Not your grandma’s quilt

How many thousands of women in Texas history have entered their handiwork to be judged at the great State Fair of Texas?

Shannon Page is one. Among hundreds of entries from all over Texas, she won two blue ribbons, in quilting and sewing, in 2014. Given her 10 entries in this year’s fair, more wins are likely.

Your grandmother’s quilt repeated a 12inch block patterned evenly over the surface of a blanket, perhaps. Modern quilts make more use of white space. They’re flat and incorporate an overall graphic unrestrained by quilt blocks.

Page, who serves as education coordinator for the Old Red Museum, is a master of modern quilting.

After her mother died in 2011, she taught herself to sew by watching Youtube videos. It was partially to give herself a distraction, partially to connect with her family heritage.