The "Lives Like Quilts: Bits & Pieces, Joy & Sorrow, Stitched With Love" Story

Barn quilt on barn along Strasburg Pike in Lancaster County, PA.

It was an ordinay day.  Driving along Strasburg Pike in Lancaster County searching for one of the four barn quilts that grace the landscape in the county.  For those who may not know what a barn quilt may be, it is quilt that is meant to decorate a barn instead of a bed, sofa or chair.  

Barn near Eliazbethtown, PA.

It gives the owner of the barn a chance to share the beauty of quilting with a larger audience.  I turned onto the Strasburg Pike from the old Route 30 and before long found my target.  Had to make a U-turn, but had a photo of the red, blue and yellow 8-foot square quilt a short time later.  

A barn in Lancaster County displaying hex signs.

The quilts are made of aluminum to make them last longer as well as easier to raise and attach to the barn.  Barns in Lancaster County have been decorated for centuries with stars and hex signs as well as advertisements for a variety of products.  Then in 2001 a woman in Ohio decided to honor her mother by painting a quilt on their tobacco barn.  Barn quilts began to pop up on barns in other states, with Lancaster County now having four such quilts.  

Lancaster's latest barn quilt at Willow Valley Communities.

The latest quilt in Lancaster County is at the Willow Valley Retirement Community in Willow Street, having been designed by the Willow Valley Quilt Guild who used the pattern known as the pathways block design.  They used Willow Valley colors of green and orange and placed the quilt on a barn near the cultural center.  A nearby sign company made the barn quilt from aluminum and hung it on the barn.  The Willow Valley group that made the quilt now would like to create a group that would travel on a quilt trail.  The other two quilts in Lancaster County are in Elizabethtown at the Masonic Retirement Home as well as a barn on Landisville Road in Lancaster.  Interesting idea and a great way to spread the hobby of quilting throughout the United States.  It was another extraordinary day.