At last, a finish!

I love to start new projects. Selecting and coordinating fabrics for a new quilt is my favorite part of the creative process. Finishing? Now, that's another story. Recently I pledged to a group of quilt business buddies that I would finish one project each month until the pile is gone. How brave was that? Or, maybe "naive." At any rate, here is the first one I finished from a group challenge. No title yet. Ideas?

I love my quilt appraising job. People bring me their quilts and pay me to look at them, identify what they have, advise on how to take care of them, as well as to assign a value. It's about MORE than the monetary value. Sometimes it is a family heirloom, or their own baby quilt, or a flea market find.
The ones with stories are the bestPrograms by Bonnie Dwyer, The Quilt Whisperer. Every quilt has a story, it just may have been lost along the way. I always urge the quilt owner to write down what they know about the quilt. The most important facts are the "who, where, and when." Who made or owned it; where they lived; and when they lived. These details can help future generations know where their heirlooms came from. Here is one from my own family. I am grateful my mother made a label and stitched it onto the back so I know which ancestor made it. This one is part of my "Six Generations of Maine Quilt Makers" lecture/trunk show. More info here: here

I am working my way through a pile of appraisals after the wonderful Maine Quilt Show at the end of July. Perfectionism is my nemesis. Every detail must be correct, since a written appraisal report is a legal document. I must be able to defend it in a court of law, so I attending to the details is a good thing!

It's a beautiful summer day in Maine, so that motivates me to get this done so I can go outside and enjoy!

My, oh my. How time does fly! It's been nearly a month since I posted to my blog. And, now it's time to prep for the Maine Quilt Show, where I will be appraising all three days, July 26, 27, & 28. Doing appraisals and seeing many friends - old and new - really gets the adrenalin pumping! I love the excitement of this annual event. If you have never been to a quilt show, please think about going to the (air conditioned) Augusta Civic Center this weekend. There will be traditional, art, and modern fiber pieces to view. Not to mention vendors of all things fabric-related. You will be in for a visual feast!

Here is a link for details:
Maine Quilt Show

I've been very quiet here.... I'm not sure why I have such a hard time blogging, but I plan to do better. One never knows where a quilt idea may come from. I like to use my own photos for inspiration, and a new camera is helping me explore again. Landscapes and plants are what I find interesting art subjects, so a recent trip to Acadia National Park got the creative juices flowing.

I was having a hard time getting a decent photo of a sunset from our campsite. I stopped after taking about a dozen pix. None of them seemed likely to inspire a quilt. Until I looked again. This out-of-focus one seems like a good candidate. 

Austin, Texas was the place to be last weekend. It was the inaugural conference of The Modern Quilt Guild and there was excitement in the air. The conference was well-attended, with 1500 pre-registered participants; total attendance figures have not been released. The modern quilt movement is attracting new as well as veteran quilters! FMI: The Modern Quilt Guild

Ann Woodhead and I visited "our" quilt in the exhibit there. I pieced "Orange Improv" and Ann did the wonderful machine quilting on it.

Art Quilts Maine

Saturday, February 9 is the next meeting of Art Quilts Maine, an active group of art quilters from across the state. We currently have a traveling exhibit "Postcards from Away" in which the artists interpreted a real or imagined fabric postcard. Here is my 20" x 30" post card quilt depicting a lovely pink bromeliad I photographed in a tropical garden on Grand Cayman Island.