2015 Quilter's Chronicles - amishcountry.org

2015 Quilter’s Chronicles

ABOUT THE PROJECT ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ PAGE 2

ABOUT THE PROJECT MANAGER ...................................................................................................................................................................................... PAGE 2

ABOUT THE AUTHOR ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. PAGE 3

QUILTING FUN ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ PAGE 4

THE GARDENS

CONCORD MALL / “ROCK RUN MANOR” ........................................................................................................................................................................ PAGE 5

COPPES COMMONS / “DUTCH DOUBLE WRENCH” ..................................................................................................................................................... PAGE 6

DAS DUTCHMAN ESSENHAUS / “HANDS ALL AROUND” .......................................................................................................................................... PAGE 7

DUTCH COUNTRY MARKET / “NEW YORK BEAUTY” .................................................................................................................................................... PAGE 8

DUTCH VILLAGE MARKET / “DUTCH WINDMILL” .......................................................................................................................................................... PAGE 9

ELKHART CENTRAL PARK / “ELKHART PRIDE” ............................................................................................................................................................... PAGE 10

ELKHART COUNTY 4-H FAIRGROUNDS / “PURDUE EXTENSION CONNECTING IN OUR COMMUNITY” ................................................... PAGE 11

ELKHART COUNTY COURTHOUSE / “LINCOLN PATRIOTIC” ...................................................................................................................................... PAGE 12

ELKHART COUNTY HISTORICAL MUSEUM / “FLYING SWALLOWS” ........................................................................................................................ PAGE 13

GLORY GARDENS / “GRANDMA’S FAN” ............................................................................................................................................................................. PAGE 14

KRIDER GARDEN / “DOUBLE WEDDING RING” .............................................................................................................................................................. PAGE 15

LINTON’S ENCHANTED GARDENS / “PINK SWIRLS OF HOPE” ................................................................................................................................. PAGE 16

MARTIN’S ACE HARDWARE / “CHILD’S JOY OF OUR COUNTRY” ............................................................................................................................. PAGE 17

NAPPANEE CENTER / “OMA’S BLUMEN GARTEN” ......................................................................................................................................................... PAGE 18

OLD BAG FACTORY / “LEGACY” ........................................................................................................................................................................................... PAGE 19

PREMIER ARTS, DOWNTOWN ELKHART / “DRUNKARD’S PATH” ............................................................................................................................. PAGE 20

RUTHMERE HOUSE MUSEUM / “POMEGRANATE WINDOW” ................................................................................................................................... PAGE 21

WAKARUSA / “WILD GEESE” ................................................................................................................................................................................................ PAGE 22

WEAVER FURNITURE SALES / “LOG CABIN” .................................................................................................................................................................... PAGE 23

2015 Quilt Gardens along the Heritage Trail Quilter’s Chronicles

Visit QuiltGardens.com for more information

About the Quilt Gardens along the Heritage Trail

The 2015 Quilt Gardens along the Heritage Trail Quilter’s Chronicles

Sonya L. Nash, Project Manager, Elkhart County CVB

It is often times said that creating anything worthwhile takes time, money and a lot of effort. The Quilt Gardens along the Heritage Trail embodies that statement. This project would not have started, nor would it have continued with such success, without the great team at the Elkhart County Convention & Visitors Bureau (ECCVB) and our community partners.

The ECCVB leadership and staff work year-round to plan, prepare and promote this project. Countless man hours including graphic design, website updates, ad placements, journalist inquiries, group tour planning, and yes, even paying the bills and answering the phones all occur under the parameters of the ECCVB.

At the same time more than 200 volunteers in 7 cities and towns do the same for their sites and businesses. They work on soil content, site beautification, planting, weeding and maintaining gardens for four months, sometimes during difficult weather conditions, doing their part in welcoming visitors.

My role is to keep everyone working together on the same page while steering this project in a positive future direction. Over 8 years, we have learned through trial and error a multitude of things about transforming quilt designs into living gardens that flourish throughout the viewing season. Educational sessions, working with garden experts and experimenting with plant types are all part of the event too. While gardening can be a science, we have learned that sometimes Mother Nature overrules our efforts to excel, and sometimes we are amazed at how our plans come to fruition in a fantastic way.

Yes, the Quilt Gardens Project is a work of art. It’s also A LOT of work involving A LOT of people. It has become an annual event in our destination that our residents love to share with visitors. Definitely it’s time, money and effort well spent and enjoyed by all. We look forward to your visit and hope you return time and again as we continue to learn and grow along with our gardens.

PAGE 2Visit QuiltGardens.com for more information

Elkhart County, IN Visitor Center219 Caravan Drive | Elkhart, IN

w: AmishCountry.orgp: 800.262.8161e: [email protected]

Quilt Gardens along the Heritage Trail is an innovative, creative, one-of-its-kind experience designed to interest a wide-range of audiences and promote the area as a premier visitor destination. It offers a variety of opportunities for partnerships with local businesses and communities and creates widespread community involvement.

The project was initiated as a concept by the Elkhart County, IN Convention & Visitors Bureau (ECCVB) in early 2006 and tested in 2007 with 2 pilot locations. 2015 is the eighth year for the season-long attraction that continues to grow and now features 19 quilt gardens and 21 artist rendered quilt murals presented in seven communities along the Heritage Trail driving tour, viewable annually May 30 to October 1.

Recognizing the importance and value of high quality in both the gardens and murals displayed, each garden and mural is required to meet ten standards and related product/service specifications. Based on those standards, all official sites and patterns are juried into the program by a committee that includes landscapers, designers, horticulturists, growers and park professionals. Official garden partners are responsible for performing all of the work necessary to plant and maintain the gardens throughout the season.

The Quilt Gardens along the Heritage Trail has garnered national media attention and draws significant audience interest from three of the largest hobby groups in the nation – gardeners, quilters and photographers. It has also been very favorably received by the group motor coach audience, having been named an American Bus Association (ABA) Top 100 Event in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015.

“Like” us on Facebook to get weekly Quilt Garden photo udpates: https://www.facebook.com/QuiltGardensTour

Follow us on Twitter to get up-to-the-second info on all things Quilt Gardens: @quiltgardens & #QuiltGardens

Watch videos on Funky Finds ... along the Heritage Trail: http://www.youtube.com/visitamishcountry/



Be sure to download the 2015 Master Gardener Guidebook!

Vickie Estep, Master Gardener Guidebook AuthorGold 2000 Level Master Gardener

2015 Master Gardener

Guidebook

Gardening is part of my makeup. My interests seem to grow right along with my gardens. I began helping in my grandmothers garden as a very young child and in 2006 I took my love of gardening to a whole new level. I enrolled

in the Purdue Master Gardener training class. I love learning and have always been intrigued by science. I made many new like-minded friends and found a new voice for my passion. A voice that ultimately led to an opportunity to write the Master Gardener Guidebook for Quilt Gardens along the Heritage Trail.

Every Quilt Garden has its own intricate pattern, many are original designs, and each has its own unique story. The Master Gardener Guidebook gives you detailed information about each garden focusing on plants and gardening tips.

Mary Davis, Quilter’s Chronicles AuthorGold 1000 Level Master Gardener & Indiana Master Naturalist

As a little girl, Mary had her own corner of the family garden and loved to sew with her mother. When she was twelve, she decided she wanted to make a Sunbonnet Sue quilt. Rather than laugh, her mom helped her pick out fabric from scraps (her mom made most of her clothes) and she appliqued the first square.

Tragically, Mary’s mother died less than a year later and the quilt obviously was forgotten. Mary’s life became busy with college, marriage, law school and practicing law with her husband. Sometimes “what goes around, comes around” can be good and in 2003 Mary became a Master Gardener. In 2004 she took a beginning quilting class through adult education. Both old loves were renewed, so Mary was thrilled to become involved in the Quilt Gardens by researching the history of the quilts.

She retired at the end of 2010 after 36 years of practicing law, but combined quilts, gardening and talking by becoming a step-on bus guide for Quilt Garden along the Heritage Trail. She figured this was her perfect retirement job - having been a lawyer, she loves to talk and she says this way she has a captive audience!



Quilting Fun

Almost everyone who starts quilting quickly amasses fabric, usually called their “stash.” If you need some support for buying quilting fabric, here are some suggestions:

• Fabric has no cholesterol, fat or calories

• Closets of fabric act as insulation, keeping your house cooler in summer and warmer in winter

• Buying fabric is cheaper than seeing a therapist (well, usually)

• A meteor could strike the manufacturer and I couldn’t get anymore (or they might discontinue the pattern)

• It helps the economy during a recession (it’s a tough job, but someone has to do it)

• Buying fabric is more calming than seeing a psychiatrist

• Fabric requires no refrigeration or freezing, so it helps the environment by reducing electricity

• Fabric doesn’t require cooking

• Fabrics don’t need to be fed, walked, wiped, read to, sung to sleep or require back rubs

• Dust doesn’t collect under fabrics, which is a good reason to store them on the dining room table

• There may never be another sale

• My dog (cat, devil) made me do it

• Someday I am sure I will use it

• Fabrics are not illegal, fattening or immoral

• The price was too good to pass up

• Bolts of fabric provide good traction by adding weight to the back seat or trunk of your car

• Whoever dies with the biggest stash wins!

“Rock Run Manor” - Concord Mall

Low Grow Orange Zinnia

Stone Pavers

SIZE: 30’W X 30’H

For the fourth year Concord Mall has partnered with the Elkhart Dahlia Society in designing and presenting its Quilt Garden, and for the fourth year they have used a dahlia pattern as the inspiration for their garden. The mall has hosted the annual Dahlia Society Flower show for over 20 years, so it’s a natural partnership. The society notes the colors picked for their garden highlight and coordinate with the Quilt Mural, Jazz It Up.

The design was inspired by two families active in the local dahlia club and growing dahlias. The Dahlia Society has cited Mac and Norma Boyer, who have grown dahlias in the fruit hills of Bristol for over 50 years and introduced several varieties of dahlias, and Jerry and Ruth Ann Wittrig who have also been growing varieties for over 50 years in Goshen. The Wittrig property is bordered by Rock Run Creek, hence the name for this year’s pattern.

Dahlia quilts basically follow two tracks - one is a pieced quilt, usually including dozens of “petal” pieces, appliqued to resemble the beautiful blossom of a dahlia. The other is a pieced quilt based on a star pattern; there are six, eight and even twelve pointed stars that have all been used as a base for a dahlia quilt. Frequently these have a circular and star pattern in the center, but since their 2014 quilt used a star center, this garden features a diamond center. Using the diamond center for this quilt design is interesting because looking at the schematic drawing for the garden it looks very much like a bow tie quilt, which simply illustrates how many different quilts utilized similar building blocks to interpret the final design.

Stars of all kinds have long been favorites for quilters making pieced quilts. They have also been used by Native American Indians, although usually using a Lone Star design that is more complex than this year’s garden design. Eight pointed star patterns are also frequently called Ohio Stars. The Ohio Star is a staple for generations of quilters, and it is the official quilt block of the State of Ohio. (Whoever knew states had official quilt blocks!) It is a 9-patch-block (three rows of three squares). Four of the squares consist of four quarter triangles. This quilt would be pieced and historically popular with Scottish and Irish immigrants of the Midwest. It is also found in many traditional Amish quilts.

With clean, straight lines star quilts can be tackled even by beginning quilters, as long as they are careful in cutting and joining pieces together. The traditional seam allowance for quilts is 1/4”, which is much less than traditionally used in making clothing. This reduces bulk, which can become a problem in designs with multiple pieces.

Of course, the final step in making a quilt is binding. Bindings are usually created from bias strips of fabric, or straight strips, fastened with a bias seam. The binding is then sewn to the quilt, folded over and hand stitched, creating kind of a sandwich with the quilt as the filling.

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The 2015 Quilt Gardens along the Heritage Trail Quilter’s Chronicles Elkhart


White Rock

Little Hero Yellow Marigold

Ambassador Green Leaf Red & White Begonia Mix

Concord Mall3701 S Main Street (US 33) | Elkhart, IN

w: ShopConcordMall.comp: 574.875.6502

“Dutch Double Wrench” - Coppes Commons

Profusion Yellow Zinnia

SIZE: 30’W X 30’H The team at Coppes Commons describes their pattern for this year’s Quilt Garden as an original design adapted from a stencil pattern on a historical Nappanee Dutch Kitchenette. The inner design is taken from a pattern commonly known as Monkey Wrench or Double Wrench. It was also known as Broken Plate, Hole in the Barn Door and Lincoln’s Platform among others. All of Coppes’ Quilt Gardens have emphasized tools used by craftsmen. When I moved to the Elkhart area in 1973, the first two things I learned about Nappanee were how to remember to spell the town because it has two of each letter and that a Coppes kitchen was something to brag about. Coppes was a company started in Nappanee in 1875, first making tables and shipping boxes. In 1899 they introduced kitchen cabinets. In 1920 they became hugely successful producing Hoosier cabinets - their version called the Dutch Kitchenet. That story is told inside this historic building that once housed the Coppes factory and now renovated to house a variety of small shops, food emporium, bakery and ice cream maker.

The folks at Coppes note this year they are incorporating more color into their garden - adding blues, yellows and reds - while their prior gardens emphasized earth tones. Gardening and quilting are a lot alike when it comes to colors. Both tend to use the color wheel, combining complementary colors depending on the mood one wishes to set for their garden or sewing project. If a beginning quilter needs help, he or she has some resources to assist - many patterns suggest colors. There is literally a plethora of books with pictures and information on quilts that may help. The personnel in quilt shops are always a great help - not only in making suggestions, but knowing just the right fabric, which you may not have even noticed in a large shop. Also the primary manufacturers of materials used in quilts usually introduce groups of complementary patterns and colors.

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The 2015 Quilt Gardens along the Heritage Trail Quilter’s Chronicles Nappanee


Silver Dust Dusty Miller

Hawaii Blue Ageratum

Cocktail Vodka Bronze Leaf Red Begonia

Coppes Commons401 E Market Street | Nappanee, IN w: CoppesCommons.comp: 574.773.0002

White Rock

Turf Grass

“Hands All Around” - Das Dutchman Essenhaus

SIZE: 49’W X 57’H Das Dutchman Essenhaus is the oldest continuous site of a Quilt Garden, having one of the original two “pilot” gardens. Essenhaus owner, Sue Miller, likes the “Hands All Around” design because it partners with the company’s mission statement, “We are dedicated to providing each guest with a wholesome environment, warm hospitality, outstanding service and consistent quality.” Plus the pinks and purples selected are Sue’s favorite colors. This is a traditional old quilt block. The Ladies Art Company (see Wakarusa) included it in their 1901 catalog. It represents Amish women gathered around a quilt frame working on a quilt. Since quilts are almost always mounted on a frame to finish (see Elkhart County Historical Museum) it is very conducive to women working on the quilt together and socializing.

Perhaps we should clarify what exactly is an “Amish” quilt? Rebecca Haarer, noted Amish quilt historian and collector (and operates a business in Shipshewana selling quilts, antiques and other merchandise), distinguishes three different styles of quilts all referred to as Amish quilts. The first of these is a true Amish quilt, which is made by Amish, usually in a very traditional pattern (or one of their own designs) and crafted using solid color fabrics, quite often in dark colors. This is partly due to the Amish culture. They are often called “plain people” since they wear solid color clothing and eschew ornamentation in almost every aspect of living. So it is no surprise they used plain fabrics for their quilts which were primarily utilitarian and used as bedspreads or blankets. Amish would never hang a quilt on a wall or use it for decoration in their home. This may also be attributable to the fact that their quilts were often made from scrap fabrics they had left from making clothing.

Next is the Amish made quilt. This is a quilt made by Amish people, but intended for sale and may incorporate prints and pastels. There are several places in and around northern Indiana where you can purchase a quilt made by an Amish person. Some of these quilts are still made from solid color fabrics but in a rainbow of colors, and if an intricate pattern is used, you may do a double take before you realize the pieces are all solid.

Finally Rebecca relates there are “Amish owned” quilts. She indicated the Amish sometimes purchase mass market quilts for day to day use in their homes, and these quilts may reach the used quilt market as having been owned by Amish.

Of course, there are also hybrids. The first quilt I made was an embroidered quilt top, which was then beautifully hand-quilted by an Amish lady (see Elkhart County Historical Museum for more detailed information about methods of quilting).

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The 2015 Quilt Gardens along the Heritage Trail Quilter’s Chronicles Middlebury


Ambassador Green Leaf White Begonia

Easy Wave Blue Petunia

Easy Wave Neon Rose Petunia

Das Dutchman Essenhaus240 US 20 | Middlebury, IN w: Essenhaus.comp: 800.455.9471

Ambassador Green Leaf Pink Begonia

Turf Grass

F2

“New York Beauty” - Dutch Country Market

Brown Mulch

SIZE: 45’W X 45’H When I first saw the pattern for Dutch Country Market and the name, I thought perhaps it was named or inspired by the Statute of Liberty, since it is reminiscent (I thought) of the spikes on her crown. It is a pattern I was not previously familiar with until I started doing research and was surprised with what I discovered. The DK Quilt Guild gives a history of this interestingly named quilt pattern. In the 1990s quilt historians registered every heirloom quilt they could through individual state projects, but they found very few quilts in the entire northeast featuring the New York Beauty pattern. Rather it was more popular in the south and carried such interesting alternate names (many quilts are known by a variety of names) as Crown of Thorns, Rocky Mountain and Polk in the White House! The latter name possibly emerged from the 1844 Presidential election pitting James Polk against Henry Clay. One of Polk’s platform planks was to annex Texas if elected. It was guessed that perhaps grateful women favoring annexation called it this name and a quilt from this pattern so named was dated to 1849. Texas entered the union as a slave state, which may explain why the pattern remained popular in the south, but didn’t migrate north.

So where did the name come from? A bit of digression on quilt making in general. Fabric production started in the 1820s. Prior to that time fabric was very precious because it was very expensive and laborious to produce. Manufactured fabric was reasonably priced and women began using it to make bedding. Early quilting used cotton or wool wadding for batting. Quilting stitches were done in straight lines close together to hold the wadding in place. Stearns and Foster began making cotton batting for quilts in 1846 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Their batting was clean, seedless (early batting often contained cotton seeds - one thing used to date early quilts) and came in large sheets. Quilting became a homemaking basic skill in North America. In the 1920s, to boost their batting sales, Stearns and Foster started putting printed pattern instructions in their Mountain Mist Cotton Batting. They renamed some of the patterns for the colonial revival popular at the time, including the New York Beauty! They also claimed the pattern dated all the way back to 1776, even though they had no evidence to support this claim and there was very little quilting going on at that time. They recommended colors of yellow, orange and white or red, white and blue.

Norm and Katie Lehman who own the Dutch Country Market picked the pattern for the Quilt Garden by going through a book of quilt patterns. They have since added a visit to New York City sometime in the future to their bucket list. Be sure to stop in their inviting market which sells Katie’s homemade noodles (you can watch them being made) as well as other specially made products. Norm is also a beekeeper and the store stocks a variety of wholesome honey products.

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Picobella Red Petunia


Danube Blue Ageratum

Dutch Country Market11401 CR 16 | Middlebury, IN

w: amishcountry.org/things-to-do/ shopping/dutch-country-market-1/p: 574.825.3594

Turf Grass

“Dutch Windmill” - Dutch Village Market

SIZE: 30’W X 30’H The Dutch Village Market features an Amish style restaurant, shops and craft booths. Last year was the initial year for the market to have a Quilt Garden and they chose the tulip - obviously one of the first things that pops into one’s head when thinking of Holland. What is probably equally symbolic? Of course, the windmill! That is just what the committee at the market thought too. Patricia Yoder, the leader of the group, a quilter and part owner of the market, said they wanted something Dutch, so she looked on line and found the pattern that was the basis for their design. It also seemed appropriate since the market actually has a windmill on the property. As with last year, the market also has the pattern rendered as a quilt on display in the market and available for purchase. The quilt displayed is a pieced quilt, as windmill quilts almost always are, and it was created by Alice Hostetler, a local quilter who has been quilting for over 40 years.

Windmill quilts usually utilize triangular pieces of fabric. Pattern choices run the gamut from easy, basic quilts up to more complex patterns. Precision cutting and piecing is critical for patterns involving geometric shapes, such as triangles. Inaccuracies of even 1/8” will be magnified and multiplied in piecing the entire quilt top, resulting in mismatched seams and pattern blocks that will not lie flat. The windmill pattern has been around for some time. The Ladies Art Company featured a Dutch windmill quilt in its 1928 catalog (see more information on The Ladies Art Company at Wakarusa) HOWEVER, this is not at all a traditional windmill quilt - it is more of a whimsical quilt conveying a picture. Whimsical quilts frequently involve using a preprinted panel and adding pieced borders (sometimes called “cheater quilts”) or appliquéing cut-out pieces to achieve the desired design, or by cutting out pieces usually using templates included in the quilt pattern and piecing the quilt. This design would be fairly compatible with piecing since it consists primarily of straight lines. In fact, you can find the pattern on-line through Protoquilt. One caveat, it is rated as 4 out of 5 on a difficulty scale.

In case you are not a quilter and wonder how quilters cut out all those myriad pieces that go into a quilt, it is NOT with scissors. Quilters use rotary cutters and a mat. The mat is made of material that “heals” itself - the sharp blade doesn’t leave a mark in the mat. Rotary cutters are fairly inexpensive (one of the few inexpensive parts of quilting) and come in a variety of sizes. They are similar to an old fashioned edger used for gardening. One can also buy sharpeners to keep the blades sharp and replacement blades, since a nick in the blade can repeat itself in fabric cutting.

Multiple pieces are usually cut in a variety of ways to minimize the amount of work. For example a quilter would first cut strips in the width desired and then rotate angular or straight cuts so that a single cut forms the edge of two pieces of fabric. Whimsical pieces, such as hearts, may be available already precut in a variety of fabric choices through quilting catalogs.

In addition to a rotary cutter and mat, a quilter utilizes a quilting ruler, which helps as one butts the cutter up against the ruler edge. The rulers have traditional inch markings and also may have angle markings, etc. to assist in the desired shape. There are a variety of rulers for cutting out pieces other than squares and rectangles. A single ruler may not be too expensive, but most quilters have a variety of sizes and storage options for organizing all their rulers.

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Lime Delight Coleus


Ambassador Green Leaf Rose Begonia

Dutch Village Market 700 N Tomahawk Trail | Nappanee, IN w: DVillageMarket.comp: 574.773.2828

Dream Sky Blue Petunia

Boy Yellow Marigold


Wood Chips

“Elkhart Pride” - Elkhart Central Park

Pacifica Deep Orchid Vinca

Magellan Yellow Zinnia

SIZE: 40’W X 40’H Before Elkhart became known as the RV and mobile home capital of the world it was long called the “Band Instrument Capital of the World.” Both the Selmer and Conn factories were located here as well as many smaller manufacturers. Charles Gerard Conn was the patriarch of musical instrument manufacturing in Elkhart, and in 1893 his instruments were awarded the highest honors in the World’s Columbia Exposition in Chicago. Conn also pioneered unusual instruments building the first American made saxophone and the first sousaphone. The Selmer Company, which was comprised of brands such as Vincent Bach, Selmer, Emerson, Ludwig, Musser and Glaesel, was also a leader in American craftsmanship.

Although much of the manufacturing of musical instruments has moved out of Elkhart, the city still has some reminders of this interesting past that includes hosting the popular Elkhart Jazz Festival each year and exhibiting public art that pays homage to its musical history. Along downtown Elkhart’s RiverWalk there is sculpture of a marching band and another of a saxophone player. On the south wall of the Elkhart Chamber of Commerce (right next to the Premier Arts’ garden) there are two whimsical wall murals - one features a marching band. Even one of the hand-painted elk figures displayed around the city conveys the theme.

The Elkhart City Buildings & Grounds Department has also decided to honor that history with this year’s Quilt Garden in downtown Elkhart’s Central Park. The department designs its own quilt patterns, and even though no one in the department is a quilter, the team is getting pretty good at designing! They named their quilt pattern to reflect the city’s bond to its music industry.

Color can be an important part of the symbolism of a quilt. This quilt pattern features a red, white and blue background in keeping with patriotism that is often associated with marching bands and parades. Gold is used on the large trumpet, appropriate since Conn started his famous band instrument business making a soft mouthpiece for cornets and trumpets.

Although this pattern hasn’t been a quilt, it could easily be made as a quilt. The background would be pieced. The large trumpet would be appliqued. It could be either a solid or patterned fabric; quite possibly a quilter could find a fabric with musical motifs. The musical notes could be embroidered, appliqued or could use yo-yos which are made by gathering fabric in a circle (usually with the use of a template to help) then the completed “pleated” circle is sewn on to the quilt. The same fabric used for the trumpet could be used as the binding around the edge of the quilt to pull it all together.

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Pacifica XP White Vinca

Pacifica XP Really Red Vinca

Elkhart Building & Grounds DepartmentWaterfall Drive & Franklin StreetElkhart, IN w: ElkhartIndiana.orgp: 574.295.7275

High Tide Fi Blue Ageratum

Turf Grass

Curley Leaf Parsley

“Purdue Extension Connecting in our Community” - Elkhart County 4-H Fairgrounds

SIZE: 20’W X 40’H The Extension Office is located on the Fairgrounds in Goshen. It was created as a result of the Smith Lever Act of 1914, which is a United States federal law that established a system of cooperative extension services, connected to the land-grant universities, in order to inform people about current developments in agriculture, home economics, public policy/government, leadership, 4-H, economic development and many other related subjects. This year the service will be celebrating the 101st anniversary of that Act.

Their Quilt Garden is a project of four groups that showcase volunteerism of Elkhart County and the work ethic of the people: the Purdue Elkhart County Extension Team members, the Elkhart County Extension Homemakers, Michiana Master Gardeners and the Elkhart County 4-H Fair Board. This year’s garden pattern is an original design by Extension Educator Robert Kelly. The sides of the patchwork represent these four organizations and the continuous border shows strength of the Extension programs. As has been the case in every fairground garden, the four corners feature parsley, again for the four organizations and the green color emphasizes “life”. The garden is a concept of the old-fashioned crazy patchwork quilt with irregular shapes and colors. According to Crazy Quilts: The History of a Victorian Quilt Making Fad (www.womenfolk.com/quilting), the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition was a big event in Victorian society. One of the most popular exhibits was the Japanese pa-vilion with its crazed ceramics and asymmetrical art. Women were eager to incorpo-rate this new look into their quilts and with the help of popular women’s magazines the making of crazy quilts became quite the rage. Creativity was wide open with women sewing asymmetrical pieces of fabric together in abstract arrangements. Enthusiasm for the quilting fad continued until about 1910. Early quilts were more show pieces than functional and were often made as lap robes, used to decorate the parlor. These quilts used velvet, silk and brocade fabric. The joining seams were usually embellished with decorative stitches using silk thread (many of these antique quilts show why cotton thread and fabric age better).

To the Victorians, the word “crazy” not only mean wild but also broken or crazed into splinters. These quilts feature triangles and other odd shapes. Although they may appear haphazard they were carefully planned with hours spent cutting shapes and arranging the pieces before sewing. An 1883 article in The Chester Times gave instruction on making these quilts: “If your pieces are of good size, and all fresh and handsome, one way is to cut out blocks of cotton cloth, either square of diamond-shape. Cut enough blocks to make the quilt the desired size, then paste on the pieces of silk, satin or velvet; lap the edges and turn the upper one under: then cover every seam with feather-stitch, cross-stitch, or any fancy stitch you can invent.”

While the making of these quilts was originally done by wealthy women who had the time and money for expensive fabric, before long other women got in on the fad and found ways to make their own crazies. Some were made from fancy clothing handed down to less affluent relatives and packets of silk scraps could be purchased inexpensively through mail orders (even without the internet!). After 1900 women adapted crazy quilting to use all sorts of other fabrics and often simply pieced the quilts omitting the fancy stitching.

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The 2015 Quilt Gardens along the Heritage Trail Quilter’s Chronicles Goshen



Sunstorm Rose Vinca

Ambassador Green Leaf Pink Begonia


Elkhart County 4-H Fairgrounds &Purdue Co-Operative Extension Service17746 County Road 34 | Goshen, IN w: 4HFair.org | Extension.Purdue.edup: 574.533.FAIR | 574.533.0554

Cocktail Vodka Bronze Leaf Rose Begonia

Ambassador Green Leaf Salmon Begonia

Black Mulch

Turf Grass

LoGro Yellow Rudbeckia

“Lincoln Patriotic” - Elkhart County Courthouse

SIZE: 20’W X 40’H Brownie Troop 58 is an ambitious group of nineteen girls age 7-9. They are very community service oriented, doing projects for the Salvation Army and the Humane Society. They are trying to do a project a month, so when the local Scout council asked for a troop to take over the Quilt Garden at the Courthouse, they quickly accepted the challenge. Their leader said one of their individual projects for last year was for each girl to plant an annuals garden, so they have some experience.

The Courthouse has always been a symbol of local government, currently housing three courts and support offices. Thus, the Quilt Garden at this site has traditionally been patriotic. This year they have come up with an original design, featuring Abe Lincoln’s stovepipe hat, inspired by the fact that the Lincoln Highway runs next to the Courthouse.

This design would be a whimsical quilt, with the hats probably appliquéd onto a background. Actually, given this design, the quilt might be finished as a comforter rather than quilting. In this application the quilt top, middle layer of batting and backing are tied together at intervals using yarn. Made of flannel, it could be a warm lap-robe for cuddling up next to the fire dreaming about next summer’s gardens!

The courthouse itself dates to 1868 and was built for an unheard of $100,000 (most courthouses in that era were budgeted around $30,000)! The Magnificent 92, a book about Indiana courthouses, noted that in 1868 a $100,000 courthouse was worth a buggy ride into town to view it. Of course, in Elkhart County that is how many of our Amish residents still come to town!

Another piece of Goshen’s history stands just south of the garden - the police bunker. In the 1930s, three banks stood on the other three corners of this intersection. The city was on a major highway and given the rampages of John Dillinger, there were concerns about bank robbers. So the city decided to erect the bunker with slots for weapons to keep the city and its citizens’ money safe. Although by the time it was completed the likes of John Dillinger’s gang were gone, it still stands on the corner as a part of Goshen’s history. Interestingly, it ties in quite well - look around the top and you’ll see a decorative border that could easily be a quilt border!

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Picobella Blue Petunia


Elkhart County Courthousein partnership with the Goshen Chamber of Commerce and the downtown Economic Improvement District of Goshen101 North Main Street | Goshen, IN w: ElkhartCountyIndiana.comw: Goshen.orgp: 574.533.2102

Turf Grass

“Flying Swallows” - Elkhart County Historical Museum

SIZE: 30’W X 30’H Like many of their past pattern choices, the Elkhart County Historical Museum’s choice for this year’s garden was inspired by a historic quilt included in its collection of antique quilts. (The museum has programs featuring some of its collection available by advance reservation.) It was likely made as a patriotic tribute to the end of World War I, which was confirmed by Donna Kooistra, a certified quilt appraiser. The museum felt this was especially apropos recognizing the centennial of World War I. As with many patriotic themed quilts, it features red, white and blue. This pattern is often known as Flying Geese or Half Patch Triangle (see Wakarusa for Flying Geese).

The quilt in the collection is a pieced quilt. There are two parts to making a quilt. First is the top of the quilt, which may be pieced or appliqued. A pieced quilt tends to be what we think of first - pieces of fabric joined together in a pattern or design. An appliqued quilt features a solid piece of fabric background and then has pieces sewn onto it to create the design. There are a variety of ways to attach appliques. They can be stitched on by hand, frequently using a turned needle approach, turning under the raw edge of the piece as it is stitched in place. Many quilters now use machines to do their appliquéing; either by a satin or other decorative stitch to attach the fabric, or with the fancy embroidery machines that have a program to automatically attach the applique (a variation is called trapunto, which involves adding bulk - usually extra batting--between the fabric and the back of the quilt). The museum has an antique quilt called “Applique and Trapunto.” It’s a beautiful example of this technique and interpreted in a stunning quilt mural in Bonneyville Mill Park, near the historic museum.

The second part to making a quilt is referred to by the verb form of “quilt.” It involves fastening the quilt top and a backing, which may also be pieced, but tends to be solid. Usually a layer of batting is added between the two fabrics to provide warmth and texture. The “fastening” may be accomplished by hand-stitching, using a tiny running stitch that goes through all the layers, machine quilting or a long-arm quilter, an expensive machine that utilizes computer technology to stitch the layers together using a variety of patterns. Most quilters today use a sewing machine to do the piecing, including Amish-made quilts. Many Amish ladies still use a treadle sewing machine for sewing (indeed, this is traditional wedding gift from a groom to his bride).

You can still get a quilt hand-quilted by an Amish person; the quilt shops usually have names of Amish people who do quilting and will refer you. Hand-quilting takes up a lot of space. The pictures of a seamstress holding a lap frame stitching away at a quilt are pretty much a fantasy; typically the layers are all stretched on a frame allowing continuous quilting without stopping and starting that greatly improves the finished product. Since it usually takes a while for a quilt to be hand-quilted, the frame is normally set up where life can go on around it. As I mentioned, my first quilt was hand-quilted in an Amish home and the seamstress said she had to plan her quilting around the holidays because she used her dining room for the quilt frame and had to get the frame down to accommodate her family’s Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday meals. She was a widow and said she quilted eighteen hours a day, finishing 25 to 30 quilts a year! An interesting note is sometimes quilting prices are charged by the number of spools of thread used, since that obviously indicates the complexity of the quilt.

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The 2015 Quilt Gardens along the Heritage Trail Quilter’s Chronicles Bristol


Eureka Green Leaf Pink & Scarlet Mix Begonia

Eureka Green Leaf White Begonia


Turf Grass

Elkhart County Historical Museum304 West Vistula Street | Bristol, IN w: ElkhartCountyParks.orgp: 574.848.4322

“Grandma’s Fan” - Glory Gardens

SIZE: 32’W X 32’H Glory Gardens is an Amish-owned 13-acre farm and greenhouse belonging to the Yoder family, comprised of mom, dad and six children ages 8 through 17. They grow peaches, apples, pears, grapes, strawberries, raspberries and rhubarb which they sell at their store, located on the farm, as well as homegrown flowers and homemade jams and jellies. They are new to the Quilt Gardens and hope people will come and visit them. They have chosen Grandma’s Fan for their first Quilt Garden in loving memory of Grandma Wilma Miller, who lived with the family and they say was quite a gardener.

Grandmother’s Fan is another old pieced quilt pattern, dating back at least to the Victorian era. It was frequently made from elegant silks, satins, velvets, ribbons and lace and embellished with embroidery and beading. Of course, at that time a lady’s fan was as much a part of her ensemble as a hat. With all the petticoats and undergarments making up a woman’s wardrobe and with no air conditioning, a fan was really a necessity. The quilt pattern was renewed in popularity during the depression since it could be made from small and mismatched pieces of fabric.

The pattern first appeared in print in a Ladies Art Company catalog of 1897. Fans were common motifs in late nineteenth century crazy quilts (see Fairgrounds), again inspired by the interest in Japanese Art resulting from the Philadelphia Ex-position. By the 1930s fans were standard favorites for quilt patterns. It was also known as Milady’s Fan or Japanese Fan. Again such quilts often featured fancy stitching along the seams. The Elkhart County Historical Museum in Bristol has a quilt in this design created to celebrate the 1919 WW I Armistice by the women of Grace Lutheran Church in Syracuse, Indiana. It consists of 54 fan patterned squares, each square including an embroidered statement recognizing specific contributions to the war effort made by individuals and organizations, many of which are from Elkhart County. These quilts, like crazy patch quilts, became popular for fundraising. Sometimes churchwomen would write to famous people asking for a piece of clothing that could be incorporated into the quilt they were making to raise money to help missionaries, build a new church or other worthy cause.

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The 2015 Quilt Gardens along the Heritage Trail Quilter’s Chronicles Shipshewana




Bada Boom Bronze Leaf Rose Begonia

Bada Boom Bronze Leaf Scarlet Begonia

Glory Gardens2190 S 900 W | Topeka, IN w: AmishCountry.orgp: 260.768.7800

Turf Grass

“Double Wedding Ring” - Krider Garden

SIZE: 20’W X 40’H Symbolic of some of our most cherished sentiments, rituals and traditions - friendship, love, marriage, eternal fidelity - the circle is one of the most common design motifs in every culture. When incorporated into the Double Wedding Ring Quilt, the circle is an integral part of one of the most beloved of all patchwork patterns. Drafting, cutting and piecing of the pattern demands great care and precision, and time, patience and care are definitely needed by the quilter. This is one of the most popular quilt patterns, both in terms of its appeal and in terms of the number of quilts made.

The team at Krider uses quilt patterns that represent the Middlebury community and specifically Krider World’s Fair Garden. They picked the Double Wedding Ring for the Quilt Garden because Krider is the site of many weddings, usually held adjacent to the Quilt Garden and using it as a backdrop for the couple’s special day. They also like to incorporate non-quilting accents in their gardens which they do this year with the addition of two 8’ gold wedding rings that symbolize the intertwining of lives in marriage. The motif of interlocking rings dates as far back as the fourth century when it was used to decorate Roman cups (although double ring weddings didn’t become popular until the twentieth century). Double Wedding Ring quilts were often given as wedding present and became family heirlooms. There is folklore that says a newlywed couple will be blessed if they slept under a Double Wedding Ring quilt received as a gift.

Interestingly, there is some controversy about exactly how long this pattern has been around, although most quilt historians believe it originated in 1928, being mentioned in both the Kansas City Star that is recognized as the first newspaper to offer quilt patterns on a regular basis, and in the 1928 edition of The Ladies Art Company catalog for the first time.

For those who can’t get enough Double Wedding Rings, be sure to stop at near-by Das Dutchman Essenhaus in Middlebury. Around the corner from their Quilt Garden is a Double Wedding Ring quilt mural. The pattern is also seen on a wall hanging in the Essenhaus Inn and Conference Center and the pattern repeated on the carpeting throughout the building.

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Eureka Bronze Leaf Rose Begonia



Eureka Bronze Leaf Pink Begonia

Krider Garden302 West Bristol Avenue (County Road 8)Middlebury, IN w: MiddleburyIN.comp: 574.825.1499

Gold Painted Metal Rings

Stone Pavers

SIZE: 66’W X 32’H For a number of years, by special permission from the Vera Bradley Foundation, an area fiber artist created a “Hope” quilt crafted with exclusive Vera Bradley fabrics and raffled to benefit the foundation’s breast cancer research projects. The specially designed quilt patterns were realized in flowers in Quilt Gardens and also in quilt murals in downtown Middlebury and at Wellfield Botanic Gardens in Elkhart.

This year’s “Hope” inspired Quilt Garden is at Linton’s Enchanted Gardens in Elkhart. It is the second year this site has hosted such a garden as a living tribute to the fight against breast cancer in honor of the owner’s late sister who waged a valiant battle with breast cancer. Linton’s has indicated the garden is intended to provide inspiration and hope to cancer patients, their family and friends and hopes that visitors to the garden will take uplifting thoughts home with them.

This is also the second year that Connie Kauffman has created a quilt to benefit the Foundation that is recreated in a Quilt Garden at Linton’s. Connie is an independent quilt designer and author who resides in Nappanee. Over the years she has written six quilting books and has many patterns published in books and magazines. Among the publishers she has worked with are: American Quilter’s Society, American School of Needlework, All American Crafts, House of White Birches, Quilter’s World Magazine and Quilter’s Newsletter Maga-zine. She also has created her own pattern line called Kauffman Designs. A number of her works are on display in the Nappanee Welcome Center.

Her “Pink Swirls of Hope” quilt is inspired by the Vera Bradley color “Pink Swirls” and involves a very creative use of exclusive fabrics to create a wall hanging that is on display with an enter-to-win opportunity at Linton’s (with proceeds benefiting the Vera Bradley Foundation). Of course the fabric, the design and the wall hanging quilt are all one of a kind originals and could only be duplicated if you wanted to sacrifice a lot of handbags for the fabric! However, at Linton’s you will see how a special fabric can inspire a quilt design, a Quilt Garden and hope.

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Sunshine Prism Petunia

Janie Deep Orange Marigold

New Look Dusty Miller

Madness Pink Petunia

Titan Punch Vinca

Linton’s Enchanted Gardens315 County Road 17 | Elkhart, IN

w: Lintons.comp: 888.779.9333

“Pink Swirls of Hope” - Linton’s Enchanted Gardens

Dark Opal Basil

Turf Grass

“Child’s Joy of Our Country” - Martin’s ACE Hardware


If you are a quilter and you look at the design at Martin Ace Hardware, you will think it is a variation of a Whirligig or Pinwheel quilt. There are dozens, perhaps hundreds, of variations of this popular design. But this design wasn’t conceived by a quilter - it was designed by Janae Werner, of Atlanta, Georgia, a graphic artist and interior designer. She is daughter of the owners of the Hardware and has designed their garden for the past three years, since they became part of the Quilt Gardens. This design could easily be converted into a pieced quilt.

The pinwheel pattern is one of the oldest historical patterns known. Redbarn has produced a timeline history of quilting in general and indicates the pinwheel dates back to 1795. When the cotton gin was invented in 1793, it played a key role in expanding quilting. Most quilts were still made from a large single fabric with appliques and other blocks used in borders. Pinwheels in the easiest form is simply made from triangles--sew two together on a diagonal, then rotate so that the color that was in the upper right corner moves down to the lower right and the seam runs on the opposite angle. Then reverse for the lower two squares. If you sketch this out it will make more sense. Basically the triangles rotate every other one so that it appears the pinwheel is rotating. Piecing so all the points meet in the center is the key to making this quilt beautiful.

Many variations have developed; the double pinwheel has two interspersed pinwheels. Another variation makes the rotating “blade” a finished triangle and it is only attached on the angle, so that it poofs out, making the quilt three dimensional and the pinwheel really comes alive. The quilt can use one fabric or different patterns of the same color or simply use up scraps. A quick Google search will lead you to dozens of patterns, many of which can simply be downloaded for free. The Martin’s patriotic theme is continued in the mural on the side of the hardware building that was added a few years ago. Janae also helped research and develop the pattern for the mural. Small Town America was chosen to represent the family’s commitment as business owners to provide their customers as many American-made products as possible.

Incidentally, while you are here, you might want to step inside the store - it isn’t exactly what you might expect to find in a “hardware” store. It has a lovely gift shop called The Tulip Tree, which features gift items, soaps, candles, gourmet food mixes and too many other things to mention.

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Eureka Green Leaf ScarletBegonia

Martin’s ACE Hardware103 Crystal Heights Blvd | Middlebury, IN

p: 574.825.7011

Wood Planks

Picobella Blue Petunia


Turf Grass

“Oma’s Blumen Garten” - Nappanee Center


“Oma’s Blumen Garten” is German for Grandmother’s Flower Garden. The beloved, traditional pattern called Grandmother’s Flower Garden is built on the hexagon (which is thought to have originated in the mosaic patterns of the Middle East; indeed, the pattern is also sometimes called Mosaic). Some scholars find the origins for the pattern in ancient Roman times and at that time it was known as honeycomb.

Barbara Brackman, a quilt historian and author, reports that the Grandmother’s Flower Garden was the most popular pattern after 1925. She stated, “… many women who never made another quilt finished a Grandmother’s Flower Garden.” (Of course, the original quilt with its myriad of tiny hexagons might have persuad-ed some women they never wanted to make another quilt!) It became popular again during the depression, when quilt making became a necessity in many homes because the tiny hexagons could make use of the tiniest scrap of fabric. It is popular today for those quilters who always need to keep their hands busy as the small pieces can be made in a car, in an airplane, taken on vacation, etc.

Although large hexagons can be pieced by machine, this quilt is traditionally hand-pieced. The hexagons are individually sewn by hand, then pieced together in a flower and joined by a meandering path that forms the background of the quilt. In the depression years each flower was usually different, with the path that unifies the quilt being the only constant. Today most flower garden quilts pick a unifying color scheme repeated in each flower.

The Nappanee Quilt Garden Committee chose this interpretation, which the committee noted resembles a mosaic pattern, although it is one enlarged hexagon. As Nappanee is in the heart of Amish country and many of its citizens are Amish, they looked to Amish gardens. Almost every Amish farm has a large produce garden, and many times these produce gardens are surrounded by beds of flowers. Nappanee is known for “thinking outside the box” when it comes to their patterns and this year is no exception; they are incorporating a patch of produce as one section of their Grandmother’s Flower Garden. In interpreting gardening as part of their quilt, an internet search for the history of country garden patterns brought up 20 Country Gardens for Patchwork and Quilting by Kaffe Fassett. These quilt patterns used Roman fabrics and have been made as quilts by Mr. Fassett and many other well-known quilters, each reflecting a quilt as a designer’s interpretation. The Nappanee committee points out that quilt patterns are always an interpretation of a design by the quilter.

They are planning to anchor the produce section with rainbow Swiss chard and borders of ornamental cabbage. Dwarf corn will form the back border and sunken pots with different vegetables will be rotated in and out to keep the garden looking tidy and to resemble a small home garden. Any produce resulting from this section will be donated to a local food bank.

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The 2015 Quilt Gardens along the Heritage Trail Quilter’s Chronicles Nappanee


Ablazin Purple Salvia

Surefire Rose Begonia

Various Garden Produce

Nappanee Center302 West Market Street | Nappanee, IN

w: NappaneeChamber.comp: 574.773.7812

Life LIme Coleus

Limencello Supertunia

Brown Mulch

Stone Pavers

Vista Silverberry Supetunia

“Legacy” - Old Bag Factory

SIZE: 29’w x 32’h

Unusual, beautiful, original are just a few of the words that immediately come to my mind when viewing the Quilt Garden at the Old Bag Factory. Unusual because although the designs are definitely quilt designs, they are not the traditional quilts you find on-line or in pattern books. Original because the gardens depict works of art created by Shirley Shenk and daughter-in-law Kris Shenk. And beautiful - you can judge for yourself.

Shirley and her husband Dave own and operate the Quilt Designs shop at the Old Bag Factory. Early in her career Shirley was a quilter, creating traditional quilts. But she got bored and started sketching artistic designs. Although Dave told her she should stick with the tried and true Shirley persisted. Today incredible quilts are showcased in their shop that is housed in an 1897 log cabin they painstakingly took apart, transported and put back together at the Old Bag Factory site. They purposely copyright each design and do not enter shows and contests because they don’t want anyone else to try and copy their designs, and they request no photographs in their shop. Interestingly, the first year they had a Quilt Garden it was selected by the Chicago Tribune as one of its finalists in their garden contest, which speaks to the beauty of the design.

This year’s design was created by Kris, who said she and Shirley felt the design had interesting geometrics that would do well in a garden. It is called “Legacy” in homage to Kris’s grandmother, Susie Sommers. Susie was a quilter all her life and taught Kris to quilt when Kris was seven. Although Kris didn’t stick with quilting then, it has come full circle back to her. She said part of the design is similar to a design Susie used in making a wedding gift quilt for Kris and her husband. In the quilt version the letters “SS” are incorporated in the borders for grandma’s initials. Kris said they have sold this as king and queen size bed quilts and also in various size wall hangings. This quilt is totally a pieced quilt. The garden version by necessity is simplified.

A stop in the shop is a must which probably allows seeing the garden version as a quilt (although since the quilts are for sale, you can never guarantee it). The quilts are crafted by carefully selected seamstresses and quilters. After Shirley or Kris create a design, it is then sent to one of their piecers (or appliquers, if it involves applique) who piece the quilts using a sewing machine. When the top is completed it is sent to a marker who marks the design for the quilting pattern to be used, then to a quilter for quilting, and finally to a binder who binds and finishes the quilt. Each of the people involved in making the quilt has her own specialty, as outlined above. The quilts are called “one needle quilts” because the entire quilt is quilted by a single quilter. Since many of these quilters do this as a part-time avocation, it may be a year or more before the final quilt is finished (the shop will allow you to make payments while waiting with no interest). Dave says they are not looking for good quilters or even expert quilters, but the crème de la crème top quilters, and he estimates they hire about 1 or 2 per 100 applicants. While many are Amish, not all are. Surprisingly the experts they hire are usually in their 20s or 30s. Dave indicates the younger women have keener eyesight and more manual dexterity allowing them to excel in quilting. While he indicates he isn’t a quilter, his “test” of a quilt is to flip it over and the look at the back side, where the stitching should mirror the front.

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Old Bag Factory1100 North Chicago AvenueGoshen, IN

w: OldBagFactory.comp: 574.534.2502

Picobella Blue & Lavendar Mix Petunia

Cocktail Vodka Bronze Leaf Pink Begonia


Boy Yellow Marigold


Turf Grass

“Drunkard’s Path” - Premier Arts, Downtown Elkhart


Premier Arts is creating a vivid Quilt Garden based on the Drunkard’s Path pattern. While the Drunkard’s Path quilt design was not specifically designed for the purpose, it became associated with the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, founded in 1874. Sewing for a cause is an old tradition - women have made quilts to raise money and consciousness and it appears more quilts were made for the temperance movement than any other. Many antique quilts featuring this pattern have WTCU in the corner in embroidery or ink and may be signed by members of a local chapter. Women would sometimes pay a dime to get their name on a “Crusader’s Quilt,”

The Drunkard’s Path was especially appropriate, since it makes one think of a drunkards staggering walk. Frequently the quilts were made in two colors - red or blue and white, which emphasized the staggering walk. The Ladies Art Company included this design in their 1894 catalog (see Wakarusa re Ladies Art Company). When I first made a Drunkard’s path square, I thought it was probably named because making it might make you drink! The curving lines and instructions were maddening, although suddenly, the block emerged!

Premier Arts has picked this quilt because of its link to the purported Quilt Code associated with the Underground Railroad and indicate the block was used as a warning for slaves to move in a staggering path to elude slave hunters. While the likelihood that a Quilt Code ever existed has recently been brought into question by Leigh Fellner, who points out many historians consider it a myth, this in no way demeans the significance of the Underground Railroad.

To honor the intrepid souls who made their way to freedom through the Underground Railroad, Premier Arts has included a statue of a majestic black woman in the center of its garden. This bronze sculpture was created by local sculptor Tuck Langland (another one of his beautiful sculptures is featured in the Wellfield Botanical Gardens in Elkhart). Harriet Tubman was a former slave and Premier Arts is also staging an original musical that follows her story and her amazing journey to freedom.

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Premier Arts410 South Main Street | Elkhart, IN

w: PremierArts.orgp: 574.293.4469

Black Ray Petunia

Brown Mulch

Matriarch by Tuck Langland

Turf Grass


Dream White Petunia

“Pomegranate Window” - Ruthmere House Museum


Ruthmere, a Beaux Arts mansion now museum and open to tour, usually picks something related to the design of the house for its Quilt Garden. This year, the Ruthmere team picked the pomegranate, which they indicate is ubiquitous to the house. There are at least 289 pomegranate designs incorporated in the architecture! (And that counts such things as plates on the doorways as one each, even though there may be 3 or 4 pomegranates in the design.) Why so many pomegranates? No one knows for sure, although it was a popular design to use at the time this house was built and considered exotic. Pomegranates are steeped in symbolism for many different cultures - everything from fertility to prosperity to suffering and resurrection. In the early 1900s they generally represented wealth and prosperity befitting a house of this character.

The quilt garden replicates a window featuring the pomegranate. If this were made as a quilt, it would probably by appliqued, due to the curving design. Actually the pomegranate was a very popular quilt pattern from the mid-1800s, often combined with a rose, and was almost always appliqued. It frequently used red and green fabrics - some quilt historians believe because those fabrics were more colorfast. Turkey red was an expensive and time consuming way of dying fabric, but it did retain its color. If you see an old quilt it may be red and tan or yellow - the green did fade. It was usually created by dying blue over yellow or vice versa and with time, one color faded out. Originally the red and green were colors of nature and the quilt replicated those.

If you want to see how those 289 pomegranates are incorporated in the architecture of Ruthmere, you should definitely take the time to tour the magnificently restored house built by Albert and Elizabeth Beardsley in 1910. (Albert was one of the original founders of Miles Laboratories – makers of Alka-Seltzer and other pharmaceuticals.) Many of the original furnishings and silk wall hangings are still in the house, even the original china. Upstairs are specially designed ocular windows. Ruthmere plans to illuminate one of them with a blood red light this year, as the “Pomegranate Window”, so you may also want to drive by at night to appreciate this.

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Eureka Bronze Leaf Deep Rose Begonia


Janie Yellow Marigold

Ruthmere House Museum302 East Beardsley Avenue | Elkhart, IN

w: Ruthmere.orgp: 574.264.0330

Brown Mulch

Turf Grass

Extra Curled Parsley

Sizzler Burgundy Salvia

“Wild Geese” - Downtown Wakarusa


Another traditional and very old quilt pattern has been selected by Wakarusa for its Quilt Garden - Wild Goose Chase. Of course, experienced quilters are familiar with flying geese, which is the term applied to each of twelve of the smaller blocks comprising this quilt - a triangle with a smaller triangle tilted on each side to make up a square. In making flying geese, it is very important that the points are precisely at the top of the block, after it is attached to the surrounding blocks. There are several different ways one can accomplish this. There are a variety of tools and templates that make the process easier, especially for those who aren’t fond of math. Some instructions have one stitch the middle triangle to a square and then trim off the excess. This avoids the necessity of stitching two diagonal pieces together; fabric cut on the bias tends to stretch very easily. Another way to deal with the stretch is to spray the fabric with Best Press before cutting. Best Press is a light weight starch alternative and is very helpful to quilters in giving a clean, crisp look to their work. Then one stitches the diagonal pieces together, which wastes less fabric. Pressing as you go is very important to keep seams flat. Pressing is different from ironing. In ironing, one sweeps back and forth across the fabric. In pressing for a quilt the iron is placed down on the fabric, no back and forth, which again might stretch the fabric. It is also done on the right side of the fabric, and it sometimes helps to “finger press” the area - especially if one is pressing a seam open.

A Wild Goose Chase quilt appears in the 1897 Ladies Art Company catalog. The Ladies Art Company started in 1895. They placed small ads in ladies magazines and farm papers for their catalog which showed hundreds of quilt patterns. A quilter could order a pattern, which was mailed to the customer. Up until the 1950s the patterns consisted of a 3” pattern card featuring a color suggestion for the quilt block and an envelope containing full size, tan tissue paper templates (without seam allowance of any markings) of each shape needed to complete the block. The earliest pattern cards were hand painted by the owner’s children. In the 1950s the company changed hands and they started producing mimeographed sheets that included fabric yardage, labeled templates with seam allowances and line drawing of a portion of a completed quilt or the full completed quilted. They also revised and reprinted the 1928 catalog. In attempting to date a pattern, it is often usual to find when the pattern appeared in their catalog.

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The 2015 Quilt Gardens along the Heritage Trail Quilter’s Chronicles Wakarusa


Picobella Blue & Lavendar Mix Petunia

Picobella Red Petunia

Hotline Red Salvia

Wakarusa Chamber of Commerce100 West Waterford Street Wakarusa, IN

w: WakarusaChamber.comp: 574.862.4344

Picobella White Petunia

Stone Pavers

Little Hero Yellow Marigold

“Log Cabin” - Weaver Furniture Sales


Carolyn Miller is Amish and a proficient quilter. She has also completed Master Gardener training and has been the designer and gardener for the four years Weaver Furniture has had a Quilt Garden.

The Log Cabin pattern has served as one of the most popular patterns for American quilters since the mid-nineteenth century. However, quilt teacher and author Jane Hall, indicates there are Log Cabin patterns in lattice silks and inlaid wooden designs from the British Isles dated in the mid-1700s. She also indicates some trace the pattern to mummies of animals buried with their Egyptian masters noting that the linen strips wrapping them are very reminiscent of the Log Cabin pattern, including some dyed with light and dark strips just like the pattern. Although she indicates what she has been able to discover has probably been executed in fabric for less than two hundred years. According to quilt historians, the pattern became popular because it is versatile and easy to stitch making it appealing for beginning quilters. Barbara Brackman pointed out that by 1870 the pattern was so popular it warranted its own judging category at state and local fairs.

Log Cabin patterns start with a center shape, usually a square and then are built with strips in sequence around the center, varying light and dark fabrics. Traditionally it is viewed as an American design representing the log cabins on the prairies. The center square, which customarily is red, represents the heart or hearth. Alternatively, it may be yellow symbolizing the candlelight from the cabin. In a traditional log cabin the light strips represent the sunny side of the house and the dark strips represent the shade. Others have attributed it to symbolize the logs and light radiating from the cabin. There are alternate methods for assembly. Opposite side’s light and dark result in Courthouse Steps; adjacent sides dark and light, Straight Furrow, Barn Raising and Sunshine and Shadow.

The pattern was extremely popular during the latter half of the nineteenth century coinciding with the westward movement. Piecing of old log cabins is similar to foundation piecing today. A square of muslin is cut to the size of the block. The center small square then basted into place and “logs” added around the square. Each log is cut placed right side down on top, cut to size and stitched in place through all layers. That strip is then pressed open and the next log added, continuing until all logs have been sewn.

Quilts are traditionally made from all cotton fabric and sewn with cotton thread (although there are new threads being developed that are often used). If using a computer embroidered design on a quilt, rayon thread is preferred since it is stronger, less likely to tangle and has a pleasing sheen. Batik fabrics (a method of dyeing a fabric by covering the part which you don’t want to absorb the color with a removable wax) are very popular for quilts. There are many quilt and fabric stores in the Quilt Garden area selling batik and other fabrics. You may also see Amish homes advertising fabric for sale and open to the public. They usually have a limited supply of fabrics available that may tend to be in darker colors. You should respect any indications of hours, etc. as these are usually not commercial stores and may have limits on when they are open.

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The 2015 Quilt Gardens along the Heritage Trail Quilter’s Chronicles Shipshewana


Dream Sky Blue Petunia

Ray Black Petunia

Ray Peach Petunia

Weaver Furniture Sales7870 W 075 N | Shipshewana, IN

w: WeaverFurnitureSales.comp: 260.768.7730

Sun & Shade Dark Salmon Impatient

Royal Velvet Supertunia

Turf Grass

Black Mulch

Documents

2015 Quilter's Chronicles - amishcountry.org