Story Photos
 Photo Niis Bue Sue Rothfus shows the quilt she bought for $30 from Longview Goodwill. It turns out, the quilt, which had been on display at the Castle Rock Exhibit Hall's annual quilt show, was sewn by several area Methodist women groups and had been 'missing' for years. |
Missing quilt turns up at Castle Rock show
Tuesday, February 28, 2006 6:25 AM PST
By Niis Bue
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E-mail this articleCASTLE ROCK --- Call it, "The Case of the Wandering Quilt." A large quilt sewn by members of United Methodist Women in the Vancouver District in the late 1970s or early 1980s was on display at the yearly quilt show at Castle Rock Exhibit Hall during February.
It had been missing for some 15 years.
Acting on a clue from a friend who had just viewed the show, a Castle Rock UMW member "went right down to look at it," said Debbie Avery, president of the Vancouver District. "Sure enough, it was the missing quilt," she said.
Each of the UMW groups in the Vancouver District --- including Castle Rock, Winlock, Kelso and Longview, had designed and contributed a block for the quilt.
Sue Rothfus of Castle Rock bought the quilt about two years ago at Longview Goodwill for $30, talked down from $35, Rothfus said Friday. She entered it in the quilt show and attached a note seeking information.
"I was so surprised when (Avery) called me the other night," Rothfus said. "I had no idea what I would find out, and it happened." She is returning the quilt to UMW. Avery said the women's group wants to reimburse Rothfus, but she insists that she doesn't want to be paid.
That the lost is found doesn't mean the mystery is cleared up. Folks are curious about its wanderings. Rothfus speculates that "someone died and the family took everything to the Goodwill, because that happens a lot."
The quilting project originated with longtime UMW member Trudi Gish of Des Moines, Wash.
That the quilt turned up at Goodwill seems fitting to Avery, who said, "We know how much Trudi loved to shop at Goodwill."
The quilt was shown at events and churches, and in-between rested ignominiously in a black trash bag at the district office in Vancouver. After it disappeared, consistent attempts to prod memories and just generally seek information were made.
Members of UMW had about given it up for lost, Avery said, adding, "I think this is a perfect model for our United Methodist Women organization. We have remained focused on our purpose --- mission to women, children and youth. We never give up on that purpose."
The quilt will be on display at Bloom and Grow, a districtwide event at the Methodist Church in Ridgefield on Saturday, then it will be loaned back to Rothfus so she can show it at the March meeting of Ladies of the Lake Quilt Guild, a Longview group of which she is a member. From there, the quilt will begin traveling the church circuit once more.
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