"Halloween Spirits" by Mary Jane S.

“Halloween Spirits” by Mary Jane Smoley and various members of Three Rivers Quilters.

Circa 1990, 46”x 46”, 100% cotton fabric, pieced and appliquéd, machine pieced and machine quilted.

"This wall hanging is the result of a “brown bag challenge.” I appliquéd the silhouette of the witch and placed it in a plain brown bag. Five other women were in the exchange, too. Every month we would exchange brown bags. The first month’s challenge was to enlarge the block by adding other blocks. At the next exchange we were to add a pieced border; the next month we were to add an appliquéd border. Then we added embroidery. Then the bags were returned to the owner. I added the final border. Every month we were given a different bag and we never saw each other’s work or our original bag. We never received the same bag twice. I was shocked how my plain witch block really came alive. I never did learn who worked on my wall hanging!"