Local Travel Features

Made by Hand: Spring Quilting Beeat the Homeplace

April 18, 2019 | Staff Report

The Friends of Land Between the Lakes invite you to discover the art of hand quilting during the Spring Quilting Bee, April 27-28, 2019, at the Homeplace 1850 Working Farm and Living History Museum, 4512 The Trace, Dover, Tennessee 37058. The Spring Quilting Bee will feature original quilts on display and opportunities to learn to hand quilt.

Not just a hobby in the 1850s, handmade quilts offered layers of warmth on a cold winter's night. Join us by the quilt frame as we share stories of past quilting bees or pick up a needle and thimble and help us with our newest quilt.

The Homeplace staff has reproduced mid 19th century quilts for four decades. We will teach you the basics of hand sewing so you will be able to hand piece and quilt your own heirloom. You can purchase a Homeplace quilt kit or just have a seat for a crash course. We can even teach you how to make a batting for your quilt.

Visit the parlor to see an exhibit of the Homeplace collection of original land between the rivers quilts. Popular 1850 quilt patterns will be available for you to take home. Children's sewing cards will be on hand for little ones to practice their stitches.

If stitching isn't your cup of tea, gather a team and play a rousing game of horse shoes, visit with the farm animals or watch the blacksmith turn an iron bar into something useful.

Programming for both days includes:

11am - 2pm - Woodworking: Making Baskets

Baskets were essential for toting and hauling everything on the farm. Strong enough to carry wood and and ears of corn and delicate enough for eggs and sewing supplies, these homemade wonders could be found all over the farm. Stop by the tool barn and learn how to weave these treasured carryalls. Local Basket maker Doris Summers will be demonstrating basket making and have her hand made baskets available for sale.

1 - 3pm - Forging the Past: A Farm Blacksmith Shop

A blacksmith shop on the farm in 1850 provided the farmer with a means to make and repair his farming tools. Wander to the shop behind the Ox Barn to see our latest undertaking on the anvil.

Admission is $5 for ages 13 and up; $3 for ages 5 - 12; and free for ages 4 and under.

Fourth grade students can go to https://everykidinapark.gov/, get their free Every Kid in a Park pass, and get their family in for free. For more information, call the Homeplace at 931.232.6457.

More Features & News