The annual Pine Tree Quilters Guild show in Augusta this year featured eight of the Maine State Museum’s best historic quilts. Curator Laurie LaBar was also on hand at the show, which ran from July 25 – 31 at the Augusta Civic Center. Laurie shared information about the quilts on display and talked about the museum’s upcoming landmark exhibition, Comfort and Community: 250 Years of Maine Quilts, set to open in July 2020.

The museum’s eight quilts, which date from the late 1700s to 1973, were a preview of next year’s exhibit. Including about 70 quilts, the exhibit will be the most comprehensive exhibition of Maine quilts ever. It will also be accompanied by a beautifully illustrated book about Maine quilts, authored by Laurie and co-published by the museum and Down East books.

Pine Tree Quilters Guild volunteers (left to right) Mary Reynolds, Lisa Hayden, and Mary Carthage helped ready a Maine State Museum quilt for display at the annual Pine Tree Quilters Guild show in July. This particular piece is a signature quilt dating from 1856. Created for a Falmouth man, Joseph Colesworthy, it came down through the Colesworthy family and was ultimately purchased by the Pine Tree Quilters Guild and donated to the museum in 1997.