QuiltCon Special Exhibit Tours

On Friday, Saturday and Sunday I led tours of the four special exhibits at QuiltCon, and it was a lot of fun. The four exhibits were the "Modern Quilt Guild's 2014 Quilts of the Month", sponsored by B. Studio Design; "Pieced With Love: The Quilts of Do.Good.Stitches", sponsored by Beyond the Reef; "Modern Materials, Quilts of the 1970s", sponsored by Bloc Loc; and "The Quilts of Gee's Bend", sponsored by Yuwa Live Life Collection.

"Modern X" the March 2014 Quilt of the Month
by Christa Watson, Las Vegas MQG

We spent some time talking about the charity quilts, how wonderfully dynamic they were in the context of charity quilts made throughout history; as well as the MQG Quilts of the Month. On the first day of the tour we were fortunate to have Christa Watson of Las Vegas Modern Quilt Guild as part of the tour group. She told the story about how she made her beautiful quilt, "Modern X", the March 2014 Quilt of the Month!

We spent a considerable amount of time each day discussing The Quilts of Gee's Bend, and visitors to Quilt Con were also treated to the Gee's Bend episode of Why Quilts Matter, History, Art & Politics on a video loop in the center of the display. Many people stopped and watched!

I told the story of a very special quilt made by Lucy Mingo of Gee's Bend, and for anyone looking for a picture of the quilt, here it is!

"Bible Story" by Lucy Mingo, Gee's Bend, Alabama, 1979

And here is a picture of Lucy signing the quilt, 32 years after she made it!! What a stunning moment that was. I blogged about it, too (click here).

The last exhibit on the tour was "Modern Materials, Quilts of the 1970s"-- my own exhibit of 20 quilts made in the 1970s, and of course, I had a lot to say about them. Topics included polyester, DayGlo, methods of construction, color and design, and it was a lot of fun telling people about the quilts in the midst of the display.

There were lots of great questions, and really an open dialogue about the quilts on display. Great exchanges between myself and the tour groups! I tried to make sure to thank the sponsors, and also made sure to visit the Bloc Loc booth to thank them personally for their generous sponsorship of my exhibit. Special thanks to the volunteers who checked in attendees, brought me water, took pictures, and did everything to make my life a little easier. We had fun!