Quilts

Learn how bestselling and critically acclaimed author Frances O'Roark Dowell was inspired by another artist to make her quilt, Sit-In. See how her work changed as she began to explore different design options in this "Go Tell It" video from the Quilt Alliance.

Susan Carlson, past guest of The Quilt Show, is receiving the honor of having an exhibit of her work on display at The National Quilt Museum in Paducah, KY. The exhibit, Susan Carlson: Specimens, will take a look at smaller quilts made earlier in her career that showcase the specimens of the title, such as insects, fish, and other creatures.

From The Festival of Quilts: "We're delighted to present The Quilt Collection exhibition from The Quilters' Guild of The British Isles - Patchwork: Pattern and Print: 1780-1840.This year's exhibition by The Quilt Collection showcases a stunning array of late 18th and early 19th-century patchworks. Featuring fabrics dating back to the 1780s, it's a unique opportunity to view historically significant pieces, some never before publicly displayed."​

Once in a while, our TQS Photographer and Newsletter editor steps in front of the camera, but it has to be a very rare occasion. In this instance, Mary Kay Davis got to see her quilt live and in person at the National Quilt Museum as part of the New Quilts from an Old Favorite: Roaring Twenties exhibit. Click through to see Mary's quilt quilt and learn about it and the exhibit.

From The Festival of Quilts: "For over fifty years, Lynne Edwards MBE has been making quilts, and now that retirement looms, it’s time to showcase that enormous body of work and find new homes for them all in her 'Swan Song' exhibition at The Festival of Quilts 2024. It will also be a great opportunity for Lynne to bid a public farewell and thank the hundreds of amazing people she has met, taught, and laughed with over the years​."

From the Smithsonian American Art Museum: "Explore the creative practice of Amish quilters in the United States. Pattern and Paradox: The Quilts of Amish Women looks beyond quilting as a utilitarian practice. It reveals historical quilting among the Amish as an aesthetic endeavor that walked a line between cultural and individual expression. The quilts paradoxically twin the plain with the spectacular, tradition with innovation, and a dismissal of personal pride with objects often seen as extraordinary artworks."

Today there will a total solar eclipse occurring over North America, with the path of totality (when the moon completely covers the sun) crossing over the state of Texas in the cities of San Antonio, Austin, and Dallas. One of the last times a total solar eclipse happened in North America was in 2017, where the path of totality crossed over the state of Oregon. The artists in Oregon were very inspired by this Great American Eclipse and created some quilts based on it. Here are a few of the quilts that were on display in the LaSells Stewart Center at the Oregon State University campus a few days before the big event took place.

From the International Quilt Museum (IQM): "Have you seen “A New Deal for Quilts” yet? Set aside some time to join us before the exhibition closes on April 20! With quilts from the IQM collection as well as historical photos and documentary sources, this exhibition tells the stories of quiltmakers in the United States and how they coped with the hard times of the Great Depression. It also explores how quiltmaking was used by government agencies as an emblem of American perseverance and frugality, and to promote new vocational and homemaking skills for women."

Now through July 30, 2024, the National Quilt Museum is featuring Karen Nyberg's work as part of her exhibition, The Stars Are Aligned, which celebrates her time as an astronaut, living in space, her family, and her interest in Earth conservation. The exhibition also features a set of Astronomical Quilts that were commissioned in 2013 by NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration to honor Karen's mission on the International Space Station.

From Blue Box Auction: "Join us as we unveil the Kaye England Quilt Collection in our Featured Quilt Auction on March 9, 2024 at 12:00pm EST. This exclusive event presents a remarkable selection of 20 antique quilts from Kaye’s collection, and 20 additional quilts created by Kaye in honor of some of the most important women in history including: First Ladies Washington, Taft and Coolidge, and others including Amelia Earhart, Helen Keller and Lucille Ball. The collection also includes photos and autographs of some of the featured women in the collection."

Last week we featured an exhibit of Gee's Bend quilts that were on display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In the same gallery was a collection of furniture covered with digitally reproduced designs of those quilts. Learn about this exclusive furniture collection celebrating the work of Mary Lee Bendolph, Delia Bennett, Annie E. Pettway, Loretta Petway, and Magdalene Wilson of Gee's Bend.

The Quilt Show recently visited Philadelphia and ran across this exhibit featuring the quilts of Gee's Bend at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (there through July 7, 2024) that we wanted to share with you. Of the quilts on display, the museum said, "The 13 quilts on view were acquired in 2017 through the Souls Grown Deep Foundation and were selected to tell the history of quilt-making in Gee's Bend (Alabama) from the mid-1920s to 2005. The significance of these quilts to their makers is expressed in the quilters' own words gathered from contemporary interviews."

We've finished our series on the Modern Bridges from around the world that would inspire quilters. Now let's take a look at quilts that actually were inspired by bridges. Our first is from TQS guest and master of the kaleidoscope quilt Paula Nadelstern. Paula's quilt, Kaleidoscopic XXXII: My Brooklyn Bridge, was inspired by a photo of the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City and is a part of her kaleidoscope series of quilts. Can you see why Paula considers this a kaleidoscope quilt? Click through to find out.

The Maui Quilt Shop is trying to do its part to assist the victims by collecting finished quilts to donate to those who have been impacted by the big Maui Fire.  Thankfully the Maui Quilt Shop is outside of the impacted area but, as you know, many lives were lost, and hundreds of businesses and many more homes were burned to the ground. Many thousands of people are displaced without any possessions or a place to stay. Learn more about how you can donate to this worthy cause.

After an illustrious career spanning thirty years, Bonnie Browning, the Executive Show Director of the American Quilter's Society (AQS), has officially announced her retirement in April 2024, leaving behind a remarkable legacy in the quilting world.

With the recent passing of Jane Hall at the age of 90, we'd like to share her Quilters' Save Our Stories (QSOS) interview from the Quilt Alliance where she discusses everything from quilting during difficult times to the functions of quilts, pineapple designs, and finding joy in quilting (which we think she did quite often).

In light of the recent passing of music legend Tina Turner, we want to highlight a wonderful wall quilt of her, also entitled Tina, by Laurie Ceesay Landree. Find out more, and see details, of this stunning quilt.