QUILT HISTORY STORIES

ELGIN, ILLINOIS

RIVER FOREST, ILLINOIS

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

BECKET, MASSACHUSETTS

PAWTUCKET, RHODE ISLAND

Collingbourne Mills and Virginia Snow Studios Story

Book 1 and Book 2

Berkshire and Becket Silk Company

Book 3

Dexter Yarn Company

Book 4

Boag Ribboncraft Company, Boag, Inc.,

and Boag Studios Story

Book 5

Rudolph Petzelt Connection

Book 6

LeeWard Mills and LeeWards Story

Book 7

Susan Wildemuth, Atkinson, IL

Acknowledgements

This project has been a wonderful journey for me. I would like to say it is one that has taken me overnight to complete, but it has been a part of my research and writing life since the early 2000s.

Actually, the inspiration for this project was laid many years before, 1983 to be exact, when I got my first look at LeeWards Creative Crafts Store in Elgin, Illinois. I liked the mail-order catalogs, I fell in love with the store, and, much later, a need arose in me to tell the entire story.

There are many people who helped on this journey.

Personally…

I would like to thank:

My husband Keith and our son Brian; everyone should have these two good and gracious men in their corner.
Nikki, our daughter-in-law, who has brought joy to our lives.
My parents and brothers (and their families) for teaching me to ask questions and encouraging me to find the answers.
My parents-in-law for sharing their son with me.

Professionally…

David Siegenthaler, Richard Collingbourne, Mary (Collingbourne) Morton, The Collingbourne Family, Liz Marston and the Elgin Area Historical Society, Roger Fink, James Fink, Katie Block, Lee Anderson, Alicia (Prusa) Moorehead, Shirley McElderry, Lori Radun, Kim Force, Diane Valletta, Rosie Werner, Arene Burgess, Jerry Turnquist, E.C. Alft, Robert Durcholz, Amy Berger, Sandra Berger, The Dexter Family, Catherine Beyer, Bett Fischer, The Boag Family, Marilyn Eastman; Sylvia Ouellette; J. Petzelt-Franke, June Siffrar, Charlet Key, Amy Miller, Black Hawk College Library – Moline, Illinois, Kenneth S. Carlson – State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, my friends from the Iowa Illinois Quilt Study Group, Kim Wulfert, Juanita Payne, Joan Kiplinger, Merikay Waldvogel, Pat Nickols, Xenia Cord, Pat Cummings, Sally Coughlin, Pat Gebhardt, Gail Borden Public Library District, Kane County Genealogical Society, Rebecca Vnuk and Blaise Dierks – River Forest Library, Sara Zumwalt – Litchfield Carnegie Public Library, Pawtucket Public Library, Pawtucket City Hall, Donna Witruk - Becket Athenaeum, Christine Karns – Palatine Public Library, University of Rhode Island Library – Special Collections, Rhode Island Historical Society Library, Berkshire Historical Society, Betty Ann Ross, Judy at Artistic Web Works, and the United States Copyright Office - I will remember your kindness and help with this project and pay it forward to others.

A special thank you to

David Siegenthaler

Elgin Area Historical Society – Elgin, Illinois

Iowa Illinois Quilt Study Group - Kalona, Iowa

American Quilt Study Group - Lincoln, Nebraska

Please support your local, regional, and national

quilt history study groups and museums!

**Sign and Date your Quilts**

From my end of the road to yours,

I bid you peace and all things good.

Susan Wildemuth

Atkinson, Illinois