Piece together a quilting excursion

Take a colorful excursion into quilt country with special events, exhibits and attractions. For more than 40 years, Kalona’s quilt festival has brought the quilts of its local Amish crafters together with other examples from past and present for a large quilt show and sale. This year’s event is April 27-28, but don’t worry, if you can’t fit the festival into your schedule you can visit The Quilt and Textile Museum and local quilt shops throughout the year. In downtown Kalona, the idea of a “quilt walk” is given a whole new twist, with 42 quilt block designs embedded right into the sidewalks.

In the Amana Colonies, quilts and other textiles served a utilitarian purpose in early communal life, while the skills of 19th-century colonists inspired future generations of artists. Today visitors can purchase antique and contemporary quilts and quilt supplies at several shops in the seven villages. Tour the Amana Heritage Society museums for a look at exhibits, artifacts and living history settings interpreting the unique communal lifestyle that developed here.

With East Central Iowa as the starting point for your quilt quest, consider embarking on one of Iowa’s many barn quilt tours to see barns and farm outbuildings painted with oversize quilt block designs. Grundy County was one of the first to develop the barn quilt tour; now there are similar tours in Washington County, Butler County, Sac County, Humboldt County and others.

Mark your calendar for the Living History Farms Quilt Show in late September or an exhibit of Civil War Commemorative quilts at the Grout Museum of History and Science in Waterloo now through September 1. “Comfort and Joy” is the theme of a holiday quilt show and quilt block walk during Creston’s annual Christmas festival. Create a patchwork of memories – start planning today.

Top 2 Civil War Things to Do

The Civil War is 150, which means four years of particularly robust re-enactments and a lot of new Civil War books. Even a CD or two.

Here are two things I recommend doing to tribute the occasion:

1. WATCH 'SHERMAN'S MARCH'

Do you know this 1986 documentary? At nearly three hours, it's way too long, but simply impossible to stop looking at once you start.

A heart-broken, deadpan-hilarious film-maker Ross McElwee (mostly behind the camera) wants to retrace the tragic figure of William Sherman on his (in)famous rampage through the South, a region he had loved and spent much time before the war. But McElwee's girlfriend dumps him after McElwee gets the film grant, so he ends up loosely following Sherman, while mostly flirting from behind the camera with a string of mesmerizingly bizarre southern women (a rocker, a 'prophet' actress, a Mormon, a hermit).

It is more a glimpse of '1981 South' -- when it was filmed -- than a Civil War doc. (The New York Times even called it a 'timely memoir of the '80s' in 1986!) Plus Burt Reynolds makes an unplanned cameo.

2. WATCH THIS

I made this two years ago at Gettysburg, and still await the answer on how Civil War re-enactors decide who dies first.

If pressed, I'd have to admit no one really knows.

Talking 2011 on ABC News Now

Yesterday I appeared on ABC News Now to discuss some of the lists made in Lonely Planet's new Best in Travel 2011. Talked about Albania's Ottoman-era houses, Japan's $40 guesthouses, the notion of 'communism travel' and re-enactments from the upcoming 150th anniversary of the Civil War (here's my video on how they decide who dies first). Yes, I squeezed out a Will Ferrell movie idea and (not unrelated) Teutonic Knights.