Marianne's Quilt

My work colleague and friend Marianne became an artist with a career after retirement! She makes these adorable multi-media portraits of ladies, which she calls dollies, in everyday activities, like shopping or gardening, and an occasional famous personality like Marilyn Monroe. They are adorable and fun to look at and study. She also has a fisherman in a rowboat that is waiting to be scooped up. She gave me a tour of her workspace, which isn't any cleaner or organized than my quilt studio! Seem we artists and crafters have to deal with the spaces we have and make do.

On her first visit to my house, I gave Marianne the full show-and-tell of all my quilts. She was especially drawn to the quilts with small-pieced blocks, which are my favorites. She suggested I should put them in the community art gallery space in Branford, but I don't know about that. I feel that once I have to start producing, the whole project will become a weight on my shoulders. But I am thinking about it.

I noticed that she hasn't done a quilter lady yet. So, one rainy day at lunch I proposed an "artist" swap: I would make her a quilt if she would make me a quilt lady. I could see her considering this and she finally said yes! Once I found out that her favorite color was ochre (!) I was off and running. 

I discovered this beautiful pale-yellow print with roses and birds, and filled in with 4-inch stars in ranges of yellows and ochres and little bits of red. The original pattern used black for sashing, borders, and background, but I deemed that too harsh and used a dark forest green. My long-arm quilter Liz and I chose to use a wool batting which made the beautiful quilting design pop! Once I added binding and the label to Morning Sanctuary, I could hardly wait to give it to Marianne. 

On reveal day last March, I wrapped the quilt in a piece of fabric that she could possibly use in her work and tied it with the selvedge of the main fabric. I then put that package in a decorative box with a mug pad that I made with her colors. When I arrived at her house, she brought me immediately to the kitchen where my quilt dollie was propped front and center on her stove. I love her! She is holding fabric and a book. There is a cup of coffee on the table, and a bookshelf full of books (we are both readers).