Sunday, January 30, 2011

Kankakee County Barn Quilts

On Saturday I attended a lecture at the Kankakee Historical Society Museum. It was about the Barn Quilts that are being installed in Kankakee County. Their quilt guild has had a large influence working with the county in promoting tourism. Jerry Legan is the maker of this wonderful barn quilt. He said he started it on Monday, last week, and got it made this far by Wednesday!! It is wonderful. Jerry is very active in the guild and on the Kankakee Barn Quilt Committee. He draws up the Barn Quilt blocks that will be created and installed.
The folks that own this quilt are considering the fan quilt block to be placed on their barn. Would a single fan block, or a block of 4 be the decision. It will be fun next year to see how it is presented. The quilt was very delicate, beautiful and quite old. The blades in the fan have signed by former residents of the county. It has quite a history.

Rhubarb Pie is the name of the block pictured here. This building is on the grounds of the Kankakee County Museum. This is an out building to a home owned by Dr. A. L. Small whose hobby was horticulture. Dr. Small claimed to have the largest privately owned Rhubarb Farm in the United States.
It was a great afternoon. We added 3 more to barn sightings to our list. You never know what you will see on an afternoon drive.

2 comments:

Susan In Texas said...

Love the quilts. I love seeing antique quilts, it makes me feel very connected to the past. I had to laugh at the idea of the rhubarb farm (though the quilt is darling). I loathe rhubarb. Grandma would mix it in with strawberries to make pie, thus ruining the strawberries. She only had one big rhubarb plant and it made WAY too much rhubarb for my taste. Worse than zuccini even.

Thanks for sharing,
Susan in Texas

Barb said...

Love the barn quilt....just amazing...