Utah Quilt Guild 40th Anniversary Exhibition

More than 40 chapters in the guild, which was celebrating its 40th birthday, were represented in the exhibition during winter 2017. Barbara Walsh of Woodland Hills coordinated the event. Walsh, a past president of the guild, says, “Our organization is the first state quilting guild organized in America.”

The quilts in the exhibition are an optical, design phenomenon with their different shapes, textures, lines, depths, tones and space. Even though the quilts are all red and white, the reds differ in hue, saturation and brilliance.

Workmanship on a quilt varies from one person to round-robin participation. In one instance, a competition was held in one of the chapters, and the viewers’ choice was submitted for the exhibit.

Marathon sessions at sewing machines and long hours of hand-sewing produced quilts titled “Squiggles and Squares,” “English Ivy,” “Red Yo-yo Mania,“ “Joyful Poinsettias,” “French Quarter,” “Maple Mountains Celebration” and “Swiss Days,” to name a few.

The museum is located at 24 North 300 West. The entrance is on the west side. Hours are Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 1 to 5 p.m. For further information, please phone (435) 226-1439 or visit www.brighamcitymuseum.org.

The Utah Quilt Guild was formed by Betty Jean Chandler Christensen in 1977 to encourage, promote and preserve the art of quilt making in Utah. As a child, Christensen, who was born in North Ogden, played under the quilting frames of her grandmothers and her mother. As an adult, she collected antique quilts and their histories. Over time, Christensen began creating her own pieces. She lived long enough to see the UQG membership exceed 1,000. The quilter passed away in 2013 at age 89.

At the present time, there are about 900 members in the Utah Quilt Guild, and there are 21,000,000 quilters in the United States, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Ruby Jubilee is the first of two quilt exhibitions presented at the museum in 2017. Its International Quilt Invitational Exhibition opens June 16 and continues through Aug. 31.