Fairport Finnish Family presented in Quilt form
By Elaine Lillback
Walking into the Finnish Heritage Museum for the monthly meeting, we were surprised, the gift shop was temporarily converted into a bakery display with a long table covered with dozens of containers filled with a variety of breads, rolls and cakes. What an amazing spread; what was this all about?
Stepping into the galler
y, it became evident that the program was related to genealogy, for hanging on the wall was a large queen-sized log cabin patterned quilt. Family names had been counter cross stitched in red for the Werronen family and in blue for the Moyer family under the defining cabins by Amy Werronen Moyer, creator of the quilt. The heritage quilt was the labor of 521 hours, completed December 9, 1993.
Her grandmother, Sanna Serafina Reini, who was born in 1865, had come to Linesville, Pennsylvania in the late 1800’s, moving to Fairport Harbor where she met and married John Hilston, establishing a family and home at 535 High Street . The family genealogy roots have been pursued by Amy from the various areas of Rautio and Laihia, Finland, the origin of her families.
An interesting feature of the quilt is its surrounding perimeter which records in counter cross stitching the favorite recipes of the families. Each recipe is "keyed numerically" to its owner. One hundred recipes are stitched on the quilt.
Grandmother Sanna had made famous her dinner rolls as a baker for Hellriegel’s Restaurant in Painesville. Other family recipes include Finnish Sillsalla, Kulta Velli, Cabbage Rolls, and Dill Bread.
Here is the recipe as cross-stitched on the quilt :
Cinnamon Rolls
325 @ 20 – 25 minutes makes 12
Scald 1 C milk, Pour over 3 T butter, 2 T sugar, 1 tsp. salt. Cool ‘til lukewarm.
Add 1 egg beaten, 1 cake yeast in 2 T lukewarm water
Add 2 C flour. Beat well.
Stir in 1 ¼ C flour. Place in greased bowl to rise.
Frost with mixture of ½ C powdered sugar and milk
NOTE: These are the same cinnamon rolls that anyone who has eaten at Hellriegel's Restaurant on Route 20 in Painesville, Ohio will remember as marvelously delicious. When this fact was mentioned by Amy Werronen Moyer, the audience "gasped in recognition and memory!"
The top corners of the quilt record the 23rd Psalm and Amy’s favorite hymn, Ode to Joy. Four of her family generations have been married at the Fairport Zion Lutheran Church of which her grandfather was a charter member.
Other quilts made by Amy are on display in Willoughby and in the Fairport Village Council chamber. Refreshments from the sample bakery table were served by Jane Perinacci and Linda Penttila.
TEXT © Elaine Lillback PHOTOS © Lasse Hiltunen
