Zimmer to be honored Give her a rag and she 146 ll braid you a rug
Zimmer to be honored
Give her a rag and shell braid you a rug
BERNE Hand-braided rugs, some the color of fall, others in shades of sherbet, and one dressed in a business suit, are layered three deep in Florence Zimmers home.
In 1950, when she and her husband, Howard, moved into the house they built on Route 443 in Berne, Zimmer wanted to cover the hardwood floors, so, she learned to braid rugs. Then, she learned to hook rugs. Then, she learned to quilt. Now, at 95, she has a house full of handmade goods and materials for more.
"I never buy anything," she said with some amusement. "I never buy a skein of yarn; it just comes here."
Her first rug was made out of old clothes, she said, and, by now, she has a reputation for being useful with odds and ends so people oblige her with sacks of fabrics and yarn.
"‘Have you got wool on"’" she remembered her late husband saying to guests. "‘Be careful. She’ll have it in her rug.’"
Her husband, who had been a teacher and later a school principal, had a closet full of wool suits when he died. Zimmer couldnt bear to throw them away, so she packed them up in a suitcase, and, years later, she unearthed them, cut them into strips, and braided them into a perfect circle that sits at the top of her staircase.
It’s almost a shame to step on rugs like this. "They’ve been here since 1950," she says, pointing to neighboring rugs in the upstairs hallway. "And we had three kids up here, and the foster boy for five years." Black-and-white family photographs hang in the hall, and baby dolls await a little girl’s arrival in the small, sunlit bedrooms.
Each bed is made up with layers of handmade quilts. Zimmer pulls back the top quilt, every time revealing an entirely different style. The first time she took in quilting, she charged $7, said Zimmer, and then she went out and bought two white vases for her mantle. She still has them.
Zimmer is not a woman who wastes things.
"I made a romper suit for Howard," she said of her son. "Then Trisha came along and I cut off the bottom and made it a dress."
Being a mother in the country is really how she learned all of the crafts that she has mastered. "You learn to do things to keep yourself busy," she said.
"I love to make something from nothing," said Zimmer. "That gives me great satisfaction."
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The Altamont Community Caregivers will be honoring Zimmer at their quilt show in Orsini Park on September 8. The show is set to begin at 10 a.m. and last until 4 p.m.; admission is $5 and the proceeds will benefit the Caregivers.
