The Marshall County Convention and Visitor’s Center hosted a dedication of the newest Barn Quilt Tuesday afternoon in downtown Plymouth.
This new barn quilt named “Homespun Hoosier Hospitality” was designed by volunteers Tom and Connie Kleckner and created as a tribute to Indiana’s Bicentennial. The 8 foot by 8 foot barn quilt made of plywood was placed on the north side of the Marshall County Museum Monday morning by Marshall County REMC.
Cori Humes, Executive Director of the Marshall County Tourism Office said, “As Indiana’s first Barn Quilt Trail, it was designed to celebrate the history of agriculture, the time honored tradition of quilting, and the community’s passion for art, community pride and Hoosier Hospitality.” There are more than 75 barn quilts on the trail in Marshall County with more that 50 of them being painted by the Kleckners.
Connie Kleckner said she and her husband enjoy working on these one-of-a-kind works of art that are spread across the county. Tom uses a computer CAD program to create the design and preps the quilt board by sanding them, applying 2 coats of primer, sanding again and then Connie does her magic with the paint brush. It takes at least 3 coats of paint with some colors like yellow and red needing 4 or 5 coats.
Director of the Marshall County Museum, Linda Rippy said the space on the north side of the museum has always seemed like a blank canvas and when the suggestion of a burn quilt came up she thought it was a wonderful idea.
Special thanks went to the Marshall County Museum for the location, Marshall County REMC for the mounting, Tom and Connie Kleckner for the volunteerism and the Marshall County Commissioner for allowing the barn quilt to be placed on the building.
Brochures of the Barn Quilt trails are available in the Marshall County Convention and Visitors Center at the corner of Michigan and Garro Streets in downtown Plymouth.
