This month, we share a quilt from the IQM's Modern Quilt Guild Collection with a powerful message. Made by Virginia Robinson, this quilt features a quadrilateral design with schoolroom objects silhouetted against a yellow background. These objects include staplers, books and bookends, shoes and many more. The quilting mimics a paper shooting target. And the large, red shape of an AR-15 is appliquéd on the quilt's back. 

This piece was inspired by responses from teachers on Robinson's social media — which school supplies would they use for self defense should their classroom be breached by an active shooter. 

From Robinson: 

"Gargoyle bookends." "Pencils." "Erlenmeyer flasks." "Jugs of paint." "Cello cases." "Building blocks." "Nothing but my words." I'm a teacher who asked other U.S. teachers what ordinary classroom objects they would use to defend their students in a school shooting. Their answers varied by grade level and the subject they teach. Shaped like a door, the quilt celebrates the good work the school supplies do each day to teach our kids about life and the world, while also acknowledging that teachers sometimes see these things in a different way. The quilting represents the shooter on the front and the teacher on the back, with the appliqué pieces aimed at them. Imagine bringing a stapler to a gun fight. But I never want to see a gun on the front of this quilt. What I want is the AR-15 taken off the other side. Our children deserve better than the nightmare we tolerate.

Click here to read more about this quilt in the Quiltfolk Journal, where writer, quiltmaker and International Advisory Board Member Teresa Duryea Wong examines the artist and quilt that won Quiltcon's Best of Show one year ago.  

This quilt came to the IQM's collection in 2024.

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What We Will Use As Weapons: A List of School Supplies

Virginia (Ginny) Robinson 

Made in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States; made in 2023

Cotton 

IQM 2024.034.0002