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Barn Quilts Blanket the State
By
Carol L. Spence
 LEXINGTON,
Ky., (Nov. 21, 2007) – Whether it's due to nostalgia, pride of
place or the desire to bring tourism dollars into the state,
barn owners across Kentucky are blanketing their buildings with
quilt blocks as part of the burgeoning Kentucky Quilt Trails.
The beautification movement began about three years ago in
Carter County with the installation of “Grandma’s Flower Garden”
on the barn of Grace and Dean Ramey. Originally part of the
Clothesline of Quilts, a tri-state effort to decorate Ohio,
Kentucky and Tennessee byways with traditional quilt designs,
the Kentucky portion of the Clothesline is now officially called
the Kentucky Quilt Trails. The idea has since spread across the
state from its original nine-county Gateway Resource
Conservation and Development area in eastern Kentucky.
University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension works hand-in-hand
in many areas with RC&D to promote and construct the blocks.
Tony Burnett, Gateway RC&D Coordinator, said the quilts
represent and honor farm wives’ contribution to the farm and
rural life.
“Traditionally, that was their role,” he said. “It was the
cooking and the cleaning and the actual quilting. This ties
their work into the work required to run a farm.”
The quilts come in two sizes, 4-by-4 or 8-by-8 wooden squares
painted with bright colors that can be affixed to a barn or
fence. Some are constructed so they can be freestanding in a
field. Counties that have jumped into the movement find it isn’t
hard to attract participants.
In Stamping Ground, the Buffalo Gals Extension Homemaker Club
committed to building the barn quilts as a community service
project. Beginning a little more than a year ago, their goal was
to establish a quilt trail in Scott County before the 2010 World
Equestrian Games at the Kentucky Horse Park. The idea proved to
be popular. The club has constructed and installed more than 70
quilt blocks, with another 20 in progress. Carole Landry, club
member, thinks the popularity of the barn quilts has to do with
a number of things.
 “I
think quilts are really, really popular right now, and barn
quilts have been getting quite a bit of coverage in newspaper
articles and magazines,” she said. “Plus the preservation of
tobacco barns – that interests the farmers, where the quilts
interest farmers’ wives. Plus, we’re trying to get it promoted
as an art project, so the kids in school will see art everyday
as they drive by on the school buses, and they’ll realize
ordinary people can create art.”
Farther west, Katie Alexander, Breckinridge County family and
consumer sciences agent, is one of the people behind a budding
quilt trail in the Lincoln Trail area. Breckinridge, Grayson,
Hardin, Larue, Meade and Washington Counties are all in various
stages of the process. The area is preparing for an onslaught of
tourists for the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Celebration in
2008, and it’s hoped that the quilt trail will encourage
travelers to branch out and explore the entire region. Marion
County, too, plans to start their trail in the coming spring.
Alexander’s county kicked off their part of the trail last April
with a public event to unveil the first quilt block in the
county, one that was purchased by the county’s extension
homemakers. Since then 11 quilt squares have been installed,
with four more to be hung by the end of the year.
“We’re hoping to get it all the way across the state. Get it all
the way over to Paducah, of course, the Quilt Capital of
Kentucky,” Alexander said.
People who are interested in having a quilt block on their
property must fill out an application, which is reviewed by a
site committee. The committee makes sure the block can be seen
from the road and that the owners won’t mind people pulling off
the road and taking pictures of it. The barn or building must
also be in good condition and be accessible to the heavy
equipment needed to install the block.
The price for a quilt block varies from area to area, often
depending upon whether grants or donations have been received by
the sponsoring agency. Gwenda Adkins, family and consumer
sciences agent in Elliott County, said extension program money
paid for the first block in her county because she wasn’t sure
if the idea would catch on. It did. That prompted her to apply
for a grant from the W. Paul and Lucille Caudill Little
Foundation, which paid for installing many of the first blocks
in Elliott. In Scott County and the Lincoln Trail Area, the fee
charged for an 8-by-8 block is $200, which covers the cost of
the board and a high quality exterior paint. The boards are
painted by volunteers. In some areas, the local Rural Electric
Cooperative Corporation has volunteered to install the quilt
blocks for no charge. This is an example of the collaboration
between local organizations that is a hallmark of the trails in
many counties.
The choice of a pattern is left to the purchaser, many of whom
select patterns that honor a loved one or evoke fond memories.
Alexander said that often the patterns are from quilts that have
been handed down from a grandmother or great-grandmother,
“something they’ve had in their family for a long time with
special meaning to them.”
At the beginning of the project in Elliott County, the people
ordering the quilt blocks were not the ones Adkins expected.
“The men wanted a quilt square on their barns in memory of their
moms quilting,” she said. “It surprised me, because I thought
women would want it because it was women who quilted. But that
wasn’t who called at the beginning. It was the men who called
and said, ‘I want one of those. It reminds me of my mom and the
way she always sat around and made our quilts for us.’ They all
have a story about their memories of their moms quilting.”
 Gwenda
Adkins also recalled Elliott County resident Evelyn Morgan who
wanted the double wedding ring pattern hung on her parents’ barn
to symbolize all the years they’d been married and the lessons
they taught their children about respect and love.
Unfortunately, Morgan’s mother, Melinda Whitt, passed away
before the block could be hung, but her father, Kenny, is able
to enjoy it today as a tribute to his late wife and their long
marriage.
Adkins says that the personal stories attached to the quilt
squares are their true and lasting importance.
“Yes, the quilts are beautiful, and they’re decorating the
landscape, and they’re creating community spirit, but there’s a
story behind that quilt square somewhere.”
For people like Katie Alexander, Carole Landry and Gwenda
Adkins, the Kentucky Quilt Trails is a way to bridge distances
between people and their life experiences.
More information about Kentucky Quilt Trails can be found
through the local Cooperative Extension office or online at
http://www.kentuckyquilttrail.org.
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Contact: Katie Alexander, 270-756-2182
Gwenda Adkins, 606-738-6400
Tony Burnett, 606-474-8582
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