I look forward each year to meeting new friends and reconnecting with old ones in a fabulous new setting at the Annual Seminar of the American Quilt Study Group, aka AQSG (www.americanquiltstudygroup.org). Friendship renewals are always wonderful; add in lots of beautiful antique quilts and it is a heavenly event. Seminar this year was held earlier than usual (the end of August) in Lincoln, Nebraska, as Lincoln is not only home to the International Quilt Museum but it is home of the Nebraska Cornhuskers. We quilt scholars have to work around the beloved football schedule in order to visit this great location.

Fall Seminar is the annual meeting of AQSG, and it changes locations each year. Generally, switching venues allows for small group tours of the unique collections of local museums and historical societies. However, Lincoln is home to the largest publicly held quilt collection in the world, the International Quilt Museum, and so our event was built around this amazing collection and historical resource.

At the opening reception held at the museum, we viewed the famed Reconciliation Quilt, a tour de force of fabric story telling of America coming back together after the Civil War. Made in New York state in 1897, it is a stunning piece that comes with a record-setting auction price. We were also able to see several other stellar antique quilts, as well as a new large-scale flag quilt made by art quilter Luke Haynes. We were treated to regional culinary treats, too. It was a true feast for the senses and informative as well.

There were several special small tours of the museum available. I was lucky enough to attend to different tours. The first was a “Behind the Scenes Tour” of the museum, where we learned about the museum’s storage and quilt acquisition procedures and examined a number of historical quilts and compared them to other quilts in the collection. A highlight was an incredible early Eagle Medallion quilt from the early 1800s. The second tour was a guided visit of the comprehensive “Material Nation: 250 Years of American Quilts” exhibit on display currently at the museum. With more than 11,000 quilts in the collection, you can imagine that they were able to really properly showcase the broad history of American quilting. Visiting Nebraska allowed us to see this very special exhibit. It was very educational and a delight to see many quilts I only see in books, like an amazing Baltimore Album and early broderie perse applique quilts. It also featured many art quilts from the last 50 years. Visit the exhibit online at www.internationalquiltmuseum.org/exhibition/material-nation-250-years-american-quilts. Other tours visited the archives of the Nebraska Historical Society and the Sunken Gardens. It showcased a quilt-themed sunken garden which was designed like a living patchwork garden.

Another benefit of visiting new places is the chance to experience the essence of different regions of our great country. On the drive from Omaha’s airport to Lincoln, we saw the beautiful fields full of corn and sunflowers, and several river crossings, quite a change from the landscape in my home of Utah. We passed lovely old churches, homes, and historic farmsteads; we sometimes forget how much more history there is in the Midwest. Tune in next issue to learn more about scholarly paper presentations, silent auction, live auction, show and tell, study centers, vendors mall, and so much more from this wonderful event.