For the second year in a row, a barn quilt on an Ashtabula County building has been selected for inclusion in the international Barn Quilts calendar.
The calendar is published by barnquiltinfo.com, the premiere barn quilt web site. Photos are selected by Suzi Parron, who publishes the calendar and is the author of the two definitive books on the American barn quilt movement, “Following the Barn Quilt Trail” and “Barn Quilts and The American Quilt Trail Movement.”
The calendars are for sale on the barnquiltinfo.com website.
For 2017 the Geneva Community Sampler barn quilt, which was conceived and executed by Amanda White, was selected for the January photo. The barn quilt, Ohio’s largest, is made up of 16 individual blocks, each one sponsored by a Geneva business or organization. The barn quilt is on the side of a Route 20 building, just east of Route 534.
The 2018 calendar features a photo of the Windhorse Star barn quilt, which is installed on the farm of Dale and Meg Toukonen, Simons Road South, Williamsfield Township. The photo was selected for the November 2018 calendar page. The Toukonen’s run a horse farm for retired horses, such as those used in circus acts or racing. Two horses stand in front of the barn for the image, made shortly after the barn quilt was installed. The custom-designed barn quilt was painted and installed by Jeff Scribben and his wife Rachel of Artistic Woodworks, Pierpont.
The Toukonen’s barn is one of several Simons Road South barns that have 8-by-8-foot barn quilts. The road is quickly becoming known as Ashtabula County’s “barn quilt alley” and is the subject of a feature documentary that is in production with a release date of August 2017. The area is rich in Finnish immigrant farming heritage.
Parron got the barn quilt trail idea rolling in Ashtabula County with her visit and presentation back in 2013. The trail was founded by Kathy McCarty and the late Chris Angerman shortly thereafter. Parron returned to the area last year to sign her latest book, which includes narrative and a photo of an Ashtabula County barn quilt on a covered bridge.
Photographer for both calendar entries was Geneva resident Carl E. Feather, The Feather Cottage Media.