Project would create cozy barn quilt replicas
By JESSE CHANEY, Brush News-Tribune
Though their bright colors and geometric shapes are characteristic of traditional fabric quilts, the painted-plywood barn quilts found throughout Morgan County aren’t exactly soft and snuggly.
But Morgan County Barn Quilt Project Coordinator Nancy Lauck hopes to soon complement many area barn quilts with comfy, cozy replicas.
“It’s just a branch off our barn quilts,” she said.
Lauck recently created a fabric quilt that illustrates the designs on all 16 barn quilts displayed on her property north of Highway 34 between Fort Morgan and Brush.
Lauck hopes hers will be the first in a collection of fabric quilts that replicate the designs on all barn quilts mounted on Morgan County barns.
She would like to eventually display the whole set of fabric quilts at special events throughout Morgan County. The displays would not only attract more people to local events, she said, but they would generate more interest in the artworks mounted on Morgan County barns.
Some people display the barn quilts on business buildings and other structures, but Lauck said she is only interested in creating fabric replicas of those that hang on barns.
“We can draw more people to the barns,” she said. “We need to bring more attention to the barns that we have left in Morgan County.”
Lauck said she is not yet sure how the fabric quilt project would play out.
“I really am open to suggestions because I’ve got the idea of doing it, I just need more bodies to help,” she said.
Lauck said any effort to replicate Morgan County’s barn quilts in fabric would not be a moneymaking venture. Like the barn quilt project, she said, the fabric quilt project would probably be successful only through utilizing donated time and supplies.
She has considered asking members of local quilting groups if they would help make the fabric quilts. Additionally, some barn owners may want to quilt their own replicas to add to the collection, she said.
“I could even teach them,” she said.
Anyone who has ideas or is willing to help may contact Lauck at 867-2047.
