LQF Recap

Our Lowell Quilt Festival show wrapped up over the weekend, and I still can't believe how well it went.

Leah and Jane admire Jen's amazing work

We had great turnout, the venue was spectacular and light-filled, and Alexis and Aimee orchestrated everything to a professional standard that exceeded all our expectations.  I think we blew everyone away, including ourselves!

new members?

We heard some hilarious things from the traditional quilters who dropped by as a courtesy, and walked away really impressed.

Emily and Alexis with friends and family
at the Friday night open house

I believe this turtle was Samantha's.
A big fan favorite!

Linda's insanely beautiful quilting was a personal favorite.
I have plans to steal many of these ideas!

Speaking of epic quilting, look at this!
One of the young male residents told me Jen's quilt was his very favorite quilt in the show.

One lady seemed aghast that some of us had washed our quilts (mine included!  I love the texture - who knew it would be a "show issue"?)   Others were so adorable, literally snooping behind the racks just to see what the reverse looked like.

creeping around the back

Another "quilt veteran" was so astonished by what she saw, that she pulled Alexis and me aside and exclaimed to us that our show was "fucking amazing".   Definitely my favorite feedback of the show.

Alice in chains.  Get it?

Laurie's spectacular Dresden,
made with fabrics she brought back from Uganda

Alexis's elegant mini

Speaking of minis, I felt that category really demonstrated the wide range of aesthetics of our members.   Some of my other favorites:

The patrons liked that we didn't use draping on our displays- one lady told me it "contributed to the graphic quality" of the experience.

Amy's New York Beauty.   

One very friendly Australian quilter, a fan of Amy's blog, waylaid her vacation to come to our show.  She was thrilled to see Amy's work in person, and also loved Lia's beautiful take on a Sarah Fielke favorite, below.   She said (shhhh) she preferred Lia's to Sarah's!

Lia's eagles

The work, needless to say, speaks for itself.    These women inspire me with their insane, boundless talent.  I am so proud to be part of this guild!

I have many, many more photos and will post more later this week.  Congratulations, ladies of the BMQG!   Please see our blog, Facebook page, and Flickr pool for additional links and photos.

Lowell Quilt Festival, Day 1!

Yesterday we spent about a half-day hanging quilts for our Boston Modern Quilt Guild gallery,  a satellite location of the Lowell Quilt Festival.

My kaleidoscope and  Alice's Chain Reaction.
They look so lovely here together!

Our BMQG gallery showcases more than 50 spectacular member quilts, in the light-filled large atrium at Appleton Mills, an amazing textile-mill-turned-apartment complex in Lowell, Massachusetts.   (219 Jackson Street, Lowell, MA)

Our show is open to the public.  Hours are:  10 am - 6 pm Thursday 8/9,  10 am - 8 pm Friday 8/10, and 10 am - 4 pm Saturday 8/11.

Linda hangs a beauty.

Please also consider joining us for the Opening Reception, which is from 5-8 pm on Friday, 8/10.   Many guild members will be there to discuss their work, and there will be food and drink on hand.

From the "Bee" section  of the gallery.
Both of these quilts were BMQG collaborations.

We can't wait!

Who's pumped for Lowell Quilt Festival?

This girl!

WIP: Amrita's quilt

In between hectic preparation for the Lowell Quilt Festival, Amrita's quilt is moving from sketch to reality.

BMQG rocks the Lowell Quilt Festival

The following is happening, and it is awesome.   I'm submitting 4 quilts, including a challenge mini based on the QuiltCon colors, and the dresden I just finished for my friends Emily and Bill.

We are psyched!   Be there or be square.

Converging corners

So, this one was finished a while ago, but I'd failed to post details.

Obviously, I got the idea for this from the Film in the Fridge Converging Corners quilt.  I just loved everything about that quilt, and thought it would be a great way to use scraps to make a vibrant baby quilt for a woman I work with. 

The baby's gender was unknown so I did my best to remain true to the primary colors used in the inspiration.     This was a bit of a stretch from me, as I hardly ever use red.  I love how the red perks up this quilt - I think I may be sprinkling more of this around, going forward.    It's a real personal growth moment for me!  ;)

There's a lot of Denyse Schmidt fabric in here, including on the binding.  I also used a lot of my repro scraps, many of which are very geometric (ie, less flower power) when you look closely.

This came together very quickly.  I backed it with strip of patchworked leftovers from the front, run alongside an awesome yellow-on-green dot I got at Marden's for $3/yard.   This dot was I previously used to back Lela's baby quilt.  In hindsight, I should have gotten more of this yardage.

Things have been crazy here, preparing for our Boston Modern Quilt Guild exhibit at the Lowell Quilt Festival in mid-August.    Lots of sleeves are being sewn, more to come on this soon...

What I do on conference calls

Binding helps me focus and listen.

And yes, my desk really does look like that. Just keeping it real, people.