Nebraska was fun! The first email arrived back in July 2021, inviting me to join the faculty for Quilt Nebraska 2023. Well, yes please… Kearney, Nebraska in two years… definitely something to look forward to.
So where exactly is Kearney? I’m glad you asked. It’s central Nebraska, right next to I-80, a place most people drive past or fly right over. It was time to take a closer look. When I investigated the travel options I decided that flying to Omaha, and renting a car for the three hour drive from there, was going to my best option. Southwest has reasonable fares to Omaha, I could take all my stuff, I could take a side trip along the way… and Steve could fly free as my companion ( with more bags…) so he could enjoy an adventure too!!
It was actually our wedding anniversary on the Wednesday we left town and flew to Omaha. We picked up the car and drove to Lincoln, destination the International Quilt Museum. I’ve wanted to visit the museum for a few years but it’s always seemed a long way to go for just the museum…
We had lunch at a nearby cafe first. Steve had a work call he needed to join so I started my tour by myself.
There are several different galleries, each with a special exhibit. You can check the museum website for all the details, I’m just going to give you a taste!
I started on the first floor with At a Premium: Tobacciana in the Late-Nineteenth and Early-Twentieth Centuries, quilts created by Greta Mikkelsen using the silks given away by tobacco companies at that time. This one features British butterflies and moths.
Upstairs a member of the Lincoln Quilters Guild was busy basting quilts ready for machine quilting on some large tables. Of course I stopped to say hi. 
Moving on to the next room, Piecemaking: Quilts and the Creation of Special Spaces, Steve joined me so I’ve actually got pics with both of us in them… just not together!
Then there was Common Threads: Album Quilts of Ohio’s Miami Valley. This is the Jesse Arnett quilt, made by his mother in 1912 to celebrate his twentieth birthday.
I really liked the sheep! And please note the grid quilting…
Into the next room for Miniature Costumes and Quilts: Geeta Khandelwal’s Labor of Love. I particularly liked the pairings of embroidered miniature doll quilts and pieces from the museum’s collection of Indian quilts.
Can you see some embroidery in my future?
One last exhibition. Layered and Stitched: 50 Years of Innovative Art which “showcases 50 art quilts by renowned master artists”. Some of the quilts in this exhibit were familiar to me. Just pics of one quilt… this is Geometric, made by Fumiko Nakayama of Japan. Inspired by traditional Molas from Panama, it glowed!
We spent about two hours at the museum. If you are passing you definitely need to visit. The quilts were all amazing examples of their genre. If I lived within a few hours drive I would want to go every time the exhibits were changed but it would be a very long way from Naperville if I was just going there…
One last picture, the cone flowers in the gardens.
We left the museum to check in at a hotel in downtown Lincoln for the night. Thursday we drove to Kearney. I’ll tell you all about it in my next post!
