San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles - '21 Quilt National Exhibit through April 16th!

It was a delight to attend an in-person book talk by Peggy Orenstein, author of 'Unraveling'. The book is about her during the pandemic to learn how to make yarn -- that included shearing a sheep, carding and spinning the wool, and dying the wool with natural ingredients (e.g. flowers, bark, etc.). When done, she would knit a sweater with the colored yarns from all this work. It was good discussion. I was interested in the talk because of having been asked to illustrate a friend's poem that involves sheep shearing, carding wool, and knitting. Now I have resources to check into as I learn about the process.

Aside from the book talk, the entry fee included admission to the current museum exhibit which is a portion of the 2021 Quilt National pieces that are on tour. There were some great pieces in it! The exhibit is up through April 16th, and if you haven't seen it already--I recommend it.

These are images of just a few of the quilts on display. I've chosen an abstract quilt, a piece entirely done with buttons and beads, and another made with toilet paper tubes (that tickled my funny bone). The quality of Quilt National pieces are consistently high-end with extraordinary artistry from unique or avant garde concepts to materials, narrative and workmanship. So, anytime you see Quilt National in the title, the show is worth seeing!

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