004

Perkiomen Valley Middle School West

West Middle School Quilt The Quilt Cabinet

  Perkiomen Valley Middle School East

East Middle School The Quilt Cabinet

East and West proved to be a design dilemma. I knew I was going to use the Perkiomen Valley pattern, in orange and brown, for those as well. I found it difficult to come up with a design to represent east and west. I ended up using the most basic, the sunrise and the sunset. They turned out to be beautiful.
East hangs in the lobby and West is hung in the library.

Mrs. Muscatello, the yearbook editor, used the West Quilt on the front cover of their yearbook this year. The title page has five of the six quilts I have made for the district pictured and I am featured in the yearbook as the artist!

PV Yearbook The Quilt Cabinet

The Quilt Cabinet
104 Maple Avenue
Collegeville, PA 19426

610.287.9662 | JudyAMuche@thequiltcabinet.com

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  1. Pingback: Magic Touch & Her School Quilts | Magic Touch & Her Gardens

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