A Pieceful Day at Marcia's

The day was wonderful and the company grand! It has been awhile since the three of us have gotten together to sew, eat and gab. Two projects wended their way into my bag and called out to be worked. One was a bog coat I made with some of my hand dyed fabric but which didn't have a front band on it. So that is almost done now and I will finish the stitching on it tonight.

The second is some homework to do before attending a Ruth McDowell workshop in Massachusetts in September. A couple of the other art quilters in our RAFA group are attending in July and they had received their instructional letter already. One thing that is recommended BEFORE attending the workshop is that you work one of the pieces in one of Ruth's books using the techniques she describes. So I decided to do the water lillies from her latest technique book. It is lots of curves and I love curves and will probably do a piece with lots of curves.

Today was spent tracing her drawings onto freezer paper and putting appropriate marking on them. I am almost positive I will like working with a fabric pattern better but I am willing to give this a try. I know the better part of the work shop will be taking our photos, blowing them up and creating the drawings that Ruth has already done in her books. This will not be an easy task I am sure.

I have admired Ruth's work for 25 years so this class will be a real treat, whether or not I use the techniques on an ongoing basis. She was one of my original inspirations for creating something other than traditional quilts.


This is the back of Priscilla's new jacket. We three decided that we liked the look of the two molas. The bottom one is all beaded so now Priscilla feels she has to add beads to the top one.

This is the front of the new bog coat. The band is Hmong embroidery from Laos. The fabric is the rayon/linen mix that I get at Joanns dyed with Procion MX dyes.
This is a closeup of the fabric in the back of this jacket. I really like the colors which were a combination of intense blue, some turquoise and navy blue with some sun yellow dribbled on first.