09/01/2026
The quilt that was quilted during our 50th Anniversary celebration in June is completed and is now hanging in the Visitor Center Gift Shop.
The quilt top was donated to Cannonsburgh Village.
The traditional pattern is called Nine Patch. The blocks are made up of nine smaller blocks and joined together with gray sashing. Borders at the top and bottom of the quilt are made from triangles. The top was probably made in the early 1950’s.
This quilt top was made with a variety of clothing scraps and perhaps bed sheets. Some of the fabrics are more tightly woven and some more loosely woven. The larger gray section at one end of the quilt is cut from a shirt. Visitors can see the curved shirt tail as well as buttonholes. Some of the smaller blocks are cut from a piece of fabric which includes a seam. Thus, it was created to be utilitarian and not necessarily a work of art. Nevertheless, its creation and history make it art.
The top was hand quilted by Carol Berning, members of the Quilting Bees of Murfreesboro, and visitors to Cannonsburgh’s 50th Anniversary Celebration in June 2026. The top was sandwiched with batting and backing (lining), thus creating three layers of materials. It was pinned onto a frame, which was placed onto stands, so that quilters could sit around the frame to quilt, much like quilters may have done in earlier years. Two of the wooden poles of the frame on which it was quilted belonged to Carol’s grandmother. Two of them, along with the stands upon which they rested, were made by Carol’s father—all of which adds to the history of the project.
