It was a long time that I didn’t submit any of my work into various shows. Life got in the way and maybe I didn’t resonate with the themes. My friend and fellow “quilter”, Karen Balos, suggested I join SAQA, Studio Art Quilt Association. She told me that the definition of “quilt” had been revised and loosened to include a more freeform style of working.

As a result I entered three pieces into the Art Quilt Show, a collaboration between Sebastopol Center for the Arts and SAQA. One piece was accepted. I was thrilled. The piece was one I made from couture scraps belonging to my, many years deceased, mother-in-law Marjorie Stern.  Collected from her trips to Paris couture houses (mainly Dior), ranging from the ‘30s to the ‘60s, the rolled up bits of cloth fell into two categories: city clothes and country clothes.

I made two wall pieces as a result. The one selected for the show was called “Marj City”, a collage of beautiful greys with some black and white mixed in, as well as a splash of coral. In her closet were the finished garments lending inspiration to my process. One gown, (how often do we see gowns these days?), was a strapless Lanvin in a large brushy, painterly print, topped with coral soutache. The soutache gave dimension and a strong graphic pattern to the gown. It has an honored place at the De Young as part of their textile collection. And the scraps have a place on my wall hanging!