Maine Quilts 2011

Grab yourself a tall glass of champagne and let's begin! I went to the Champagne Preview of the Maine Quilt show with two quilting friends while I was on vacation. We always have fun and like to stop at every vendor and spread our largesse.

The theme for Maine Quilts 2011 this year was bears. We have black bears in Maine and the black bear is the University of Maine mascot.

I do love a Lone Star quilt and this one is called "Medicine Bear" by Abbie McMillen, quilted by Alice Koroski. I love the way she used the background color in the star, it lends an ethereal quality that seems just right for this quilt subject. Quilting is superb.

Wow, that's a lot of ribbons! Cartoline da Venezia (Postcards from Venice) by Margaret Solomon Gunn. Best in Show! Fabulous. I couldn't do that in a million years. Just enjoy!

Now here's something I could do and have done, well, four of these blocks. This is a Piece o' Cake design done here by Judy Babbidge, called Ruby's Garden Club (I think, the ribbon is covering up the name and since I lost my show book I don't know if that is accurate.)

Judy did lovely work on this quilt. It is not easy to applique all those little pieces and keep the edges nice and round and even.

There certainly is something for everyone at a quilt show. I really liked this quilt. It is called The Maine Quilt and it was made by Jeanne Leland and quilted by Donna Tetreault. All the fabrics relate to something in Maine.

I'd like to make one of these. Anyone want to swap fabrics? Is there a pattern for this? I really like the black sashing strips that tie the blocks together.

And now for something completely different, an art quilt by Rana McConnor called Mom and Aunti Jean Play Gin. I'd like to look at that lampshade up close, wouldn't you? I did see this quilt when Rana brought it to an art quilt meeting. Fantastic!

Another quilt by Margaret Solomon Gunn! I really like the purple ribbon and what you can't see is all the little sparkles on the quilt. Awesome.

Speaking of sparkles, DigiBobbeE 4 by Bonnie Lyn McCaffrey is a gem! I saw this during our lunch break when I was taking a class with Bonnie. The quilt was moving back and forth due to the air conditioning and the rhinestones or crystals she used just winked and glittered! The threadwork is all bobbin work, which I learned in one of the classes I took with her.

Sally Rowe did the crazy quilt picture in this collection from the crazy quilt group. Sally does lots of gorgeous images and I think she probably hand dyed the fabric for this piece.

How's your champagne? Do you need a refill? Almost done. This is called "Seasons" by Jane Sparks. I really liked the colors in this one, very contemporary.

I love the way the trees are made. What a clever idea. The polka dots make it very fresh.

Can you believe this? Yummy! "Heartland Medallion" by Jo Bunker. Love that dachshund!

Last of all, this is my face from the Painted Faces class I took with Bonne McCaffrey. If you saw the previous post, you saw the whole class with our "faces". Bonnie said the goal was to come away with a face that looks like a human face. We all did that!

We started with shading to make the contours of the face. A lot of mine disappeared when I ironed it. Next Bonnie demonstrated how to do the lips. No lips, no lunch. I had lunch. Next we did the nose, the eyes, the eyebrows.

I learned so much from this class and Bonnie is an excellent teacher. She does the demo from her desk with a camera pointed at her work so that we can see just what she is doing on the screen behind her. I guess everyone is doing that these days, but it is very effective. You feel like you are getting one on one instruction. She took the time to come around and critique each and every one of us, too, which was very informative.

Now I need to add hair and clothes and a setting......still thinking about that.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my photos of the show. For those of you who are familiar with the show, I am sure you noticed that there were fewer quilts due to the copyright rules imposed this year. I think it really effected the number of quilts exhibited and the quality of the show. Otherwise, I truly enjoyed most of the show, the classes, and the splendid vendors.