My regular readers will remember my eighth deadly sin quilt done for the Quilt Art List challenge. You can see The Essence of Inhumanity here.

The exhibit made it’s debut at the Mancuso show in Fort Washington, PA, this past week. Apparently, it was the most popular exhibit at the show. The Mancuso Brothers sent this e-mail to our Curator, Sharon:

Hi Sharon – we received this in the office and  are forwarding it as per the sender’s instructions. Nice comments, yes? We loved the Deadly Sin quilts – everyone on the staff picked a favorite!

Mary Claire

Dear Ms. Bowman,

I had the terrific good fortune of attending the PA National Quilt Extravaganza XII this last Friday. What a phenomenal collection of diversity in quilt making; a pure joy for the quilting enthusiast!

I am writing to you to commend you on your verve and courage (in what I am sure must have been a controversial decision) in presenting the, "What is the 8th Deadly Sin" Exhibition.

I have attended past quilt shows at the Fort Washington Expo Center, and while I truly appreciate the more traditional quilts that are always on display, I have to say it is  SO refreshing to see quilting that not only is "outside the box" (or block as the case may be!) but is also of a socio-political nature.

What a true treat to discover quilts that made me think; made me realize that there is so much more to explore with the use of personal expression through quilting!

I found especially poignant the quilt created by the woman (no names are listed for your exhibition in the catalog — an unfortunate oversight  from my perspective!)  who stated on her information card (next to each quilt) that she "assumed her quilt would not be shown because of it’s controversial nature having to do with religion."

Kudos to you Sharon for having the courage to mount this show, and more power to you in the future to continue to take innovative strides in "pushing the boundaries of quilt making"!

Most sincerely,

Deborah Hodies

We have heard from other attendees that there is always a crowd around the exhibit. Can’t wait to see it at PIQF.