2018 Opportunity Quilt
2018 Opportunity Quilt
Who doesn’t love RED? It is my happy color and it revs up quilts in the same manner that yellow does. However the combination of only red and white makes striking quilts, as evidenced in the 2011 New York exhibition of 653 red and white quilts owned by Joanna Rose. I believe that show sparked a resurgence of interest in two-color quilts and specifically in red and white.
In 2010 I participated in a Block of the Month from Quilt Country in Lewisville, TX. The shop kitted the pattern “The Washington Medallion Quilt” by Sue Garman. Sue’s cover photo featured the quilt in browns, blues, and tans but when I saw the potential of the pattern constructed in red and white, I knew I had to make it. I completed that quilt in 2011.
In 2014 the International Quilt Festival in Houston was celebrating their 40th Ruby Jubilee and called out for red and white quilts made in 1974 (the first year of the Houston show) or after. This was a non-competitive display only and my quilt was accepted for display that year. The show was so popular that it travelled to the International Quilt Festival in Chicago, Quilt! Knit! Stitch! in Portland, Red River Quilters Quilt Show in Shreveport, LA and was returned to me in late 2016 after the final hanging in the Texas Quilt Museum in La Grange, TX.
When DeRay Jensen accepted the chairmanship for our 35th Annual Quilt Show this year, he knew he wanted to emphasize red and white quilts for this milestone show. We received permission from Sue Garman in August 2016 to use her pattern for our Opportunity Quilt. Sadly, Sue passed away in January 2017 after battling lung cancer for less than one year. She was a truly talented quilter whose quilts were offered several times as Block of the Months for The Quilt Show.
I constructed this “sister quilt” over a two-month period and the bulk of the quilt was made from my stash – it didn’t make a dent in it. I liked it even better the second time around. I hope you enjoy red and white quilts as much as we do, enjoy the show, and purchase some Opportunity Quilt Tickets!
Linda Matsumoto