QUILT SHOWS COMING UP

This is a detail from a Hawaiian flag quilt, circa 1900. The butterfly motif depicts a favorite butterfly hair adornment of Queen Lili'uokalani, Hawaii's last monarch.

PADUCAH, Ky. -- The Museum of the American Quilter's Society buys some of its contemporary quilts through purchase awards made at the American Quilter's Society Annual Show and Contest held in Paducah each April."

This year's show will be at the Executive Inn Convention Center April 27-30. About 30,000 people are expected to attend the event, which includes workshops and a wearable quilted art fashion show.

Entries are limited to the top 400 quilts chosen by a juried panel. All 400 are displayed and compete for prizes in 13 individual categories as well as for the special designations of Best of Show, the Gingher Award, the Bernina Award and the Best Wall Quilt.

These four winners will receive the museum's purchase awards and then become the property of the museum. The show also offers quilting workshops, lectures and supplies.

In all, $80,000 in prize money will be awarded, with the maker of the Best of Show Quilt winning $15,000.

In conjunction with the show, the museum will host its own celebration beginning Friday and continuing through Sunday. Entitled "Gatherings: America's Quilt Heritage," the event will offer lectures, guided exhibit tours, and panel discussions focusing on the history of quilts.

The exhibit celebrates the efforts that began 15 years ago to document the quilt heritage of individual states and regions. Since then, volunteers have preserved descriptions, related family stories and photographs of more than 157,000 American quilts.

Quilts from nearly every state in the nation will be displayed. The museum has been developing the exhibit for more than three years.

The exhibit of 77 quilts includes floral appliques, geometrics, a Hawaiian flag quilt, and a worn Box Car quilt used as a sleeping pallet by a Missouri family relocating to the Northwest in the late 1800s.

Delaware's quilt consists entirely of ribbons won by the Friedel family's livestock. Another quilt, made in 1893 by 34-year-old Frank Tabor in Medfield, Mass., is a 7,500 Postage Stamp quilt.

The exhibit will be on display through Aug. 12.

The museum is located at 215 Jefferson St. in Paducah. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays.

The museum hours will be extended during the quilt show. The house will be 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. April 27-30, and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, April 24, on Sunday, April 31, and on Monday, May. 1.

For more information, phone (502) 442-8856.