Quilt Trails
Hi everyone, I'm super excited to be this week's guest blogger. The following images made me want to go on a road trip. Hope you enjoy them as much as I did. I am also adding a few links where you can find some interesting "quilt trails" across rural America.
The quilt trails are part of a growing phenomenon that has swept across rural America involving 29 states and two Canadian provinces. The concept began a decade ago by one Donna Sue Groves, paying tribute to her mother, a fifth-generation quilter, by painting a quilt square pattern on the family’s farm in Manchester, Ohio. According to a quilt trail website, it is estimated that more than 3,000 barns are adorned with quilt patterns. McDowell Quilt Trail is continuing this tradition as a tribute to our Appalachian heritage.
The farm in which the Log Cabin pattern is displayed is the Eden Shale Research Farm for the University of Kentucky. This pattern was chosen by Mrs. Bessie Hawkins, widow of O.D. Hawkins, the first farm manager and Barbara Wyles, wife of Joe Wyles, second farm manager.
Two LeMoyne Stars
Quilter: Donna SueLocation: Old St Rt 32 Peebles, OH
Two LeMoyne Stars squares adorn another barn in Adams County.
Grandmother's Flower Garden
Quilter: Essie Merck
Location: 738 Old Seneca Road, Central SC
Essie Merck once lived on the property where this block is displayed. For generations, this site was the original Six Mile Community Post Office and farm of the Merck family. The current owner of the property, Cindy Blair, chose the pattern to honor Essie, but changed the original colors. The pattern reminds her of the old Granny Square afghans her great-grandmother, Minnie Gokey, crocheted in colorful florals with a black background.
Location: 738 Old Seneca Road, Central SC
Essie Merck once lived on the property where this block is displayed. For generations, this site was the original Six Mile Community Post Office and farm of the Merck family. The current owner of the property, Cindy Blair, chose the pattern to honor Essie, but changed the original colors. The pattern reminds her of the old Granny Square afghans her great-grandmother, Minnie Gokey, crocheted in colorful florals with a black background.
"A Quilt Trail is a series of painted wood or metal, hung or free standing, quilt squares installed at various locations along a route, emphasizing significant architecture and/or aesthetic landscapes. Currently North America has quilt trails in 27 of the United States as well as in several Canadian provinces, such a British Columbia."
you can find more here and here
