The Great Bell County Quilt Crawl

THE GREAT BELL COUNTY QUILT CRAWL

January 14th – February 18th, 2012

The Great Bell County Quilt Crawl is here and the seven exhibit sites invite you to visit and view their display of quilts. Each museum or culture site is displaying their quilts during their regular everyday hours during the six-week exhibit. Each site will be open on all Saturdays during the event from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. Check with each site for weekday opening times. During the six-week event there will be a demonstration at one of the exhibit sites on a scheduled Saturday. Check the menu above for demonstration dates, places, and times. The project’s goals are to promote the rich artistic and historic nature of quilts throughout the county, and to promote tourism in Bell County and Central Texas. 

The quilt crawl will be held January 14 through February 18, 2012, at the following facilities: Azalee Marshall Cultural Activities Center, Temple; Railroad and Heritage Museum, Temple; Czech Heritage Museum, Temple; UMHB Musick Alumni Center and Museum, Belton; Bell County Museum, Belton; Central Texas Area Museum, Salado; and Killeen Arts & Activities Center.  Other partners are Killeen Civic and Conference Center, Salado Chamber of Commerce, Village of Salado Tourism Department, Belton Area Chamber of Commerce, the Central Texas Tourism Council, and Temple Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Each cultural institution will open a quilt exhibit on Saturday, January 14, 2012. Each Saturday during the time period, one of the sites will have a special activity that relates to quilts and quilting. Following are the events/activities:

January 14, 2012 - The Cultural Activities Center will host a collection of quilts from the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History in addition to quilts from Carol Ann Wadley of Temple and Darlene Douglass from Georgetown. The CAC will also host a fun family activity that day such as creating quilt patterns in glass medium. The January 14 event is from 10:00 until 4 p.m. 

On January 21, the Bell County Museum will have a textile preservation workshop and offer to order acid-free boxes for those interested. On that same day, the Musick Alumni Center and Museum will have an opportunity for children and adults to learn how to make fabric yo-yo’s for use in creating designs for quilts, clothing, or decorative items. Both events are from 10:00 – 4 p.m., and are free.

On January 28, the Czech Heritage Museum will host a bobbin lace activity as well as crazy quilt pouch. The event is free and open to the public, and is from 10:00 a.m. until 4 p.m.

The Central Texas Area Museum will have a quilt restoration workshop on February 4, and visitors can make a small fabric bag as a “make and take.” Hours are from 10:00 a.m. until 4 p.m.

On February 11, the Railroad and Heritage Museum will host a fun bed turning activity, and visitors will be able to make a hobo quilt block for $4 each.

Finally, the Killeen Civic and Conference Center will have its activity on February 18 at the Killeen Arts and Activities Center in downtown Killeen. The event will be a quilt square competition with three categories (appliqué, photograph and pieced) that must include an historic site. Again, the event will be from 10:00 until 4 p.m.

At each site, visitors can purchase, for $1, a uniquely shaped magnet. If visitors attend each exhibit and purchase a magnet at each site, they will have a complete 4 x 6 inch quilt magnet that will look great on the fridge or filing cabinet.