When folks visit NOSW, one of the first things they see is the quilts, many of them lovingly finished by Dianne Stinebrickner. Dianne has been a financial donor to NOSW for many years, but for the last seven or eight years, she has also been the primary quilter.
When a new group of women arrives for a residential session, they spend a week making squares for their class quilt. Each woman designs her own square to express her story. At the end of the first week, all the squares go to the quilter, who has one week to finish the quilt in time for graduation.
When Dianne is in town, she’s the quilter. She looks at all the squares and selects a fabric that will enhance them. She quilts each square individually, choosing a design that complements the artwork.
“Each piece is what that person wants to express, and that’s what makes it a part of history for the program,” she says.
Dianne has been a quilter for 25 years and is in a quilting group. “I am self-taught, but with friends,” she says. Sometimes she starts with a pattern, and sometimes she begins with the fabric and sees where it takes her.
Raised in upstate New York, Dianne came to Berea fifty years ago when her husband, Ralph, began teaching math at Berea College. They raised their four children in Berea. She had known of NOSW and its founder, Jane Stephenson, for many years before she got involved. “I like the mission,” she says.
