Every year the Houston Quilt Festival puts up amazing exhibits highlighting different types and genres of quilts amongst the award winners. This year is no different, and Bob Ruggiero of Quilts, Inc. wanted to give you a sneak peek of one of the ones coming. He says, "One of the more interesting and thought-provoking exhibits will surely be “Soul Stories.” Curated by noted and innovative art quilters and instructors Luana Rubin and An Marshall, it features works by visionary art quilters who intertwine the narratives of human existence with a meaningful blend of myths, legends, archetypes, stories, spiritual influences, and science." Click through to learn more about the exhibit, and to see some of the quilts that will be featured as part of it.
From the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts: "Rosemary Ollison: Know My heart features the complex textile oeuvre of Milwaukee-based artist Rosemary Ollison. In her eighties, Ollison has been making art in her home environment for thirty years. This exhibition will be Ollison’s first-ever solo museum exhibition."
From the National Quilt Museum: "Learn how Victoria Findlay Wolfe’s approach to designing eye-popping quilts with bold colors, shapes, and patterns is often inspired by flying 30,000 feet in the air! All this and more can be seen on the video of her artist talk for her exhibition, Option Expedition, which runs through September 9, 2025."
From the National Quilt Museum: "A testament to the survival of ancestral knowledge systems, the exhibition, Whiles I Yet Live: Matriarchy and Generational Exchange in Gee’s Bend presents a selection of over twenty quilts, spanning nearly a century of artistic practice within the community. This exhibition borrows its title from the 1955 song “Give Me My Flowers” by The Consolers, which inspired the later Christian Gospel performed by Reverend James Cleveland. The hymn was re-recorded by Boykin-based quilters Mary Ann Pettway, China Pettway, Lorene Pettway, and Nancy Pettway in 2016." Click through to find out more about the National Quilt Museum's stunning new exhibit.
The Frist Art Museum in Nashville, TN is currently showing the Fabric of a Nation: American Quilt Stories from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston exhibit, which showcases "nearly 50 remarkable examples of quilts and coverlets made from the 18th century up to 2021." As part of that exhibit, you can see Virginia Jacobs’ Krakow Kabuki Waltz, "a monumental 7‑foot‑diameter quilted sphere."
From Quilts, Inc.: "Quilts, Inc.—producer of trade show International Quilt Market and public show International Quilt Festival—has named Jamie Mueller as the company’s new Director of Education.She takes over for the retiring Jill Benge." Click through to learn more about Jamie and the role she'll be playing as part of Quilts, Inc. going forward.
Join award-winning quilter, designer, author, teacher, and musician Ricky Tims for a special FREE four-part class to create The Odette Quilt — a stunning 48" x 48" project designed by Kaye England.
Did you catch Alex's LIVE on Wednesday about her visit to the 50th Sisters Outdoor Quilt Festival? Did it make you excited to visit next year? Want to learn even more about this storied quilt show? Well, you're in luck, as founder of the Sisters Quilt Show, Jean Wells, has written a book about the history of the show and more entitled, Sisters, Oregon - Five Decades of Quilting in America. Listen to Jean, and her daughter Valori Wells, as the talk about the book, its release, and how you might be able to get an autographed copy for yourself.
"You Made That?": The Quilting Adventures of Harvey Fierstein on Display in Ridgefield, Connecticut
Lifetime Achievement Tony Award winner Harvey Fierstein has many gifts, including being an award-winning playwright and actor for the stage and screen for his work in Torch Song Trilogy, Hairspray, La Cage aux Folles, and so much more. But did you also know that that this multi-talented individual is also an amazing quilter? For the first time, Harvey's quilts will be on display for three days as part of the exhibition, "You Made That?": The Quilting Adventures of Harvey Fierstein, in Ridgefield, Connecticut. Come and see his fantastic quilts, and catch a glimpse of his creative prowess.
From The Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum: "Ricky Tims has enjoyed a rich and exciting career in quilting, winning numerous awards at national and international exhibitions. Ricky has shared his skill through patterns and teaching his methods, but has been fortunate to keep a large collection of his creations and the time has come to display this amazing journey of creativity in a single exhibit. Many of these quilts will be available to purchase – so admirers and collectors can add to their personal collections pieces created by this internationally influential quilt artist. Take a journey through Ricky’s creative quilting life in this exhibit." The exhibit will be on display at The Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum in Golden, CO from July 21, 2025 through October 18, 2025
From the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive: "Routed West: Twentieth-Century African American Quilts in California traces the flow and flourishing of quilts in the context of the Second Great Migration. As millions of African Americans sought greater opportunities and escape from the South’s oppressive racial environment from 1940 to 1970, they carried quilts as functional objects and physical reminders of the homes they left behind. The quilts in this exhibition explore the medium’s unique capacity for connecting kin across time and distance, holding memory and ancestral knowledge, and opening up space for beauty and artistic ingenuity."
Cherrywood Fabrics has unveiled the theme for their 2026 challenge. Each year Cherrywood produces a set of fabrics in a limited color palette and asks its contestant to a quilt of a certain size themed to that year's challenge. For 2026, the "theme inspires you to stitch your story." What do you think it is? Click through to find out.
Lisa Walton, textile artist and past President of SAQA, talks to Sheila Frampton Cooper about her quilt, Ruins of Roussillon, which was inspired by a village in France. Sheila is renowned for her intricate piecing, which she creates one piece at a time, often building upon a central nucleus for a design. Learn all about the work that went into making this complex quilt in another installment of Quilt Stories.
The latest exhibit at the International Quilt Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska opens today and is ready for all to see. The exhibit, "Chinese Quilts Today", showcases "the ways in which quiltmaking is a thriving, growing, and changing art form in modern China." See photos from the museum showing off the installation of the latest exhibit, and find out more about this fascinating portion of quilting history.
One of the most frequently asked questions at the International Quilt Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska is, "What is your most valuable quilt?" Well, they have an answer for you! Do you know what it is? Do you know how they figure out what makes it the most valuable? Watch this video and discover the answer.
The Sew & So... podcast with host Meg Goodman recently featured superb sewing sisters Sue Nickels and Pat Holly as its guests. Come and listen to a fabulous conversation where Meg talks with Sue and Pat about their contributions to the quilting community, and so much more.
Lisa Walton, textile artist and past President of SAQA, spoke with Jane Sassaman about her quilt, Johnny Jump Ups, and discussed the color, quirkiness, and vibrancy in both this and many of her other quilts in a colorific installment of Quilt Stories.
Every year before the Houston International Quilts Festival, Quilts, Inc. holds the Fall Quilt Market, "the only credentialed trade show in the world dedicated to quilting and sewing exclusively." Well, now that won't be the only time you'll be able get the inside track on all things quilting, as the Spring Quilt Market will officially be returning next year from April 10-12, 2026 at America’s Center in St. Louis, Missouri! Click through to find out more about this exciting return.
From the Texas Quilt Museum: "Saddle up and get ready to head to the Texas Quilt Museum for the debut of three brand new exhibits this Spring and Summer! Visitors will enjoy Blue Ribbon Prizewinners from the 2025 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, Framed Center/Medallion Quilts, and Rebound-Renew-Reimagine. They will run from May 1, 2025 through August 23, 2025." Click through to find out more about the new exhibits, and watch a video to see how the museum switches out the previous exhibits and installs the new ones.