Brightly colored quilt designs are popping up on sides of buildings in downtown Powder Springs.

Shop owners hope the Quilt Trail will lure tourists off main highways to visit their stores on Marietta Street.

Gloria Hiderbrand, Diane Reese and Joe Sutton came up with the idea to paint 4-foot and 8-foot plywood squares with heirloom quilt patterns. The city of Powder Springs and the Seven Springs Historical Society are supporting the project.

County Store of Seven Springs owners Reese and Hilderbrand started the project a year ago when they painted quilt squares on two sides of their 1850s-era building. The women used vintage quilts they owned as patterns for the painted versions.

Hilderbrand said quilt trails promote the history of traditional folk art quilts that have been handed down through generations. There are trails in other states —- such as the Appalachian Quilt Trail in East Tennessee and the Barn Quilt Project in Iowa.

Shop owners on Marietta Street have stories to tell about the quilt designs they chose for their buildings.

"Grandmother's Flower Garden" honors 92-year-old Powder Springs native and master quilter Estie Norris. Property owner Frank Boyd turned to a quilt design by his late grandmother, Minnie Ida Lula Campbell Boyd.

Sutton, owner of Powder Springs Flowers & Gifts, decided on a pattern that was quilted by his late mother, Laura Brock Sutton. The "Star in a Square" hangs on the side of his shop facing Marietta Street.

Hilderbrand's dream of taking the trail to six counties west of Cobb is already taking flight. Kathy Bookout painted a quilt on her Main Street Antique Market, 159 Main St. in Hiram, a year ago. A schoolhouse quilt pattern, on the side of a former one-room schoolhouse at 159 Van Wert St., Buchanan, will be dedicated Saturday.

There are nine quilt paintings in Powder Springs. Most are close together and near City Hall. Walk a quarter mile east on Marietta Street to find "Sun Bonnet Sue." Check in at the Country Store to get a map.

POWDER SPRINGS QUILT TRAIL

> "Sun Bonnet Sue or Dutch Girl," 4279 Marietta St., barn behind Marilyn's Salon.

> "Star in a Square," Powder Springs Flowers & Gifts, 4499 S. Town Square.

> "Floral Basket," Tea at Seven Springs, 4456 Marietta St.

> "Rose of Sharon and Grandmother's Flower Garden," Book Worm, 4451 Marietta St.

> "Star of Bethlehem and Double Irish Chain," Country Store of Seven Springs, 4455 Marietta St.

> "Pickle Dish," 3880 Broad St.; and "Carpenters Wheel," Sensibilities Salon & Spa, 4477 Marietta St., two of four quilts painted by Hillgrove High School students.