Remembering The Quilt Show on the Farm

What a wonderful experience  — The Quilt Show on the Farm.  For several years John and I hosted this show on behalf of the new Geraldine Public Library.  Would you believe I cannot find pictures of this show, but they are here in this vast assortment of “stuff.”  We had quilts hanging all through the house, hanging on the front of the barn, had a line in the pole barn with oodles of quilts.  One year I borrowed a large cotton wagon with high sides –super high — and hung quilts all around that. Scattered around the yard were rolls of hay and each had a quilt draped over it.  One lady in the community had lots of pretty quilts — mostly made from feed sacks — and she smoked.  Of course, the quilts smelled like smoke and I had permission to hang them out in the sunshine and fresh air.  One visitor came in the house and complained vehemently about those pretty quilts hanging in the sun.  Duh!  We couldn’t have stayed in the house if they had been shown inside.  One lady from South Alabama and, apparently, a staunch democrat showed a quilt with a mule on it!!

The library quilt show started in 1986 when we only had a hull of a building — hanging quilts made partitions in the building — we cleared $600 and I thought we had died and gone to heaven.  Until 1990 the show continued at the library and then we moved it to the farm.  I’ve never enjoyed anything more in my life and this was a super show.  It was a lot of responsibility and hard work, but it grew and I heard that a male quilter in Tennessee made the remark that “The Quilt Show on the Farm was the best kept secret in the South.”  Wow!!  What a compliment.

1994 was our last farm show and we had oodles of quilt lovers from Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama.  John and I were showing our age by then and had to quit having it, but that year we cleared $7200.  If we could have had it one more year we would have grossed $10,000 — without a doubt.  So if I were going to look for a lucrative fundraiser, I would look at a quilt show.   Now there are quilt shows and there are showings of quilts.  Quilt Show on the Farm was the latter — a super show.

While husbands brought their wives to see the quilts, men folks could enjoy seeing the cattle, gardeners could see a beautiful fall garden or tour the herb garden.  One year we had brown cotton growing — I wish I still had seed of that one — it is unusual.  Without fail somebody would come to me and want to know what a certain plant was — so actually it was more than just a quilt show.  One lady wrote about it in a national quilt magazine and said she brought her granddaughter, who was entertained by the kittens.  Some quilters from Atlanta area brought a picnic lunch and spread it in the shade garden — across the road in my favorite scope of woods.

Another year we also showed Sand Mountain Pottery and that, too, was a big hit.

We have lots of good memories of those shows and the wonderful people we met along the way.  This has to be the very best of country living.

Basket Quilt — Raffle Quilt

Raffle Quilt one year