Stitches ‘ in Time ’
Annual quilt show envelops Museum Center at Five Points
With ribbons now pinned to the best designs, the Museum Center at Five Points in Cleveland, Tennessee, has opened its annual quilt show, “Stitches in Time,” with an array of classes and events during its three-week run.
Lindsay Overby-Shirkey, curator of collections, says 75 quilts are on display — including one from an 8-year-old quilter and several entered in a new category.
“One of the things we did this year was issue a challenge,” she says. “We asked them to incorporate an antique or historical piece of fabric or needlework or an old quilt into a new quilt.”
Among the highlights of the show is a meet-andgreet on Saturday with renowned fiber artist Tone Haugen-Cogburn, just weeks before she teaches a quilting course at the prestigious John C. Campbell Folk School.
Born in Norway, Haugen-Cogburn moved to Maryville, Tennessee, in 1987, with her husband, Tim Cogburn, whom she met while he was stationed in Norway with the military, according to news accounts.
When she arrived, she had no exposure to quilting but learned from her husband’s mother and grandmother. Since then, she has honed her skills to the point that she now teaches quilting and rakes in awards nationally and internationally.
“My husband’s family has a long tradition of quilters,” she told the Knoxville News Sentinel in 2010. “I spent a lot of time with those women. We became very close.”
Also scheduled during the show is a Sewing Service Day with Quilts of Valor, a nonprofit foundation that provides handmade quilts to wounded veterans. Volunteers, whether they can sew or not, are asked to donate time, “from 15 minutes to five hours,” during the day on March 22.
The show will continue through March 29. Most awards were presented late last week, on opening night, including Best in Show and Judges’ Choice. The final recognition is the Ruth Hale Viewers’ Choice Award, named for the museum volunteer considered the “mother” of the quilt show. It will be announced at show’s end after visitors have had a chance to peruse the quilts and pick a favorite.