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Marlus Svoboda records Iowa’s 100 Courthouses recorded on huge quilt

Marlus Svoboda with the Courthouses of Iowa quilt she has created. It will be on display soon at the Tama County Administration Building in Toledo. Inside Iowa Today photos/John Speer

“It was very interesting to visit all the Iowa courthouses,” Marlus Svoboda say of her tour over the state. It has ended with a photo quilt which displays a block each of the 100 courthouses – yes, 99 counties but, Lee County has a “north” county seat in Ft. Madison and a “south” county seat in Keokuk Marlus notes.

With the quilt finished recently, Marlus has offered it to Tama County for future display and it was welcomed by county officials on Monday, Sept. 16. Marlus, with her husband, Laurence, brought it to the board of supervisors meeting for a preview.

Arrangements are underway to hang the “Courthouses Quilt” so it will be available for all to see in the Tama County Administration Building, 10 West State St., Toledo. It will be on view for one year it was agreed.

“It was a winter project,” Marlus says of the quilting which spanned three years of work off and on. The finished project measures 104 inches x 106 inches- that’s about 8 1/2 ft. x 8 1/2 ft. square

The Svobodas apparently “wore out” their digital camera used to photograph the courthouses as it has now quit working Marlus said as a side note.

Marlus Svoboda (center) with her husband, Laurence, discuss placement of her Courthouses quilt with Dirk Henle, maintenance director, 2nd District Supervisor Kendall Jordan and Auditor Laura Kopsa at the Administration Building on Monday, Sept. 16.

Supervisor chairperson Kendall Jordan and and Dirk Henle, maintenance director stood on chairs to hoist the quilt high enough so it could be photographed on Monday.

Tama County's courthouse among the quilt panes of 100 Iowa courthouses.