The International Quilt Museum is holding a sunflower mini-quilt fundraiser to benefit disaster relief in Ukraine.
The event will include more than 200 donated quilts to be sold via an online auction between 6 a.m. June 8 and 6 p.m. June 10. Project partners include the Lincoln Rotary Club No. 14 and Friends of the International Quilt Museum.
Sunflowers are a popular motif for quiltmakers, often symbolizing peace, happiness, and optimism. Sunflowers are also the national flower of Ukraine and have come to symbolize solidarity with Ukrainian resistance during the ongoing Russian invasion.
Leslie Levy, the museum’s Ardis and Robert James Executive Director and a member of the Rotary Club, developed the idea following a recent meeting. During the session, a Ukrainian Rotary member, who is still in Ukraine, gave the Lincoln club real-time updates on what she was experiencing day-to-day. At the beginning of April, the museum launched the sunflower mini-quilt challenge on social media.
“The International Quilt Museum is proud of truly being an international museum: our collection, advisory board members, the professional team, as well as our donors and members hail from all parts of the globe,” Levy said. “The need in Ukraine is so great, and will be for a long time. This is a small part we can do — quiltmakers around the world supporting the people of Ukraine.”
