About The Museum

Our History

In 1998, members of the Georgia Quilt Project and The Georgia Quilt Council planned and advocated for the creation of a quilt and textile museum in the southeast. A newly formed committee known as Friends of the Quilt Museum encouraged Carrollton, GA due to local hospitality and less traffic than a major metropolitan city. In 2009, The Georgia Quilt Council formally selected Carrollton as the home of what would become the Southeastern Quilt & Textile Museum (SQTM).

Jane Kingsley, Beverly Hammack, Sandy Gowing and Marilyn Osterkamp met with the late Commissioner Bill Chappell, who allowed SQTM the use of a remodeled portion of the historic cotton warehouse located at 306 Bradley Street Suite C in Carrollton’s Historic Downtown. On September 15, 2012, the SQTM enthusiastically opened its doors to the public. The Georgia Quilt Council had issued a call to guilds across the state for quilts. That collection was exhibited at the Georgia State Capitol building on January 1, 2012, and became the “Capitol Collection.”

We are conveniently located in a former cotton warehouse at 306 Bradley St. STE C in Carrollton, Georgia. We have 1220 square feet of gallery space, 400 square feet of classroom/library and a 170 square foot museum store.

Our Mission

As our name proclaims, the Southeastern Quilt and Textile Museum wants to recognize and celebrate our regional and local heritage and influences. Throughout the southeast many communities developed with a similar story of textile production. We want to share that heritage by highlighting our own history.

The QUILT aspect of our mission creates a triangle: to preserve, to teach, and to recognize and celebrate current quilting trends.

The Museum strives to preserve the art and craft of quilting with museum quality archiving and conservation. Informative exhibits change quarterly. A research library provides over 2200 volumes currently as well as many periodicals.

The Museum teaches the art and craft of quilting in Beginners Classes, Intermediate, and Advanced Classes. Each summer a Kids Camp teaches children (age 9 and older) to sew and to quilt by using individual mentors. Kids learn to operate a sewing machine, hand sew, cut patterns, design, and quilt.

The third component of the triangle is to recognize and celebrate current trends in quilting. From exhibits on machine appliqué to art quilts to modern interpretations of old patterns, many exciting trends are happening in the world of quilting.

In TEXTILES we not only tell a history. We also feature current artists in our exhibits.
When you visit we trust you can see our path toward fulfilling our mission.

What We've Achieved

The Museum Library consists of 2200 books about quilting and fiber arts.
SQTM taught 36 children in the summer of 2022.
SQTM has over 150 quilts in its permanent collection (please note these are not all currently on display).
The Museum consists of three galleries.

The Gift Shop boasts many unique gifts.
Southeastern Quilt and Textile Museum was selected as the business of the month for June 2017 by the Carroll County Chamber of Commerce.
We are a proud member of NARM - North American Reciprocal Museum Association
Military Families appreciate that we are a Blue Star Museum