HAMILTON - Marinel McGrath's brain works in overdrive most days. That makes her no different from any other superintendent of schools.

First and foremost, she's ultimately responsible for the education of the 2,163 students enrolled in the Hamilton-Wenham Regional School District this year. The myriad details of that responsibility keep her mind buzzing from dawn to dusk, and often beyond.

So you might think she'd spend any downtime she gets on low-stress activities, say, going to the movies or reading romance novels. Think again.

McGrath decompresses the old-fashioned way. She sews, and a number of her colorful quilts are on display in the Cutler School art gallery through the end of the month.

"It's a great way for me to relax after a long meeting," she said of her lifelong hobby. "It's a nice, repetitive motion."

She's been well-acquainted with needle and thread since she was a little girl. She learned her first hand stitches at 5 and was knitting her own sweaters by the time she was 10.

This apple didn't fall far from the tree - her mother made all her children's clothes, even knitting their socks and mittens. Her Polish grandmother was also a wizard with a needle, McGrath said.

Growing up in Indiana, McGrath joined both 4-H and the Girl Scouts, where she did more sewing. She enjoyed entering doll clothing she made in county fairs every year.

She took up quilting in college through an adult-education course. She originally made some large enough to serve as bed linens. One on display is sewn in what is called a double wedding ring pattern, and McGrath assembled it for her 10th wedding anniversary. She and her husband use it on their bed every summer.

When she was hired as superintendent in 2002, she had to downsize her projects because she suddenly found herself with a lot less free time on her hands.

"I need task completion," she said, and the larger quilts would have taken far too long to finish.

Nancy Rogers was at the gallery for an artist's reception last Wednesday, and she's a woman who knows a thing or two about quilting. She's got a slew of awards her quilts have won at the Topsfield Fair over the years, including five Best of Show ribbons.

"Nice stippling," Rogers said as she admired McGrath's work. "Very nice stippling." That's the technique of quilting by sewing a continuous, meandering line of stitching that never crosses over itself.

School administrators often talk about encouraging children to become lifelong learners. McGrath, 53, is practicing what she preaches, proving you're never too old to learn new tricks.

She attends a weeklong quilters' convention in Vermont every summer and signs up for a few classes to hone her skills.

Her father's job led the family all over the world when she was young, and McGrath went to school in Ireland, Switzerland, France and England. In those days, European girls were required to take what were called domestic sciences.

She had to learn how to make a chemise and slip entirely by hand, and in Ireland there was another required subject.

"How to clean salmon," McGrath said with a chuckle. "The Irish love their salmon."

Cutler School is at 237 Asbury St., Hamilton.