Northern Illinois Quilt Fest to Begin in July

After almost two years of planning, organizers of a quilting/tourism event have their “houses in order” and “ducks in a row” for Illinois’ first tourism festival featuring magnificent quilts in a variety of venues. Between July and September of this summer, main streets to museums, quilt shops and quilt guilds, nurseries, barns and bed and breakfasts from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River will showcase the best in quilts as public art.

A series of quilt shows and sales, shop hops, tours, talks and quilt garden plantings have been scheduled throughout the six northern tier counties of Illinois. A website, northernillinoisquiltfest.com, features all the activities throughout the region.

Here in McHenry County, the three anchor sites which will feature continuous public programming throughout the three months are Grace Farm Studio located in Woodstock, McHenry County College in Crystal Lake and the McHenry County Historical Society Museum in Union. By June 1, the Quilt Fest website will have a downloadable self-guided driving map identifying the patterns and providing the locations of 25 county barn quilts plus gardens designed like quilt patterns. Barn quilts are 8’ x 8’ painted wooden quilt pattern squares mounted on area barns.

The McHenry County Historical Society Museum at 6422 Main Street in Union will host a three month special exhibit showing crazy quilts, red and white quilts and depression-era quilts; all of which are part of the museum’s collection. The exhibit opens with a preview showing Thursday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on June 30. A specially-made quilt will be raffled off that evening. For those three months, the museum will be open every afternoon from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. except for Mondays.

Marengo’s “Main Street” program features smaller 4’ x 4’ porch mounted painted quilt designs throughout the downtown area. The Huntley Gazebo Quilters have planned a weekend show and workshop on August 19 and 20 highlighting Quilts of Valor. These are but a few of the scheduled events. So much more is planned.

For more information about the Fest, contact the Festival website, the McHenry County Historical Society at 815-923-2267 or www.mchsonline.org or the McHenry County convention and Tourism Bureau at 815-363-6177 or visitmchenrycounty.com.

---

---