Thursday, December 18, 2008

New England Quilt Museum and Lowelll Mills



We went to Lowell today, first to the New England Quilt Museum-where they were having a special exhibit of quilts recently donated to the museum...so up the stairs and there they were...beautifully familiar Pennsylvania quilts and not the new-to-me New England quilts I expected! Happily they did show some quilts from their permanent collection-an interesting group of Connecticut quilts. Wish I could show you some pix but no go-the main thing I noticed about the Connecticut quilts was that several were two color quilts (a blue and white single Irish chain) or three color quilts (a green and mustard sawtooth star with black plain blocks from 1800 and all the wool fabrics were home dyed with native plant dyes! ) and the blocks were fairly large-at least 12". I don't want to generalize too much here but these were my initial impressions...hope I get to see some more New England quilts while I'm here.




It was then on to the Bootts Mill-definitely worth a trip...a wonderful tour inside the mill with the roar of the looms and wonderful explanations by the US Park Rangers. No pix because my battery died :(

I bought some of the fabric made now in the mill (I chose the green stripe towelling because that is what we saw being made on the looms during the tour ) and two bobbins that went into the loom shuttles. I'm planning on using the bobbin thread for some outline embroidery on the towelling.
I got the camera battery recharged just in time for Holiday greetings from Lowell, Massachusetts.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've been anxiously waiting for your report! I just love the green towel material - such a vintage look. The Christmas lights are pretty too. It all sounds like a wonderful visit.

Eileen said...

Miri I'm so glad you're having a nice time! Hope you don't get caught too much in this ice storm we're getting.
Love the lights, and I can just picture all the quilts you described.
So what's next on the tour?? :-)

Neabear said...

Sounds like you are having a great time. Thanks for sharing the pictures. I have two batteries for my camera. That way I can charge one and still have one available to use while the other is charging.

Susan said...

How wonderful you getting to see so many different quilts. The blue and white Irish chain sounds lovely and I am intrigued by naturally dyed fabrics--I've seen it down a few times.

What a great souvenir those two bobbins and fantastic idea of how to use them.

Keep warm and stay safe, there is a winter storm coming, we are getting hit hard right now.

Julia said...

What an amazing place New York is...one day I will get to come and see it for myself..
Love seeing the photos..
Julia ♥

Maggie R said...

Oh My Goodness Miri...
The more I read the more envious I am getting...... What a wonderful trip ...Travel safely..
xoox
((((hugs)))))Maggie