Submit your quilt for “MY AMERICA…WHAT IT MEANS TO ME”
ENTRY FORMS GO LIVE - DECEMBER 1, 2025
THEME: Entries are quilts that speak to the theme of celebrating the birth of our nation. We invite submissions of quilts that capture the triumphs, joys, sacrifices, and challenges experienced by our nation. Quilts expressing personal interpretations of America—such as concepts of freedom, home, family, appreciation of the land, or its history—will contribute meaningfully to an exhibition at the Texas Quilt Museum, which will subsequently be featured at the Fall 2026 Houston International Quilt Festival. We are interested in sharing antique or modern, hand or machine appliquéd or pieced, newly made, inherited, bought, etc. to be considered if they are appropriate for the quilt and the theme.
ENTRY FEE & LIMIT: US $25 for up to 3 entries per quilter. (Payment via the “Call for Entry” page on the Museum’s website.)
IMAGES: Digital images no larger than 5.5MB each, one full view and one detail. Entry forms go live on www.TexasQuiltMuseum.org on December 1, 2025.
SIZE OF ENTRIES: Each work must measure at least 40 inches (101.6 cm) on each side. The quilt cannot be larger than 92 inches (233.68 cm) on a side. Each entry must have a 4in (10 cm) finished sleeve or casing sewn to the top back edge of the quilt (please include a .25 in/.635 cm (total) ease in the sleeve or casing). Sleeves should be secured with stitching at the top and bottom edge. A cloth label with the entrant’s name, address, telephone number, and email must be securely sewn to the back of the quilt, bottom left side.
JURY: A qualified jury will select the final works to be included. The jury’s decision is final. Upon viewing the final quilts, the organizers reserve the right to decide which quilts will be included in the exhibition. The organizers reserve the right to refuse any work that does not match the digital photos submitted to the jury. We need to see all four sides of the quilt in the image.
WHO MAY ENTER: The entries may be the work of one person or more than one person if proper credit is given to all involved in the actual completion of the quilt. We encourage quality photography as the images may be used to publicize the exhibition. Limit to three (3) entries per person or group.
COPYRIGHT PERMISSION: Entry into the exhibition automatically grants copyright permission for the image of the quilt and/or all or part of the Artist’s Statement about the quilt to be used in articles, ads, promotions, catalogues, books, magazines, websites (including any webcast coverage), blogs, CDs, current event news coverage, television productions, and/or multimedia productions for and about the Texas Quilt Museum or for and about the exhibit My America…What it Means to Me or for and about quilting and developing creativity. The quilt artist retains copyright to the quilt and will be credited in any usage.
Definite venues for the exhibition include:
· Texas Quilt Museum Autumn Spring 2026
· International Quilt Market/Houston November 14 -16, 2026 (not open to the public) Houston, Texas USA
· International Quilt Festival November 26 – 29, 2026 (November 25, 2026, is Preview night)
· Entrants will be notified of all other venues.
LENGTH OF EXHIBIT: The participating works are to be available for one year of travel, from March 2026 through March 2027. The Texas Quilt Museum will manage the traveling of the exhibition and receive any profit from the travel. Traveling your quilt is NOT optional.
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: The official language of the exhibition is English.
SELLING YOUR QUILT: You may choose to offer your quilt for sale while on exhibition. If you do, 12.5% of the selling price will be donated to the Texas Quilt Museum and 12.5% will be donated to Special Exhibits. The Museum is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Please check with your tax attorney for information on how to deduct the donation.
SENDING QUILTS FOR EXHIBITION
DEADLINE FOR RECEIVING QUILTS: The selected works should be sent by the participant, at his/her own expense, to arrive no later than April 15, 2026. International shipments should be SHIPPED no later than March 15, to the offices of Texas Quilt Museum in La Grange, Texas, U.S.A.
SHIPPING INFORMATION: Complete shipping information will be sent when your entry is juried into the exhibition. DO NOT SEND QUILTS PRIOR TO NOTIFICATION.
*IMPORTANT special note to quilters shipping from foreign countries: While we encourage you to insure your work for its full value for insurance purposes, we must ask you to value it for customs declaration purposes only at no more than $30 (U.S.). A higher customs value may require an expensive bond that may not be refunded upon your quilt’s return to its home country. Also mark the customs document “for exhibition and return, not for sale, no commercial value.” We hope you understand that this is for practical purposes only and certainly does not reflect the Quilt Festival’s assessment of your work. If you wish to claim full value for customs purposes, we recommend that you arrange a carnet A.T.A. for your quilt at your expense. If we incur customs expenses due to a decision on your part to declare the customs value of your quilt as more than $30, you will need to reimburse us for any expense. If you claim for less than $30 for customs purposes and we still incur customs charges, we will pay those charges in full and will not expect reimbursement.
INSURANCE: Each work will be insured door to door (from the time you ship it to us until it is returned to you) under the Fine Arts Policy maintained by Quilts, Inc.
RETURN OF ENTRIES: Quilts will be returned no later than March 30, 2027.
EXHIBITION CALENDAR
December 1, 2025
Entry forms go live on www.TexasQuiltMuseum.org
Email Images / Entry Form to vickm@quilts.com
February 2, 2026
Deadline for entries
Email Images / Entry Form to vickm@quilts.com
February 17, 2026
Notification of finalists
April 15, 2026
Deadline for receiving exhibition quilts.
May 18 – 20, 2026
Exhibit installation
March 30, 2027
Quilts returned to owners