New Hampshire Joins the Quilt Trail!

Sorry to be away for so long. There is a lot to catch up on, and I'm afraid that my summer vacation has gotten in the way of my blogging!

But yesterday, I heard from Kathy Thebault,from northern New Hampshire, and I got excited about the quilt trail again! The town of Errol has 342 residents (Kathy says there may be more moose than people). As of now, they also have five barn quilts, with plans to expand the Coos County Barn Quilt Trail next year!

The trail got started when resident Sharon Miller worked with a local high school to design and produce her blocks.

As a follow-up, the local Errol Heritage Commission, headed by Deb Freedman, Errol Consolidated School, and Shady Ladies Quilt group came together for a collaborative project of creating barn quilts. The group designed and completed 3 blocks together, over a period of six weeks.

I thought, "Gosh, it took six weeks?" until I read further and found that Errol Consolidated School is made up of 15 students (elementary and middle). For the seven middle school children, this became both a community project and an educational opportunity by learning math problems to grown small paper size blocks, to large 4x4' blocks.

The yellow and red geometrical-designed quilt at the top of the page is called Sunny Bolt. The block was created after an original quilt designed by one of the middle school children made in 2005. The original quilt was a project between the school children and the local quilt group.



The mountain block is on a home in Errol. The owner decided on that design as her house faces Mt. Washington and has a perfect view of sunrise. The block is her reflection of the view. It's the mountain, moon and rising sun.



The last block with the patriotic bunting is the Piece Star and is also located on a home in the center of Errol. The home is that of the Chairperson of the Heritage Commission. She has been instrumental in starting a heritage commission for the town and building momentum for various heritage activities.

I am so pleased to add state number 30 to the roster of locations where the quilt trail has spread! If you have updates and/or photos to share, please email me americanquilttrail@yahoo.com

The book, Barn Quilts and the American Quilt Trail Movement, is available for preorder on Amazon.com. It won't be available for a few months yet, but if you are an early bird and want to get in on a great discount. . . I will also have autographed copies available for order here once the book is in hand. I can't wait!