Where’d February go? We hope everyone has enjoyed these winter months and the promise of Spring. Here at the Iowa Quilt Museum, we’ve been enjoying our new exhibit Deeds Not Words: Celebrating 100 Years of Women’s Suffrage. When you come to visit, plan on being here for at least an hour!
We’re also deep into planning the Madison County Airing of the Quilts taking place this June 4, 2022. Read more about everything we have planned below.
Our virtual quilt events are in the planning works with one taking place this Tuesday, March 1. It features four of the quilt artists from our current exhibit so be sure to register for the event.
Happy quilting,
Carissa Heckathorn, IQM Director
Deeds Not Words: Celebrating 100 Years of Women’s Suffrage
Our current exhibit, Deeds Not Words: Celebrating 100 Years of Women’s Suffrage, comes to us from co-curators Dr. Sandra Sider, Curator of the Texas Quilt Museum, and Pamela Weeks, Binney Family Curator of the New England Quilt Museum.
This exhibit has toured the country for the past 2 years and has finally landed in our gallery, one of the last opportunities to see this 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.
The national tour is sponsored by eQuilter.com, with additional support from Karey Bresenhan and Nancy O’Bryant Puentes.
Make it a date and come visit us to see this incredible exhibit. It’s just not the same online! We’re open 7 days a week. Check our hours here and if there’s inclement weather, call first or check our social media accounts to make sure we’re open!
Women’s Right to Vote: Revolution & Evolution
Suffrage Small Quilt Challenge
Come see this mini exhibit presented by the Dakota County Star Quilters. These small quilts were created celebrating the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th amendment to the United States Constitution—the women’s suffrage amendment.
The exhibit includes 36 quilts from 16 states across the country. After the quilts were shown in South Saint Paul, the display has toured around the country to various quilt conferences and quilt guilds.
It’s a fantastic pairing with our gallery exhibit. Make sure to take the time to look at these wonderful and impactful mini quilts during your visit to the Iowa Quilt Museum.
Get the story behind how it all started on our website.
Virtual Quilt Events – Tuesdays@12
We had a great response to our call out to the quilt artists featured in the Deeds Not Words: Celebrating 100 Years of Women’s Suffrage exhibit. During the duration of this exhibit, we’re featuring panels of the artists so you can learn more about them and their creations.
Here are two upcoming Tuesdays@12:
Indeed, They Are Dangerous Women – March 1, 2022 at 12 PM CT
Suffragists: Turning the World Upside Down – March 15, 2022 at 12 PM CT
Register for these events so you we can stay in communication with you in case we ever need to cancel or need to provide important information.
Join the Iowa Quilt Museum
Become a member of the Iowa Quilt Museum and helps us promote the American Quilt and the stories that go with them.
Individual Annual Membership – $50 ($45 for seniors age 65+)
Free admission for to the Iowa Quilt Museum for member
1 single use guest pass
10% discount in gift shop & on classes (excludes full size quilts)
Invitation to sneak previews of exhibits
Iowa Quilt Museum logo pin, magnet, bookmark or nail file
Family/Couple Annual Membership – $75
Free admission to the Iowa Quilt Museum for couple or entire family
Plus all of the benefits of the Individual Membership
Donor Annual Membership – $125
All of the benefits of the Family Membership
+ 1 additional single-use guest pass (total of 2)
+ Iowa Quilt Museum travel mug
+ Reciprocal admission privileges at over 900 participating museums through the North American Reciprocal Museum (NARM) Association®
Patron Annual Membership – $250
All the benefits of the Donor Membership
+ 2 additional single-use guest passes (total of 4)
+ One private, guided gallery walk with curator or museum director for up to 8 people
What We Love About Our Sewing Spaces
There are so many things to love about our sewing spaces and if you’ve ever followed groups on social media focused on sewing organization, you know that all of our spaces are unique to us and our needs. Since February is the month of love, we thought it’d be fun to share our favorite thing about our Iowa Quilt Museum board members and director’s sewing spaces. Views out of our windows and the light in the space are popular answers. What do you love about your sewing space?
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel
It’s Winter so that means sometimes we get stuck at home. We have the perfect solution! Subscribe to our YouTube channel and you’ll have plenty of quilty content to watch when you’re stuck at home. You can even watch while you create!
Madison County Airing of the Quilts
Save the Date: June 1-4, 2022
It’s already time to plan for the Iowa Quilt Museum’s biggest fundraiser of the year—Airing of the Quilts 2022. Go grab your favorite beverage and take a seat because there’s a lot for us to tell you about this year’s largest quilt festival in Iowa.
- We’re expanding the dates of our event and adding classes and a retreat to the event. We’ll start on June 1 and offer three days of classes. Scott Flanagan will teach three classes and each day will focus on one of his quilt designs. We’ll also offer hand sewing classes and a color crayon embroidery class. Registration will begin really soon!
- Along with the classes we are offering a three day retreat. We will provide a venue, pastry breakfast, lunch and all retreat registrants will receive discounts to classes taking place that week. Registration also includes tickets to Saturday’s Airing of the Quilts. Tony Jacobson and Joyce Franklin, from Piece Works Quilt Shop, will offer mini classes during retreat.
- Have some fun on the National Historic Winterset Square with our Quilt Scavenger Hunt. Find quilts we’ve placed in stores and venues around our town to win a great prize!
- Take in a movie in the beautifully restored Iowa Theater Thursday, June 2. The theater agreed to show “How To Make An American Quilt” during our event. TOO MUCH FUN!
- Tony Jacobson, nationally known quilt designer and Creative Director for Piece Works Quilt Shop in Winterset, will be presenting his program Quilting: the Art of What If at the Covered Bridge Winery on Friday, June 3. Registration Coming Soon.
- We’re working hard to secure quilts for our Saturday Airing of the Quilts and will announce those in the near future.
There is so much taking place June 1-4 and we’re really excited to offer you an unforgettable quilt festival and introduce you to our charming town and county, or reintroduce you if you’ve been here before. Break in those walking shoes for a fun four days of Iowa quilting fun.
Check back to this page to stay up to date on our registration and events.
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!
Sew It’s Spring Shop Hop!
March 16-19 (Wednesday to Saturday)
Hours: Wed. & Fri. 9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.; Thurs. 9:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.; Sat. 9:00 a.m.– 4:00 p.m.
Complimentary Pattern at Each Shop
Hop All Five Shops & Be Eligible to Win: Five Door Prize Drawings Valued at $50 Each and One of (20) $25 Gift Certificates
Pick Up Your Passport at One of These Participating Shops:
Lee’s Quilt Shed – Jolley
Towne Square Quilt Shoppe – Lake City
The Stitch – Jefferson
Tillies Quilts – Fort Dodge
Mrs. T’s Mercantile – Vincent
2022 Honey of a Quilt Show
2022 Honey of a Quilt Show presented by the Material Girlz Quilt Guild of Centerville, Iowa.Show dates: March 25-26, 2022. Our quilt show resumes post-pandemic with a new venue: Faith United Methodist Church, 23851 Hwy 5 South, Centerville IA.
Our featured speaker will be TOBY LISCHKO (www.gatewayquiltsnstuff.com)
Toby is an author, pattern maker, award-winning quilter and quilting teacher. She is both a traditional and modern quilter meeting the interests of all quilters. Toby will be doing a different presentation on each day of our show. So mark your calendar and join us for another wonderful show!
We will provide more detailed show info closer to the show dates. Feel free to share this event info with your friends or anyone else that might be interested. Please note: If you are coming from out-of-town and will be needing a motel room, you will need to make your own reservation with one of the local hotel/motels, inns or bed & breakfasts.
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 quilt 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!
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