HOME

Green Bees 4^th Annual Quilt Show

On Tuesday, February 8^th the Green Bees quilting bee had their 4^th Annual Quilt Show. A featured quilt on display was an antique quilt made in 1933 for the first National Quilt Show in the nation. This was sponsored by Sears & Roebuck at the 1933 - 1934 Chicago Worlds Fair. The quilt was found in a man’s suit box in an apartment in Kankakee, IL by the daughter-in-law of a member of the Green Bees. As soon as she found the quilt she knew, it had some significance. She contacted the Chicago Historical Society and they offered her a very large sum of money for the quilt sight unseen. The quilt is currently on loan to Nettie Phillips who so kindly allowed us to proudly display the quilt.

In doing some research on the Chicago World’s Fair, we found that more than 25,000 quilts were entered in the contest. They would begin competition on a local level and the winners would then move up to State and National level. There were 300 quilts hung at the World’s Fair, but to date only 80 have been accounted for. Many of the quilts were original designs depicting the theme of the Fair “A Century of Progress,” but the grand prize quilt was a typical quilt design of the time. It’s outstanding feature was that it was quilted at 16 stitches per inch. The show judges were extremely traditional and did not like unusual or original designs. This quilt is an original design and hand quilted. It truly is indicative of the quilting abilities of the women of the day. Also, from the time the contest was announced and the due date of the quilts, the quilters had less than six months to design and complete their quilt.

I truly wish everyone could have seen and enjoyed this quilt.

Annette Sweet

Click on picture to see it and other pictures from the show.