‘Everyone’s, of course, will be a little bit different’: Museum to host souvenir quilt craft for National Quilting Day
By Max Davis
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PADUCAH, Kentucky (WPSD) — Visitors to Paducah’s National Quilt Museum can design their own small quilted souvenir this Saturday in celebration of National Quilting Day.
The museum will host live quilting demonstrations and interactive activity stations for guests to talk with quilters and explore various quilting methods, with displays throughout the galleries. An additional sale will be available in the gift shop.
The demonstration stations aim to allow visitors to see most of the exhibits while also showing off volunteers and their techniques. Demonstrations will include hand quilting, machine embroidery, English paper piecing, quilt binding and quilt labeling/documenting.
“We will have demonstration stations set up throughout the galleries, with different volunteers and staff members from the museum and from the local community and local quilt guild, who will be demonstrating a variety of different techniques,” said Becky Glasby, the director of engagement and learning for the National Quilt Museum.
Glasby said that many volunteers from the community will be there not only to demonstrate their unique techniques, but also to help attendees perform them.
Attendees will receive small quilt squares to allow them to try different quilt methods as they walk around the museum.
“We’ve prepped some small quilt squares, quilt blocks, and then they will go to a couple different stations to add some fusible applique and create their own designs,” Glasby explained. “They will add some quilting stitches with the sewing machine and then add some crystal embellishments if they would like, and we’ve got a little sample of what that could look like. Everyone’s, of course, will be a little bit different in their design and their creativity.”
The interactive part of the event is new this year, according to Glasby, who said the museum introduced it so people can create their own souvenir for the day.
She said she wants people to leave feeling more creative while also celebrating Paducah’s quilting culture.
“We wanted something that not only people could watch how to do some of these techniques and use the fusible applique or machine quilting, the way some of these quilts are made, but really kind of get their hands and actually try it themselves,” Glasby said. “Whether they have experience or not, they get to really see what it’s all about and what quilting can do and what creativity can be for them.”
Glasby said that the squares come with the price of admission and are available while supplies last.
Glasby also noted that the day will bring together all kinds of people in the community and bring awareness to the different types of quilting.
“It’s certainly a good start into quilting, but certainly somewhere that we want to encourage both our visitors and our local community to remember that we’re here all the time, and they can celebrate quilting all the time with us in all these different ways so that they don’t have to just save it up for quilting day or save it up for the April show,” Glasby said. “They can really come and explore the museum, explore the artwork here in the different exhibitions all the time, and really take those inspirations and creativity with them throughout the year.”
The National Quilting Day event will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and will be included as part of a normal day’s admission to the museum. The museum’s regular hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
A full schedule and a list of demonstrations happening on Saturday is available at quiltmuseum.org/national-quilting-day.
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