From the Quilt Alliance: "Shelly Zegart, one of the founding visionaries of the Alliance for American Quilts (Quilt Alliance), died at home in Louisville, Kentucky, on July 22, 2025, after succumbing to a brief but grave illness. Shelly’s contributions to the scholarly world of quilts are remarkable, and her loss is deeply felt." Click through to learn more about Shelly, her role in the creation of the Quilt Alliance, and her contributions to the scholarly world of quilts.

More from the Quilt Alliance:

"In 1981, Shelly co-founded the Kentucky Quilt Project, an effort to collect data on quilts made in Kentucky through a series of Quilt Days held across Kentucky. The project inspired groups in almost all 50 states to conduct their own quilt surveys based on the KQP model.

To find a home for this growing body of quilt documentation, Zegart, along with Quilts Inc. founders Karey Bresenhan and Nancy Puentes, and Eunice Ray, founded the Alliance for American Quilts in 1993. Much of the data collected by the state quilt projects is now archived in the Quilt Index, another project that Shelly and fellow AAQ board members worked tirelessly to help establish.

The Quilt Alliance would not exist today without Shelly’s dedication, drive for excellence, generous support, and deep love and appreciation for quilts."

Click Here, or the image below, to read the Quilt Alliance's remembrance of Shelly.

Click Here to read Shelly’s obituary in the Louisville Courier Journal.