Northcott Silk Inc. sponsors the War of 1812 story quilts!!

Northcott Silk Inc. has donated bolts and bolts of fabric for the two War of 1812 story quilts.

Northcott is an International Distributor and Converter of fine cotton printed fabrics for the quilt, craft and home decor industries.

Founded in 1935, Northcott was originally a fashion textile converter. During the mid ’80s they shifted focus to the  cotton print market. Their cotton prints are in retail stores and quilt shops around the world.

Sixty blocks have been designed. One by one they are being pieced together by quilters throughout the area.  Joan Hillhorst, at Sew Creative,  quilt coordinator, is looking for a quilting group to stitch the quilt.

Shirley Baker and Freda Henry plan story quilt.

Happy Women’s Day

Marion Johnson considering plot for a play about War of 1812

Exciting news.  Marion Johnson, playwright, is enthused about writing a play about our War of 1812 history.  Stay tuned.  More information to come.  We have interpreted our history through the barn quilts.  She is going to interpret the social history of the War and bring it to the stage!

Meanwhile, her most recent work, Great Expectations is being mounted at the Wolf Performance Hall in London, February 2 – 10, 2012.

Great Expectations tells the story of young Pip who longs to be a gentleman, but is destined to become a blacksmith. Through his encounters with various wonderfully eccentric characters – including Magwich, the convict; Miss Havisham, an heiress who was jilted at the altar; Mr Jaggers, lawyer to the criminal classes; and many more – Pip does rise above his station, only to lose everything again.

But he perseveres in the pursuit of his dreams, and finally succeeds in creating his own happy ending. Ideal family entertainment!

Place Making – An Antidote for the Endemic Case Making

This caught our eye from David J.A. Douglas:  ”Rural development …is commonly associated with a rhetoric of protest, pleading, differentiation, and other forms of case making.” 

It might be extreme or over-stated to say that we are easily given to too much whining. However, it is less of an exaggeration to say that most of what we proffer in the public arena is a strained attempt to stake out our non-urban or perhaps un-urban characteristics, some of them expressed as desirable moral attributes. These are occasionally accompanied by a feisty reminder that we feed the cities, provide their fresh water, give freely of our landscapes for their vicarious enjoyment, are the sources of their minerals and other forms of derived wealth, and that we may indeed be the unsullied, but neglected crucible of the country’s core values, and perhaps its very soul.

Quilt Barn Impact Study: Understanding the value.

Quilt Barn Impact Study: Understanding the Value of the Ohio Quilt Barn Trail.

The Quilt Barn Trails provide important economic development in many rural and underserved parts of Ohio. The first Quilt Barn Trail in the United States was started in Adams County, Ohio, in 2001 with support from the OAC. Since then, this ground-breaking community arts project has expanded to 21 Ohio counties and at least 26 other states across the nation and in Canada generating tourism and community pride.

Recognizing the importance of this grass roots arts process to community development, the OAC collaborated with Ohio University’s Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs in 2008 to publish the Quilt Barn Impact Study: Understanding the Value of the Ohio Quilt Barn Trail. Using a variety of qualitative research methods, the study was able to document the cultural, social and economic contributions quilt barn trails have made in Ohio communities. 

Excerpt from: Ohio Arts Council, Biennial Report 2008-2009.