Barn Quilts to Beautify Fletcher Farm Campus this Spring

New quilt-inspired panels will enhance exterior school buildings

In early 2022, an idea took shape to create several barn quilts to decorate our campus, and to represent some of the great art that happens inside the classrooms.

Volunteers Unite

In early November, art instructor, Janet Flinchbaugh, and eight volunteers gathered together to bring life to our already beautiful Fletcher Farm campus. When you drive by this coming Spring you’ll see our maple-creamy buildings hosting a variety of hand painted quilt squares!

Thank you to our sponsors and donors

A great big thank you goes out to our sponsors, Diamond Realty and Betty McEnaney. With your contributions our vision is becoming a reality.

At Diamond Realty, each team member has an exceptional reputation for service and local knowledge. Our agents have a collective 100+ years of experience in the greater Okemo Valley area. We’re trusted and respected within our community and are experts in the markets we serve.

Betty McEnaney with the Bean Group, Ludlow

Providing professional real estate services since 1979 to buyers and sellers in Southern Vermont

Additional donors include:

  • Singleton’s General Store
  • The Pointe at Castle Hill Resort & Spa
  • Fox Run Golf Club
  • Tyson Ladies Aid of the Library Association

History

“Barn Quilts” are painted representations of quilt squares, designed to be mounted on the sides of buildings and to be visible from a distance.

Historically known as Hex Quilts in Pennsylvania-Dutch county, modern-day barn quilts are traced back to 2001 when Ohio’s Donna Sue Grover brightened up her tobacco barn. So began the barn quilt trail movement that has spread from Adams County, Ohio across 30 states and into Canada. Take a scenic drive on these trails and you’ll find more than 300,000 quilt squares bringing aesthetic folk art beauty to our countryside.

Make your own barn quilt

Best of all you can add a barn quilt on your building too. Watch for our Spring class schedule when Janet Flinchbaugh returns for another session teaching the historic craft of painted barn quilts. this is a great class for beginner and intermediate learners.

A huge thank you to Janet Flinchbaugh, a Fletcher Farm School workshop instructor, for leading our quilt painting weekend. Janet teaches workshops in painting barn quilts and floorcloths. She has been commissioning painting floorcloths for the past 30 years for historic sites as well as numerous homes. And is featured in Early American Life magazine who listed her among the 200 best craftspeople in the country. In addition to teaching at Fletcher Farm School she has taught at Chautauqua Institute, and Adirondack Folk School, both in New York.


THE ARTISTS AND THEIR WORK

Susan Balch and Sloane Dawson

Sue Chadwick

Joyce Fuller

Debi Orton

Janice Severson

Pollyanna Sidell

Lisa Steckler

Ann Turner

Janet Flinchbaugh