Quilt Gardens Tour

The Vera Bradley Hope Garden Quilt is making the rounds and on display at Vera Bradley retailers throughout Amish Country.  This year’s quilt is special to the Quilt Gardens Tour. It was made by two Vera Bradley Foundation volunteers using the bright flower patterned Hope Garden fabric. And it was was donated by the Vera Bradley Foundation to help raise money for Breast Cancer Research.  It does give you a feeling of hope when you see this quilt.

You can visit anyone of the Elkhart County locations to enter a raffle win the quilt.  Raffle tickets are $2 each, and you can enter as many times as you wish.So visit the Hope Garden Quilt at its touring locations, and enter to win the raffle. It’s a gorgeous quilt, and will help a great cause.

July 9 – 22
The Cinnamon Stick
102 S. Main St.
Middlebury, IN 46540

July 22 – August 5
Linton’s Enchanted Gardens
315 County Road 17
Elkhart, IN 46516

August 6 – 8
Das Dutchman Essenhaus
Essenhaus Quilt Show
240 US 20
Middlebury, IN 46540

August 11 – 25
Woldruff’s Footwear
129 S. Main
Goshen, IN 46526

August 26 – September 8
West View Florist
1717 Cassopolis St.
Elkhart, IN 46514

September 9 – 16
Linton’s Enchanted Gardens
315 County Road 17
Elkhart, IN 46516

The drawing will be held on Friday, September 18 at the Davis Mercantile Theatre in Shipshewana, IN.  If you collect Vera Bradley, this would be a beautiful addition to your collection.  Let me know if you’ve seen the Hope Garden Quilt and tell me what you thought of it.

-Mindy, Amish Country Northern Indiana Contributor and Visitor Center Specialist

This year the Quilt Gardens Tour℠ introduces its first official “agri-quilt” garden.  The site of this pilot garden, Meadow Brook Farm, is a Civil War era farmstead located just outside the city limits of Goshen. Owner Kori Cripe recently opened her home and farm for public tours.

Planted in a “Grandmother’s Fan” pattern with soybeans, sunflowers, alfalfa, buckwheat, corn and red geraniums, this quilt garden introduces an exciting new element to this year’s tour that perfectly complements the rural heritage of Amish Country.  It also marries well with its location, since the farmstead was once the site of Farm Betterment Club Fairs, huge community-wide celebrations that drew the Indiana governor, congressmen and judges to speak at the event.

It seems only natural to feature an “agri-quilt” garden on the tour: it also presents certain challenges that are not experienced in quilt gardens that use ornamental annuals and flowers.  This mixed crop quilt garden contains plants that will grow in varying heights. There may be an issue with pattern consistency and view ability, and with shade created by the larger crops such as corn next to smaller plants in the garden. Crops also attract different insects than annuals and must be guarded against worms, grubs and bores. So do you use pesticide? If so what kind?  And it must be factored in that crops’ needs are different than those of annuals– watering, feeding – especially during growing season.
Each of the plants in the “agri-quilt” garden will be in different stages of development during the Quilt Gardens Tour℠ viewing season.   Even though the garden relies heavily on texture to convey the pattern, color plays a big role.  As crops mature their color can change dramatically.  So it will be interesting to observe the “look” of the garden throughout the season.

All the Quilt Gardens Tour℠ partners are eagerly looking forward to the introduction of an agricultural quilt garden to the mix, most of all Kori.  She wants the garden to be a “home-grown” experience that’s fun and educational.  And it will be an education – for all of us involved.  We’re all up for the fun and challenges, and we’re just waiting to see “what crops up”!

We’d welcome your comments and suggestions for this “pilot agri-quilt” garden.  Leave your comment below.

- Sonya Nash, Class of ’08 and Quilt Gardens Tour℠ Project Manager

The colorful ceramic crazy quilt, “Mystical Window”, created by Nappanee’s Northwood High School art class is now complete and ready to move to a new home.  Students will dedicate their beautiful and touchable artwork to the Nappanee Public Library on April 30 during homeroom.  Art teacher, Melinda Sharp, is proud of her students’ willingness to share their “labor of love” with the community.  Although her classroom may seem a little colorless when the ceramic quilt is gone, it won’t be drab for long; she’s already brainstorming with students about next year’s project.

Help us spread the word about the 2009 Quilt Gardens Tour. Each month we’re giving away a special prize to one of the posters on this blog.

This month’s prize is a set of six, 5X7  Official Quilt Gardens Tour note cards with six linen envelopes using the original artwork of Deborah Stipanovich.

To win this month’s prize, just post a comment on this post (below) and include your email before midnight May 10, 2009.

Each month one lucky winner will be notified by email and their name will be posted here on the Quilt Gardens Tour blog. Post your comment today!
Read the full rules here.

This info just in from Quilt Gardens Tour Project Manager, Sonya Nash….

Here is the total count of flowers by type…give or take…
Begonias 480 flats
Marigolds 188 flats
Alyssum 146 flats
Petunia 145 flats
Vinca 110 flats
Ageratum 97 flats
Parsley 81 flats
Dusty Miller 68 flats
Salvia 66 flats
Lobelia 26 flats
Coleus 25 flats
Celosia 23 flats
cosmos 17 flats
Rudbeckia 12 flats
Chilly Chili 5 flats
PLUS 234 Red Geraniums

Also, the Amish Acres garden will have the most plants…over 10,000 in one garden!

I just can’t wait to see the gardens this year!

- Jessica Miller, Amish Country Northern Indiana Contributor

Theme: “If Quilts Could Talk”
Allen County War Memorial Coliseum
4100 Parnell Ave. Fort Wayne, IN
March 21, 2009

Email: gathering@sistersofthecloth.org
Web: Sistersofthecloth.org

Featuring: Kaye England, Guest Speaker
This Show will have several special exhibits including:
- “Men of The Cloth” quilts made by men from this area
- Four Bed Turning stations – Guilds telling the history/story of Quilts their way
- Lisa Olinger – Guest Longarm Quilter
- Viewers Choice Awards – your opportunity to enter & vote for your favorite Quilts from the display of over 250 quilts.

There will be a vendor mall for your shopping convenience and a secured “quilt check area” for your Show & Tell items.

Other highlights of the Gathering include the Show Pins available to commemorate your visit, Ugly Fabric Contest, Block Swap, Charm Squares exchanges, Viewer’s Choice Award, door prizes & treasure bags. You will also have the opportunity to fellowship with quilters from Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, and Michigan.

Visit Sistersofthecloth.org for more information

Sonya Miller, official grower/2009 QGT annuals is sipping cinnamon tea & sorting the 80,000 seeds to be planted this year! We’re gearing up for this year’s Quilt Garden Tour! There are tons of fun events and activities planned.

You won’t want to miss the Plein-Air Paint Out, August 8 – 9. At this event artists from all over Indiana and surrounding states will set up their easels and capture the beauty of Amish Country’s Quilt Gardens on canvas and paper at this first-ever outdoor event. Completed works in oil, pastels and watercolor will be on display and available for purchase at Goshen’s Old Bag Factory after the event!

Sonya Miller of Country Comfort Greenhouse, official grower of the 2009 QGT annuals, says almost 80,000 (wow!) seeds have been ordered and some have
already come in! She’s waiting for weather to break, then planting will begin!!
Think warm thoughts! The 2009 QGT is just around the corner! See all the new patterns for this year’s tour here

I’m not a big fan of putting myself out there in the web world, but Facebook has changed that a little bit for me. So many of my friends were on there, that I couldn’t help but try. I thought I’d do a trial run, just a couple days, and then delete myself. However, I’ve found a lot more useful than I thought.

I have family members that live all on both coast, and in Europe, and Facebook helps me stay in contact with them. It also lets me know what is going on with their lives that I wouldn’t normally know.

The other great thing on Facebook is that there are all kinds of groups that you can become part of, groups that follow what you find interesting. I was amazed at the number of people who are intersted in quilts and quilting, and gardens and flowers. I can connect with any of these groups and follow what they do.

Of course, if you’re reading my blog, maybe you’d like to become a follower of the Quilt Gardens Tour. You can get there by going to Facebook and creating an account, and then search for Quilt Gardens Tour. There are pictures of the Quilt Gardens, and there is information about the designs, and tour. If you don’t know what our Quilt Gardens Tour is, you can read about it on our website. But for something different, try finding us on Facebook, and add us to your groups. It’s a great resource to find out more about Amish Country of Northern Indiana.

-Mindy, Amish Country Northern Indiana Contributor

16 official gardens have been juried for 2009. Each quilt garden has its own splendid pattern, many are original designs, and each has its own unique story. Visit www.QuiltGardensTour.com for a peek of the exciting gardens to come!