Thursday, February 20, 2014

A Quilting Scavenger Hunt!

Mike and I treated ourselves and went to brunch at Henrietta's Table on Sunday. If you ever visit Massachusetts, you should check it out. Henrietta's Table is located in The Charles Hotel in Harvard Square in Cambridge. The food is divine. Brunch is expensive, but worth it!

I started my brunch with the chocolate bread pudding.
Mike hit the raw bar and had some oysters and lox.
We go to Henrietta's Table once a year on the weekend between Valentine's Day and our anniversary. We met on Presidents' Day, which you can read about here. I call that our dating anniversary (February 18th). We got married four years later on February 20th, so our actual wedding anniversary date is two days later than the day we met. So we celebrate both and throw Valentine's Day into the mix. It makes for a fun week.

We ate like kings (pigs?) and I was disappointed that I couldn't squeeze in that piece of chocolate flourless cake that I had my eye on. Next year I will eat that first! After we finished eating I wanted to take some photos of the antique quilts that they have displayed in the staircase atrium. I thought you all would enjoy seeing them. Unfortunately, the entire staircase was closed for renovation! No quilts to be seen.

We headed down to the lobby so I could ask when the staircase would be re-opened (another excuse to come back for brunch!). There were some quilts in the lobby so I took some photos. One of the front desk staff members was nice enough to tell me that there were also quilts on display in the guest areas on floors, 4, 5, 9 and 10. (Guess they didn't have enough for floors 3, 6, 7 and 8.) So Mike and I went and rode the elevators!

All of the quilts are blue and white, except for one. I took a full view and a close-up of each one we could find. The lobby quilts had attributions and pattern names, but none of the floor quilts had any documentation. Sadly, none of the quilters are known... be sure to label your quilts!

This beauty hangs in the lobby under glass.

It is an Ocean Waves quilt, simply credited to an American quilter in the 1920s.
Another blue and white beauty in the lobby.

This is an Economy block, made by an American quilter in the 1880s. What stories these quilts could tell!

A log cabin quilt in an unusual setting arrangement.

Check out the quilting!

Lots of flying geese units in this one. No pattern name was listed.

Another example of the intricate work in these quilts.
This nine patch beauty is one of my favorites!

A close-up of the blues and indigo prints in this quilt.

This Sawtooth Star was my other favorite.

I believe the quilting pattern is called Baptist Fan.

There was also some quilting artwork, but I'll save that for another post. Hope you enjoyed our virtual quilt show. Sorry you couldn't join us for brunch!

Adding a link on Friday to Confessions of Fabric Addict, Richard and Tanya Quilts and CrazyMom Quilts! Thanks for visiting!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

Happy wedding anniversary Mike!

9 comments:

  1. How lovely, and looks like a wonderful brunch.

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  2. Thanks for sharing the pictures! I have to admit, I am terrible about labeling my quilts. . . getting better with putting something on them.

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  3. What wonderful pictures! Thanks so much for sharing your day with us. Happy Anniversary, Nancy and Mike!

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  4. Great picture of you and your valentine! Sounds like an amazing brunch! Wow, I love when quilts are used as art work in public places like this lovely hotel. Thanks so much for sharing!

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  5. Great display of some antique quilts! Love the nine patch!

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  6. Thanks so much for sharing these--I too wish we could get the stories behind them!

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  7. Loved looking at the quilt pictures! It must have been really neat to see them in person. The log cabin was my favorite because the layout/arrangement is very eye catching. The stories behind these quilts would have been fascinating to know!!

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