Quilts multiply at McMinn County Living Heritage Museum

Ninety-one quilts by textile artists from across the country will be on display at the 2016 Quilt Show at McMinn County Living Heritage Museum in Athens, Tenn.
Ninety-one quilts by textile artists from across the country will be on display at the 2016 Quilt Show at McMinn County Living Heritage Museum in Athens, Tenn.

If you go

› What: 30th annual Quilt Show.› When: Saturday, Oct. 1-Saturday, Oct. 29.› Where: McMinn County Living Heritage Museum, 522 W. Madison Ave., Athens, Tenn.› Phone: 423-745-0329.› Website: www.livingheritagemuseum.com.

McMinn County Living Heritage Museum will celebrate the handiwork of regional textile artists in its 30th annual Quilt Show.

The show gets underway Saturday, Oct. 1, with an awards ceremony from 11 a.m. to noon. The museum already is a repository of more than 100 quilts dating from the early 1800s.

In addition to having quilts on display, select seamstresses will lend their expertise in a series of classes, appraisals and workshops throughout the month.

Museum hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday.

Event schedule

* Saturday, Oct. 8: Cuddle Quilt sew-in, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Quilters are invited to bring their sewing kits for an on-site quilting session overseen by the Museum Quilt Guild. The date coincides with the Pumpkintown Festival in downtown Athens, and the museum will be open for free to all guests.

* Saturday, Oct. 15: Trapunto Quilt Class by Linda Roy, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Trapunto quilting is a technique used to add another dimension and texture to a quilt, leaving puffy raised areas rather than a flat piece of art. The class will be taught by Linda Roy of Knoxville. Cost is $35 for the class, $5 for the kit. Registration is necessary. Call to register.

* Wednesday, Oct. 19: American Quilt Study Group, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Merikay Waldvogel will host this gathering. Waldvogel has collected and researched quilts since the mid 1970s. Although she has also written about older quilts, her primary interests are in the 20th century, such as the 1933 Sears Quilt Contest and Depression-era quilts. She also has a particular interest in quilt designers, authors and companies that propelled the 20th-century quilt styles. Call to register.

* Saturday, Oct. 22: Quilt Appraisal by Cindy Stuart, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. This Maryville, Tenn., quilter specializes in quilt restoration and teaches classes in restoring and dating. Call to register.

* Saturday, Oct. 29: Quilt workshop by Karen Malone, 10 a.m.-noon. Closing day of the exhibition will feature a hands-on workshop by this lifelong textile artist from Ten Mile, Ten.

"I know the rules but, like Picasso, you know them so that, when you break them, you'll be breaking them on purpose," Malone says. "Some of the techniques I use are traditional, but the style is not."

One style I use is 'stitched collage,' in which I put together various pieces and they end up coming together to create a unique work"

Cost of the workshop is $10. Call to register.

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