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John Herr enjoys spending his days helping others by making pieced comforts.
"With my health problems, I wanted to be able to sit and do something worthwhile," he said.
Herr, 88, is unable to walk much due to knee operations which failed.
Typically, Herr gets up at 6 a.m. and goes into his workshop — a converted garage at Fairmount Homes — to work on the comfort tops until breakfast. He then goes back out until lunch and then again until dinner. At times, Herr again works on the comforts until 8 p.m.
"He puts in a long day," said his wife, Priscilla, "although he doesn't do that every day. It's a hobby he enjoys very much."
It's a relatively new hobby for Herr. He has only worked on the comfort tops for seven years.
A retired dairy farmer from Bradford County, Herr previously made lawn ornament wood crafts, working full time in New Jersey and the Thousand Islands for several years after his retirement from farming.
"I enlarged a pattern, sawed them out and painted them," he said.
Herr received a certificate of appreciation from the Philadelphia Region's U.S. Census Bureau in 2000 for his wood crafts.
He also had worked at the former New Holland Machine Company, doing janitorial work.
Since moving to Fairmount Homes in Ephrata in 2002, Herr no longer works on the wood crafts. "The dealers didn't follow me here," he said.
Instead, Herr said, he went to the Mennonite Central Committee's Material Resources Center in Ephrata. "They got me working on material to make the comforts," he said.
At first, Herr just cut out 6-inch squares of material by holding a square pattern on it and using a rotary cutter. The material would then be stored in a see-through plastic box.
About three years ago, his wife got him started on sewing the squares together.
"I never used a sewing machine before until I started this," Herr said.
His wife showed him how to use a sewing machine, he said. "I wouldn't sew at all if it was not for her," he said. "I was just cutting patches and she asked if I would like to sew them together."
The first couple of times he tried, Herr couldn't get it to work, but he was back the next day and was able to do it ever since.
Priscilla said her own 1972 sewing machine had a part that went bad and needed major repairs, but she found an old electric Singer machine that hardly looked used at all at Goodwill.
"I had it checked over and it ran wonderful for an old machine. It works really well with what he needs," she said. "It just has a straight stitch, forwards and backwards, but it's a heavy-duty, good working machine, not made with plastic parts like the new ones."
The machine also came with a cabinet, but it was too short for Herr. So the legs have been propped to raise it high enough for him.
Herr said he likes putting the designs of the comforts together. Each comfort is made with the "Trip Around the World" pattern, but different material and colors are used as he goes around the circle with the 165 patches.
The most difficult part of the process, he said, was matching each corner piece.
What he likes most about making the comforts is "the design part and seeing how it turns out since each is different," Herr said.
Herr has now made over 300 comfort tops for the Material Resource Center. He also has made some for his children.
