Long before it was a state, the area was home to the Hopewell and Adena nations. These Native Americans left behind earthwork mounds that can still be found across the state. By the late 1700s, it became the first state carved out of the Northwest Territory.
Ohio petitioned to join the United States on March 1, 1803, but it wasn’t official until 1953. Due to an oversight, Ohio’s was never ratified. The error was discovered when the state was preparing to celebrate 150 years of statehood; imagine the surprise to realize the ratification had never happened! It was easily fixed and Ohio became on official state under the presidency of Eisenhower (instead of the presidency of Jefferson as presumed).
When Orville and Wilbur Wright took their first flight, they were in North Carolina, but they called Ohio home. Dayton is considered the birthplace of aviation and it’s where you’ll find parks, museums and historical sites dedicated to the brothers.
Ohio played a major role in the Underground Railroad and served as the primary route (up the Ohio River for 40,000+ freedom seekers. There are stories of quilts being used as signals to lead to safety, but they are highly disputed.
There’s also the story of how barn quilts got started and Donna Sue Groves of Manchester is credited with painting the first one in 2001 (did you think they’d been around longer than that, too?!). That one block sparked a phenomenon that I’ve seen across the country, but particularly in the Midwest.
Today lots of shops offer barn quilt workshops where you can learn to paint one for yourself. Or get a kit and take an online class.
Because Hawke grew up in rural Ohio and both of his parents still live there, we’ve spent quite a bit of time there visiting family, friends and quilt shops. One of my favorite visits was with his mom, Shauna, and the three of us got to spend some time at the Dairy Barn Arts Center.
by Katie Pasquini Masopust
by Carolyn Mazloomi
exterior
interior
by Michael James
I’d long heard about Quilt National and the exhibitions there, but had never had the opportunity to teach anywhere near Athens, Ohio, so hadn’t been. Thankfully, Shauna lives only a couple hours away and three of us took a day trip to visit. The space is beautiful and filled with a wide variety of quilts and other exhibits. Their Quilt National 2025 exhibition is on tour now (and will be at QuiltCon!) and in May, the Quilt National Call for Entry opens for exhibition from May to September 2027.
On that same trip, we got to see some of the burial mounds (which Hawke and I have also seen in Iowa). Native American mounds dot the landscape in southern Ohio and the largest known effigy mound is Serpent Mound near Peebles. There are many unanswered questions about the mounds, their purpose and who exactly made them, but continual research is leading to new understanding.
In central Ohio, we found Loveland Castle, one of those strange homes built slowly and continually for decades. Harry D. Andrews spent more than fifty years building the castle with handmade bricks. He was so fascinated by medieval times he formed and led the Knights of The Golden Trail, an organization that still runs the tours there.
In northern Ohio, we took the opportunity for a quick visit to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. We were teaching in Middleburg Heights so there wasn’t much time to explore, so it remains on the list of places to spend some time.
Quilt Block
The Ohio Block is such a classic and is the basic block for many, many quilt patterns, but for our Quarter Millennial Quilt we had to change it up a little. Based on the size of the state, the blocks finishes at 6 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ rather than a square. It gives the block a fun look, but also make those flying geese much harder to piece with any of the traditional techniques. Instead we are using foundation paper piecing (FPP).
This is a good example of how useful FPP can be. This technique makes it easy to get consistent results with the perfect angles and points that match. You can find numerous traditional quilt block foundation paper piecing templates from It’s Sew Emma.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81lRdVlivpk
Quilt Shops
- Quilt Beginnings in Dublin is a wonderful shop that has hosted classes with me several times and offers a fabulous array of quilting cottons, threads, and notions. Plus it has beautiful classroom filled with natural light, where I got to teach how to make a kids’ hooded towel for the LQS tour.
- Village Quilts in Canfield is a sweet little shop housed in an old home and offered a surprisingly varied collection of quilting cottons.
- Sew to Speak in Columbus is aimed at modern sewists with lots of indie garment patterns, bright and modern fabrics and well-stocked yarn and embroidery sections.
- From Past to Present in St. Clairsville on the far east side of the state is a shop packed with goodies, but I’ll remember them most fondly for taking me to the glass factory-turned-museum.
- Sue Spargo & Co in Green is owned by the real Sue Spargo, the queen of wool applique. They have a retail location with all the needed supplies, plus lots of classes to learn from the best.
- Pins & Needles in Middleburg Heights is rightly described as a megastore, focusing mostly on machines, supplies and a classroom that can hold 50+. They were the host of one of our shows on the LQS tour and were certainly memorable!
I can’t wait to see your Ohio Star block! If you live in or have visited Ohio, I’d love to hear more about it!
P.S. My very favorite gluten-free bakery, Biscuits by Daddy-O is in Columbus, but I order their biscuit mix for delivery everywhere I live. I can’t recommend them highly enough if you’re gluten-free like me.