Lafayette County, Wisconsin Barn Quilts

On our little adventure last week we came through an area in the southwest corner of Wisconsin to check out this barn quilt trail.

Recently, I had gotten information about this trail while at a local quilt show.  When Ron set up this trip, he included some of the trail in our travels.  

This trail boasts 76 Barn Quilts. As you will see all are not on barns or 8 ft x 8 ft. Sometimes you have to look pretty hard to find it.

This was out first one on State Road 11, in Benton, Wisc.  It is called "Mother's Cross".

"Autumn Tints" was on County Road I, in Shullsburg, Wisc.

"Grandma's Flower Garden", also on County Rd I in Shullsburg, Wisc.

"Shaded Star" was on State Road 11, Shullsburg

Here is "Flower Basket" on Water Street in Shullsburg.

As you can see, we almost missed it.  Thank heaven for street addresses!

We were looking for the Shullsburg Creamery on Water Street in Shullsburg. We got a double bonus, the creamery and "Cheesebox" on the side of the building. We have to check out the cheese factories.

Wagon Tracks was on the Teasdale Farms on State Road 11, in Shullsburg.

"County Auction" was on another Teasdale Farm in Shullsburg.
I think this was a 12 inch one.

As you can see, a little hard to find!

"LaMoyne Star" was set way back off  Dublin Road in Darlington.

"LeMoyne Star".  Thank for zoom lenses on digital cameras.

We just about missed this one "Relay for Life" on Galena Street, Darlington.  Ron did not see it at first!

"Grace's Star" on State Road 23, Darlington is a beauty.  I loved this one.  The colors all go so well together.

There is another one that is set back off the road.
"Swiss Family Ubersox" for the Ubersox family in Darlington.

A better picture of "Swiss Family Ubersox".  Without going to their front yard, this is the best I could do.

The Ubersox family had this dinosour made of tractor parts by the side of the road.

"4th of July" was on Hwy 23 in Darlington.

You never know where you will find the quilt blocks. We were heading North, so it was sort of easy.  Some families have blocks at both ends of a barn or other structure.  This looked like the back of a garage.  There was a dog kennel by the fenced area.

I saw this one, but we have no idea what it is call.

It is on the "Grandview" property in Hollendale.

I did a bit of research and found out that gentleman that owned the property was Nick Engelbert. In 1937 he started creating buildings and statues of concrete with shards of china, glass, beads, buttons and sea shells.  This building is at the entrance to the property.  It is free and open to the public.  We were on a bit of a time table, so did not get to stop this time.  Next time we are in the area, I would like to stop and check this out. My kind of embellishments.

Ron spotted this grouping of the iron made quilt signs on the side of this barn.  Great way to display them.
You can check out my other blog IPiece2-Mary to see other pictures of "Grandview" and read about our adventure.

Mary

Racine County, Wisconsin

Last week I was able to see a few of the barn quilts in Racine County.  I was on my way to Racine for a quilt retreat. I was armed with my barn quilt map. First stop was at Apple Holler. The map said there was one displayed, but did not say what it was.

Here it is.  I get the feeling this is more of an afterthought.  It was just sitting there, not even on a barn.

Apple Holler is one of those places you like to go to in the fall to buy apples and pies.  It is a spend the day in the country with the kids type of place.

This is Bear's Paw number 7 on the tour.  I liked how this one looked.  In this county the barn quilts are sponsored by an organization or business.  This was sponsored by "Friends of the Quilted Barn."

They had a smaller one on another building.

This is number 9, Indian Paintbrush.  It is sponsored by "Sew 'N Save", in Racine.

Here we have Lady of the Lake, sponsored by Racine County. This is number 8.

Another place that was mentioned was  Borzynski's Farm and Floral Market.  When I asked where it was, no one could tell me.  One person knew there had been on, but didn't remember where it was.  I found this sign, and thought it could be an applique block??   I don't think this is it, but don't have any idea of what it should look like.

Here is Mariner's Compass # 15 on the map.  This is sponsored by the Lighthouse Quilt Guild. I could not get a good picture. It is on private property, and the road curves right at that spot.  I was actually on a side street.

While I was out I did visit the Lighthouse.  It is so pretty.  The municipal building  for the town is right on the same grounds.

Lake Michigan seemed to change every day I was there.  We would have blue skies and low waves.

The grounds at the Senia Retreat Center are beautiful.

The waves were huge one of the days.  You could see all kinds of "stuff" in the waves.

I enjoyed walking along the beach.

The beauty all around us was inspiring. 

Maybe the next time I am up in Racine County I can see more of the barn quilts.  It is a fairly large county, and the barn quilts are scattered around it.

Mary

Alcona County Quilt Trail, Michigan

I knew of this trail, but since we needed to keep moving along we only saw 2 of the 28 barn quilts.
This is Hollyhock's on the side of the Hollyhock Quilt Shoppe in Harrisville, Michigan.  Naturally, I had to stop and check this out.  It is a quaint shop, with hollyhock quilts and embroidery all through it.  Unfortunately, no patterns available, as they were all older and not being distributed anymore.

This one is on the Craftmaker's Cabin, which is right on the corner in the middle of Harrisville.
This looks like it would have been a neat trail to explore as well.  Next time we are traveling along the east coast of Michigan.

Oxford County Ontario Barn Quilt Trail

In the beginning of August we traveled to Buffalo, New York for the annual family reunion. We were then going to go the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to visit friends.  This time to go to Michigan we decided to drive though the lower part of Ontario, Canada.  Low and behold I found out there were several Barn Quilt Trails.  We had stayed the night in Hamilton, and Oxford County was on the way toward Port Huron the next morning.

This trail had 20 barn quilts.

 

 

 This is the first barn quilt we encountered.  They do things a tad different.  We had not expected to see a freestanding barn quilt.  This one is Wagon Tracks and was on the Innes Farm, in Oxford Centre

I

This was a freebie. It is not listed as part of the trail.  It was pretty.

Here is Farmer's Daughter on the Kelner Farm in Curries.

Even the road signs look like quilt blocks!

Dutchman's Puzzle  was on the Couwenholm Farms in Burgessville, and was a huge apple orchard.

Friendship Block was in Norwich.

Did not realize there were actually signatures on this block.

Here is Wagon Wheel on the Norwich Museum/Historical Society. Another free standing sign.

This was on the side of a building in Norwich.

Even on of the houses in the country had a small quilt block on the porch area.

Corn and Beans was on the Corwic Farms/Cornwell family.  It actually was on the barn between two families.

Tobacco Road on the Van Torre Farm, Norwich.  This is a real tobacco drying barn. We were also about to see our firsts tobacco fields.

How about that, tobacco plants!

We also saw ginseng growing for the first time ever.  It takes 4 years to grown, and another 4 years for the fields to gain nutrients back. It is also grown under a black netting, to keep it from getting burnt by the sun.

Quite an apple orchard.  Oxford county is known for all the different crops grown. 

Weathervan was in Otterville.

Here is Ron at the doorstep of the restaurant were we had lunch.  It was very good, and a popular place.

Here is were the Grist Mill block was to be, only we could not find it.  The scenery was very pretty, this was in Otterville.

Church Window was at the African Methodist Episcopal Cemetery. This area became a terminus for fugitives traveling the Underground Railroad.

It was very interesting.  There were small candle plaques around the area that represented known graves,

Here we have the Envelop Motif on the Canadian Biofuel building in Springford.

Churn Dash is on the Leeholm Farms in Springfield.

9 Patch Log Cabin was on The Annandale National Historic Site in Tillsonburg.  We had to go looking for this one, it was on the back of the building.

New Water Wheel is on the Mill Tales Inn, in Tillsonburg.

This one is neat, Roads to the Station on the train car at the Station Arts Centre in Tillsonburg.

Arrowhead Puzzle is on The Stubbe's Furniture Barn in Tillsonburg.

Love the colors in this one, Cross in a Cross at the Delmer United Church in Delmer.  There is actually this barn behind the church.  The church sits on a corner in the town.

Cock's Comb is on this barn in Brownsville.

Path through the Woods is on the Bowman family barn in Verschoyle.

Last but not lest is the Right Hand of Friendship on the Van Manens dairy farm in Ingersoll.  It was a beautiful trail.  The blocks were not as large as the ones we see most times, but just as impressive.  This area is rich in history with settlers that are Quakers, free black and escaped slaves, British, Scottish, German and Dutch. Crops from tobacco, corn, apples, ginseng and peanuts and of course cheese from the dairy farms is still produced here.  There is plenty of reason to explore the county back roads.

There are Barn Quilt trails in Elgin, Oxford, Norfolk, Middlesex and Brant counties.
I hope you enjoyed our little tour.