New England Road Trip

Feathered Star from the collection of the New England Quilt Museum

A parade entry from the Library of Congress collection

Pack the truck and fire up the GPS. Summer's a great time to go to New England and look at antique quilts.

You might want to plan your trip around some weekend events with shows of antique quilts. Maine Quilts 2010 will have a special exhibit I've Got the 19th Century Blues,  featuring antiques from the collection of Judy Roche, at their 3-day show at the Augusta Civic Center from  July 30th-August 1st. Click here: http://www.mainequilts.org/Quilt_Show/index.html

Sunburst with eagle border from the collection of the New England Quilt Museum

The Lowell (Massachusetts) Quilt Festival will be August 12th -14th. The theme is Images: The Best of Today's Traditional and Contemporary Quilts. There will be an exhibit of 12  blue and white antiques from the Collection of the New England Quilt Museum, which is in Lowell. See the blue and white quilts above.
http://www.lowellquiltfestival.org/specialexhibits.htm

If you miss those weekend events there is still a lot to see. In Lowell, The New England Quilt Museum's late summer exhibit is Contemporary Broderie Perse: An Elegant Revival (see my post of July 18th). Lowell is the textile history center of the U.S. with several museums. The American Textile History Museum's exhibit is Textile Revolution: An Exploration through Space.

http://www.nequiltmuseum.org/museum/current_exhibition.html
http://www.athm.org/exhibitions/current_exhibitions/

Appliqué Geometric Quilt by Nancy Simes Nutter Hoit Kaime,

Barnstead, New Hampshire about 1860. New Hampshire Historical Society.

Gift of Miriam and Deborah Page, in memory of Barbara Page Hutchins.

The New Hampshire Historical Society in Concord is hosting a year-long show. Pieced Together: New Hampshire Quilts and Their Stories features "Fifty quilts, patterns, and related quilt-making objects made during the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries"  through January 10, 2011. Click here for information: http://www.nhhistory.org/museumexhibits/quilts/quilts_2010.html

Crazy Quilt from the Shelburne exhibit

This season's antique quilt exhibit at the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont, is Embellishments: The Art of the Crazy Quilt, through October 24. The show features 19 examples of Victorian-era crazy quilts from the collection, including the piece shown above. They are also hosting a contemporary show: Alzheimer’s: Forgetting Piece by Piece, an exhibit of 52 quilts, many made by caregivers or family members of victims. Click here for more information: http://shelburnemuseum.org/visit/

And see blogger Ivy Long's photos of some of the crazy quilts by clicking here:

http://edera-faerie.blogspot.com/2010/06/unexpected-break.html

And view a set of photos showing conservators at work on a crazy quilt by clicking here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shelburnemuseum/sets/72157622542476324/