Missouri Bicentennial Quilt on display at Cape River Heritage Museum

The Missouri Bicentennial Quilt will be on display starting today at the Cape River Heritage Museum in Cape Girardeau.

The quilt commemorates Missouri's 200th anniversary of becoming a state. The Heritage Museum will unveil the quilt at 5 p.m. Friday with a wine and cheese reception.

This the fourth and final stop of the quilt's tour of Missouri. It will be on display at the museum until May 26.

Missouri quilters from around the state sewed a different block into the quilt for each Missouri county. There are 121 blocks in total, each unique.

"Every time I look I see something different," Charlotte Slinkard said.

Cape Girardeau County's block features the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse. For Bollinger County's block, quilters depicted a dinosaur to symbolize the Bollinger County Museum of Natural History.

Each block was crafted by quilters who submitted their pieces to a juried panel of historians and quilters.

The Bicentennial Quilt began as an idea in 2013. Leaders behind the State Historical Society of Missouri (SHSMO) wanted a piece of artwork standing the test of time to commemorate Missouri's 200th anniversary, according to SHSMO's website. SHSMO is also creating a time capsule to be housed at its facility until 2046.

The museum has looked forward to hosting the quilt for a long time according to curator Slinkard. This is the only stop the quilt will have in Southeast Missouri.

Today's reception is free and open to the public. The quilt will remain on display until May 26 during Cape River Heritage Museum's operating hours: from noon to 4 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays. Admission is free.

Quilters from around Missouri helped make the Bicentenial Quilt that now hangs in the Cape River Heritage Museum in Cape Girardeau. Visitors may see the quilt starting at 5 p.m. Friday at a receptionMonica Obradovic