Georgia Pride

I have bemoaned in the past our lack of barns in Georgia and thus the lack of enthusiasm for quilt trails. Finally, Judy Hulsey of Lavonia, right near the South Carolina border and the nearby state's Upstate Heritage Quilt Trail, gathered the troops, and began the Franklin County Quilt Trail. Lavonia's Chamber of Commerce adopted the idea, and the project was on!
They have put together a really lovely barn-less quilt trail, which is already expanding to other counties in the area.

Painting in progress:



On April 13, the first four squares were installed. Lavonia is a friendly town, so it was fitting that they began their project with Friendship, mounted on posts in front of the local welcome center. I love the bright colors!



Later, Rainbow Square was hung on an historic building downtown. Quilts on buildings are becoming more and more popular, both for areas where no barns exist and also in areas with barn quilts that want to encourage visitors to their downtown areas.



Next came the Flower of Friendship (are you sensing a theme here?) sponsored by the Lavonia Garden Club and mounted on a garden center owned by a member.


The fourth quilt square really embodies the spirit of community: The Seminole Patchwork pattern at the historic Whitworth School, sponsored by the Whitworth Woman's Club. This building dates back to 1770 and the quilt is patterned after a cloth quilt made many years ago and raffled to help pay to keep the building intact. The women of the club--including an 89-year-old lady who has been a member for 60 years---proudly attended the unveiling.



The crew went back to work and has since added a few more. Here is a great, colorful rendition of God's Eye. I have never seen this one as a cloth quilt but it stands out so nicely that it appears on the quilt trail quite often


Seven Sisters
I love this sampler at the Lavonia Cultural Center; such great detail! I heard a whisper that perhaps a couple of the men on the committee made a couple of late-night trips to do some touchups. I'll bet they had a hand in this one!

Top left is “Soldier Boy” which represents the National Guard Unit that occupied the buildng from 1962 until 2000. Top right is “State of Georgia” representing the late Governor Ernest Vandiver for whom the armory was named. Bottom Left, is “Circle of Life” representing life stories as told through the annual series of folk life plays called Land of Spirit; and, fourth is the pattern “The Last Hard Times” which was the first Land of Spirit production in 2008.

I have been invited to attend this year's Land of Spirit play, which was chosen to honor the opening of the Franklin County Quilt Trail. The Secret Quilt sounds like something worth traveling for--lots of real, true life stories related to quilting.

So, that's the news from Georgia! As always if you have updates and/or photos to share, let me know. And if you are heading out to the quilt trail, drop me a line and I'll help you navigate.

Happy summer!