And now for more of our chapter banner blocks……

Our other co-president extraordinaire is Jan P., an emerging art quilter, mom of 3 very bright boys (Zach’s Destination Imagination team is headed to the NATIONAL competition! for which she is the coach…along with soccer team coach, baseball, etc……she’s busier than I am!). Jan lives in Lincolnville, so she volunteered to do two landmarks for her township: the Lobster Pound on Lincolnville Beach and the Islesboro Ferry.

The ferry isn’t fused to the center of the quilt yet…I just popped it here, near the dock at the south end of L-ville Beach, for the photo. Jan did ALL the work on the restaurant…great job!

As an aside, Jan’s husband is a fantastic photographer, and in October, she, he and I are going to have a joint art show at Zoot, the cool new coffee house in Camden (on Elm Street, across from the village green a few doors up from the Town Offices). Zoot has the best foam and espresso on the mid-coast, a wide selection of teas, and icnreasingly wonderful menu of foods, and has poetry readings and music on weekend evenings and all sorts of cool stuff. Stop and enjoy a latte, especially in October 2007 when we have our show!

Back to quilting…..Susan Coe’s second block is this totally awesome lobster trap. I gave her a simple line drawing pattern and she gave me this gem! I’m sorry I got the edges of the block turned under… it is so cool. It is 3-D with a real “frame” to the trap (plastic piping inside camo flannel) complete with seaweed and the usual gunk that comes up with the traps when they are hauled up. Note the lobster batik in the background for the water! Susan is a beginning quilter, but clearly a creative artist.

Maine is home to many outdoor enthusiasts, as the phrase goes. OK. People here like to have fun, and for many of them that involves getting outside and enjoying our beautiful state. Kayaking on both lakes and coast is common, and everywhere you see kayaks for sale or rent along the coast and on the inland lakes.

Leigh Smith is a devoted member of Coastal Quilters and works hard when she isn’t commuting to work in the Boston area (she’s a nurse). But she is a beginning quilter…I’d say she did a phenomenal job! I gave her a basic pattern for a kayak, but she did research at our local sporting goods store, Maine Sports (on Hwy.l 1 in Rockport–also good for raiding the fly fishing department for goodies to stick on art quilts!) to get the details right. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the handles at the ends (jewelry findings from Wal-Mart!) and the hatch cap (or whatever they call that round screw-cap thing-y…we have kayaks but I haven’t a clue) which is really a button detailed with a sharpie with a paddle logo!

And Janet Knapp made this quirky lobster using one of my patterns. I had omitted the legs, and her first comment was “where are the legs?!” So she chain stitched them in–perfect! I love his tentacles/feelers, too. And as you can tell from the bright red, he’s already been boiled … where’s the butter?

Children’s Chapel, also known as Vesper Chapel, is in Rockport on the small peninsula that separates Camden Harbor from Rockport Harbor. I drafted a pattern of this chapel which is a favorite for summer weddings. I could probably hold maybe 40-50 people if you really crammed folks in, and is on a steep hill that overlooks Penobscot Bay, the islands in the bay, and the Atlantic Ocean beyond. Roxanne Wells, our co-president extraordinaire this past year-plus, is a wonderful quilter who loves color as much as I do, and she volunteered to take on this tricky block:

Gail Galloway-Nicholson, who made the Belties Block, also generously offered to help with the center panel of the quilt. I prepared the background (easy peasy and fast), and Gail created her own patterns for the archetypal New England steepled Church (we have at least four in the village–the Baptist, the First Congregational, the Catholic and the former Methodist churches, and then the Episcopal Church in stone next to the Baptist church, plus a few more…lotsa churches for a town of 6000!) and the two Belties, who are placed on the coastline right where Aldemere Farms is. Aldemere is part of the coastal trust…there is this amazing network of land conservancies that has preserved and protected open spaces and coastline here in Maine. We are lucky!

Here are the next two blocks in the Coastal Quilters Chapter Banner quilt. Susan Coe is new to quilting, but has done a lot of scrapbooking and art-y things, so did two blocks–both her own designs–yeah! Her first is this photo transfer of lobster buoys; as a coastal community, we have our share of lobstermen here, and Rockland is home to the annual Lobster Festival. It is hard and dangerous work, and makes me appreciate the delectable food even more.

Patty Courtney is a new to this type of quilting, but using my sketch of Cappy’s Chowder House, a local restaurant and landmark in “downtown (all two blocks of it) Camden” shows she is quite skilled at other things!!! She didn’t know how to do applique, so I’m going to fuse up and stitch her block, then she will add beads to the hanging flower basket (they line the town in summer…wonderful). She is co-owner of Towne Motel two short blocks from downtown, so if you ever need a place to stay, hint hint!

The past two months or so have been frustrating, as I’ve been hard at work, but can’t share what I’ve been doing for the most part! I’ve sent off to a magazine two articles, and once they are accepted, I hope I can tell you a little bit more–currently they are scheduled for publication in late summer /early fall. And, like Deborah (click here for her blog), I’ve been working on two projects for Lark Books. As well, I’ve designed and done some of the work on a quilt for my local quilt guild chapter–keep reading and see the first two blocks!

For those of you not fortunate to live in Maine, we have a state-wide guild, the Pine Tree Quilt Guild. It has MANY chapters, including Coastal Quilters based in the Camden, Rockport and Lincolnville area, though we have members also from Belfast, Rockland, South Thomaston, and other towns in the Camden Hills region. At a chapter board meeting last year, Gail Galloway Nicholson suggested we should, like so many other chapters, have a “Chapter Banner.” And she looked in my direction when she asked if anyone would like to design and organize one. Always eager to do my favorite part–the designing–I jumped at the chance! I designed the overall quilt and many of the blocks and components, and will quilt the whole shebang, but will note when someone has designed their own blocks.

To see the whole thing, I’m going to make you wait (yes, I know, I ‘m wicked!). But today I’ll share the first two blocks (going in rough alphabetical order): the celebrated Belted Galloways (a rare breed of cattle which are also found on San Juan Island, where I used to live! and known as the “oreo cookie” cows for obvious reasons) of Aldemere Farms in Rockport. This fine soul was made by Gail (who, as a Galloway, put in her “dibs” on the belties, and as an artist made her own pattern…yeah!):

And the Bear’s Paw block made by Nancy Connon. Maine has its Black Bears (and Gifford’s ice cream makes a wicked Black Bear ice cream that is a vanilla base with blackberries and chocolate), and one day about 2 winters ago, when I visited the now-closed Quilters’ Cottage Shop here in Camden, there were Bear’s Paws tracks in the snow in the front yard! We figured the bear awoke in winter and went foraging at the dump, which is just a stone’s throw up the road.

I am THRILLED with the contributions. Everyone has clearly put forth their best effort, from the most beginning of beginners to the expert. I’m so proud of everyone! I can’t wait to assemble the quilt and quilt it. It will, I think, debut at the Maine Quilts show this July in Augusta…hooray!

And one note: if you are interested in making rugs, check Kathy Daniels’ blog, a Studio in the Woods. She has a kit with pattern and all the wool just for the asking, and a photo when it is done. I believe it is punched and sheared…there are more details if you click on the link in the first sentence or in the sidebar at right. Thanks!