Summer vacation, part 4: the Magpies and Maine Quilts

The Magpies began in 1997 as part of the Usenet News Group rec.crafts.textiles.quilting. We've met up in person pretty much every other year since 1999 -- New Mexico (twice); Santa Clara, CA; Chicago; Lowell, MA; Kansas City; Australia; Vancouver, BC; Fort Worth.  Sometimes there's been a quilt show but other times we've enjoyed seeing the city and sometimes we've actually sewed.

This year we had the Pine Tree Piefest in Poland Spring, Maine, with the 41st Maine Quilt Show among the events.  Most of the Magpies gathered earlier in the week.  Stevens and I arrived Thursday afternoon after our Acadia/Mt. Desert Road Scholar ended.  There were seven 'Pies and three husbands (all of whom had met on the Australia trip).

Dinner at DeMillo's in Portland

Ellie was the hostess with the mostest.   She lives in New Gloucester, Maine. I knew her when I lived in Auburn but our paths diverged. (She didn't quilt back then, and I was just a neophyte quilter.)  Her first cousin Celia, one of the original Magpies, brought her into the group.  Ellie arranged for lodging at the historic Poland Spring Resort .  Mind you, I lived in the next town for a decade but I never had occasion to visit the resort. 

Quilt Car from the New England Quilt Museum (Lowell, MA) 

The women spent Friday at the quilt show at the August Civic Center.  (The men were left to their own devices.)  What a great show!  Over 500 quilts on display, made by quilters all over the state.    I saw an Auburn friend and a library friend.  There was a large vendor mall.  Of course I bought fabric. 
















"Crocodylus Smylus" is 21' x 6'. The photo only shows its head. It, the pink rhino, and the fruit bat are by Susan Carlson. There was an exhibit of a dozen of her beautiful collage quilts.
















Global Supply Chain (bottom center and bottom right) show has clothing labels sewn on the blocks to show the many places we get our cothing. The names of countries are in the quilting.















Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilts were represented.

 Katie and I sat in on a noontime lecture by Kristy Daum (her website: St. Louis Folk Victorian)   The Benedict Cumberbatch pixel quilt is about 8' x 9'.

Friday dinner was at Ellie's cabin on the shore of Sabbathday Lake. We showed off our purchases and exchanged favors.

(The brown wooden thing at the front is a binding bobbin. Clever idea!)


On Saturday we went our own ways.  Stevens and I went to Marden's in Lewiston where, yes, I bought fabric.  Marden's is a renowned close out and salvage store. They were just getting into quilting fabric when we moved to North Dakota in 1994.  I still have fabric from that very store. We then went to Bowdoin College in Brunswick where we sat in on the annual meeting of the Alpha Delta Phi alumni association. (We were invited by Nessa, the owner of Fabricate in Bar Harbor. She was there along with her AD husband and their AD daughter.)  For dinner we went to a  church supper at the First Congregational UCC in Gray -- beans and casseroles, with pie for dessert. We had a second dessert at Hodgman's Frozen Custard, a 75-year-old ice cream stand in New Gloucester. (It's been on many best-ever ice cream lists.)

The Piefest ended after breakfast on Sunday with hugs and "see you on line" and thoughts about where we'll meet up the next time!