Current Exhibits

New Quilts from an Old Favorite 2012: Baskets & Antique Basket Quilts

Click here to see all of the Museum's Collection Quilts

New Quilts from an Old Favorite 2012: Baskets & Antique Basket Quilts

April 6 to July 10

Winners and finalists from our annual contest challenging quiltmakers to create original quilts based on a classic block pattern. See the innovative, imaginative new quilts along side antique baskets quilts. See the Winning quilts here.

acCent! Art Quilts of the UK

March 16 to June 12

Here's your chance to see the innovative quilts from some of UK's finest quiltmakers. The only time they will be on exhibit in America, so don't miss your chance to see these exceptional quilts.

The American quiltmaking tradition has its roots in English quilting. The craft was brought to America by English settlers and cloth for the colonies came from Britain as well. Quilting flowered in America, becoming the means of expression of millions of quilters over the centuries, until what we have in the United States today is a $3.58 billion dollar industry. Quilts range from simple block crib quilts to elaborate king-size appliqué quilts to embellished and custom-dyed innovative quilts. And their roots all go back to England, where quiltmaking continues today.

Today's quiltmakers in the United Kingdom aren't all creating historically accurate classical quilts. Many are exploring new avenues of materials, techniques, and expression. This is immediately evident in acCENT! This exhibit features the work of 30 of the most talented innovative quilt artists from the United Kingdom who are continually pushing the envelope of what a quilt is and what it can say. The quiltmakers of long ago were creating decorative bedcovers as a way to claim status and display their wealth. The quiltmakers in this exhibit have used the medium of quilting to communicate. What they have to say might be about a challenge in their lives, or about a location they enjoy. It might simply be about a historical technique of piecing quilts, but with a fresh insight.

I worked with Hilary Gooding in the UK to bring together this extraordinary group of quilts. It was difficult to select what would be included in the exhibit. The talent evident is phenomenal, and the quilts express so much.

It is very important to know what is happening in other parts of the quilting world, so we can learn from other quilting cultures. This exhibit provides that opportunity.

Judy Schwender, Curator/Registrar
National Quilt Museum

This exhibit is sponsored by AT&T, YP.com the Real Yellow Pages.

Some photos from the exhibit:

"Seaside Town" by Alicia Merrett

"Family" by Marlene Cohen

"Toward Loch Maree, Wester Ross, Scotland" by Effie Galletly

The National Quilt Museum Collection

Ongoing Exhibit

At the heart of any museum's activities are the important objects it was founded to collect, preserve and share with the public.

The Museum Collection has become an ever-developing documentation of the quiltmaking revival that has flourished in the 1980's, 1990's and is sure to continue as the new century unfolds.

The core of the collection includes quilts donated by the founders of the museum, Bill and Meredith Schroeder and the American Quilter's Society Quilt Show & Contest purchase award winners donated through AQS. Also included are a number of other donations and purchases.

The collection currently includes more than 300 quilts created by more than 333 quilt makers. The works in the collection were made from 1980 on.

In 2008, the museum's collection became available on-line in partnership with the Alliance for the American Quilt through the Quilt Index. To see the museum's quilts, visit www.quiltindex.org.

Oh, Wow! The Miniature Quilt Collection

Ongoing Exhibit

Bill and Meredith Schroeder have watched the miniature quilt form grow in popularity and sophistication over the past several years. These quilts are not simply small quilts; they are made to scale. The rules for the miniature quilt category at the annual American Quilter's Society Show and Contest require that the quilt may be no wider than 24 inches, no longer than 24 inches, and it must be reduced in scale.

The first reaction people have when they see these tiny wonders is "Oh! Wow!". Bill Schroeder says, "No better word could describe this remarkable collection of miniature quilts. Look them over carefully, I think that you will agree." Mr. Schroeder, with the assistance of Klaudeen Hansen of Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, has assembled an extraordinary group of miniature quilts. The Schroeders have generously donated this group of quilts to the National Quilt Museum.

In 2006 the miniature quilt category was first awarded a Best Miniature Quilt Purchase Award. This has been made possible by the generosity of Benartex, Inc., a leading supplier of creative 100% designer cotton prints, who sponsors this category. Their support will ensure the growth and quality of the collection.

A book, Oh Wow! Miniature Quilts, is available for purchase. Click here to order. In the future, this collection will be available to travel to other museums. Funds generated from the book and traveling exhibit will go to the Museum's acquisitions fund.

Special lighting for the Oh, Wow! collection was made possible in part by the Paul D. Pilgrim Memorial Fund.

Sponsored by Benartex, Inc. in honor of Selim Benardete.