Every year, Jessamine County looks forward to the annual Piece Quilters Quilt Show and Quilters Yard Sale. The event is put on by the Jessamine Piece Quilters, an active group of quilters in Jessamine County, to display quilts that members have created. In addition to the Quilt Show, there is a yard sale that takes place where fabrics, notions and patterns will be available for purchase to the public.
The yard sale is a great opportunity for everyone, and especially sewers and quilters to purchase fabrics at a reduced price of $3 a yard. The yard sale serves as a way for the Piece Quilters to raise money for their activities.
Additionally, each year, members of the Piece Quilters create a quilt together, which is raffled off as a donation to benefit Kids Cancer Alliance. Tickets will be available at the yard sale for $1 each or six for $5. A drawing will take place in December, where a lucky winner will take home the handmade quilt.
Contrary to previous years, the 2024 Quilters Yard Sale did not take place on the same day as the Quilt Show, which was on Saturday, Sept. 21.
“Our annual quilt show was previously held at the Nicholasville Christian Church until 2022 when the church building was sold,” said Beth Tibbits, organizer of the Quilt Show. “So, our quilt guild, Jessamine Piece Quilters, looked for another place to hold our quilt show, and Camp Nelson was very generous in hosting us when we contacted them!”
The National Park Service and the Jessamine Piece Quilters partnered for the first time to put on the Camp Nelson Quilt Show that centered on Civil War history.
Tibbitts shared that many of the members had made Civil War era quilts and Underground Railroad quilts, recently as well as in the past, which made Camp Nelson a great fit to display them.
Ernie Price, Superintendent at Camp Nelson National Monument, shared the unique aspects of the Civil War that were on display during the Quilt Show. He stated that the event was a chance to “learn about a specific aspect of the Civil War experience and the role that quilts played for different people and the meaning those quilts still hold for us today.”
Price shared that Camp Nelson was not actually a battlefield during the Civil War and that it was a large supply depot for the U.S. military and refugee center for people who were displaced by the war.
“These refugees represent a large civilian aspect to Camp Nelson and remind us that it was not just a military site. There were thousands of people here… who were trying to take care of one another and that included staying warm and searching for ways to maintain self-identity during a time of incredible uncertainty.”
This year’s Quilt Show gave visitors the opportunity to experience the history of the Civil War that unfolded in Jessamine County and the role that quilts played during that time.
While the Quilt Show may have been the highlight of the event, the yard sale is a great way to find fabrics and other items at a bargain price. Additionally, purchasing a ticket at the yard sale is a way to support Opportunity Quilt, Jessamine Piece Quilters’s efforts to support Kids Cancer Alliance.
The yard sale will take place on Saturday, Sept. 28 at the Jessamine County Extension office from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. There is no admission charge for the Quilter’s Yard Sale.
