Shelba Haydt Sheffner of Kresgeville was in high school and remembers wanting to learn how to quilt. Her Grammy Haydt was a quilter so she asked her if she would teach her. One day she handed Shelba a paper bag and told her that inside "This is all you have to know."

Inside was a cardboard square, a couple pieces of fabric and a fabric square."I really didn't know what to do with it," she says.She set the bag aside and didn't begin quilting until over 20 years ago."I learned about a quilting class at The Country Quilterie in Effort and Mary Ann Kwant is the one who helped me pick out fabric. That was it. I got into quilting big time from that moment on," she says.Her very first quilt was for the baby son of her good friend, Leslie Borger."I like the story behind a quilt. Leslie's mother owned Indian Mountain Golf Course and when it was sold, a quilt top was found. Shelba finished it and gave it to Leslie, who then gave it to her son, Adam. Adam's two-year-old son, Wesley, sleeps with it every night.Shelba says she has always liked to sew and craft. Her aunt Katherine Ridenour taught her how to knit and crochet.Shelba, born and raised in Kresgeville, graduated from Pleasant Valley High School then Moravian College with a B.S. in psychology and music. She earned her master's in public health from East Stroudsburg University. She is the executive director for Eastcentral PA Area Health Education Center and organist and choir director at Jerusalem

U.C.C.She married Tom Sheffner and they have three children, Dr. Vanessa Rice, who lives in Green River, Wyoming, Justin, who lives in Kresgeville and Grant, who lives in Ohio. They have three grandchildren.Shelba has taught her daughter and her sister, Gina, how to quilt.For Vanessa's wedding, held at the Sheffner home, quilts were the theme. Quilts decorated the walls of the huge tent, the bay hales used for seats and each member of the bride's party received a handmade quilt from Shelba and Vanessa.For her parents' (Delbert and Faye Haydt) 50th wedding anniversary, all the guests were asked to bring a quilt square to the party. Then Shelba pieced them together and added fabric pictures of the family, sewing a border out of red handkerchief material.For her first grandson, Hunter's quilt, she cut up old maternity tops of hers and his great-grandmother's, Faye Haydt, to make a quilt. For her granddaughter Morgan, she cut up Morgan's christening outfit and incorporated it in a quilt for her.Whenever the Sheffners go somewhere, she searches out quilt shops. Her vacation albums are laced with pictures of quilt shops, even from their trip to Alaska.When the Sheffners built their new home 11 years ago, Shelba had two criteria-a big kitchen and a quilt room. She got both. One day she looked around her beautiful home and thought, "No one would ever know a quilter lived here," because she never kept any of her quilts for herself, giving them away as gifts. Now there are samples of her quilting artistry laced throughout the rooms.Shelba says she subscribes to "every quilting magazine made" which helps give her ideas of what to make next. She loves working with feed sack material, which is getting harder to find, and loves to do appliqués."I love old quilts and old patterns."The Internet is another resource she likes to access for ideas."It has really changed quilting. Years ago it was hard to find someone who would have answers to questions. Now you can just look it up on the Internet."A goal of hers is she would someday like to visit the International Quilt Center for Quilt Study in Lincoln, Nebraska.Amid all the fabrics, machines and quilting aides in Shelba's quilt room is a sign that hangs over her workspace that sums up Shelba's love of quilting, "This is where I belong."You can visit with Shelba and see some of her amazing quilts at the Polk Township Historical Society's Annual Quilt Show, "Stitches in Tyme" on Sunday, June 12 from 1-4 p.m. at the Polk Township Vol. Fire Co., Rt. 209, Kresgeville.