Shelburne's very crafty town resident, Maedean Birmingham, is often first noticed for her home's abundant and changing display of exterior holiday decorations: scarecrows in autumn, Christmas lights and lawn ornaments in winter, and of course, her summer flowers in steady bloom. Inside, Maedean's creativity never stops. She knits, hooks rugs, makes quilts, cooks, and makes her own wine. A Shelburne resident since the 1940s, we thought readers would like to learn a little bit more about her.

Maedean was born in Jericho to parents Della and William Kellogg; she is the fourth of their five daughters. She spent her first 13 years there on the family farm until GE and the government bought the farm, among others, to make a firing range. The family then moved to a small farmhouse in Shelburne just a few doors down from the home she lives in now. Maedean credits her prolific handwork skills to her mother. "My mother was a seamstress and she made everything for our home, including our clothes and many, many quilts. She sewed to the very day that she died. She was just one month shy of her hundredth birthday and was sitting on the couch making a quilt block when she quietly died in her sleep." 

Madean graduated from Shelburne High School in 1947 and then married Ted Birmingham, a "Woodstock boy" and the brother of her sister's husband. They were married in 1947 on the 4th of July and made their home in Woodstock for 11 years. Ted was a carpenter and a toolmaker in Windsor when IBM offered him a tool making position and the couple moved back north to Essex Junction. 

"There wasn't anything Ted couldn't do or fix," Maedean commented. 

"For fun," she said, "We loved to go fishing - in the boat or in the rivers for trout. We'd take our Irish setter, a little Coleman gas cooker, go fishing, and have a picnic - frying up the trout and eating right alongside the riverbank." 

The couple bought their Shelburne home on Falls Road in the 1960s where she has lived ever since. "I have wonderful neighbors and friends right here and they are very good to me. It's a peaceful, convenient, and beautiful town. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else."

Favorite food: "I love to cook! But I particularly like to make homemade spaghetti and meatballs as well as lasagna. And most of all, I like cooking anything for my friends."

Favorite music: Bing Crosby, Tommy Dorsey, and all of the hymns

Books: "I recently read a good collection of short stories about angels and miracles."

Movies and TV: TV cooking shows 

Pets: "We always had two cats and two dogs, but now I just have one tabby cat - my best friend, Koko. I also like to feed the birds and Koko likes to watch them from the window."

Bucket list: I'd like to make another quilt and continue to do everything I do now."