Billings Farm & Museum Highlights Opening Weekend of 24th Annual Quilt Exhibition
WOODSTOCK, VERMONT... Billings Farm & Museum, gateway to Vermont's rural heritage, will host its 24th Annual Quilt Exhibition from July 31 – September 26. Opening Weekend, July 31 – August 1, will feature quilting programs, an informal workshop for beginning quilters, plus activities for all ages. The exhibit will feature more than 50 quilts made by today's quilters of Windsor County, plus quilting activities and demonstrations for every age and skill level. Many of the quilters will be on hand to discuss their work.
This year, the Farm & Museum was selected by the Vermont Crafts Council as one of several satellites throughout the state to showcase an element of craft history in their State of Craft project. The Quilt Exhibition will feature a quilt challenge entitled Finding Common Threads: Historical Inspiration and Modern Interpretations. Two 19th century quilts from the museum's collection served as the inspiration for members of the Heart of the Land Quilter's Guild to create designs of their own - following specific design and construction rules agreed upon by the guild. The historic quilts and the work of the Guild members will be featured.
Quilts have been a part of American rural life for over 300 years. They are colorful testimony to the fact that farm life, while sometimes austere, held celebration. The women who settled in Vermont during the late 18th century brought with them the hand skills, thrift, imagination, and traditional designs which would develop into a peculiarly American art form: the patchwork quilt.
Today's Vermont quilters carry on a continuing and evolving tradition. Much of the contemporary work of Windsor County quilters is composed of patterns handed down from earlier generations and executed by hand; some adapt the traditional craft to more modern expressions and materials. All require skill, patience, and imagination.
Admission to Billings Farm & Museum's 24th Annual Quilt Exhibition includes the operating dairy farm, orientation and farm life exhibits, the restored and furnished 1890 Farm House, plus daily programs and activities.
Admission: adults: $12.00; 62 and over: $11.00; children 5-15: $6.00; 3-4: $3.00; under 3: free.
