MONTEZUMA - Historic Mentz Church, dating back to 1825 with its clean white gabled facade set in the green outskirts between Montezuma and Auburn, in many ways echoes the frontier times when it was first built, a time when quilts and the art of quilting were at their peak.

The church played host Sunday to the second bi-annual “A Stitch in Time Quilt Show.”

Cheryl Longyear, a member of the Montezuma Historical Society and the Port Byron Library Quilt Club, said that quilts have stood as an art, a practical measure and a tradition that has been handed down from generation to generation.

“Quilts can take us back to a different time in our own country,” Longyear said. “They remind us of our origins. They were made for comfort and warmth and now they are a hobby or a craft that many women still enjoy and it is something they do to relax and as a form of self expression.”

More than 80 pieces were on display all over the one-room church.

Pieces by numerous local artisans depicted the variety of techniques that go into quilting.

“We have hand-made pieces,” Longyear said. “We have machine-made, we have quilts for warmth and we have wall hangings and we have embroidered quilts, too. There are a lot of different ways to make a quilt and a lot of them are shown here today.”

The pieces on display also represented the diversity of stories a quilt can tell.

Displaying family names, maps of the country, states, as well as holiday scenes showing Santa Claus and jack-o-lanterns, the quilts at Mentz Church covered a wide spectrum of how the art form can be applied.

When the first show was held in 2005, Longyear said that more than 100 visitors stopped at the church, helping to raise funds for the preservation of the church.

“We hope that before we're done today we'll have as many people,” Longyear said. “Everything we raise goes to the church preservation fund. It is a one-day show and I think this is something that a lot of people are interested in.”

For as many stories as each quilt can tell, there are just as many stories to the people who crafted them.

Marge Bunnell of Auburn had never quilted before when she decided that she wanted to create a quilt for each of her six children. She has been hooked ever since.

“I wanted to see if I could accomplish this,” Bunnell said. “They came out very nice and all of my kids still have them today. Since then I've been going to shows and looking at what other people are doing. There are some really intriguing quilts here today.”

The diversity of pieces and the unique character of each of them served as inspiration for many visitors and made the journey to the Mentz Church well worthwhile.

“I wasn't sure where this was,” Alma Lees, of Conquest, said. “Now I'm glad I made the trip. They are all worth looking at and all worth the drive. I'm glad that I came out for this. There are some really wonderful quilts to see, very inspiring.”