Secrets & Symbols: Temperance Quilt

Quilt, about 1890–1900
Rena Effinger Coyner Koiner (1869–1949)
Cotton fabrics
VMHC Collection, Gift of Dennis and Kay Stockdale

Rena Koiner, the maker of this quilt, was part of an extensive family descended from German immigrants who settled in the Shenandoah Valley in the 1790s. She and her husband, Charles, ran a large, prosperous farm in Augusta County. Stitched entirely by hand, this quilt demonstrates her needleworking skills and her aesthetic sensibility in arranging colors and patterns.