Color Fusion: Hanging a Quilt Show

Three kids in the car and a handful of quilts, we set out this morning at about 9am. Destination: this quaint little building.


The Bloomingdale Park District Museum brings a section of Quilt National to Illinois every year. This year they invited some quilt artists who had a well-received show last year (Melody Johnson, Laura Wasilowski, Anne Lullie, Frieda Anderson, Ann Fahl, and myself) to hang a show in the adjacent gallery.

I dropped off Sophie at her first day of "Mom's Day Out" and arrived at the museum with the other two a little after 10:00.

We arrive to a big empty room and start piling rolls of quilts on the floor.


I set up my trusty assistants with their Leappads.


Quilts get unrolled and we assess what we have from everyone.


Some of us prefer to lay things out and think about the "flow" of the show before starting to hang.


Others just like to start hanging things willy-nilly. Not naming any names.


Good thing we all love each other! It ends up being fun, with lots of laughing, no matter how we do it.


Hey, I'm good with a hammer!


Are we done yet?


Nope, we have to get a group shot!

That's Melody, me, Laura, and Anne.

But enough of us, here's what you want to see, the quilts. I don't have the exact names of each quilt, but I will identify the artists:

Above, from left to right, Frieda Anderson's Sunflower quilt "Sun Dance", Laura's house "Red Rain", and Ann Fahl's Ginkos.


Very dark in the front, that's my butterfly quilt called Mariposas, and Melody's Cruciform series quilt, with Anne Lullie's small quilts in the background.


Here's a closer look at Anne's quilts.


That's Frieda's beautiful leafy quilt closest (on the right) Anne Lullie's further down, Laura's further down, and Melody's at the left edge.


Melody's on the left, Laura's "Land O' Leo" on the right.


What you are looking at on the left are the backs of the quilts that are hanging in the middle of the room. On the right is my daffodil quilt. On down is another Ann Fahl, and straight ahead are two of Frieda's.


That is another daffodil quilt of mine on the left, and Mariposas on the right.


Anne Lullies quilt on the left, and two by Laura on the right.


That's Quilt National down the hall in Gallery II. We got to peek through the windows, but I have no time for a tour and lunch with the rest of the gals because I had to pack up my trusty assistants (at this point, not so trusty....more like "run around like little hellions") and head back across something like, 14 suburbs to pick up our littlest at 12:30. Then straight home for lunch.


And here's what happened during lunch. Yeah, I think I could do that too.

Here's the lowdown on both shows:

Gallery I: Color Fusion
Gallery II: Quilt National 2005
July 15-August 19, 2006
Hours: W 4-8,TH 10-4, F 10-4,SA 12-4.
Artist Reception: Friday July 21, 6-8.
Admission: $4 Residents, $6 Nonresidents
Workshops with Sidney Jostes and Denise Havlan during the show run, contact the museum for information (630)539-3096.

Bloomingdale Park District Museum is located at 108 S. Bloomingdale Road, Bloomingdale, IL. About one hour west of Chicago.

*Edited to add: Melody's account here has a few more pictures and a lot more humor than mine--go read!