Bicentennial banner installed on Courthouse
May 24—GREENSBURG — The official banner for the Greensburg bicentennial, created by local quilters and funded by local quilting arts shop Tree City Stitches, First Federal Savings and Loan, and the Decatur County Community Foundation, was installed on the north side of the Greensburg Courthouse Monday morning, officially kicking off the bicentennial celebration on the historic Greensburg Square.
Excited quilters and artisans huddled in the chilly morning breeze while Greens Signs employees worked to install the end result of a project seven months in the making.
Spearheaded by locally renown fabric arts artist Nancy Derheimer and assembled by local quilters, the banner represents much handiwork and a great deal of meaning to a local community that is growing by the day.
The concept of the banner is based on a quilt design that incorporates the Indiana State Bird, the cardinal, and the official state "Star Pattern" block. The center is a large block that features the Tower Tree and includes hand-painting in addition to the quilting. The actual quilt featured in the banner design will soon hang on a wall inside the courthouse, as soon as a fitting banner fixture is created.
"It just seemed like a natural thing to do to celebrate the bicentennial because quilting has been bringing people together from different cultures, different hobbies, different styles and genders since before the birth of our country," said Derheimer.
Derheimer, whose works are often on display at Art on the Square Gallery, was quick to share praise for the project as members of the banner steering group shared coffee at The Branch coffeehouse after the installation.
As the group laughed and shared some early morning cheer, quilter Rita Hellmich, who helped with the final pieceing together of the quilt blocks, shared some thoughts on the subject.
"It's interesting to be sitting here with folks near and far brought together simply by our creativity, our sewing and artistic talents, and the love for what we do," said Hellmich. "It's wonderful that we can come together and share that with our community."
Cathy Chmiel-Goetzinger, who volunteered as a creative consultant for the project, enjoyed it because of the "inclusion" aspect of quilting.
"The handiwork is a bit out of my comfort zone, but it was nice to share my ideas with such a good group of people. The way that we came up with the ideas for the tree-block, I just think that's magic!" she said.
Hellmich helped pieced the final quilt together and local resident Nancy King did the final quilting with her "long-arm" quilting machine.
Chmiel-Goetzinger, Susan Wilson and Margaret Parker, to name a few, were some of the other quilters in the Greensburg Quilt Club that helped with the project and were on hand for the unveiling of the banner.
Contact Bill Rethlake at 812-651-0876 or email bill.rethlake@greensburgdailynews.com
