We’ve been up to so much this month! Sadly, we had to say good-bye to the exquisite Deeds not Words: Celebrating 100 Years of Women’s Suffrage exhibit. What an honor it was to have those works of art hanging in our gallery.
The good news is we have a new quilt exhibit shining brightly in our gallery called Midwest Modern. It’s ready for you to come marvel at with its bold and joyful colors.
The other big event we’ve been busily pulling together, is our 2022 Madison County Airing of the Quilts. It’s bigger than ever this year with three days of classes and a retreat leading up to the airing on Saturday, June 4, 2022.
Be sure to check out the details below and start registering and booking your rooms!
In Quilting Goodness,
Carissa Heckathorn, IQM Director
Midwest Modern
Midwest Modern is a collection of modern quilts from the last decade that were made by quilters who primarily live and work in the Midwest. The quilts in this exhibit are a small sample of the ways midwestern modern quilters have explored both the past and future of quilt design using the highest and lowest of technologies. They were created with inspiration from the world around them both rural and urban and from the histories and traditions of art, architecture, design, and quilting while being strongly influenced by the internet age and social media. These quilts, like modern quilting itself, were created on the boundaries of the quilting traditions that were most prominent in the last century and they pushed forward into the new century toward the future of quilt design and quilt making.
This exhibit was curated by Heather Kinion of QuiltPatternMart.com and Chair of the Board for the Modern Quilt Guild.
This exhibit runs from April 12, 2022 through June 26, 2022.
Tuesday@12 Sustainable Fabrics: The Basics
April 19, 2022 at 12 PM CT
Join Rachel Burke from AmeriCorps Green Iowa as she ventures into the world of sustainable fabrics. The fabric industry notoriously lacks transparency when it comes to its environmental impact. This one-hour presentation will provide quilters and sewists with a basic toolkit to navigate fabric choices in a more environmentally aware way. This webinar will touch on the environmental impact of Polyester, Cotton, Linen, Tencel, and Hemp.
Have you ever wondered how much water it takes to grow enough cotton for a pair of denim jeans? Have you ever thought “hemp?! What is hemp doing at my fabric store?”. Did you know that it is possible to compost clothing?
To answer these questions or if you just want to learn more about how to reduce the carbon footprint of your quilting and sewing projects join us on April 19th at 12:00 for the ‘Sustainable Fabrics: The Basics’ webinar.
Virtual Exhibit – Deeds Not Words: Celebrating 100 Years of Women’s Suffrage
This spectacular exhibit is on its way to LaConner, WA. If you have no plans to visit the PNW and are disappointed to have missed the exhibit, you can still purchase the next best thing, a Virtual Exhibit of Deeds Not Words: Celebrating 100 Years of Women’s Suffrage.
The exhibit is co-curated by Dr. Sandra Sider, Curator of the Texas Quilt Museum, and Pamela Weeks, Binney Family Curator of the New England Quilt Museum.
Deeds Not Words: Celebrating 100 Years of Women’s Suffrage is a touring exhibition of studio art quilts commemorating the one-hundredth anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, granting women the right to vote. Twenty-eight award-winning artists from across the United States accepted the invitation to create new works celebrating women’s suffrage, along with one artist whose 1995 quilt on the 1848 Declaration of Sentiments is included.
The subjects of the works include many of the women who are well known for their work in the century-old fight for the vote for women, but many more of the women the artists chose to commemorate are less well known. Jane Burch Cochran chose Martha Wright as her subject. Wright was one of the organizers of the historic 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, but her work was overshadowed by her sister, Lucretia Mott, and the now famous Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Alice Beasley’s work centers on Ida B. Wells, an African-American suffragist who was nationally known as a journalist, lecturer, and for her anti-lynching campaign. When she traveled to Washington, DC, in 1913 to march in the suffrage parade, she refused to follow instructions given to the black delegates to march at the back of the parade, and stepped into her place with the other delegates from Chicago.
2022 Madison County Airing of the Quilts
The Madison County Airing of the Quilts celebrates the history, tradition, and artistry of quilting in Iowa! Hundreds of quilts are displayed in dozens of historical and cultural landmarks across our picturesque county, including our famous covered bridges. This unique event takes place Saturday, June 4, 2022 and is one that you don’t want to miss!
We’ve added three days of classes and a retreat as pre-airing activities from June 1 – June 3, 2022.
Check out our website for more details and to register for these events!
Fiber Arts Now: Excellence In Quilts
All of us at the Iowa Quilt Museum are honored to have been given first chance at hanging approximately 28 quilts from Fiber Art Now’s most recent Call for Entry for their 2022 Excellence in Quilts exhibition. The winning quilts we choose to hang in our gallery will be available for viewing from September 27, 2022 – December 18, 2022.
Here is the call for entry from Fiber Art Now:
Fiber Art Now invites artists to submit their artwork to the 2022 Excellence In Quilts exhibition. The Call for Entry is open May 1 through May 21, 2022. Juror Nancy Bavor will select current quilts of original design that show inventiveness and mastery of techniques. Quilts should be two or more layers of any material stitched together as a 2D or 3D artwork. Entry fees are discounted for Fiber Art Now subscribers. Finalists will be notified by email on June 10, 2022.
Applications start May 1, 2022.
In addition to keeping you up-to-date on all of the happenings here at the IQM, we also use our Iowa QuiltScape messages to share quilt-related news and events happening across our great state. Check it out!
Pella Area Quilters’ Guild Tulip Time Quilt Show
Saturday, May 7 – Sunday, May 15
Enjoy over 100 new quilts at our annual quilt show during Pella’s annual Tulip Time. Show runs from 10am to 6pm Wednesday through Saturday. $5 admission with $4 early bird special on Wednesday. Show include a raffle quilt, a small boutique shop, and over 100 quilts on display made by members of the guild.
Thank you for reading Iowa QuiltScape.
Please share us with a friend!
Iowa QuiltScape is a feature of the Iowa Quilt Museum’s periodical e-newsletter, and will highlight quilting events happening all around the state. The goal of Iowa QuiltScape is to provide a central place for Iowa quilting organizations to share upcoming events and help quilters and quilter lovers across Iowa reach a broader audience.
If you have an event you would like to share via Iowa QuiltScape, send your information to
Museum Director Carissa Heckathorn: director@iowaquiltmuseum.org.
If you’re reading this but it didn’t come to your inbox, use the Email Signup form on the top of this page to make sure you’re on the list and don’t miss out on any Iowa QuiltScape news!
Leave a Reply