The International Quilt Museum was designed by the internationally renowned Robert A.M. Stern Architects of New York with local architects Alley, Poyner, Macchietto Architects of Omaha. Hawkins Construction was the contractor.

It was funded entirely by private gifts, including a leadership gift from the Robert and Ardis James Foundation of Chappaqua, New York, and donations from private individuals and more than 130 quilt guilds.
The museum opened in 2008 and an expansion—which doubled the size of the galleries and quilt storage—opened in 2013.

© Peter Aaron/Esto 

The galleries, conservation workroom and storage room represent the batting or filling. 

© Peter Aaron/Esto 

You can see another nod to quiltmaking in the Reception Hall, which is shaped like the eye of a needle. 

© Peter Aaron/Esto 

The International Quilt Museum’s Marion E. and Barbara B. Tritsch Garden was designed in a grid to resemble quilt blocks stitched together. The perennials and shrubs in the garden are ornamental varieties that provide year-round color. The plants were chosen because of their variety of flower color, leaf color and texture so when placed next to each other they accentuate the quilt block design. It is planted and maintained by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Landscape Services team.

Thank you to by Eileen Bergt, Landscape Architecht and Assistant Director of Landscape Services, who provided these photos and to Eileen and and the Landscape Services Team for keeping our garden beautiful.

Green Velvet Boxwood (Buxus ‘Green Velvet’)

Tor Spirea (Spiraea betulifolia ‘Tor’)

Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)

Blue False Indigo (Baptisia australis)

Caesar’s Brother Siberian Iris (Iris ‘Caesar’s Brother’)

Buffalo grass and Fescue mix

The sculpture by Linda Fleming of Colorado and California, is titled “Reverie.” It is formally a part of the collections of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Sheldon Museum of Art. The Duncan Family Sculpture was commissioned and donated in honor of longtime quilter and local resident Betty Duncan by her children Robert Duncan, Dianne Duncan Thomas, and Kathryn Duncan.

Artist statement: “Place has always been central to my work. It is not the subject of the work but provides the conditions that allow the work to exist.” The art includes the space within and around the sculpture, the shadows and stripes created by sunlight, and the full range of tones of the powder coated steel. 

The 14’ x 27’ sculpture was fabricated by TMCO of Lincoln and installed by Davis Erection. It is located in the Marion E. and Barbara B. Tritsch Garden.