Quilts and Color at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston

On Friday I was so lucky to be in Boston to see this quilt show!

Quilts and Color at the MFA in Boston.

These two smart gentlemen started collecting quilts in the 1960's.

Here are a few of my faves.

I won't post them all, don't want to spoil it completely 

for you if you get to attend!

And you should definitely go if you can!

These quilts range in age from the late 1800's to early 1900's.

What I love about them is the unexpected colors and combinations,

especially considering the time frame in which they were created.

They look very "modern" or of this present day time to me.  

Renegades of their time period for sure!

Local Fabric Shop . . . kinda . . .

Today was the day we were all supposed 

to shop at our local quilt shops . . .

Well, I had to work . . . in an office.

But . . . this past weekend I was visiting my family north of Boston

and we (I) did a little fabric shopping.

We visited Portsmouth Fabric Company, one of my faves!

Whenever I go north I try to con the family into a trip up to Portsmouth.

(There is a great brewery there too!)

This shop is a distributor for Kaffe Fassett,

so they  have all the new lines, but they also carry all the

golden oldies that I love.

The colors and yumminess are almost overwhelming!

I'm not even going to admit to how much I stocked up!

I usually stick to the fabric, but the quilts caught my eye this time around.

Then I turned the corner and saw a little "show" by this quilt artist.

Beautiful appliqued paintings of scenes under the sea.

I just love these!

And they remind me of a block that Helen did for one of our Bees.

It wasn't all fabric shopping . . .

I saw this lovely little cameo in a consignment shop.

I didn't buy, just taking the picture was enough.

While my aunt and uncle looked at couches at the Crate & Barrel outlet,

I found fabric!  Haha.  I always do!

I got four yards of Marimekko fabric for some backings.

Retail $45.00 a yard.  I paid $5.95 a yard!  Score!

We also did a bit of walking around Boston too.

This is Faneuil Hall with all the twinkling lights.

So while I did buy fabric, it wasn't "local" to me per se.

I'm hoping to do a little of that this upcoming weekend! Hehe.

What are you doing this weekend?

Crazy Quilting for Crazy Quilters!

I had the most wonderful day today!

I met a bunch of my quilting buddies for a lecture on crazy quilting.

They were so fabulous to drive up to my neighborhood!

Sue Reich gave a wonderful talk on crazy quilts,

how they were made and what the different embellishments mean.

They were mostly silks and satins with lots of yummy embroidery.

The women that made these quilts would collect scraps from

where ever they could, from old clothes, remnants, you name it.

Like a treasure hunt.

There could be thousands of pieces in each quilt.

Spider webs mean good luck.

These quilts were foundation pieced and usually done in blocks that

were later put together to make the quilt top.

I love the tufted wheat in this block.

And these black eyed Susans

This quilt was made by the grandmother one of the attendees.

The quilter was an opera singer and many of the pieces 

of fabric were from her costumes.

The detail is amazing.

She is pondering what to do with this quilt 

because no one in her family really wants it.

Well, there could have been a rumble!

Jody volunteered to take in on the spot! Hehe.

The flower on this block looks like a fluffy chenille dream!

 My group shot picture is kind of blurry,

but here is the gang!

Victoria, Margaret, me, Chris, Helen and Jody.

 I think Victoria and Helen will have better group shots on their blogs.

We all went out to lunch after and had a giggle fest.

My kind of day!

Thank you ladies for all the fun.

Field Trip!

Gidget & I had a little field trip today.

We have cabin fever and needed to get out and see the world.

We started out at NEAT for a latte and raspberry danish from Sono Bakery.

YUM!

Then we headed to Ridgefield to the Quilter's Alley.

Gidget was like a kid in the candy store.

She has a pattern for a market bag she wants to make.

She got some cute bicycle fabric which I forgot to take a picture of.

Her mission is to get everything cut out

and then tomorrow

she will come over and we will sew together!

I'm sure there will be a story tomorrow . . . .

This is some of the wonderful fabrics that Roxanne and Stuart have in their shop.

Look at all those yummy colors!

That is the back of Gidget's head. She is still camera shy,

but at least she allowed some part of her body to be photographed today.

See that frame in the back of the picture???
That is a long arm quilting frame.

I dropped off my log cabin quilt to be quilted.
Roxanne helped me pick out the perfect pattern for quilting.
I can't wait to see it all done in about three to four weeks!
YEAH!


Need to decide on a binding now, I like to do that part.


I couldn't leave without buying any fabric myself!
I got the lavender for the backing of my commissioned quilt,
and the other two just because.

Where did you sneak off to today?

Are you trying to shake the cabin fever too??