"Put a Roof Over Our Head" at San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles

April 2, 2007

Asheville, North Carolina, April 2, 2007 – The "Put a Roof Over Our Head" exhibition will be displayed at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, 520 S. First St, San Jose, California, from April 10- July 8. SJMQT Curator Deborah Corsini says, "These small house shaped quilts are inventive, humorous, romantic and political.Each isimbued witha uniquepersonality and style of their makers. They offer charming variations on the theme that home is truly a place where the heart lies. This wall of quiltsprovides a visual delightand a force of creative energy."

Artists from around the U.S. and three foreign countries created 74 quilts for the "Put a Roof Over Our Head" contest and traveling exhibit for The Alliance for American Quilts. The quilts, all of which were donated to The Alliance by the artists, will travel around the country until December 2007 when they will be auctioned off. All proceeds will benefit the organization. A CD catalog of the exhibition will also be for sale in the museum's gift shop. Details on the CD and future venues can be found on The Alliance's website www.allianceforamericanquilts.org/par/.

The Alliance for American Quilts announced the winners of the "Put a Roof Over Our Head" contest on August 3, 2006. The announcement made by Karen Musgrave, curator and Alliance board member, was part of the celebrations around The Alliance's move to Asheville, North Carolina. Alliance members voted for the three winners from the 74 quilts entered into the contest. Third place winner Ellen Levine of Asheville won a Quilters' S.O.S. - Save Our Stories interview. Quilters' S.O.S. - Save Our Stories is one of The Alliance's oral history projects. Second place winner Ann Holmes, also of Asheville, won a complete software package donated by The Electric Quilt Company. The first place quilt was a group quilt made by Keti Kasrashvili, Irina Lavrinenko and Nino Chargeishvili of the Republic of Georgia. Their prize is a Bernina Aurora 440 QE sewing machine donated by Bernina USA.

The Alliance for American Quilts is a national nonprofit member organization, committed to preserving and sharing the rich stories that quilts tell about our nation's diverse people and communities. The Alliance's Center for the Quilt Online ,
www.centerforthequilt.org, offers a wealth of free resources related to quilts and quiltmakers.

For information on The Alliance for American Quilts,
www.centerforthequilt.org, contact Amy Milne, Executive Director (amy.milne@yahoo.com or 828-251-7073 Mon- Fri 9-5 Eastern). For more information on "Put a Roof Over Our Head," contact Karen Musgrave, Curator, at karenmusgrave@sbcglobal.net or 630.579.1024.

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