Small Town Square

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE

To say the past three years have been a challenge, is an understatement. Coping with a virus that seemingly will not go away and an economy struggling to gain traction, Americans have nevertheless relied on good humor, resourcefulness and a can-do spirit in order to maintain the traditions they love.

One of those traditions is the annual McHenry County Historical Society quilt raffle.

This year’s drawing was moved back to January in light of everything that is going on. It gave our quilters, who were forced to cope with a variety of health challenges, more time to create yet another spectacular quilt.

Small Town Square reflects the communal feeling many of us are leaning on nowadays. After all, town squares often are the epicenter of social activity in communities that include the likes of Woodstock and Huntley.

The design, a nine-patch with “hips,” is rooted in a pattern which appeared in the Quilters Newsletter back in the 1970s.

This year’s winning ticket stub, drawn by MCHS Board President Karen Parks, belonged to Diane Perrone of Algonquin. A long-time supporter of the historical society, Diane said she has bought quilt raffle tickets the past 20 years but never thought she'd win. Her victory was not only a bit of welcome news, as a quilter she knows and appreciates all of the time and effort that went into what amounts to a piece of art. "Quilting is like building a house," she said.

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The Heritage Quilters already are hard at work on their next quilt.

MCHS also offers a free quilt activity kit for 3rd through 5th graders. It guides them through the history of quilts and how they are made and hands-on activities for creating your own quilt using blocks of paper. If you would like a free quilt activity kit please message us on Facebook or call Volunteer & Outreach Coordinator Kira Shae Meehan at the office.