The Appalachian Women’s Museum invites quilters and quilt collectors a chance to show off on Saturday, May 4, from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. at the second Annual “Airing of the Quilts.” Registration is open now at www.appwomen.org/quilts, with an April 12 deadline.
The airing of the quilts is a traditional rite of spring in the mountains. After a long winter with families snuggled under layers of warm handmade quilts, the warmer weather of springtime gave women a chance to freshen up and air-out these essential covers.
To honor this tradition, the AWM held its first event last April with over 65 quilts hanging on the wraparound porch, from clotheslines in the yard, and on quilt racks and other surfaces throughout the first floor of the museum.
New at Airing of the Quilts will be quiltmaker Laura Nelle Goebel, who will be the featured quilter for the event. Goebel is a nationally known quiltmaker and teacher. She will be at the museum throughout the day with an exhibit of traditional quilt methods and an ongoing demonstration for visitors to observe and ask questions.
There will also be children’s quilting activities, the popular fabric scrap exchange, a quilt pattern and book exchange, raffle and music.
Visitors can purchase a square on a Friendship Quilt being made and donated by Carolina Quilters, a Jackson County quilting group. After all the squares are sold, the quilt will be completed and hung in the entryway of the museum. Money from the sale will go toward the upkeep of the museum.
Here are the rules for exhibiting quilts:
• Limit of two quilts per person.
• Registration deadline is April 12.
• Register either with the Online Registration Form, through a printed form obtained at the Jackson County Chamber or the WCU Mountain Heritage Center. You must include a photo of your quilt along with your registration form.
• Suggested donation of $10 per quilt to help the museum.
• No repeats from last year.
• Bring quilts to the museum between 9 and 10:30 a.m. on May 4.
• Quilts must be picked up between 5 – 5:45 p.m.
Contact Cheryl Beck at 828-421-3820 or cabeck@ncsu.edu for further information. The AWM is at 100 W. Hometown Place, between Dillsboro and Sylva.
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