A Small Show in Maine, Revisited
Bethel Quilt Show: June 24-25, 2005
by James Cummings
This is the third summer that we have traveled to Bethel, Maine for a quilt show. This show takes place about five miles from town down a secondary road at the Intervale meeting house. The setting is one of those quintessential New England country settings--a cemetery next to the meeting house and a dairy farm across the road, all surrounded by field and forest.
Bethel Meeting House
We like these little country shows the best. The ladies of the guild
usually put out their best baked goods and iced tea, which in this case were
free. I think that in these shows there is often a bit of competition to
see who can contribute the tastiest goodies. While Pat usually looks for
someone to schmooze with, I check out the baked goods. My father often
accompanied my mother to shows and sat in the car reading while she went
in. He didn't know what he was missing. Besides, I take the photos and
offer my increasingly more knowledgeable opinion of the quilts.
Cemetery behind the meeting house
This year and last, we got two shows in one trip. Last year there was one in adjacent Rumford, Maine, and this year there was one down the road in Livermore Falls. Things change and not always for the better. There had been a great antique shop where Pat had found a hexagon charm quilt. See The Quilter magazine, Nov. 2000, for the article on this quilt and her reproduction of it in miniature. The shop was closed that day. There is a neat and funky craft supply store in Mexico, Maine. In Livermore Falls, I took some pictures of an antique quilt which had nearly the exact style of design as the Sarah Nunn McCrea quilt (The Quilter, Sept. 2001).
We have been looking for the origins of this design for some time and have followed several mysterious trails and tantalizing hints. Two block examples have been found that are quite similar to the Sarah Nunn McCrea block. We have concluded that this type of design was common for some time in the nineteenth century.
©Copyright 2001, James Cummings, Quilter's Muse Publications, Concord, NH.
Comments? Questions? e-mail: pat@quiltersmuse.com