Much Ado in South Carolina

Last weekend, we had the pleasure of driving just across the South Carolina Border to McCormick, where a new quilt trail is underway. Most of there quilt blocks are in the downtown area, but once the town is "quilted," the group plans to move into the surrounding area.


Here is one of their wonderful creations.

We found Herman Keith hard at work outside painting a quilt block. He seemed to be excited about the project and was ready to tell us all about it. I should have just let him tell me, but I did want to invite him to my talk, so I had to let on that I already knew the story. 

I was told that my talk would be in an old cotton gin. We looked and looked and couldn't see it. Eventually we realized that we ought to look beyond the edge of town--after all, a factory wouldn't be located on the town square, would it? It's a really neat building, with a lot of the machinery still inside and those old brick walls that made me instantly think, "If this were in Atlanta, it would make a cool loft!"











My talk went really well, and afterwards, we had a real treat.  The logo for the Upstate Heritage Quilt Trail in South Carolina is taken from a quilt called Rocky Mountain Road, made by a local resident in the 1930s.  The quilt is normally high out of reach at the Oconee Heritage Center museum, but there it was--on a rack where I could actually see it! 

For more about the quilt trails of South Carolina, go to www.barnquiltinfo.com, click on the map and then on the state. They have made incredible progress in just four years!












  I am off to Paducah in the morning, as I will be a featured author at the National Quilt Museum Friday morning. I am so honored to have been invited--I hope to see some old friends and new!