Meet
Wendy Etzel
Quilting in the country with
Wendy Etzel. Join us on a weekend getaway.
by Joyce Libal
With the crisp October breezes came the inspiration
for yet another of Wendy Etzel's seasonal quilts. "Autumn" (45"
square) captures the spirit of the mountains that surround her home. The quilt was begun
in a class taught by Alison Goss at Quilting by the Lake. Staff Photo
 A
scenic drive through northeastern Pennsylvania was the perfect prelude to a delightful
class with quilting teacher Wendy Etzel. The Chitra editorial team became familiar with
Wendy's work through her quilting books and as a result of her nomination for the 1998
Teacher of the Year award given by The Professional Quilter magazine. When the
opportunity arose to take a class with this accomplished teacher, staff members Debbie
Hearn, Diane Grick and I were especially excited.
Traveling to Wendy's house through the forested Endless Mountains region provided the
perfect inspiration for Wendy's Log by Log class, which is based on her book of the same
name. Creativity was the rule of the day when our first instruction was to enjoy ourselves
by abandoning our rotary cutters and any thought of cutting and sewing straight lines.
Precision was not the goal in this class. Instead, we were to aim for a primitive look.
 Wendy's
strength as a teacher is the way she encourages each student to make her own unique quilt.
With gentle guidance and expertise, she helps her students feel confident.
Each member of our class stretched their imagination by
constructing a house built of cloth logs. Class members were (clockwise beginning top
right - Veronica Jones, Debbie Hearn, Chris Kroboth, Wendy Etzel, Gloria Stere, Judith
Youngman and Joyce Libal). Staff Photo
Log houses aren't the only ones that interest Wendy. in her first book, Houses of
Cloth (RCW Publishing Co., 1994), she created beautiful renditions of historic
Victorian homes in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, a town with a rich architectural heritage.
Wendy once lived there but now resides outside the city limits in the rural Barbours area.
Interesting historical information accompanies each quilt of a Victorian home in her book.
 Wendy believes that houses take on the character of their occupants and the
events that occur in and around them. She has a way of capturing this character in each of
her quilts. But instead of constructing the actual building with wood and landscaping its
environs with plants and trees, she portrays them in fabrics! "House building"
techniques aren't all she shares in Houses of Cloth. The book also includes
instructions for making fabric figures of Victorian ladies.
"A Victorian Winter in 1872" (49"
x 60") portrays a wintry scene of a Victorian mansion blanketed in snow.
CAPTURING MOMENTS IN HISTORY
Perhaps it's natural that someone interested in art, architecture and history would
find her way to quilting. Wendy's journey began 30 years ago when she and her husband
spent three years teaching in Chile soon after they had earned master's degrees. She found
it an exciting learning experience to immerse herself in a culture where the customs and
arts of the past were so evident in the present. Wendy's keen observation enabled her to
truly appreciate the beauty and artistry of that land. This influence can be seen in her
detailed quilts today.
After returning to the states, Wendy studied pottery, sculpture, jewelry making and
painting before turning her hand toward cloth. One quilting class was all it took for
Wendy to realize that this was her artistic medium.
Soon after that first class, Wendy opened a quilt shop in Williamsport. By offering
classes there, she blended both her love of quilting and teaching. Owning a shop was a
rewarding experience for several years, but Wendy recently decided to concentrate
full-time on her career as a quilting teacher. To the relief of quilters in the area, Our
Gathering Place Quilt Shop continues to operate under the ownership of one of Wendy's
quilting friends.
The transition has enabled Wendy to manage her busy teaching schedule while she
organizes and conducts quilting retreats at her rural studio. Luckily, she also manages to
continue to write quilting books and to quilt for her own and our pleasure.
 Instructions
for making imaginative quilts like "Chain of Stars" (54" x
85") are found in Kite Revue. Unlike Wendy's "picture quilt"
books, this one focuses on a more traditional look.
 Wendy
recycled remnants of previously made quilts to fill the shelves of her "Pie
Safe" (47" x 45"). Cupboards and shelves are the focus of Wendy's
book The Collectibles Quilt.
 Wendy pieced the "White Deer of Barbours" quilt
(42" x 48") in memory of the white buck who often visited her yard last year.
The design is based on a pattern from Quilted Legends of the West, (That
Patchwork Place, 1995). In her Log by Log book, Wendy develops the character of
Lydia Jane who also encounters a white deer in her garden.
 "Trees of the Forest" (42" x 48")
contains a side-viewed log cabin like the one you can make with the guidance Wendy
provides in our Quilting "How-To" Class.
It's from her book, Log by Log, which also tells how to make the thread trees
sewn in the quilt.
Photos that are not by our staff are either courtesy of RCW Publishing
Co., or Wendy Etzel.
You can contact Wendy Etzel about her retreats by writing her at 244 Lower Barbours
Rd., Williamsport, PA 17701 or call, (570) 478-2003.
To order Wendy's Quilt Books, contact RCW Publishing Co., RR 3 Box 44, Old Post Lane,
Columbia Cross Roads, PA 16914, Phone: (570) 549-3331, (800) 333-4RCW, Fax: (570)
549-3332, E-mail: rcw@epix.net, or visit their website
at www.rcwpublishing.com.
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