Owned by Marilyn Woodin, owner of the Kalona Quilt & Textile Museum, the Sunflower Quilt created by Dr. Jeanette Throckmorton is one of the 20th Century’s 100 best American Quilts.

The designation was made by a 29-member panel consisting of quilt experts representing four non-profit quilt organizations who took part in the ultimate quilt search to find the century’s 100 best quilts.

The Sunflower Quilt, and 99 others, will be exhibited at the International Quilt Festival’s Quilt Show of the Century in Houston, Texas October 20-24. There is a preview night October 19 and a Silver Star Salute for the night of October 23.

Woodin has said that she will attend the show that mark’s the International Quilt Festival’s 25th anniversary.

The annual show draws more than 55,000 quilts lovers from more than 30 different countries each fall.

All 100 quilts will be featured in a full four-color catalog that also will document the search for the century’s best. Quiltmakers and owners who loan the quilts will receive a free copy of the catalog for their libraries.

Locally, the Sunflower Quilt was the centerpiece of the Kalona Quilt Museum’s special Throckmorton show two years ago. This year, it will join special quilts sent to the Houston exhibit by the American Craft Museum, Espirit de Corps and the International Quilt Study Center of the University of Nebraska.

The Festival will be in the George Brown Convention Center, regional site for the Smithsonian Institution’s traveling Treasures exhibit.

Organizers hope to have the 100 Best Quilts become a traveling exhibit to museums and other locations after the Houston premier. It is possible that the American quilts may be shown in Europe as well.

To be considered for the 100 Best list, a quilt had to be made in the United States or Canada and be finished during the 20th Century. Quiltmakers did not have to be born in either country; their quilts were granted “citizenship” if the quilts were “born” in America.

Sponsors of the Ultimate Quilt Search are the International Quilt Festival, Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine, Quiltmaker and McCall’s Quilting. Panelists who nominated and voted for the 100 Best represented the sponsors and four non-profit quilting organizations based in the U.S.: the Alliance for American Quilts, the American Quilt Study Group, the International Quilt Association and the National Quilting Association.

The majority—57 percent—of the selected quilts were made during the fourth quarter of this century, part of a huge resurgence of interest in the ancient art. Another 27 percent were created in the second quarter, 1926-1950, the era of the Great Depression, when quilting was practiced throughout the country.

The first quarter of this century, 1900-25, drew on the heritage of the 19th century, producing nine percent of the best quilts.

The smallest quarter was 1951-75 when only seven percent of the selected quilts were done.