McHenry County Quilted Barn Program

  Thanks to Mel Moehling of Bull Valley for creating this wonderful barn quilt for our Schuette Building.

  The museum now is officially part of the county quilted barn tour.

McHenry County Quilted Barn Program

Several years ago a local newspaper featured a photo of a barn shadowed in the light of the setting sun. The caption read, “Nothing is more beautiful than seeing the sunset behind a McHenry County barn.” The thought that such a scene in this once prominent Illinois dairy farming county may soon end up as nothing more than memories gave rise to McHenry County Historical Society’s Quilted Barn program in 2000.

The project combines the tradition and beauty of quilt designing with the long lasting durability of American barns and their adaptability as showcases for public art.

The program involves selecting a quilt pattern and painting it onto two 4-by-8-foot plywood sheets, creating an 8-foot-square quilt painting. It then is attached to a barn in a place that is easily visible from the road. Owners can paint it themselves or work through the Society to find professional painters or, perhaps, interested students.

Information about the quilt patterns, be it “Log Cabin” “Grandma’s Flower Basket,” “Flying Geese,” the barn, the sponsors and/or artists is available from the Society. Families also create quilt paintings of their own design – typically with a homage to the past or their family’s roots.

Download the PDF of the Northern Illinois Quilt Fest Barn Quilt & Quilt Garden Map

Or, enjoy our new interactive map created with the help of the McHenry County Community Foundation and Visit McHenry County. Click on the box next to "Barn Quilts" to make them visible, and on the icons to learn about each site.

For information on ways to participate in the Quilted Barns program or questions contact the McHenry County Historical Society at 815-923-2267 or email info@mchsonline.org. Participation in the McHenry County Quilted Barn Program is open to owners of barns and other rural structures suitable for display. Other groups like quilt clubs, 4-H Clubs, Scout Troops, artists, religious and civic groups are encouraged to participate in this program by sponsoring the creation of a barn quilt and/or actually making a barn quilt.

The requirements of this Public Art/Barn Preservation Program are minimal purposely to encourage greater participation. For barn sites located within a municipality, please contact those Building/Zoning Departments directly for any restrictions.

Kurt Begalka, Administrator

McHenry County Historical Society & Museum