Homestead Farm
We are pleased to announce the full schedule for the National Quilt Trail Gathering, August 10-13th. PDF Schedule Download here. Registrations have already started to arrive in the office, and Quilt Trail ambassadors have already been making their room reservations at the General Morgan Inn. Folks are excited, y’all!! Read the schedule below and you will get excited too: best practices from other quilt trail ambassadors; presentations from practical experts on grants and using social media to enhance your quilt trail’s reach; talks on creativity with Patricia Mink, on quilt history with Merikay Waldvogel; Julie Donofrio showing the “Pieced Together” Documentary; Storytelling with Elizabeth Ellis… plus Friday night’s Farm Dinner and Quilt Turning will be a magical summer evening.
Downtown Greeneville
There is also a choice of downtown walking tours of Trails in our area, and Saturday guided bus tour of quilt barns.
You will return home feeling connected to a national network, full of inspiration and ideas to enhance your Quilt Trail and public arts in your community, and refreshed by mountain hospitality.
Check out the schedule and REGISTER for the Early Bird Special before March 4th!
Schedule:
Ongoing events coinciding with Gathering
- Special Quilt Exhibit, Greeneville-Greene County History Museum
- Pat Mink Show, ArtSpace 4 Gallery
- Greeneville Arts Council show, Mason House Gallery
- Special tours, Andrew Johnson National Historic Site s(schedule TBA)
- Walking tours, Main Street Greeneville (schedule TBA)
- Additionally, at the bottom of the schedule see list of Day Trips within one hours drive of Greeneville
Wed Aug 10th
1pm – 7pm Registration/Check in open at the General Morgan Inn lobby / Exhibit and Vendor set up
time TBD TN Resource Conservation & Development Council Business Meeting
6pm – 9pm Welcome Reception on the General Morgan Inn roof with a cash bar.
Welcome from area hosts.
Gallery openings w/ special exhibits at ArtSpace4, and Mason House.
Dickson-Williams Mansion open for tours.
Thurs Aug 11th
(7am Registration open)
7:30am – 9am Ball Room: Breakfast
9am Ball Room: Welcome from area hosts & Keynote: Elizabeth Ellis
As a storyteller, Elizabeth Ellis doesn’t mince words. Filled with hilarious and poignant honesty, her stories deliver down-home wisdom, southern style. Hers is a voice that finds the heart and the funny bone, riveting audiences of every age wherever she goes.
10:30 – 11:45am Ball Room A: Three Minutes of Fame (presentations from Quilt Trails)-Part 1: Quilt Trail ambassadors will have three minutes to give a powerpoint showing their Trail’s best practices.
Ball Room B: PANEL: Fundraising and Grants: Gain ideas and insights into making your public art project self-sustaining and community supported.
12:00-1:30pm Ball Room: Lunch – special video from Suzie Parron
2:00 – 3:30 Ball Room A: Three Mins of Fame -Part 2
Ball Room B: Workshop session with Elizabeth Ellis, “Telling Your Own Stories”
Brumley Room (holds 32): Artist Talk: Patricia Mink
Pat Mink’s work will be showing in the ArtSpace4 Gallery (adjacent to the General Morgan Inn). She is internationally known for her cutting-edge work using digital art with fiber. Her work explores the traditional layered quilt form, using new digital techniques for printing fabric as a means of establishing a visual dialogue addressing issues of contemporary culture.
3:30pm – on “Free time”: Vendors Area, Quilt Trail booth area, area arts demonstrations, etc.
Dinner On Your Own
7:00pm – 8:00pm Main Street Downtown Walking Tour offered
8pm-10pm Documentary & Dessert: Viewing of “Pieced Together”, a documentary that tells the story of how Donna Sue Grove’s love for her mother changed the American landscape – and saved her life. Presented by Producer/ Director Julie Donofrio at the downtown Greeneville Capitol Theater. With dessert bar. (Ticket included in general registration. $10 public.) View Trailer at YouTube here.
Fri Aug 12th
7:30am – 9am Breakfast (& Registration)
9:00am – 10:30 Ball Room: Welcome from area hosts and Keynote: Merikay Waldvogel
Waldvogel is an internationally known quilt historian, lecturer, and author. Among her books are “Quilts of Tennessee: Images of Domestic Life Prior to 1930” and “Soft Covers for Hard Times: Quiltmaking and the Great Depression,” which is regarded as the key work on mid-20th century quilts and quiltmaking. http://www.quiltershalloffame.net/Waldvogel.html
(morning time TBA Downtown Walking Tour repeat)
10:45am – 12:00pm Ball Room A: Three Mins of Fame -Part 3
Ball Room B: PANEL: Community Engagement: Ambassadors will share creative ways in which they have broadened the reach, scope, or impact of their quilt trails. Audience is invited to participate in discussion and Q&A.
Brumley Room: Interest Group: Quilt Trail mobile app: The northeast Tennessee quilt trail (the host of the Gathering) launched the “Follow the QT” mobile app in 2013 and would like to explore adding other Trails and broaden the app’s geography.
12:00-1:30pm Lunch at General Morgan with Awards Presentation
2:00 – 3:30 Ball Room A: Web and Social Media Best Practices: Lead by quilt trail representatives and area business experts, you’ll take home how to effectively use websites and social media to attract more visitors to your quilt trail.
Ball Room B: Measuring Economic Impact: How do you defend the importance of your trail? Measuring community and economic impact is key to attracting funding and support. We’ll go over ideas for how to do this with your trail from the ground up.
Brumley Room: Working Group: What’s Next for the National QT? What’s next? Those interested in a working group for national-level communication and collaboration are invited to attend.
3:30 – 6:00 pm Vendor/Exhibitors open, demonstrations, area arts.
5:30pm – late Farm Dinner at Still Hollow Farm with Quilt Bed Turning ($35 ticket extra)
Greene County’s quilt barn owners will bring their quilts and give an old fashioned bed turning, an informal presentation where quilts are stayed high on a bed and stories are told as each quilt is peeled back like peeling back the layers of time. Still Hollow Farm is a working family farm and beautiful venue overlooking the Nolichucky River. Designated a Tennessee Century Farm, it has been continuously operated by the Allen/Birdwell family since 1857. The Birdwell’s put the historic granary on the quilt trail wit the “corn cross quilt”, significant in the fact that corn has played an integral part throughout the existence of the farm in sustaining many generations of the Birdwell family.
Sat Aug 13th
7:30am – 9:00am Breakfast
9:00am – 2pm Quilt Barns Guided Bus Tour of northeast Tennessee with storyteller hosts; Visit 4-5 quilt barn stops, meet farm owners and quilt trail volunteers, enjoy Appalachian scenery and some shopping; includes Lunch. ($35 ticket extra)
Alternative day trips within an hours drive of Greeneville: include the Biltmore Estate, Asheville NC; Great Smoky Mountains National Park, NC/TN; Dollywood and Splash Country, Gatlinburg, TN; the Bristol Birthplace of Country Music, Bristol TN/VA; Cherokee National Forest (horse, hiking and biking); the Appalachian Trail; Nolichucky River whitewater tubing and boating; Birthplace of Davy Crockett, Limestone, TN; Knoxville. Trip planning assistance available upon request.
PDF Schedule Download here
