Nappanee resident designs award-winning Indiana bicentennial quilt

The historical society is giving the Outstanding Bicentennial Collaborative Project Award to the Indiana Barn Foundation for its Indiana Bicentennial Barn Quilt project.

The quilt features 6-inch by 6-inch squares depicting a barn from each of the state’s 92 counties. Nappanee’s Connie Kauffman designed the quilt pattern while Bremen’s Ruby Borkholder worked every day but Sundays during February finishing the quilt by hand, according to the historical society.

The quilt was sponsored by the Indiana Barn Foundation, which partnered with Indiana Landmarks and the Indiana Quilt Guild, for the project.

“It’s been a huge collaborative effort,” said Carolyn Meyer Rahe of Bourbon, who spearheaded the project. “It was such a statewide thing. It’s been a huge collaborative effort and we’re really honored that they saw that too.”

Elkhart County’s piece was created by Kauffman and depicts the Round Barn Theatre at Amish Acres in Nappanee.