The 2019 Minnesota Quilters Show had one of the best collections of special exhibits I’ve ever seen at a quilt show. Here is the first of two posts about the special exhibits.

Carol Hancuh’s “Bus Stop People – Waiting for the D Line” exhibit featured a group of eleven people standing at a bus stop. All eleven of them are made out of quilts. I think you’ll agree they are very life-like looking.

 

What skills had you developed by the time you were a teenager? You would not think that some of the quilts in the youth exhibit were done by young people unless the sign said so.

This one is called “Amazon Star” and was quilted by 15-year-old Kendra Smeby. After winning several awards for this quilt Kendra gave it to her parents for their wedding anniversary.

 

And here is “Bargello Beauty” by Megan Dahlerup, also 15 years old.

 

The Norse heritage and natural beauty of Iceland was the focus of Gudrun Erla’s “Quilts of Iceland” exhibit.

Thor is one of the gods of the Norse people. This quilt is entitled “Thor’s Hammer.” A Thor’s Hammer amulet, believed to be almost 1,000 years old, was found at an abandoned farmstead in Iceland in 2018.

This quilt features letters from the ancient runic alphabet.

These two quilts, “Basalt” on the left, and “Glacial Ice” on the right, are visual interpretations of Iceland’s glaciers and volcanos.

 

In this quilt an outline of the country is surrounded by a variety of depictions of the flag of Iceland.

 

The Icelandic Forestry Service began spreading Alaskan Lupine throughout the country in the 1960’s. What were once vast, open spaces of sand and volcanic rock are now lush green fields that bust into glorious shades of purple and violet in June and July.

In my next post we’ll look at two more special exhibits from the 2019 Minnesota Quilters Show.