More from Lowell

One of the great things about the Lowell Quilt Festival was that it was not just a judged/juried show.  The town of Lowell, which is a former textile mill town, gets involved.  They provide a free bus shuttle to get from showing to showing (and there are ~6-8 other smaller shows) -- this year this was great since it started raining.   The New England Quilt Museum has a fantastic exhibit which we went to.  Unfortunately, they don't allow photos so I can't show you the completely awesome Hollis Chatelain quilt that is there.  It will blow your socks off.   The current exhibit has many machine quilted pieces, as compared to last year's very traditional and old quilts.  We went to exhibits at 2 other small galleries, both of which had receptions with food, but the one that was truly the most fun was the one put on by the Boston Modern Quilt Guild.  It was held in the former Appleton Mills building.  The mill has been completely renovated, and is a FABULOUS location - great light, and the architecture is stupendous.

Now, as many of you know, I'm kind of like a deer in the headlights when a truly modern quilt comes to me for quilting.  I generally work through the fear and quilt it beautifully, but if given a choice, I tend to stray more to the conservative side, with the use of modern fabrics.  So I was caught completely off guard liking this exhibit as much as I did.  I came upon the next set of quilts, loving the one on the right.  It has fantastic colors, and I said to my mom "I quilted one of those (referring to the one on the left) last year".  Ha!  Turns out I quilted that very one!  It was one of the wedding quilts my client Andrea made.

 There were a couple displays of small quilts...

 After I saw Andrea's pineapple quilt, I was not shocked to see the pinwheels, which I also quilted.  But the surprise was all mine a few minutes later, because I spotted who I thought was Andrea at the front entrance. I've never met her, but her mother (also a client) has posted pictures of her.  It was great to finally meet - it was indeed her!

 As I came out of the restroom, I saw this, and loved it.  It's such a fun backing.

 This is the front.

I am quite a sucker for orange peel quilts.  It's the taking of an old-fashioned pattern, and remaking it with a modern twist that is appealing.  This quilter modeled her design after a greeting card (attached to the quilt).

 Here's a shot of the venue.  I told you it was gorgeous.  Lots of natural wood, steel and light were everywhere.  It is SO far superior to the auditorium that the actual quilt show uses where lighting is concerned.  Too small to use for the show though.

And a quick look up to see the 3-4 floors of modern art (aka beams, columns, steel, etc!)