Mandala XVI

(Above:  Mandala XVI. 30" x 30". Assorted found objects hand-stitched to a section of an old Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt.  Among the items are square cut nails, screw eyes, keys, sewing machine bobbins, little ceramic insulators, clock gears, buttons, cabinet hinges donated by a cyber friend, wire key rings, brass knob plates, loose leaf binder rings, one-inch white plastic rings, an old rotary telephone dial, and lots of Scrabble game tiles spelling out words.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

The last mandala I finished was the first one on a scrap of an old Grandmother's Flower Basket quilt.  At that time, I was perplexed about the alignment of the hexagonal motifs.  With only two small, hexagonal pieces between the larger, colorful floral designs ... well ... nothing really lined up, not vertically and not horizontally.  So to combat that, I sort of loaded the work with plenty of found objects that more-or-less obscured the quilt pattern.  Only the central motif is in a perfect place, in the dead middle of the square, and it's the only obvious part of the underlying quilt.  That mandala looks wonderful.  (CLICK HERE to see its blog post.)

(Above:  Detail of Mandala XVI.)

When approaching this mandala, I challenged myself to let the vintage quilt be part of the overall finished expression.  I attempted to add more color by back-stitching around the floral designs and to allow the asymmetrical alignment to show.  My thoughts were to encourage viewers to see the old, comfortable "Grandmother's Flower Garden" as well as the found objects.  To further that end, I added Scrabble tiles.

 

(Above:  Mandala XVI, detail.)

I don't think I had an entire set of Scrabble tiles but I was able to stitch words like Art, Hope, and Love near the perimeter.  Around the center is "Wonder and Joy".  These are words that I think compliment the spirit of the old quilt.  At the very center is an old rotary telephone dial.  I ripped the inserted paper to show only the area code, not someone's once-upon-a-time telephone number that might well be some other person's current number!

 

(Above:  Ernie, inspecting framing hardware, in the back room where pictures are closed.)

Of course Ernie was involved in the entire project.  I really wanted him to sit still beside the finished piece so that I could show a sense of size and scale.  Ernie, however, has a mind of his own ... so ...

...I had to do it!