Fly Me to the Moon at Library of Congress.

Tuesday was another great day.  The "Fly Me to the Moon" book of quilts is currently featured in a display at the Library of Congress, in the Science and Reading Room in the Adams building.  The quilt artists who were close enough and able were invited to come for a special tour and viewing of the exhibit, as well as a display of the quilts made by the participants, for that day only.  It was a very special event!

As we gathered outside the main entrance we began signing each other's copies of the book. Here are Marsha White and Linda Cooper, two of the local quilt makers.

Our morning started off with a tour of the Jefferson Building which opened in 1897.

This is the Great Hall on the main floor of the Italian Renaissance-style building which is heavily ornamented.  A large brass inlay of a compass rose is the centerpiece of the marble floor.

The second level mezzanine is highly decorated.  Fifty-six circular printers' marks adorn the triangular ceiling vaults.  In the ceiling of the west mezzanine above, the 8 paintings in the arches show The Sciences.  Three medallions in the center depict the arts - sculpture, architecture, and painting.

We saw the reconstructed Thomas Jefferson library on the second floor.  When the original collection of books was lost to the burning of the Capitol in 1814 where the library was housed, Jefferson offered his personal library as a replacement.  It was purchased by Congress in 1815 and became the foundation of the national library.  The books remaining are what is left after a second fire, before the current library was built.

Some of the books are Jefferson's originals.  Some have been purchased to replace ones that burned.  Some were replaced with identical copies from the Library's collection.  Others are still missing and the library continues to search for copies and replace them as they are found.

Above is the overlook of the main reading room.  It's hard to see here, but all those alcoves under the arches contain books.  The top of the dome which isn't visible here contains a mural painted by Edwin Blashfield representing Western civilization as understood in 1897.  The marble columns support 8 figures representing features of civilized life and thought. The bronze statues are tributes to men whose lives were devoted to the subjects which the plaster statues represent.

We then moved on to the Adams building where the Science, Technology and Business Division is located.  In the Reading Room here is the exhibit honoring the Fly Me to the Moon book. 

The display includes photo copies of some of the quilts, and other books from the library collection that connect to the events and themes depicted in the quilts.

From there we went to a central room where the quilts of those in attendance were on display.  Again, the display included books that linked to the subject matter of the quilt, as well as a placard for each quilt on display.  It provided an opportunity to see the quilts up close, sign each other's books, and chat with members of the library staff who came in to see them.

Here is Sue with her quilt.  Another amazing thing the library staff had done was create a slide show of all the quilts, which was showing on 2 electronic screens in the room.  The colors of the quilts on screen were particularly vibrant.

Above are the folks who made this all possible: Nanette Gibbs, exhibit curator and guide, her supervisor, and Susanne Miller Jones with husband Todd.  Susanne is the curator/book author of the Fly Me to the Moon collection whose forethought and dream made this idea a reality.

Finally, we have the  book itself along with Sue's quilt "Moon River" shown in the book.  The book has just shipped from the publisher and is available from Amazon. If you want to know more about the creation of Sue's quilt, you can read about it in this blog post.