at least for a while. It has rained a LOT lately here in mid-coast Maine. That means it is very green. And Chilly. Today we didn’t get up to 60! There has also been a fair bit of wind, ripping leave to shreds. I don’t know why, but I loved the look of the leaf litter (and pollen bits) on the driveway:

And since it is allegedly summer, the dog is “blowing coat.” Tibetan Mastiff’s don’t have fur, they have hair. And they don’t shed. Except for once a year, when they blow (lose) their downy undercoat that keeps them warm in winter. One night, I set to work on Yeti with the comb ( a kind used on Akita’s and other double-coated dogs). In just over an hour, and working on only one side and part of his back and mane, I ended up with a pile of hair nearly as big as Yeti.

I have learned not to groom him like this wearing polar fleece. The hair NEVER comes off!

So that’s it for the mundane in my life…. hope to post details of the weekends Coastal Quilters (local guild chapter…like Art Quilts Maine also a part of the statewide Pine Tree Quilt Guild) meeting, and the current state of the nativity quilt.

This month we met at Hannah’s house. Hannah is new to our group…a parting gift from Deborah who met Hannah, hit it off grandly, and we are now five (with one ex-pat member in the wilds of Dallas). We missed Deborah greatly, as usual since she decamped to the Lone Star state in February, but called her on my cell phone and had a nice gab. We also miss Deborah because she always remembered to take pictures of our yummy lunches and show and tell and whatnot!

For the record: Hannah made delectable turkey, cheese and avocado sandwiches on a grill, Kate brought her wonderful homemmade focaccia, I brought a summery salad with shavings of fresh Parmesan on top, and Kathy brought those sinfully good cookies…graham crackers on the bottom, chocolate chips that kinda melt and reset, pecans, caramel something (guessing brown sugar and butter are significantly involved). I bagged the diet and ate THREE. I am reverting to my old standby: Nuts in anything negates calories. Since these had pecans, they had no calories. Has no basis in fact, but I like the theory so I’m sticking with it.

The photo above is of Hannah and Kate as we were cleaning up….we played with silkscreens and printing on cloth. I love working with other folks and soaking up their color pallettes… Hannah printed some hot pink onto a rust colored fabric…the pink turned to plum and it was glorious! I would never have thought to combine those two, and of course I forgot to get a picture. DRAT. Hannah…bring that cloth next time? Kate and Kathy also did some wonderful cloths with simple, free-form “screens”, and I had fun borrowing one of Hannah’s stamps and made some squares that may turn into a “Frayed Edges” piece….. I’ll try to remember to take pics and share.

In the meantime, I have HOORAY finished quilting the center portion of the nativity quilt, and tomorrow will add the borders, quilt them, then all I have to do is bind it, couch the gold yarn on the inside edge of the binding, do the beading and sequins, take the pictures, prepare the entry forms…..EEEEK! Pictures anon….

Last weekend was fun…TWO quilty things! First things first: on Saturday, Art Quilts Maine met in the usual spot in Augusta (the state capitol, it’s on I-295, and is therefore fairly centrally located for most everyone…they say it’s an hour’s drive to anywhere in Maine, and they’re about right!). AQM is a state-wide chapter for art quilters that is part of a State-wide guild, the Pine Tree Quilters Guild. There are regional chapters throughout the state, plus a couple state-wide chapters…one for art quilts, one for crazy quilters, and not sure if there is another or not.

The first part of the meeting, a mini-workshop let by two AQM members had most folks working on free-motioning dragonflies on sheer fabric. Since I’ve done that sort of thing, I took advantage of being in Augusta and zipped over to Michael’s, where I was happy to find a few remaining bottles of Liqui-Fuse (see Terry Grant’s blog for a fabulous tutorial) and an Aleene’s repositionable adhesive that looked intriguing. If you think you’d like to try her method, you can use either the remaining Liqui-Fuse or the “new” Liquid Thread by Beacon (same item, different name, smaller bottle, same price…sigh). Then, a dash into Barnes and Noble, which also has a Starbucks! Venti Latte, whole milk, lots of chocolate powder, please!

The next part of the meeting was business, but went fairly well, and Anne Walker shared her contribution to the AQM “Clothesline” challenge. She was inspired by the outdoor art shows where artworks are displayed on clotheslines….she made each of those little pieces hanging from the line, and each one is smaller than a postcard. Fun! (that’s her behind the quilt!)

Then, well…guess what. I think I’ll post about the Frayed Edges in the next installment since this has gotten wordy (sigh…can’t help it….. as Voltaire said , or at least I think it was Voltaire, forgive me for writing a long letter since I don’t have time to write a short one).

Hi all…. just a quick note for those of you in driving distance of Maine. I’ll be teaching my starting Machine Quilting, Fine Finishes (bindings) and Machine Applique classes in both Nobleboro (in the mid-coast on Route 1) and Auburn (just of I-295 north of Portland) in the coming 7 weeks. Here’s the schedule:

June 17: Fine Finishes: learn a minimum of four ways to finish the edges of a quilt at Cote Brothers bindings, in Auburn. You’ll learn how to do perfect straight grain and bias double-fold how to use a facing on the edge of a quilt (needed to do prairie points), make piping, and see a selection of 16 other edge finishes. Time permitting, you can pick any one of the other finishes, and I’ll teach you how!

(Photo Coming! I’ll have to take photos, and won’t be able to do that until tonight…but will show pictures of close-ups of the binding and edge-finish samples.)

June 24: Machine Quilting: Machine quilting is like painting a house: you need good tools, good preparation, good materials, and good skill to get a good result. I’ll tell you about the first three in the first half of the class, then the second half of the class is hands-on practice in using the walking foot and the darning/quilting foot for free-motion quilting. You’ll receive the stitch patterns to make this sampler, but you can just wing it if you’d prefer! The class is at Maine-ly Sewing in Nobleboro.

The pink sampler is from the More Machine Quilting Class, where you learn to use decorative threads and take on more challenging designs. I hope we’ll be able to schedule this class somewhere in Fall!

July 15: Machine Applique: Also at Maine-ly Sewing, this is an intro to machine applique class. Using my Blue Gingko pattern (if you click on the link, scroll down), you’ll learn satin-stitched fusible applique, freezer paper applique and reverse applique, and stiff-interfacing underneath applique (similar to freezer paper). Use your blocks to make a wall-hanging as I did, or a small wall-quilt, placemats, pillows, on a sweatshirt jacket…lots of uses!

If you live close and would like to take one of my classes, let me know and I’ll see where we can schedule one. In Maine, I need at least five students at Maine-ly Sewing, ten at Cote Brothers, and number-varies depending for other locations (depends on distance). Outside of Maine, contact me for my teaching fees and other requirements. Thanks!

Sometimes you don’t get in. In this case, I entered two quilts in the special exhibit “In the American Tradition” for Houston, but neither was accepted. The e-mail said they had over 100 quilts to consider…26 were accepted. That means 1 in 4 got in. I know that I am not an expert traditional quilter, but I had hoped my log cabin would get in, not because of the piecing, but because of the quilting. And this time, my photos were MUCH better, and you could actually see the quilting. Sigh.

Here are the two quilts:

From Sea to Shining Sea (51×51 inches, machine quilted) and detail:

Oceans Alive (93×93 inches, hand quilted) and detail; pattern by Mary K. Ryan, original quilting design by me:

So I’m kinda bummed. I’m at least getting into the second tier shows, but can’t figure out why I’m not getting into the top tier. Is log cabin just to boring, no matter how good the quilting? I was thinking that if this were a wholecloth, it might have gotten in, but maybe because it was an old fashioned (well, not really but you know what I mean) log cabin, this didn’t get in.

Anyway, with my misgivings about the nativity quilt, and these “declines”, I’m wondering if my work is any good at all…. and wondering what it takes, and why I don’t seem to have it….. getting juried into a show (and not throwing away the entry fee money) would be nice about now….

Oh well. Back to quilting the nativity quilt. Since Tableau is an odd word for most folks, and they won’t know the link to Fra Angelico, I think I’ll title the quilt after one of my favorite Christmas stories, They Followed a Bright Star by Joan Alavedra and Ulises Wensell. The illustrations are lyrical, and it tells the story of the first Christmas simply and beautifully.

I’ll get over it. But I still wonder…..