Lecture to open National Quilting Month celebration

The International Quilt Study Center and Museum is celebrating National Quilting Month in March with a number of activities.

The celebration opens with a 5:30 p.m., March 2 lecture by Ellen Rushman, a quilt studies graduate student. The lecture, "Modern Quilting: DIY (Do It Yourself) Discourse," is based on Rushman's research into the Modern Quilt Guild, a group of quilters who make modern quilts. Rushman has spent the last year interviewing 26 members of seven MQG chapters across the United States. The research project is supported by a grant from the Lincoln Quilters Guild.

Rushman is also a Lincoln Quilters Guild scholarship winner.

The lecture, which is part of First Friday at the museum, is free and open to the public. Admission to the museum is also free on First Fridays, 4:30 to 7 p.m.

Other National Quilting Month activities at the museum include:

March 2-31 — Exhibition of quilts made by members of the Modern Quilt Relish, a guild in Des Moines, Iowa. Modern quilts have grown out of historic American quiltmaking tradition, however, they often include a bright array of fabrics, and many move away from the block format toward a more minimalist product.

March 17 (National Quilting Day) — Free admission from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Demonstrations and lectures on all floors from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

March 27, noon — Tuesday Talk featuring Christine Humphrey, quilt studies Master of Arts graduate, "Reclaiming the Past: Craft, Activism, Femininity, and Feminism."

March 31, 12:30-3:30 p.m., and Sunday, April 1, 1:30-4:30 -- Workshops: Let's Create! Monoprint and Dyeing Surface Design for Adults, register at 402-472-6549.

For more information, go to http://www.quiltstudy.org.

— Maureen Ose, International Quilt Study Center and Museum

More details at: http://www.quiltstudy.org/