A lovely Surprise at the Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge

Last week our family was lucky enough to visit the Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. It was an amazing experience for us because my great-grandfather had a ticket to sail on the Titanic which he never used.

I’ll tell you more in a minute, but first I have to show you this gorgeous art quilt they have behind the scenes. 

When she found out that I was a quilter, the manager there, Cynthia, was sweet enough to offer to take me back to see it and let me take a few pictures.

Look at the detail… Besides raw edge applique, I noticed three dimensional birds, smoke, flags, and lifeboats.

There are glass beads sewn along the deck and side of the ship to make lights and port holes.

There is quite a bit of thread painting. I love the colors that she uses in the sky and the water.

This quilt was made by a woman named Deborah Hipple and the title of it is Destination: New York City. I only know this because Cynthia let me peek to see if it had a label. Thank goodness it did! I googled that information and found out that Deborah won the Blue Ribbon for this quilt in the non-traditional category at A Mountain Quiltfest 2010 in Pigeon Forge. It was her first quilt competition!

Our walk through the museum only made the quilt more meaningful to me. Of course we got to see replicas of the opulent staircase and staterooms on board the Titanic.

And I especially enjoyed seeing the clothes that people wore at that time. Period clothing is so much fun to look at (to me at least… the rest of my family just wanted to move on to the simulated inclined deck).

Of everything, I was most moved by the photos and stories of the people where were on board the Titanic. Throughout the museum, we read about individuals… why they were travelling, who they were with and where they were headed. Two young boys who had been kidnapped by their father, a young woman travelling to see her fiance, hundreds of men and women on the ship for employment. These stories impressed on me the real tragedy of this event and how very quickly our lives can change. 

And we were all very grateful that our great-grandfather Gustav changed his plans and decided to leave Sweden two weeks later – all because his little sister begged him to extend his visit. He was actually on the first list of those lost at sea because his name was not taken off the ship’s passenger list in time.

And that very night my kids got to see snow for the first time. Yes, all of them were sticking their tongues out trying to catch it. Is that precious or what? I thought so.

Happy sewing!

disclosure: The Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge provided admission tickets for myself and my family in exchange for this blog review of their attraction. We had a wonderful experience and all opinions expressed are my own.