One of our members, Mary Profetto, recently participated in a Y2K Friendship Quilt fabric exchange. She wrote her own introduction that perfectly depicts our area of Vermont, the Northeast Kingdom. She has given permission to reprint her words here.

I live in what is known as the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. I've been quilting for 25 years now and am still learning new things about the craft. My first attempt at quilting was a machine appliqu� Noah's Ark quilt for my first child. Two years ago I made his wedding quilt. There have been lots of projects in between those two quilts (some finished; some not!) that have given me much enjoyment throughout the years. Some of my other interest are gardening, birding, and spending as much time as possible outdoors doing something active.

Vermont offers all of these activities and then some to me. Our four seasons (well, five if you count "mud season" as one as all real Vermonters do) never lose their appeal to me. Spring in Vermont brings new life to everything after a long winter. With spring comes the splash of colors from bulbs that have lain dormant under the winter's blanket of snow. Seeing crocuses pop up around receding patches of snow never seems to lose its appeal to me. I also look forward to the return of the migrating birds.

I've always enjoyed taking part in a sugaring operation and have spent quite a few hours doing just that. Vermont maple syrup is so sweet and so good that one is always looking for new ways of using it. I've made cakes, breads, pies, cookies, and baked beans with maple syrup instead of sugar in these recipes and think that they taste much better this way. Of course, we Vermonters are just a little proud of being able to produce this syrup.

Summer up here in the northeastern part of Vermont isn't very long, so one learns to enjoy it while it lasts. Our countryside is dotted with many small, family-run farms with all their charm and beauty. Cows lounging in the pastures and green hills that please your eyes. Quaint farmhouses with their rustic red painted barns. Just a relaxing ride out in the countryside is enjoyable in itself.

Newport, the town in which I live, has a large (by Vermont standards) lake to enjoy. Newport shares this beautiful lake with our neighboring country to the north. Actually only three of its twenty-seven miles are in the United States and the rest are in Canada. Its Indian name, Memphremagog, means "beautiful waters," and it's just that. I've spent many fun afternoons windsurfing and fishing on it.

Fall is my favorite time of year. Or is it winter? No, maybe it's spring! (I guess I can see why having four seasons appeals to me so much when I can't figure out which one of them I enjoy the most.) Truly, if one has not seen what Vermont is like in full fall color it is hard to do it justice with just plain words. I think quilting is the closest one can come to reproducing the beauty of the colors and the feeling that one experiences with Vermont's fall foliage season.

Vermont's last season of the year is its longest. With the arrival of snow in mid November and its departure around the end of March, one can find lots of time to curl up and od all that hand stitching one loves so much. Of course one can't stay inside for five months as much as we quilters like stitching, so I often head to the ski slopes. It's about a twenty mile ride from my house to Jay Peak, one of the nicest ski areas in the East. I can't begin to count the many hours that I've spent outside in the crisp, cold air of winter. I have to admit, though, that the older I get, the longer the winter seems to last! In the end it always brings me back to spring to the start of the wonderful cycle of nature, each year a new beginning, each year a little different.

I hope that by sharing with you this description of me and of the place where I live that...you will feel somehow connected. In the wide scope of this world, we strangers are coming together to share ourselves and our awe at being here to see the new millennium arrive...

Proverb 31:31. Give her the product of her hands, And let her works praise her in the gates.

Happy quilting,
Mary