Galveston Winter Quilt Show to Open January 14

The Winter 2011 edition of Galveston Historical Foundation’s popular and long-running series of quilt exhibits will open at the foundation’s headquarters, the 1861 U. S. Custom House, on January 14, 2011, featuring a collection of new works by members of the Mainland Morning Quilt Guild. Quilter Jenny Chiovaro will guest-curate the exhibit, which will run through April 12. The exhibit is free and open to the public in the second-floor courtroom of the Custom House, 502 20th Street in Galveston, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. It will also be featured in the January 22 ArtWalk, when it will be open from 6 to 9 p.m.

Daybreak, a quilt pieced by Karen Kumke and quilted by Kaye Naranjo, featured in Galveston Winter Quilt Show.
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The Mainland Morning Quilt Guild was founded in September 2005 by a group of friends who wanted a daytime group devoted to quilting. These founders were interested in nurturing the appreciation of the art of quilting among both quilters and the public. The guild works to enhance the knowledge and high standards of traditional and contemporary techniques of quilting. They strive to establish an encouraging environment where quilters can practice, inspire, create and exchange ideas. They hope to educate the public as to the significance and history of quilting as an art as well as an ongoing craft.

From a beginning of about 18 members, they have grown to a group of almost 70. They currently meet on the third Thursday morning of the month at the Mainland Church of Christ in Texas City. Their meetings include programs, workshops, and a lively show-and-share, where quilts are hung on the walls, and their makers describe quilting processes and challenges. They are a sister guild to the Galveston Island Quilters Guild, which also mounts an annual show hosted by Galveston Historical Foundation. The two guilds often share speakers and host events together.

Mainland Morning’s first raffle-quilt in 2007 raised more than $2,000, and was awarded a blue ribbon at the Houston Rodeo—the first quilt to win points for the Galveston Go-Texan Committee. It will be included in an upcoming book published by Quilts, Inc, the producers of the annual International Quilt Festival in Houston.

Since then, the guild has produced two more raffle-quilts, and published a cook book. This book, “Quilter’s Sampler,” will be on sale during their ArtWalk reception on January 22, 6 to 9 p.m. at the U.S. Custom House.

The quilt appearing on the poster for this year’s show at the Custom House is “Daybreak,” pieced by Karen Kumke and quilted by Kaye Naranjo. Kumke is the current president of MMQG, and has spent countless hours organizing, planning, and selling raffle tickets. This was the first quilt she ever made. In 2001 her daughter moved to Texas, and they were looking for an activity to do together. They decided to take a class at Quilts by the Bay, which was taught by Katy Farmer. Kumke says she will always remember how long she has been quilting because three days after the class ended, her youngest grandson was born. Quilting has opened a whole new horizon for Kumke. “The joy and peace I receive from quilting is more than I can express,” she says

Another noteworthy quilt in the exhibit is “Run to the Blue Border” by Jo Ann Lambert, quilted by Kellie Fleming. Lambert has been quilting only about two years, and has made a few small quilts as she learned. This is her first major project, a large all-over pieced quilt 95” square. It is the result of Winnie Fleming’s Borders class at Quakertown Quilts. Each student starts with a different center square design, then adds several pieced borders, one by one around the center. Winnie teaches different techniques each session, and students end up with a spectacular and distinctive design, all varying from one another. The process is very labor-intensive, but also very rewarding--quite an accomplishment for a new quilter.

Dianne McCrary’s quilt, “French Braid,” is the fourth in a series McCrary has done. She also teaches a class on the technique at Cactus Quilts using the pattern from Jane Hardy Miller’s books. Color progression is the key to a successful quilt of this type.

“If the colors are not right, the quilt will let you know. This is one quilt [design] that is in control of you!” McCray says. This quilt started out as a small one for her guest bedroom, but her husband convinced her to make it larger for their own use. She added borders to make it king-sized, making it wider than it is long because of the footboard of their massive bed. It was quilted by Patsy Franco, who used metallic thread throughout.