Nebraska Road Trip

 

Linda Swoboda, Jeanne Allen, and Joanie Jonell are about to enter

                   the International Quilt Study Center & Museum.                             



Early Thursday morning ten eager EVQG members (and one husband) left Estes Park for a road trip across Nebraska. Our agenda included stops at several quilt shops along the way: Prairie Point Junction in Cozad, NE; Material Girl in Grand Island, NE; and Inspirations in Fort Morgan, CO. On Saturday we attended Nebraska State Quilt Guild's annual Threads Across Nebraska in Kearney, NE where we viewed the quilt show and shopped at the vendors' booths.

The highlight for all of us was the Friday visit to the International Quilt Study Center & Museum on the University of Nebraska East Campus in Lincoln, NE. The IQSCM has over 4,500 quilts and quilt related objects from 50 countries in its collection. After we visited the museum's galleries, Carolyn Ducey, Curator of Collections, gave us a behind the scenes tour of the climate controlled area where quilts are stored. She showed us many of her favorite quilts and treated us to the stories behind them. The tour was educational and fascinating!

For a couple of years EVQG board members had been brainstorming ideas for an appropriate way to use our Elaine Ford Memorial Fund and this adventure turned out to be the perfect way to use that money. Elaine would have loved it! She was an avid quilter and member of our guild until her death in 2012. She and her husband Jack moved to Estes Park from Nebraska where she had been involved in state and local quilt groups. Jack generously donated a wealth of her fabrics and quilt supplies to the guild. The proceeds from the sale of those items became the memorial fund.

Many thanks to Carol Struve and Grace Stephen who did a

wonderful job planning our trip and being our drivers.



 

Outside the IQSCM

Carol takes lunch orders from Laura and Grace

 

We enjoyed a little shopping in the museum gift shop

 

 

Inside the African-American Gallery

 

Children from all 50 states created art for The Boise Peace Quilt Project

 

 

Crazy quilt in the "Getting to Know You" collection

Inside the "Covering the War" Gallery

 

"Elegy (flatland)" from the Michael James collection

 

Carolyn Ducey conducts a "Show & Tell"

 

This is one of many quilts stored in specially created flat storage cabinets.

 

 

This "Button Quilt" weighs 68 pounds!