PADUCAH, Ky. -- These are not your grandmother's quilts. The dazzling images at the National Quilt Museum are all contemporary works of art painstakingly created from cloth.

Located in Paducah, 320 miles northeast of Little Rock, this is the premier U.S. museum devoted to the expanding field of quilt art. Its permanent collection of more than 700 works, all sewn since 1980, "represents the best of contemporary quilting in a wide range of styles, techniques, inspiration and unique artistic voices."

The museum takes extra pride in this fact about its collection: "While many art museums of all types across America have been working to collect and present more works by women, more than 95% of our museum's collection is composed of quilts by women makers."

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