Texas Quilt Museum

The Texas Quilt Museum is housed in two historic buildings from the 1890s, each containing contemporary and antique quilts. The museum emerged from the International Quilt Festival, which was established in Houston in 1974. Eventually, the founders wanted a more permanent space to display quilts year-round. After rehabilitating two historic buildings in La Grange, the museum opened in 2011 with three exhibit galleries. On the exterior of the museum is a mural, Quilts...History in the Making, designed by Duana Gill and painted by Brent McCarthy. It depicts traditional 19th-century quilts from the International Quilt Festival Collection. Adjacent to the mural, the "Grandmother's Flower Garden" reflects the historic connections between quilting and gardening, with many art quilts drawing inspiration from flowers, trees, and other natural elements. In 2023, the Texas Quilt Museum announced a juried exhibit for which people are invited to submit quilts inspired by James Herriot's books and the PBS television series, All Creatures Great and Small.

Beginning in 1974, the annual International Quilt Festival became a showcase for thousands of quilts to be displayed in Houston. Because the quilts were only on view for a relatively brief period of time, the founders of the Texas Quilt Museum eventually sought a place where quilts could be exhibited year-round. When they came across a 19th-century building in need of rehabilitation in La Grange, they spent the next two years renovating it, along with an adjacent building. The new Texas Quilt Museum opened in 2011 with 10,000-square-feet of space across three exhibit galleries. High ceilings, brick walls, and original hardwood floors provided an ideal environment for the handcrafted quilts on display.

In addition to working with historic preservationists, the museum's founders also commissioned artisans to create a large mural on an exterior wall. Designed by the Austin-based artist Duana Gill and painted by Brent McCarthy, the mural is titled Quilts...History in the Making. This phrase is also the museum's motto. The mural depicts more than two dozen traditional quilts from the International Quilt Festival Collection that have appeared in the book, Celebrate Great Quilts!, co-authored by the museum's founders. They were selected because traditional quilts reflect the historic foundations from which all contemporary art quilts can trace their heritage.

At the center of the mural is the "Founders Star Quilt." This original design was created by Jewel Pearce Patterson to mark the 150th anniversary of the Republic of Texas in 1986. A five-pointed, feathered star at the center of the quilt reflects the historic Lone Star flag, while the "Founders Star Quilt" also serves as the emblem of the Texas Quilt Museum. Traditionally, quilts were often artistic and symbolic as much as they were functional. While art quilts can today be created by anyone as a form of creative expression, historically they tended to be "women's work." As noted on a sign placed next to the mural, "much of women's history can be traced through their creations with a needle, thread, and cloth, rather than in paintings and sculpture."

Adjacent to the museum, a parterre garden with a sundial and pergola was created in the style of a Central Texas city garden from the period between the 1890s and 1930s. Known as the "Grandmother's Flower Garden," it was named after a beloved Depression-era quilt pattern. This outdoor space was previously the site of the Cozy Theater, a cinema building that had been destroyed by a fire in 2000. The vacant lot was seeded over with grass until the founders of the Texas Quilt Museum acquired the site and converted it into a garden. Today, the Quilts...History in the Making mural serves as the backdrop for this outdoor space.

Historically, many quilt-makers were also gardeners, and quilt patterns were traditionally based on flowers, leaves, and other natural elements. The "Grandmother's Flower Garden" reflects this connection, as quilting has often drawn inspiration from nature. Because the garden and mural are visible from the street, they are usually the first introduction to the museum for many visitors, tourists, and pedestrians. The Texas Quilt Museum is located within the La Grange Historic District, which is part of the Texas Main Street program managed by the Texas Historical Commission. It is also included in a national network of 2,000 historic downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts in the Main Street America preservation program.

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"All Creatures Great and Small", Texas Quilt Museum. Accessed June 14th, 2023. http://www.texasquiltmuseum.org/assets/creatures-great_submission-information_10062022_vcm.pdf.

"Grandmother's Flower Garden", Texas Quilt Museum. Accessed June 14th, 2023. http://www.texasquiltmuseum.org/garden-txqm.html.

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