On the Road: June 2018 Harpswell, Maine Quilt Retreat

Some years at my June Maine Quilt Retreat it’s very tempting to sneak outside to enjoy the beautiful early summer sunshine. Not this year. The cool and gray weather kept my students hard at work inside, at the historic Harpswell Inn at Lookout Point.

I’ve been encouraging it for years, but my message to “GO BIG,” must have finally sunk in. Almost all my retreat students went big, putting to use many of my 4 x 5 foot styrofoam pinning boards. This had an unanticipated (though foreseeable) problem. They went so big that the space, which used to be appropriate for 12 students, now makes me think we have outgrown it. However, I like the location so much, the solution may be changing the nature of the class rather than abandoning the Inn. I’m contemplating for next year, keeping the Inn retreats to smaller, simpler beginner classes, with such subjects as fish, bugs, and butterflies. Meanwhile, my five-day Portland, Maine retreats can be for bigger, more individualized projects.

My Harpswell, Maine retreats are nice for me since I get to sleep in my own bed each night. I also get extra help from my family. Husband Tom was on hand to help schlep supplies and also to take photos of the class. I often don’t have time to do more than take pictures of the student work, so it was nice to see some different shots from his perspective.

We were also lucky Tom was around when it came time to work on patterns. The local copy shop I usually use for making enlargements was experiencing a break down of their large-scale copier. So Tom ran home with the 8.5 x 11-sized tracings, scanned them, then output the enlargements on sheets of paper which were then tiled together. It was a little extra work but in the end it was a handy solution.

Some students worry that if they don’t have their drawings done as class starts on day one they are “behind.” I reassured those still working on their tracings that it was okay. Making their pattern as accurate as possible is actually a very good use of class time.

When you have a good drawing that’s accurate to the details you need to have, such as the one of Roxanne’s son (above), it helps you throughout the process. If you can trust that the drawing is accurate you can move on with confidence as you begin collage piecing.

In addition to Tom helping out, I also had my son Sam and his girlfriend Macey—both home from college—pitching in. They were our caterers for the event lunches, picking up prepared food at a local bakery, setting up and then cleaning up afterward.

After lunch, it was back to work, sometimes with a handy cup of coffee to keep our minds sharp!

One night during each retreat we go out to eat as a group. Fortunately, by June the Harpswell restaurants have opened up after being closed for the cold winter months. This year we returned to the Cribstone Grill. On other nights, students went exploring on their own.

Our final evening together was the visit to my studio—a half mile up the road. Aside from the quilts, Tom’s blueberry pies are very popular. The students, accompanied by a few husbands, came to the studio before dinnertime. As they say, life is short—eat dessert first.

Then it was back to work for the final day, before everyone disbursed and headed in their separate directions.

Sunshine and blue skies finally made an appearance as we gathered for our group photo on the last day of class.

As I said earlier, my pinning boards got a lot of use during this class. A few people who had driven to class (from all around New England and as far as Virginia) wound up buying the ones I had and taking them home. For those who want to know, I like to use one-inch thick (two-inch if I don’t have to transport it too much) styrofoam insulation. They come in 4 x 8 foot sheets, which I cut down to a manageable size (i.e. fits in my car). For more information, here’s the links to the items for both Lowe’s Insulation Boards and Home Depot Insulation Boards.

I had four repeat students in class this time, all of whom brought projects they had started either on their own or at an earlier class. I first met Bonnie Bizzaro (photos above and below) at a quilting conference in Columbus, Ohio. At last September’s Harpswell Retreat, she began her colorful iguana and brought it back to work on.

I loved the way Bonnie used the foundation fabric of her collage to write notes to herself. It’s a great cheat sheet to remember points that we talk about together and to catch those fleeting creative thoughts that are so easy to forget.

After seeing hints in the classroom photos of all the great images created this week, see the progression shots in the slide show below.

Student Work Slideshow

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Jean Savalchak—a fellow Mainer and a retreat attendee for five (or more?) years—brought back the portrait of her daughter, which was mostly finished. She made a few tweaks at my suggestion and finished those details in class—I think we can both say it’s done now! This is Jean’s third portrait. The portrait of her husband was the subject of this week’s Throwback Thursday. She also has done a portrait of their dog.

Darlene Determan—who I met in a class probably more than ten years ago(!)—brought her mama and baby giraffes in order to put the background together.

And Julie Andersen—another long-time retreater—began working on a series of animals she sees on her pond here in Maine. The loon is an iconic Maine creature and on occasion is seen here at Lookout Point. I look forward to seeing the next animals from our state Julie chooses to work on.

The Harpswell Inn is (we feel) located in one of the most beautiful spots in Maine. Each morning Tom and I walk past the Inn on our way to Lookout Point, where his family’s lobster wharf is located, and where we met 33 years ago next month.

Both Tom and I have taken so very many photos of this picturesque point of land, and a year and a half ago I started taking photos from one particular spot, right before the road runs into the bay as a town boat launch. BTW, those two little islands were named Joseph and George, after the two sons of former Harpswell Inn owners.

This is the view at the bottom of the hill from the Harpswell Inn, and the doorway of the white wharf building to the left, was where my love affair with Maine began so many years ago. In the time lapse video below, I took the first photo on January 6, 2017. The last photo is from yesterday June 15, 2018.

The thought of putting together this visual journal was a good incentive for taking that morning walk with the dogs even when the weather wasn’t so hospitable. After a year and half of capturing the change of tides, light, clouds, snow and ice, it’s time to call it good. Enjoy the view. We certainly do.

Lookout Point Time Lapse Video