The Story Quilter’s Threads documentary about the Ashtabula County Barn Quilt Trail is now available on YouTube in its entirety.
This 2017 film was made by Carl E. Feather for the barn quilt committee when he was working as lodging tax administrator for Ashtabula County. The film features interviews with barn quilt owners and makers, as well as trail co-founder Kathy McCarty. It includes footage of installing the first barn quilt, as well as raising barn quilts on covered bridges.
Enjoy!
The Ashtabula Barn Quilt Trail welcomes two new 4×4 barn quilts to the trail for 2022-23.
Doug Carman, owner of a red barn on Rockwell Road in Ashtabula, installed a 4×4 Nautical Star on the front of his barn. Rockwell is off Plymouth Ridge and on your way to the Olin Covered Bridge (Dewey Road). This is barn quilt no. 114.
In Rome Township, Granny’s Pumpkin Patch greets visitors to Phyllis Reynold’s home at 4071 Route 45 South. This 4×4 was painted by Jeff and Rachel Scribben of Artistic Woodworks, Pierpont.
The Pumpkin Patch barn quilt is visible only when traveling north on Route 45; it is mounted on posts.
Interested in being on the trail? Browse the website for more information/inspiration, or contact Kathy McCarty, trail co-founder, at mckatquilts@gmail.com.
The Ashtabula County Barn Quilt Trail welcomes quilt 113 to the trail.
The 4-by-4-foot, peacock-design barn quilt is located at 3162 Route 193 in Sheffield Township. It is mounted over the second-story balcony of the house, owned by Daniel and Jane English.
The BQT committee welcomes the English family to our family of barn quilt owners. Thank you!
If you are considering a barn quilt for your property and want to have it listed as a Ashtabula County Barn Quilt Trail entity, you must submit your application to the committee by September 30, preferably sooner!
Your barn quilt also needs to be installed by that date so we can arrange to have photographs taken and a webpage created to honor your entry. There is no charge to apply or be on the trail. Donations are always accepted, of course.
Get started on your barn quilting adventure by visiting the downloads page, where you can find our standards and application forms in pdf format.
Please note that by agreeing to have your quilt on the trail, it will be placed on the following year’s Visitor’s Guide map. This is a pull-out map of the county that guides visitors to wineries, covered bridges and barn quilts. A four-month lead time is required to produce the guide and map, so we must insist your completed application be returned to the committee by Sept. 30.
Covid-19 did not stop Ashtabula County barn quilt owners from adding to color and patterns to their farms during 2020.
In fact, sunflowers will bloom throughout the winter on the side of a lovely red barn at 4509 State Route 322, the Waid residence at the Wayne/Williamsfield townships line.
The 8-by-8-foot barn quilt adorns the east side of the barn owned by Harland and Lorraine Waid. The “Sunflower” pattern is a real eye-pleaser and worth the trip! Be aware that it is several hundred yards off the highway and is visible from Route 322 only when traveling west.
This new addition to the trail brings the total to 112!
In Hartsgrove Township, four generations of farm ownership are celebrated with a barn quilt on a pole barn at 6250 Route 534, Hartsgrove Township. The property is owned by Chris and Cheryl Hammon, who painted the 8-by-8-foot barn quilt that borrows colors from the century home’s color scheme, plus red, Cheryl’s favorite color.
This quilt is numbered “90,” the number previously assigned to the Habitat for Humanity resale store in Ashtabula County. That quilt has been removed and the number “recycled.”
When visiting this new barn quilt, be sure to check out the small barn quilt (not on trail) on the Nye farm, north of the Hammon property. The Nye family has century-long history of dairy farming in Hartsgrove Township. The late Joanne and Robert Nye, married in 1961, met on the farm when they were children.
A new barn to the north of the Hammon farm honors the couple with The Barn at Hart’s Grove. A wedding destination, this barn is a stunning new construction that replaced an older barn and honors the legacy of Robert and Joanne. Learn more about this new venture at The Barn at Hart’s Grove.
Although not new to the trail, the International Harvester barn quilt on the former Cole family barn in Williamsfield Township (No. 82) has a new owner. We extend a welcome to Timothy and Karen Lane of Gerrardstown, W.Va., who purchased the farm in October 2019. Thank you for continuing and supporting the agricultural traditions of Ashtabula County!
There has never been a better time to enjoy Ashtabula County’s barn quilt trail than this spring and summer. Gas is cheap, the landscape is greening and all of us could use a respite from the house without violating the social-distancing guidelines that have been implemented during the pandemic.
Use our website to plan your outing and map a route that will take you on a journey along scenic byways and through charming small towns and villages. Roll down the windows, take a deep breath and allow the sunshine to evaporate your winter blues and news overload.
You can download a map of the county and its quilts from this site or seek out a printed map in the 2020 Ashtabula County Visitors Guide as tourism businesses reopen. Or request a guide/map at the Ashtabula County Convention and Visitors Bureau website.
150 North Market Street, Jefferson.
Route 46 to Jefferson; east on East Jefferson to North Market.
41.740758,-80.7641644
A custom 8×9 foot designed and painted by the owners, Fred and Carol Bliss. The quilt is located at the site of a former railroad trestle collapse and a graveyard, thus the “End of the Line Junction.” Read their story.
DVDs of “The Story Quilter’s Threads” are available from our BQT co-founder, Kathy McCarty, for a donation of $20 plus $3 shipping. Please send checks to Kathy McCarty, 1551 Ashwood Dr., Ashtabula OH 44004. Make check payable to the Ashtabula Arts Center, the trail’s fiscal agent, with “BQT DVD” in the memo line.
The documentary shares the stories behind the barn quilts and host farms in southern Ashtabula County. Along the way, viewers meet the artists who build and paint the barn quilts.
“The barn quilt trail’s success is largely due to having two very talented artists, Gary Tabor and Artistic Woodworks (Jeff & Rachel Scribben), who have worked with their clients to transform ideas, heritage and stories into barn quilts,” says filmmaker Carl E. Feather. “This film takes the viewer into the artist’s workshop and barns and covered bridges on the trail. These are moving stories told on static sign boards; once the viewer becomes familiar with the owner and stories behind the barn, he will never look at a barn the same way.”
The Steering Committee of the Ashtabula County Barn Quilt Trail in conjunction with The Lodge and Conference Center at Geneva-On-The-Lake will host a celebration to mark the 100th location with a barn quilt in Ashtabula County.
The celebration is 1 to 3 p.m. Nov. 20 at The Lodge and Conference Center. Light refreshments will be served.
At this event, the premiere showing of a new documentary about the trail, “The Story Quilter’s Threads,” will be shown and DVD copies made available for purchase. The documentary shares moving stories about the lives and farms behind the county’s barn quilts.
The event is free and no registration is required. It will be held in the Lodge Ballroom.
