The Dewey Decimal Quilt Challenge art display at the library

“MUSIC AND SPORTS are two extremely important things that I feel should be taught in all schools. Few things can bring people together like making music or playing on a team,” quilter Emily Hofmann wrote about her piece for the Dewey Decimal Quilt Challenge. She approached the topic: 781-788 and 796–Music Genres and Sports, with “whimsy” and “apologies to my college theory professor.” (Emily Klesaris Photo)

By EMILY KLESARIS

Library Program Coordinator

NORTH READING — We’re kicking off spring at the Flint Memorial Library with an extended artist display from the Boston Modern Quilt Guild!

The Boston Modern Quilt Guild is composed a group of people who are passionate about quilting, patchwork, and sewing hailing from all over Boston, Metro West, and beyond. Over two-dozen different quilts are now on display throughout the first floor of the library through the end of April.

The collection of 18” x 24” quilts were created in response to a challenge for each participant to sew a quilt that corresponded to different shelves in the nonfiction area of the Natick Public Library. They were designed in this size constraint to fit on the end cap of each shelf in that library and complement the topics covered throughout the Dewey Decimal System. The Flint Memorial Library is the fifth library to display the collection so far, with another library scheduled subsequently.

A REALISTIC approach to the Dewey Decimal genre “649-650 Parenting” was taken by quilter Emily Williams who describes her subject as: “Toddler at beach looking for, and not really wanting, parental guidance.” (Emily Klesaris Photo)

While the designs of some quilts are rather straightforward relative to the topic represented, some of the quilters even integrated multiple Dewey Decimal numbers, combining different topics to produce a highly imaginative piece. For example, one quilt made by Emily Hofmann, covers numbers 781-788 and 796—music genres and sports. In the imagery of the quilt, Hofmann depicted various music notes using the shapes of a soccer ball, football, and baseball.

In another quilt made by Susan McKinney, numbers range from 363-373 and 373-413. This broad range covers topics that include true crime, education, social customs, and fairy tales. Her quilt is captioned: “Red and Ginger arrived at Granny’s but to their shock and horror, found her home covered in crime scene tape. The police had been there!” and depicts a scene of Little Red Riding Hood and the Gingerbread Man running away from the caution tape-covered house.

The sheer creativity of all the submissions to this prompt are truly impressive. The amount of time each of quilter spent designing and sewing them varies from piece to piece with some taking over one month to complete. Viewers are encouraged to read the artist statements attached to each quilt, which include the chosen Dewey Decimal numbers and their respective topics, and the artist’s name.

Some quilts on display are for sale. Folks who are interested should contact the Boston Modern Quilt Guild at bostonmqg@gmail.com.