Showing posts with label New England Quilt Museum. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New England Quilt Museum. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Summer wrap up and Fall Quilting!

So it's October...
WHEN did THAT Happen??!??

Seems like yesterday the sweet smell of 
Lilies filled the hot summer air

and my Hydrangea's were in beautiful full bloom,
with the Rose of Sharon starting to pop!


there were lots of visitors to the yard
especially these three turkeys that I have watched grow
since the spring!

and a beautiful deer that just could not resist my husband's peach tree!
Disclaimer: we only plant a garden to feed the wildlife!!!
It's their own personal buffet!


In August I attended the New England Quilt Museum's
Summer Celebration
with one of my Quilty gal pals ~ Diana
she is standing in front of a quilt that she Quilted!!
This quilt also happened to win the popular vote for the entire
Summer Celebration!! Congrat's to the quilt maker and Diana!

While at NEQM Diana and I had the privilege of viewing
"Threads of Resistance"
~WOW~
Very Impactful...


Continuing to receive and LOVE my monthly
Blue Quilty Box from
the Fat Quarter shop!
SO many fabulous goodies 
with lots of projects to keep me busy all winter!

This summer hubby and I were able to get away for a few days
first was our trip up into New Hampshire
so he could ... Gold Pan!
NO ~ he hasn't found any gold...
but he has had fun!

While he dug in the dirt I spent my time
sipping an ice coffee, reading the latest edition of Quiltfolk
(Loved the Hawaiian quilts in this edition)
and focused on my favorite style of quilting ~ Appliqué!

 The next few days were spent sitting on the edge of the canal
watching him fish ... and fish... and fish!

getting more appliqué done....
 and a little English paper piecing! 

and he caught a fish...
too small to keep
so back into the canal it went!

The end of August was time to put things in high gear
to get my quilt done for the guild's quilt shop in September...
There was one section that just baffled me as to how to quilt it...
so that's when the beads came out!

Love the combination of sashiko, appliqué and beading!

Here you can see the beaded areas.
all the quilting was done on a domestic Janomee 6600!

With every quilt I try and do something new...
this time is was a scalloped boarder...
or rather a piped scallop boarder!
It came out ok...
a bit bumpy - but it was the best I could do
on my first attempt! with just 24 hrs left
before the show judging!!!
Nothing like squeaking it in!!

The Silver City Quilt Guild had two special displays,
the first was our Comfort quilts...
Most of the quilts were donated to a local shelter for women and children
and some were sent to "Quilts of Compassion" for those in need in Houston

The second special exhibit was our "Quilts of Valor"
my guild works with the Ma chapter creating quilts for veterans ...
no all the quilts pictured below were made by SCQG members,
some were made by other quilters.

and here we are ready for the opening of SCQG's
sixth biennial quilt show

All of my hard work paid off...
"Tropical Sashiko Sampler" 
received 
Best of Show!! 
from Pat Harrison
a certified quilt judge!
Plus 
Exemplary Domestic Machine Quilting!!

Posing with my quilt and ribbons!!

My little landscape
"The Lonely Pine"
received a Viewers Choice first place in the
"Look what I did in Class" category!

My Quilty BFF ~ Joan
entered her "Gravity" quilt
(first time she has ever had a quilt judged!)
she received a Judge's Third Place in the Large Bed Category
and a Viewer's Choice Third Place!!
So proud of her!!

My mom doesn't usually feel up to getting out and about
but we had one really good day in mid September
when I was able to take her to her favorite place
"Briggs's Nursery"
She loves looking at all the plants and they have a nice place to
sit and have tea and dessert!!

Both of my children had their share of bad weather....
my daughter survived Hurricane Harvey in Texas

and my son was hit with Hurricane Irma and a Tornado!!
 Both of them have requested Hurricane Quilts!!!

For the fall I have restarted my Ladies of the Sea Quilt
It will be scaled back from Sue Garman's 16 ships to 9 ships
as it will need to fit on a certain wall!!
The cent ship is "Massachusetts" from another pattern line ~ 
but it called (yelled!) to me so it just had to be made!!
The decision of the moment...
choosing the last three ships!!

There you have it ~ all caught up!!


Sunday, July 9, 2017

trip to the New England Quilt Museum

Two weeks ago I had the pleasure of going to the New England Quilt Museum
with a Quilty friend Ronni - she's a retired art teacher
which made this trip extraordinary!

Usually I go look at the quilts
take a few pictures of my favorites
look around...
and I'm out the door...
an hour max...

My trip with Ronni was a bit different....

We started with the "Twisted" exhibit
it is "modern quilts with a Vintage Twist"
selected quilters were given fragments of unfinished vintage quilts -
 their mission was to incorporate the piece into a modern quilt thus
creating "past combined with present"
Each quilt was awe inspiring!

As Ronni and I walked around we stopped and discussed each quilt,
what made each quilt "pop", 
what we like about each quilt,
how the quilter utilized their vintage piece....
and since Ronni is a retired art teacher 
I gained a different perspective on viewing quilts!

Below are a few of my favorites
unfortunately I didn't take shots of the descriptions
so I can not give credit to the very talented quilt makers and quilters.


Just loved the simplicity of this one,
using just a small amount of the vintage quilt,
and the quilting - out of this world!!

This on reminded me of picking daisy's when I was a kid,
and blowing them into the wind!

You have to just love the Rick-Rac on this quilt!!


The quilt maker of this beauty cut up the vintage quilt 
to create the petals of the Dahlia flower and 
then the quilter recreated the Dahlia in thread - 
just outstanding!

This quilt stood out from across the room
with it's vibrant colors and beautiful quilting.
Although I've never been a fan of orange it works beautifully here 
set off against the chocolate background.

Once Ronni and I finished Oogling and the "Twisted" quilts
we ventured into the main exhibit...


"The Quilt Takes A Prize"
Award winning quilts from the National Quilt Museum - Paducah KY.

These 41 of the most exquisite quilts from the past 30 years!

My take away from this exhibit was how far quilting has come,
but yet how much it has stayed the same!
Does that make sense?!

All the quilts were made by master quilters of their time,
but these are just a very few of my favorite quilts for different reasons!


"Air Show"
by Johnathan Shannon - 1992

My absolute favorite! 
Mostly because my son Matthew is a pilot,
he has seen this quilt, and very mush likes it...
and no I will not be attempting anything like this
not even for him!!
I had seen this quilt in the National Museum
when my sister and I visited in 2007 -
I bought Matthew a postcard!
That's as close as he'll come to a quilt like this!!!


"Chasing Bubbles"
by Hiroko and Masanolu Miyama - 2015
The husband and with team that created this outstanding quilt
are just to be marveled at!
Another all time favorite of mine.
Just love the translucency of the bubbles
and the details ...
exquisite!

"The Value of Gears"
by Judith Phelps - 2013
This quilt drew me in, 
not sure if it was the subject matter 
or the intricacy of it... the detail was just incredible.
Love how the gears in the middle block shine - 
it was due to the lighting in the museum,
made a dramatic affect.


"It's Not Summer Yet"
by Inge Mardal - 2001
The beach houses - goodness knows I love the beach
so this beautiful quilt stood out from across the room!

"Mountain Pleasant Miners"
by Nancy Brown - 1993
Now for most people this wouldn't be a favorite,
but since my hubby loves to gold pan - I fell for this quilt!!
The quilt was inspired from an 1870's photograph!


There were so many other beautiful quilts that Ronni and I chatted over,
these are just a few.
We spent two hours in the museum!

After lunch out and a quick stop at
The Quilted Crow in Bolton!

Thank you Ronni for a delightful day
and for my present!!!

We already are planning our next trip up to see
"Threads of Resistance"
and "Summer Celebration of New England Quilts"