Carole Schumacher learning she won first place in the Original Design quilting division.
Karen Searle, 2021 Competitive Entries director, and her husband, Michael Searle, 2021 deputy for the Arizona State Fair, receiving the quilt on behalf of the Pew family in November 2021.
Linda Rowe
Who knew that PebbleCreek quilter Carole Schumacher was a cow lover? It started when she was a teenager spending summers at her uncle’s Chesapeake, Va. dairy farm. Rising at 4 a.m. every morning, she washed 70 Herford cows’ udders and repeated the process each evening.
Carole’s husband, Ken, was a North Dakota farm boy and was involved in Future Farmers of America (FFA) during his youth. The Schumacher family registered a brand with the North Dakota U.S. Department of Agriculture in the mid-1950s, which was a sideways “S” on the cattle’s left shoulder. After Ken’s parents died, Carole and Ken took ownership of the brand. Ken still uses it for woodworking.
Carole and Ken moved to PebbleCreek in 2016 and met new friends Ted and Debbie Diehl, who have a vibrant cow painting adorning their kitchen wall. In January 2021, Carole decided she “had to quilt it.”
The PebbleCreek Quilters’ Club offered a virtual mosaic technique class by nationally renowned quilter and teacher Timna Tarr. Carole learned how to make a quilt top two inches at a time. She drew a diagonal grid over a blown-up photo. She began choosing small fabric squares for the quilt top. Reds served as the background, with the black and white cow coming to the surface with many fabrics, but with no fabric used more than twice. The cow got a “G” in the middle of her forehead, and Gertrude was born. She included the Schumacher “S” brand on her left shoulder made of dyed salmon skin. Carole then quilted and hung Gertrude up in her home as her new favorite quilt.
Carole’s fellow quilters urged her to enter the beautiful and unique quilt in the 2021 Arizona State Fair. She was both thrilled and surprised when she received a first-place blue ribbon in the Original Design Division. But, the biggest surprise came later.
Carole got an unexpected call from Karen Searle, Competitive Entries Director (CED) for the fair. Karen said that Sherry Pew, who served as CED for 42 years prior to her retirement, had died the opening day of the 2021 fair. During the fair, Sherry’s family members toured the competitive entries several times and ultimately approached Ms. Searle. They said that Gertrude simply emanated Sherri’s life by combining her love of fabric arts and agriculture, including the “S” on her left shoulder. They asked Karen to contact the artist to see if she would sell the quilt to them.
Carole’s initial response was tears. She never dreamed that a quilt could be so meaningful to people she had never met. She had no intention of selling Gertrude, but quilts always have a story. This story could not end any other way. After coming to a financial agreement, Gertrude went to her new home with the Pew family.
Carole is now pondering her next cow and thinks that either an Alma Ann or Ada will be coming to life. Who knows what might be hanging in future fairs?