814-Uncasttr Farming, Saturday, August 1, 1987
This Kubota tractor quilt is an original design by Ruth Keller, was
encouraged and helped by her husband, David E., a salesman at Keller
Brothers near Schaefferstown. The center is the picture of a tractor taken from
a T-shirt and the patches are a variety offered by Kubota.
Custom-Made Quilt Boosts
BY SALLY BAIR
Lancaster Co. Correspondent
SCHAEFFERSTOWN
Traditional quilts come in a wide
variety of colors and patterns, but
Ruth Keller has designed a quilt
that is truly unique. At the urging
of her husband, David E., she has
made a bright quilt using patches
and a picture of the Kubota tractor.
David works as a tractor sales
man at Keller Brothers just west of
Schaefferstown which have sold
Kubotas for over 10 years. The fin
ished quilt is done in the distinctive
orange and blue Kubota colors.
Ruth says, “I made sure I had the
tractor shade I matched it to the
one we have in our garage.”
Once Ruth worked • out the
design, using 40 blocks with one
double sized one, David helped
arrange the patches by color. The
center, a double patch, came from
the back of a T-shirt which carried
the tractor picture.
David even took an interest in
the quilting patterns themselves,
suggesting ones that looked appro
priately masculine to go with the
tractor theme. It was his idea to use
tractor tire treads to highlight the
middle patch on the quilt. He drew
the design for Ruth to copy and she
faithfully duplicated two treads on
either side of the tractor. To make
an accurate design, David ran a toy
tractor’s tread through an ink pad
and then transferred that to paper
and enlarged it
This Kubota tractor was featured on a T-shirt and Ruth cut it out to fashion
the center of her quilt. Notice the tire treads on either side of the tractor. The
pattern for these was created by her husband, David.
At the comers of the patches
there are the letters for Kubota and
the logo. Again, David made the
pattern for tracing the logo and the
letters onto the fabric.
The border of the quilt is blue
and the Kellers used an orange
print fabric as part of the design.
Ruth said it was the only orange
with blue print she found, and for
tunately the orange was the right
shade.
The 94-by-104-inch quilt took
147 hours of quilting, 107 hours of
which are Ruth’s. She had hoped
to complete the entire project her
self, but had to get the quilt out of
the frame for another quilt, a pro
ject of the New Covenant Christian
School, Lebanon, benefit auction
quilt committee.
Ruth’s interest m quilling has
grown as a result of her five-year
association with the committee.
Although none of her four children
attends the school, Ruth works
with the group m obtaining “as
many quilts as we can” for the
annual auction.
Sometimes the committee
purchases lops and gives them to
church groups to quilt or find other
groups of friends who are willing
to quilt. It was a “friendship quill”
from the school that had to go into
the frame on which the tractor quilt
was being worked.
Ruth herself has been spending
one-half day each week for the last
two years quilting with a group in
Kubota Tractor
her church, the Midway Church of
the Brethren. It was there that the
concept for the tractor quilt was
nourished through a member of the
group who has made quilts for her
grandson utilizing various patches
of a wide variety of designs.
Ruth entered the one-of-a-kind
quilt in the Lebanon Guiltcr’s
Guild Show in May and won hon
orable mention in the “combina
tion of techniques” category. She
said there was a lot of interest in
her quilt, especially among the
men, and at least one woman
noticed the special tractor treads
used for accenting the center
patch.
Quilling look place in Ruth’s
basement on a frame which
belonged lo David’s mother. Ruth
said, “Years ago they didn’t make
quilts so big so David made me
new boards and I am using the
original four legs.”
Ruth admits that it has only been
in recent years that she has pul the
frame up in her basement, because
“I fell it was cheating the child
ren.” With her youngest now 17,
she feels she can use that space at
least part of die year, though the
frame also shares the room with
exercise equipment.
Ruth calls her experience on the
benefit auction quilt committee a
learning experience. “I learned a
lot working with others on the
committee who knew a little more
(Turn to Page B 16)
See your nearest
INEW HOLLAfSD
Dealer for Dependable
Equipment and Dependable
Service:
Annvllla, PA
B H M Farm
Equipment, Inc
RD 1
717-867-2211
Beavertown, PA
B&R Farm
Equipment, Inc
RD 1, Box 217 A
717-658-7024
Belleville, PA
Ivan J Zook
Farm Equipment
Belleville, Pa.
717-935-2948
Canton, PA
Hess Farm Equipment
717-673-5143
Carlisle, PA
Paul Shovers, Inc
35 East Willow Street
717-243-2686
Chambersburg, PA
Clugston
Implement, Inc
RD 1
717-263-4103
Davldsburg, PA
George N Gross, Inc
R D 2, Dover, PA
717-292-1673
Elizabethtown, PA
Messick Farm
Equipment, Inc
Rt 283 - Rheem’s Exit
717-367-1319
Gettysburg, PA
Yinglmg Implements
Inc
3291 Taneytown Rd
717-359-4348
Greencastle, PA
Meyers
Implement's Inc
400 N Antrim Way
P O Box 97
717 597-2176
Halifax, PA
Sweigard Bros
R D 3, Box 13
717-896-3414
Hamburg, PA
Shardesville
Farm Service
RD. 1, Box 1392
215-488-1025
Hanover, PA
Sheets Brothers, Inc
1061 Carlisle St
Hanover, PA 17331
717-632-3660
Honey Brook, PA
Dependable Motor Co
East Main Street
215-273-3131
215-273-3737
Honey Grove, PA
Norman D Clark
& Son, Inc
Honey Grove, PA
717-734-3682
Hughesville, PA
Farnsworth Farm
Supplies, Ipc
103 Cemetery Street
717-584 2106
Lancaster, PA
L H Brubaker, Inc
350 Strasburg Pike
717-397-5179
Lebanon, PA
Keller Bros
Tractor Co
RD 7, Box 405
717-949-6501
Loysville, PA
Paul Shovers, Inc
Loysville, PA
717-789-3117
Lynnport, PA
Kermit K Kistler, Inc
Lynnport, PA
215-298-2011
Mill Hall, PA
Dotterer Equip
RD #3
717-726-3471
New Holland, PA
ABC Groff, Inc
110 South Railroad
717-354-4191
New Park, PA
M&R Equipment Inc
P.O Box 16
717-993-2511
Olay, PA
CJ. Wonsidler Bros
RD. 2
215-987-6257
Pitman, PA
Marlin W Schreffler
Pitman, PA
717-648-1120
Quakerlown, PA
C J Wonsidler Bros
RD 1
215-536-1935
Quarryville, PA
C E Wiley & Son, Inc
101 South Lime Street
717-786-2895
Ringtown, PA
Rmgtown Farm
Equipment
Ringtown, PA
717 889-3184
Tamaqua, PA
Charles S Snyder, Inc
RD 3
717-386-5954
West Grove, PA
S G Lewis & Son, Inc
R D 2. Box 66
215-869-2214
Churchville, MD
Walter G Coale, Inc
2849 53
Churchville Rd
301-734-7722
Frederick, MD
New Holland, Inc
Rt 26 East
301-662-4197
Outside
800-331-9122
MO,
Westminster, MD
New Holland, Inc
1201 New Windsor Rd
301 857-0711
Outside
800 331-9122
MD
Washington, NJ
Frank Rymon & Sons
201 689-1464
Woodstown, NJ
Owen Supply Co
Broad Street &
East Avenue
609-769 0308