Sunday, July 29, 2007
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Staff Photo by Joe PhelanThere's the large black, red, orange and yellow quilt sprinkled with embroidered hearts and bits of material resembling an American flag Morrell made after the Oklahoma City bombings in 1995.
She calls that quilt "The Bomb that Broke Our Hearts."
Then there's the quit made from fabrics from her mother, grandmother and aunt called "Postcards from Farmington, Maine," where early scenes from Farmington were transferred onto muslin.
Morrell's quilts, on display in a special exhibit called "Meet the Quilter" were just two of the 650 quilted items on display Saturday in the Augusta Civic Center for the Maine Quilts 2007 show.
Maine Quilts 2007, at the Augusta Civic Center this weekend is the 30th quilt show for the Pine Tree Quilters Guild, Inc.
Presented by the Pine Tree Quilters Guild, Inc., the organization has more than 2,100 members with about 75 chapters throughout the state of Maine, according to Nancy Zienkiewicz, Maine Quilts coordinator.
The purpose of the non-profit organization is to introduce people to the art and craft of quilting, educate people about quilting, encourage the care and preservation of quilts and promote high quality work and raise the standard of quilting in Maine.
"I am so flattered to be chosen," Morrell said Saturday afternoon standing in front of a wall of her work. "I know there are people here that are better quilters than I am so this is a very nice honor."
Nearly 30 years after she designed the logo for the Pine Tree Quilters Guild, Inc., Morrell's work was chosen by her peers in the Guild for the special display.
Born in Kingfield but a resident of Farmington, Morrell learned to sew on an old sewing machine that belonged to her grandmother.
Once she got older, Morrell's skills improved and she began teaching clothing/textiles at the University of Maine at Farmington.
Walking up and down the aisles of the quilts on display at the show and you're bound to hear many stories like Morrell's.
Some of the quilters have been perfecting their craft for years; others are still getting the hang of the art.
And still others use quilting fabric in ways that don't involve making a soft blanket to curl up in.
Jo Diggs, a Fabric Artist from Portland, uses fabric to create landscapes.
"I take the materials and layer them on top of one another to create a scene," Diggs said. "There are so many fabrics out there with scenes and rocks and things we never saw before for quilting -- I think quilting really saved the textile industry because now it's hard to find good material to make a dress but there are many options for quilting."
Some of the landscapes are so intricate and detailed that from a distance on the wall they look like handpainted watercolors.
Items like Diggs' watercolors are what brings people like Connie Merchant of Corinth, to the show.
"I come to enjoy other people's art," said Merchant, a quilter herself for nearly 15 years. "It's inspirational to walk around and see, 'oh, I could do that.'"
Elizabeth Comeau -- 623-3811, Ext. 433
ecomeau@centralmaine.com
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