About the Tillamook County Quilt Trail

In 2009, the Tillamook County Quilt Trail (TCQT) formed under the auspices of the Latimer Quilt and Textile Center and began the process to identify historic barns and other buildings in Tillamook County, enhance the structure with a large painted wooden quilt block, and then share the history of dairy farms and quilts through a self-guided tour for visitors to celebrate the unique Rural Heritage of Tillamook County. Photo at Right: Photo of the Tillamook Chamber of Commerce building, the first quilt block on the trail.

Sixteen barn/structure blocks are now on display on the original trail, the first of its kind of the West Coast. Most of the quilt block patterns come from "Patterns for an Oregon Quilt", a book available at the Latimer Quilt & Textile Center, and itself derived from a book by Eula M. Long. Many of the patterns were designed exclusively for Oregon. Different patterns may have the same name or one pattern many as the women changed the names to suit their surroundings. At the end of the history of each dairy farm is the name of the block at that location.

In 2010, the committee began planning and execution of a quilt block trail, Walk Our Blocks, in downtown Tillamook, hanging 30 blocks on participating businesses and promoting our coastal heritage. At the end of that endeavor, 42 people were put on a waiting list until the following year. Those block designs come from the resources at the Latimer Quilt and Textile Center and the website www.quilterscache.com. There is a brief description of each business on the map of the trail.

In the spring of 2011, in an effort to ease the work required by the Quilt Trail which fell on Latimer Center employees, it was decided we should become our own 501(c)3. With necessary paperwork done and hoops jumped, the TCQT is now its own entity. The Coalition proceeded to prepare new designs for the third phase. By August and Fairtime, 35 additional blocks were painted and mounted on buildings in Central Tillamook County.

The committee has also begun another way of highlighting quilting and history through the creation of flags. This project, “Fly Our Flags,“ enlists the help of special needs kids in the county school system to assemble, sew and package the flags. They learn necessary and useful life skills and help to create a sustainable revenue to maintain the quilt trails. Two of the flags are now for sale elsewhere on our website. More will soon be added for 2012.

The quilt trail idea was originally voiced by Marti Rhea, and has become a reality through a coalition of local citizens. The current coalition is comprised of the following:

Faye Jacques, President, Board Member of Latimer Quilt and Textile Center
Barbara Webster, President-elect, Advocate for Special Needs Children
Suzanne Weber, Past President, Mayor of City of Tillamook
Diane Colcord, Secretary, Tillamook County Historical Society
Teri Fladstol, Treasurer, 4-H Leaders Association
Carol Marie Leuthold, Board Member at Large, Tillamook County Dairy Women
Andy Neal, Board Member at Large, Manager Tillamook County Fairgrounds.

This project is supported in part by a grant from the Oregon Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

We would like to also thank the following contributors who have supported us through donations of time and money, discounts and in-kind services: Economic Development Council Grant; Fairview Acres Dairy (Obrist); Hampton Lumber; K & J Norris Powerwashing; Latimer Quilt & Textile Center; Photoart by Marti, LLC; Rosenberg’s; Tillamook Air Museum; Tillamook County Historical Society; Tillamook High School FFA with Max Sherman; Tillamook High School Geometry Class with Mrs. Sherman; Tillamook Public Utility District Grant; Tillamook Revitalization Agency; Tillamook Urban Renewal Agency; Zweifel Custom Farming; State of Oregon – ABC (Arts Building Communities) Grant; TRT Grants, City of Tillamook, 2009/2010 & 2010/2011; Zach Crist – Eagle Scout Project; for engineering the mounting process: Steve Fladstol; and all those who have participated in buying a quilt block and making our communities the better for it.

The Tillamook County Quilt Trail would like to thank Betty Rolston, a coalition member for the first two years and the one who first brought the idea to the Farm Bureau, but had to resign in 2011 due to health concerns.