Youngman studied biology and art history at Brown University and came to Pennsylvania more than 40 years ago. She and her husband shared a historical home in Antes Fort before moving to Muncy. While living in Antes Fort, she authored a book, "In the Spirit of Quilting: A Journal of Encouragement for Today's Quiltmaker." The richly illustrated book contains nearly three dozen of her quilt designs as well as quotes from a variety of sources, such as Mark Twain and Theodore Roosevelt.

The book is available at local booksellers and quilt stores.

She began quilting more than 30 years ago, beginning with the nation's Bicentennial.

"Before that I had tried all of the other crafts, knitting, needlepoint, crewel and decoupage. You name it, I did it. But once I discovered quilting, that was it. If you talk to other quitters, they all have trunks full of other craft projects they'll never finish. They just won't," she said.

Youngman tries to quilt everyday, she said, and turned to the craft full time once her children were through with school and she had retired.

"I really regard the young women who quilt today very highly because I don't think I could have done what I do now if I had a young family. When the Muse strikes, you forget about meal preparation and those kinds of things," she said.

Youngman said she rises early in the morning and puts in a couple hours quilting before 8 a.m.

"That's just been my habit. I'm an early morning person," she said. "In the early morning, I usually meditate while I'm quilting. It's a very good way to start the day."

Her studio is in one of her bedrooms, "because I can leave it a happy mess and just shut the door," she said, adding "I quilt in the living room in the morning and when my husband is home. You know husbands like you to be with them while they watch football."

One thing she doesn't do is focus on the time it takes to complete a project. "You don't count hours, because if you did you wouldn't quilt," she said. "I was raised with the theory that when you start something you finish it and I have discovered that with quilting, for me that doesn't work because I get bored easily.

"What I like about quilting is that there are so many components to a project. There's the designing, the hunting for fabric, the piecing, the quilting, and the finishing. Some days you have the energy to do one but not the others and all you want to do is sit and quilt. Other days you're hunting for bear and you can't wait to do some design work. So, if you have five or six or nine projects going at once, there is always one that is in the state that suits your frame of mind. It works for me and eventually they all get done.

"I complete about 30 in a year."

Youngman collaborated in conducting a year-long series of 19th century quilting workshops, encouraged by her son. Twenty-five women participated in the successful workshop in 2000.

"(He) said to me one day that he thought I was missing out on something -- that I'd been making quilts for 20 years and that it was time to 'hand out' what I know," she said. "Someone taught me, and if those of us who have become proficient at it and love it don't communicate the technique and the enthusiasm for it, we have no one to blame when quilting dies.

"So I paired with a quilting friend and we taught the workshops ... to commemorate the year 2000 in quilts," she added. "(They) were challenged as to how they were going to remember the year. It was very successful. They got really tight as a group, and it was a wonderful kick-off to what has become my real love for 19th-century vintage quilts."

Youngman said she loves "the colors, the history, the sensibility, the stores that the quilts tell. Also, quilting is a communal and has always been used asa reason to get together to socialize."

Purchase Quilts by
Judith Youngman
through the Muncy
Historical Society's
Gift Shop!

"In the Spirit of Quilting: A Journal of Encouragement for Today's Quiltmaker." The richly illustrated book contains nearly three dozen of her quilt designs as well as quotes from a variety of sources, such as Mark Twain and Theodore Roosevelt. $15

Pineapple
78 x 98 Hand Quilted
$500
(click on image for larger example)

Baskets
58 x 72 Hand Quilted
Hor Streak & Lightning
$500
(click on image for larger example)

Baskets
60 x 72 Machine Quilted
Rust Border
$400
(click on image for larger example)

Scrappy Os
72 x 88 Hand Quilted
$500
(click on image for larger example)

54-40 PA
50 x 62
$500
(click on image for larger example)

Pinwheel
74 x 90 Hand Quilted
$500
(click on image for larger example)

Postage B
51 x 60 Hand Quilted
$450
(click on image for larger example)

Evening Star
58 x 70 Hand Quilted
$500
(click on image for larger example)

Nativity Star
56 x 68 Hand Quilted
$500
(click on image for larger example)