Thanks, Erv. I ventured out to the Minnesota Zoo yesterday. In the last month I have walked at the "Back to the 50's"-a large craft/arts fair and the zoo.
From talking to a few owners,5 there is a shop who makes the painted patches. A while back there were only a dozen or so patterns, probably a lot more and custom type now.
When purchased, they get what you want and deliver it, mount it, etc. Most early barns had hand painted or real cloth which slowly fell apart.
Another person I talked to could read the quilts! She knew alot from her relitives. There were some patch barns back in the slavery days.
Thanks for the info
The patterns told how to get things like food, shelter, connecting routes, etc. Used as a portion of the underground railroad.
Interesting chat with her.
From talking to a few owners,5 there is a shop who... (show quote)