25th Annual
Hill City Quilt & Fiber Arts Show & Sale
September 2024
This year the Heart of the Hills Quilt Guild will be hosting the
25th Annual Quilt & Fiber Arts Show and Sale
The 2023 Hill City Quilt & Fiber Arts Show & Sale was a success! And, once again, the Hill City Arts Council is proud to have been a part of it. It takes a lot of work from the many volunteers to make it a success.
The Executive Team of the Hill City Arts Council made the decision to pass the baton to the Heart of the Hills Quilt Guild to assume all functions of the future planning of the Quilt Show. This will enable the Arts Council to focus on our other major event in September, Plein Air Paint Out. We also have several new projects and initiatives on the table and are excited to develop new ideas and ways to serve our community, as well as concentrate on giving back to the community in ways we have not yet accomplished. We will use this extra freed up time to continue to focus on our mission, which is to nurture, embrace and support the arts and humanities in our community.
For the 2024 Quilt Show event, the Arts Council will pledge to support the Heart of the Hills Quilt Guild in the form of a cash sponsorship of $4,500, as well as a donation of lamp post banners (valued at $2,000); Quilt Show banners (valued at $200/banner); and directional signage (valued at $50) and use of the pro-panels.
We believe that the Quilt & Fiber Arts Show is a valuable asset to the Hill City Community and beyond. We know many of you have volunteered over the years at the Quilt Show. And we all know it takes a lot of people working together to put on this show, so please consider reaching out to the quilt guild to help with next year’s event. We have confidence that the Heart of the Hills Quilt Guild will do a wonderful job!
Hill City Arts Council Executive Team
Kristie Van Bogart, President
JoAnn Hoffman, Vice President
Emily Rowe, Secretary
Charlotte Cushman, Treasurer
Deb Ollerich, Coordinator
This year's International Textile display will highlight pieces from Mexico and south- Mexico, Central America, and South America. These are not to be judged or voted on, merely displayed for education and enjoyment. As with the quilt show, all items must feature fiber, yarn, fabric, etc. Last year we had multiple batik pieces of fabric and garments, rugs, as well as embroidered pillows and blouses.
Quilting is Art!
The Heart of the HIlls Quilt Guild is proud to bring this long-standing showcase of quilts and fiber artists to our community.
The Hill City Quilt Show & Sale offers a dinner and quilt trunk show, bed turning, prizes, demonstrations, vendor mall, youth arts activity and more than 300 unique quilts and fiber arts will be on display.
See the expanded outdoor display of quilts on Main Street and don’t forget to bring your camera!
The Quilt Show celebrates this popular art form while providing a venue for area quilters to connect.
Join us September from 9 am – 4 pm daily for this two-day celebration of the art of quilting.
Admission is $5 at the door for adults. Kids ages 18 & under get in free.
DINNER AND TRUNK SHOW: Heart of the Hills Quilters presents The Dinner and Quilt Trunk Show on Saturday, September at 5:00 pm at the Little White Church on Main Street. Dinner provided by Xi Alpha Chi.
The featured quilt artists will be announced. Other quilt artists will show their quilts with an old fashion bed turning. You are invited to bring a special quilt to share. It will be placed on a bed and you will be able to tell it's story. Write your info on an index card that you can read to the audience. For those that aren’t familiar with the term “bed turning”, they are the precursor to our modern “quilt show and tell” programs at quilt guild meetings. Back in those days, women did not have many occasions to get together socially, and when they did it was usually at someone’s home. They would each bring a quilt to share, and since space was limited, they would lay them all out on a bed, stacked one on top of the other. Each woman would take a turn with her quilt which would be held up for everyone to see. Then she would tell the story of her quilt.
BED TURNING: If you would like to bring one quilt to share for the bed turning, please write all your information down on an index card to read.
Maker, date and story behind quilt.
FIBER ARTS:
Fiber art is the creation of works of art using a combination of matter made out of natural or synthetic material. Fibers can consist of cotton, linen, yarn, felt, hemp, string, ribbon, wool, silk, acrylic, rayon, and so many more. As with any other art form, the artist's imagination is the only restriction to what can be made.
The Hill City Arts Council celebrates all types of fiber arts and artists!
So, in 2019 we added a new category to the Quilt Show to showcase fiber art that does not necessarily consist of quilting's three layers. Fiber arts is a style of art that uses textiles such as fabric and yarn to create works of art that go beyond the literal meaning of the components. The artwork may be functional or decorative and two or three dimensional.
Show us your felting, weavings, crochet, knitting, embroidery, braiding, lacemaking, basketry, rug making, book art, needle point, mixed media, macrame, cross stitching. We have been celebrating the art of quilts and quilters for over 20 years and we look forward to supporting more artists within our community through the expanded Quilt Show and Fiber Arts.
If you are a fiber artist interested in entering the quilt show, please download the Fiber Arts category form and Fiber Arts entry forms.
Quilt block in logo: Coastal Lily block designed by Minick & Simpson
PILLOWCASE PROJECT: The Pillowcase Project's purpose is to provide pillowcases for the ill, temporarily displaced, and those in need in our community who may enjoy a little uplifting at a difficult time. Sewists volunteer their time and materials to create the pillowcases which are collected throughout the year and displayed during the Quilt Show. After the show, they are donated to local organizations including Sleep In Heavenly Peace, foster children, hospice patients, women's shelters, Hill City Purse Project, an Alzheimer's care center, the Alpine Inn's Gifts from the Heart Christmas Tree, and others. Last year, over 200 pillowcases were made, exhibited, and donated within the community.
Anyone is welcome to make a pillowcase. They can give it to a member of the Heart of the Hills Quilters or bring it to the Arts Council office by August 29 to join the colorful array at the show.
History of the quilt show
This show was started in 1999 when Betty Dahlin and Valerie Begeman came to Lou Schuelke and Sherryl Alexander with the idea to have an outdoor quilt show in Hill City in addition to their Great Black Hills Quilt Escape retreat. At that time we formed the Heart of the Hills Quilters.
We continued under the name of Great Black Hills Outdoor Quilt Show and Classes through 2002. During 2002 the quilt show was classed as a featured state event by the South Dakota Board of Tourism and the Governor's Top Ten Events. This provided a lot of advertising that we did not have to pay for-it was a win-win situation for us. We hung all of the quilts that were entered outside either at the fronts of the businesses or on teepee poles that we constructed just for this event. It always looked so beautiful.
In 2003 the Great Black Hills Quilt Escape decided to move their retreat to a space in Lead so we changed the name of our show to Hill City Outdoor Quilt Show and Sale. The Hill City Area Chamber of Commerce came onboard with the Heart of the Hills Quilters to put on the show in Hill City. We continued to have classes for a few more years.
In 2004 we were chosen as one of ABA's Top 100 Events in North America so that was a great honor and provided more publicity for our show.
In 2010 we moved the bigger part of our show to the inside at the Hill City School and made a two-day event for the quilt show. We continued to have some quilts hung outside but the majority was inside. The wind was always a challenge with the outdoor quilts.
The Hill City Quilt Show continues today to be a very popular event for those who want to display their quilts and those who just want to come enjoy them.
Lodging in the Hills
