Jean and Pollyanna Covert and their quilt, “Trip Around the Square”. (Photo proivded)
Submitted News
As the founding county of the Quilt Barn Trail, Adams County now has a historic quilt to commemorate this incredible quilt movement in our county, state, country and abroad.
“Trip Around the Square” is an award-winning quilt made by local quilter, Jean Covert of Wamsley. The pictorial quilt depicts the historic town of West Union, Ohio in the mid-1940s to the early 1950s. The courthouse is set in the center of the medallion style quilt, placing the streets of the town with their respective businesses around it.
The National Bank of Adams County, the last continuing business remaining around the square, has graciously accepted to display the quilt as a place of safekeeping for generations to come. Being in West Union, the county seat, the public is welcome to view the quilt and the enlarged story of the quilt’s depicted historical era during regular banking hours.
Covert’s original design is hand appliquéd and hand quilted. Her daughter, Pollyanna Covert, embellished the quilt with hand embroidery work—adding the many details of business names, doorknobs and even the trumpet vine with the spiral staircase of the Crawford and Frame building. For this creation, Covert spent many years gathering research and had help from a few local residents to recreate the buildings and businesses of the era she remembers so fondly as achild.
Those who assisted were the Adams County Historical Society, Ethel Chambers, Ruth Cooper, Betty Jo Hackworth, Stephen Kelley, Alice Mae Smith and Valerie Young.
Covert often designs her own patterns for many of her quilts, but she also enjoys traditional patterns of appliqué and pieced works. For this special quilt, Covert made up a short rhyme—printed on the back . “I’ve made this quilt for all to see, but really it was made for me. Childhood memories, I’ve pieced and sewn, of West Union as it was known. A trip around the square you’ll find, this homemade quilt, one-of-a-kind.”
