’07 quilt show celebrates Maine’s maritime heritage

The Pine Tree Quilters Guild will present Maine Quilts 2007 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday and Saturday, July 27-28, and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday, July 29, at the Augusta Civic Center, 76 Community Drive. The cost of admission is $7.

This is the 30th year of the quilt show. It will feature more than 500 quilts on display, including art quilts, antique quilts, judged quilts, display quilts and raffle quilts.

“It’s the most exciting thing I ever worked on,” said Susan Gerhardt of Thomaston, president of the guild. “It’s an amazing operation [organizing the show and hanging the quilts]. We work hard, get tired and have great fun.”

Gerhardt said that much credit goes to Nancy Zienkiewicz, the show coordinator who works all year to organize the show. Another 35 people serve as committee chairs and more than 300 volunteers help with the show.

The show’s theme is “schooners” to commemorate the building of the first ship in Maine at Popham 400 years ago.

A special exhibit will feature 11 maritime-themed quilts made by the late Irene McLellan of the Camden area, and loaned by her children for the show. Her quilt motifs include tall ships, presidential yachts, schooners and steamboats on Maine lakes.

A highlight of the show will be The Way to Women’s Wellness ArtBra Exhibition, consisting of more than 40 bras, size 36C, embellished and embroidered, created by fabric art designers from the United States and Canada. The exhibition has been on tour since 2005 and it is estimated that more than 200,000 people in the United States have already seen the show. Next year, after completing its tour, the bras will be auctioned. Proceeds will be donated to breast cancer centers aiding low-income and underserved women in the United States.

Ship Ahoy is the theme of the show’s quilt challenge, chosen to celebrate Maine’s maritime heritage and its tradition of shipbuilding. These quilts will be on display at the show.

Because this is the 30th anniversary of the Maine Quilts show, a special exhibit, “Quilting Then & Now: 1978-2007,” will display at least one item from each of the years the guild has held a show.

The show’s “Small Comforts” exhibit consists of antique doll and baby quilts. Dolls, beds and other artifacts relating to these small treasures will be part of the display.

Quilter Mark Lipinski, editor of Quilter’s Home magazine. will be the special guest at a dinner and trunk show, 6:30-9 p.m. Friday, July 27. His topic will be “A Bull in a China Shop or the Unexpected Journey of an Out of Control Abomination Climbing His Way Up the Quilting Ladder.” Gerhardt, who crafted 26 fabric boats as table decorations for the occasion, said the dinner has already sold out.

Workshops will abound at the quilt show. Teachers scheduled to give classes are Mary McFarland, Farmington; Pamela Allen, Kingston, Ontario; Barbara Barber, Cornwall, England; Bobbie and Joel Berquist, Ringe, N.H.; Victoria Brown, Fountainville, Pa.; Rita Hutchens, Sandpoint, Idaho; Mary Ellen Krantz, Greenboro, N.C.; Libby Lehman, Houston, Texas; Mark Lipinski, Califon, N.J.; Mary Sorensen, Longwood, Fla.; and Lorraine Torrence of Seattle. In their workshops they will cover such topics as ring piercing on paper, stained-glass quilts, using Japanese fabric for wearable art, applique, hand quilting, fabric post cards, marbling on fabrics, and much more. Some of the classes are already full. Check the guild’s Web site at www.mainequilts.org to find out what workshops are still accepting participants and for information about costs and the necessary supplies.

New this year is an Introduction to Quilting class and a Pieced Cover for a Composition Book class for children 7 to 14, The classes will be offered 1:30-4:30 p.m. Sunday, July 29. Space is limited to 10 children per workshop.

The show’s Merchant Mall will offer 41 vendors from Maine and throughout the United States. Vendors from Maine are African Lady Fabric, Alewives Fabrics, Attic Heirlooms, Busy Thimble, Calico Basket Shop, Cindy Taylor Clark, Jo Diggs Applique, Kathie’s Quilt Shop, Maine-ly Sewing, Mainely Sewing Machines, Sanford Sewing Machines, Sewing by the Sea, Cote Brothers, Cotton Weeds Quilt Shop, Country Creations, Fabric Inn, Mariner’s Compass Quilt Shop, Pins and Needles, Quiltessentials Inc., Quiltworks Unlimited, The Fabric Garden, Thread Express, Whipper Snappers and The Yardgoods Center.

Proceeds from a silent auction at the quilt show will benefit breast cancer research. The show also offers demonstrations, lectures, quilt appraisals and door prizes.

The Pine Tree Quilters Guild is a statewide organization with 2,150 members and 73 chapters throughout Maine. For more information about the Pine Tree Quilters Guild, visit www.mainequilt.org, e-mail mainequilts@yahoo.com or call 415-4417.

Call Ardeana Hamlin at 990-8153, or e-mail ahamlin@bangordailynews.net.