Comedian Jim Gaffigan Beams With Pride As Sons' Artwork Exhibited At National Quilt Museum

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) - Comedian Jim Gaffigan is sharing his "great pride and slight confusion" for two of his sons after their artwork was displayed at the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky.

"It is with great pride and slight confusion that I inform you that my sons artwork is now in an exhibit at the @nationalquiltmuseum. Yes, THAT national quilt museum," he wrote Jan. 27 on Facebook.

"Seriously, I am proud of their great work and I know my mother who loved needlepoint and cross-stitch would've been over the moon about something like this," Gaffigan continued.

The post quickly went viral, much to the museum's delight.

"I had several coworkers who were texting me and were like 'have you seen this!?'" Becky Glasby, the Director of Education at the National Quilt Museum, told CBS affiliate KFVS. "It wasn't until Jim Gaffigan posted that his 2 sons had entered a block each into the contest that we found out we had blocks by somebody everybody knows."

In January, the museum held its 28th annual "School Block Challenge," a nationwide, quilt block contest and exhibit for students in K-12th grade. The blocks included "Love All Around the World" by Gaffigan's son, Michael, who won third place in the K-4th grade category. Another Gaffigan son, Patrick, also participated in the contest.

Frank Bennett, the museum's CEO, says he hopes the attention will help introduce quilting and arts in way children wouldn't normally experience.

"A win for Paducah, it's a win for the museum, and hopefully it ends up with more kids participating in the program," said Bennett.

So who took the overall grand prize in this year's contest? That honor happened to go to Khloe Lee of El Portal Elementary in La Habra, California, located about 35 minutes southeast of downtown Los Angeles, who submitted "Life of Covid," in the 5th-8th grade category.

The "School Block Challenge" exhibit will be displayed at the museum through Apr. 6, 2021.