Hall Museum
Monday, August 31, 2020, was a special day for the Hall museum. We had the pleasure of meeting Michael Sweeney (from the State Historical Society), who brought with him the Missouri Bicentennial Quilt. They started organizing events and showings clear back in 2013, getting ready for this landmark in time.
The state had 203 submissions of quilt blocks, with 121 being picked to have every county represented. They did add six “special” pieces to square up the article. The city of St. Louis actually got one of their own blocks, which was done in braille. The Missouri School for the Blind has been a service to people for over 150 years. Excellent idea!!
I’ve never been one to really appreciate the amount of time it takes to put out a quilt, but standing there looking at that one, made me realize how much of an art it is. There was a lot of imagination and talent put into that piece of work, it truly amazed me.
Several squares had their original court housed on them…Bollinger County and Jefferson County had dinosaurs on them, because of fossils being found in their area…and Susan Chidester’s was chosen for Schuyler County. She made hers as a map, highlighting places and times around here.
The President of the Missouri Quilters Guild, the business manager of the State Historical Society, and Courtney Hughes from Missouri Star Quilt Company had the hard task of being the judges for which quilted squares would be incorporated into this quilt.
Courtney is the one, who actually laid it all out and got it pieced together. This was accomplished over the winter of 2019-2020.
This quilt has been travelling around the state, with its final home yet to be determined. It really did give everyone a chance to see how diverse this state is. Missouri has always had a lot going on!!
Our museum complex had a nice stream of visitors all day long, and we appreciate every one of them. And, while we’re on the subjects of quilts, we’ll let everyone know that Cindy Hayes was the lucky winner of the one we were raffling off. Thanks goes out to Corbin, who sat around to play guitar and sing a little. It was a nice addition to the day. And thank you to everyone, who visited that day and helped out with our raffle. We love you all!
