On
Saturday, we took a road trip to Granville, Tennessee. Our
destination: a quilt show, part of their annual fall festival. Oh
the quilts! Amazing designs, outstanding stitching, fabulous colors,
and a combination of modern and old standard designs, all draped over
the pews at Granville United Methodist Church.
My
favorites were the antique and hand-quilted categories. Tiny,
perfect hand stitches, in narrow rows only ¼” apart made me feel
totally inadequate but inspired. The quilters featured in the show
are all artists. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.
The
festival was spread over the entire little town on the Cumberland
River. Quilts were draped over porch rails on most of the historic
homes. The E.B. Sutton General Store, the Granville Museum, and
Sutton Historic Homestead featured 1950's quilts along with their
regular displays.
Demonstrations of frontier life, spinning, weaving, blacksmithing, wood carving, basket weaving and more went on all day. Live music at the gazebo and a lakeside stage for Jazz on the Cumberland kept everyone entertained. Booths were nicely curated (no tacky cheap stuff or yard sale junk here). Most were Tennessee and Kentucky craftspeople.
As
a former tourism director, I want to congratulate Granville for an
excellent festival. This was the most organized event I have ever
seen in a little town. There were helpful volunteers everywhere,
excellent signage, trams & golf carts to and from convenient parking areas,
all the shops and homes were decorated and I'll bet all the residents
were participating in some way.
If
you want more info, www.granvilletn.com
has details.
