43rd Annual Smoky Mountain Quilters of Tennessee Show

Date: June 21 - June 22, 2024

Time: 9:00 am - 5:00 pm

Location: Knoxville, TN

Phone:

Event Website

Season: Summer

Event type: Arts & Culture

Region: East Tennessee - Knoxville & Surrounding Areas

The Smoky Mountain Quilters of Tennessee (SMQ) will present their 43rd annual Quilt Show and Competition June 21-22, 2024, in the Knoxville Expo Center at 5441 Clinton Hwy. (at Merchant Drive) in Knoxville. In addition to the more than 200 stunning quilts on display, the show will feature a special opportunity for attendees to bring their own quilt to share and document through the “Go Tell It!” project by the Quilt Alliance (QA).

“We are thrilled to work with the Smoky Mountain Quilters,” said Amy Milne, Executive Director of the Quilt Alliance, a nonprofit organization dedicated to documenting, preserving and sharing our quilt heritage. “We invite anyone who has a cherished quilt (whether they are the maker or not), to bring that quilt to the show to document it. We believe that quilts are historical documents, containing important information about the life and times of the maker, their family, their community and their world. However, most quilts outlive their makers. Document your quilts, so their stories don’t fade away.”

Attendees are encouraged to bring a quilt – whether historic or contemporary – to the show for documentation. The formula for “Go Tell It!” is simple: one person talking about one quilt in front of one camera for three minutes. For more information about the “Go Tell It!” projects, please visit quiltalliance.org/projects/gotellit.

“We are excited to offer this free service to those attending our show,” said Janet Wambach, SMQ Show Co-Chair. “Every quilt has a story, and those stories are an important part of our history and our culture. So many of them go untold, because we know little or nothing about the quilts that makers and owners leave behind.”

Many other special activities are planned for the show. Merikay Waldvogel, a nationally known quilt collector, researcher and writer, will present an antique quilt turning on Friday, June 21, at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Throughout the show, shop vendors and the SMQ Boutique, which offers a unique selection of items handcrafted by guild members. There also will be a scavenger hunt with prizes for the younger attendees. Certified Appraiser Cindy Stuart will offer quilt appraisals by appointment. Contact her at (865) 386-0940 to schedule an appraisal.

“We welcome everyone in the community to come and enjoy the wide variety of wonderful quilts and participate in the fun and enriching activities that our show has to offer,” said Nancy Watson, SMQ Show Co-Chair.

The show will take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. Admission is $10; for a 2-day pass, $15, and free for children under age 12. The Expo Center has free parking and is accessible to the disabled. For more information about the show and the guild, please visit www.smokymtnquilters.com, email info@smokymtnquilters.com or find us on Facebook and Instagram: Smoky Mountain Quilters of Tennessee.

About Smoky Mountain Quilters

The Smoky Mountain Quilters of Tennessee is a nonprofit 501c3 organization. Guild meetings are typically on the first Tuesday of each month at Messiah Lutheran Church, at the intersection of Papermill Drive and Kingston Pike in Knoxville. A 6:30 p.m. social time precedes the formal meeting, which begins at 7 p.m. Please check the SMQ website, as dates and locations may vary.

SMQ’s primary goals are to promote and encourage the knowledge of quilt making as an art and a craft, to study its history as an integral part of our past, and to promote friendship through shared activities. Guild activities include workshops, block drawings, exhibits, and quilts made for local charities. The guild’s more than 100 members are as diverse as the quilts they love — traditional and art quilts, complex and minimalist modern designs, miniatures and bed-sized, and hand- or machine-stitched.

About the Quilt Alliance

Quilt Alliance is a nonprofit 501c3 organization established in 1993 with a mission to document, preserve and share our American quilt heritage by collecting the rich stories that historic and contemporary quilts and their makers tell about our nation’s diverse peoples and their communities. In support of this mission, the Alliance brings together quilt makers and designers, the quilt industry, quilt scholars and teachers, and quilt collectors to further the following goals:

• to promote the understanding of the quilt as an important American grassroots art form
•  to share stories and documentation about quilts with a broad public
• to educate Americans about the importance of documenting quilts and quiltmakers so that their stories will not be lost.

For more information, visit www.quiltalliance.org, or find QA on YouTube at youtube.com/quiltalliance, on Facebook at facebook.com.quiltalliance, and on Instagram and Twitter @quiltalliance.