People

Ellie Fellers, a prolific quilter within our community

| Julie Fralich |

Ellie Fellers | Photo: Julie Fralich

Many people in town know Ellie Fellers as the local reporter for the Lewiston Sun Journal. But if you were to sit down and have coffee with her, you would have to clear the sewing machine off her kitchen table and move her extensive array of African, Japanese and Portuguese fabrics (and some from Marden’s) to a nearby chair. For Ellie spends much of her time in her kitchen sewing quilts, bags, and most recently masks.

Tools and materials of Fellers’s craft | Photo: Julie Fralich

This has not always been the case and in fact quilting was not something Ellie ever intended to do. She came to it later in life. At the time, she was struggling with a serious medical condition when a friend invited her to a quilt show. She was so taken with the craft that she asked how she might learn quilting. She and her friend immediately went out and bought a ruler, a mat, a cutter and some fabric from Marden’s. The rest is history, as they say. And so it was that quilting and a mentor friend pulled her through a very difficult time in her life.

The world of a quilter is one of color, complex patterns, an infinite choice of fabric and precision cutting and sewing. Ellie originally started by making some of the more traditional fence rail quilts until a cousin said she really needed to move on and try making some other kinds of quilts; whereby she started to make the more traditional log cabin design.  Over the years, she has had various teachers who have guided and provided inspiration.

An original design by Ellie Fellers

She now tends toward Modern Quilting that is a simple but abstract style, somewhat improvisational, with more open space and different design elements combined with some fancy sewing techniques. According to Ellie, “ there’s no boundary to what you can do. It’s very freeing. I think of a style and start pulling fabrics and I pull colors that go or don’t go and then I play with it. It just happens. It’s like cooking without a recipe.”

Over the years, Ellie has been part of various quilting and creative communities. She has been a member of the Pine Tree Quilters Guild and Maine Modern Quilters. She was even able to take a class in Searsport with two of the famous Gees Bend quilters from Alabama who were the foundation of the Modern Quilt movement. New Gloucester also has a community of quilters and she often relies on New Gloucester friend Sharon Vandermay to finish her quilts using a large long arm machine. In years past when a group called Creative New Gloucester was formed, she connected with other quilters in the area.  In the past, there have been quilt shows and meetings hosted at the New Gloucester Congregational Church.

Ellie says she has probably made over 100 quilts over the years. Her small house is a quilt museum on its own with quilts and fabric filling the spare bedroom and living room and garage. Her long years of quilting and acquiring supplies have served her well during this time of quarantine. Ellie quickly turned her attention from quilting to mask making. She does not charge for her masks but asks that people make a donation to the local food pantry. She thinks she has generated close to $150 in donations.

Ellie Fellers’s mask-making operation | Photo: Julie Fralich

She is currently working on a series of panels with colorful blocks surrounding Lady Liberty – who will have a mask over her face – as a reminder of the times we are in.

From Ellie Fellers’s Lady Liberty series | Photo: Julie Fralich

The Shaker community has also supported and helped Ellie over the years. In normal times, she sells her quilts and other products at Shaker Village. And she certainly hopes to do so when they open again. For now, she is hunkered down in her kitchen – doing what she knows and loves – creating and giving back to the community.  Something she has done so well for years.