Quilt Stories from Stadel Mountain

Mom is gone, the last of the four generations of Stadels who lived on Stadel Mountain. The 1870’s farmhouse lies quiet, but for an old dust covered trunk. Memories of life on the farm draw us to the trunk. The eager hands of the fifth generation gently open the lid to reveal twenty- four family quilts. Vibrant splashes of colorful fabrics stitched together in quilted patterns spill from the trunk. Quilts containing stories stitched from threads of time reveal the family’s history. The beautiful quilts hide a box filled with photo albums, prose and poetry written by Mom. Our minds begin to create chapters of our family’s role in the development of the Catskill Mountain area of New York. And thus, Quilts Stories From Stadel Mountain was written.

Co-authors, Gloria Driscoll and Carol Gendle, are daughters of Mae Stadel Reisinger. Gloria is the eldest of Mae Stadel Reisinger’s children. She is a registered nurse, mother of three, avid quilter and quilt teacher. Gloria was featured in the “Yesterday Today” article of the February, 1999 issue of Quilting Today magazine. Carol is the youngest of Mae’s children and mother of 2. She is a retired elementary teacher, quilter, and family historian. The quilts and their stories have been juried into the New York Quilts in Troy, NY and the Bennington Quilt Show in Bennington, VT. Gloria and Carol have lectured for school, church, historical, and quilt groups, and their local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. A presentation was also given for a women’s studies class at the State University of New York at Binghamton. It is most unique that the twenty-four quilts, artifacts, historical references, and writings compiled to create this book come from one source, Stadel Mountain.