North American Quilt Trail Project
Clay County, NC is participating in the North American Quilt Trail Project. There are quilt trails in 43 states and 3 Canadian provinces and numbers are growing. A quilt trail is a series of painted quilt block squares installed at various locations along a route.
The very first barn quilt block was called an Ohio Star. The Ohio Star is one of the oldest and most-loved barn quilt blocks being a strong eight-pointed star built from squares and triangles. The pattern has been in use on fabric quilts since 1803 when Ohio became the 17th state of this great nation!
In 2001, in Adams County, Ohio, Donna Sue Groves wanted to honor her mother with a painted quilt square on the family's barn. She chose the Ohio Star. Her idea morphed into what became the first official quilt trail consisting of 20 barn quilt blocks along a trail through Adams County. The idea of a quilt block trail has spread rapidly and has become the largest grassroots public arts movement in our history. Thousands of quilt blocks are now part of organized trails with many more scattered throughout the countryside.
The Clay County North Carolina Quilt Trail is an ongoing project with its beginning here in Hayesville at Historic Hayesville Inc.'s Barn Quilt Block Studio located at the rear of the exhibit building.
The first barn quilt block was installed on March 31st, 2017 at the Historic Hayesville, Inc. location in downtown and is called Triple Sunflower. The quilt blocks each have a name but over the many years it has been a common practice to change the name of the older patterns as well as introduce variations.
The planned quilt block walking trail is part of the Small Town Main Street/HHI Pedestrian Connectivity plan for downtown Hayesville. When completed, a map will be available featuring the blocks with other art and historical points of interest and businesses in downtown Hayesville.
The Barn Quilt Project
The team takes a well-deserved winter break but will be back in the studio in the spring. However, custom orders can be placed year round at the Centennial Exhibit building next to the Post Office and blocks will be created in order of receipt.
Many designs are available.
Visit downtown Hayesville and see many examples.
Each one is handmade and hand painted.
Sizes available are :-
24" X 24"
36" X 36"
48" X 48"
Custom sizes are available for additional costs.
This project was started in 2017 and lead by Bev Adkins for many years and, although Bev cannot participate now, her leadership has enabled a dedicated group of volunteers to continue the work. The project has been very successful with many Barn Quilt Blocks displayed in downtown Hayesville and around Clay County on businesses and private homes. The project is ongoing and production of additional orders will resume each Spring after the winter break. For further information or to place orders for designs contact Sandy Zimmerman at (828) 361-7058. The photo shows Hayesville Mayor Harry Baughn honoring Bev at the November 2018 town meeting. Very well deserved!