Hingham Quilter's Work on Display in Traditions and Treasures Show

 Jean O’Neill started quilting nearly 30 years when she made her first quilt for the Town of Hingham’s 350^th celebration.  Her quilts have been on display throughout the United States and Europe ever since. 

On the third weekend in March, three of her masterpieces were on display at the ‘Traditions and Treasures" quilt show, hosted by the Rhododendron Needlers’ Quilt Guild.

“I’ve made at least 100 quilts,” said O’Neill, a retired nurse from Brigham & Women’s Hospital who lives in Hingham.  “It’s quite obsessive.”

O’Neill displayed three quilts in the recent RNQG show, held at the Blue Hills Regional Technical High School in Canton, including “Pieceful Dreams” (a bed quilt), and “The Ski House” and “Berkshire Tulips” (both appliqué wall quilts).

“I do a lot of appliqué quilts, that’s really my forté,” says O’Neill.  “I got interested in that when I took an appliqué class at All About Quilts in Walpole. …We’re in an area where there are good quilt shops if you look around.”

O’Neill’s quilt titled, “Wedding Day in Hingham” is her most traveled.  It has been in display at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas; the United Kingdom’s Festival of Quilts (Birmingham) where she was the only American entrant;  in the United Kingdom in Birmingham; Alexandra Palace in London and the Festival of Quilts at the Royal Dublin Society in Dublin, Ireland. 

Her most recent quilt – The Farm at Ferlihanes – was on display in Birmingham, England last summer.

“My husband's cousins in Ireland gave us the 1880 land survey map of the O'Neill farm,” she said.  “I was so inspired by the land that I created this quilt.  Today it is a large dairy farm still in the O'Neill family.”

O’Neill said she enjoys the Rhododendron Needlers’ Quilt Guild because they are welcoming to quilters of all levels, they have interesting and informative speakers.

“Our show is really quite impressive,” she said.  “The Guild is a lot of fun and I really enjoy those people so much.  Everybody is different, some are beginners and some are advanced, but we all have a good time.”

What’s next for the avid quilter?

O’Neill always has a project in the works, yet she recently had hand surgery and has a lot of rehabilitation to do. 

“I was actually thinking about that today – which will be my next big thing to jump into,” she said.  “I have little things around the house in different stages. I always have one in the works.”

For more information on the Rhododendron Needlers’ Quilt Guild, visit www.rnqg.org.