Mandala CCXXVIII

(Above: Mandala CCXXVIII.  Custom framed: 29 1/4" x 29 1/4".  Found objects hand-stitched to a section of a vintage quilt.  Objects include a metal turtle on a scrap of antique, burgundy fabric; vintage belt buckles; children's scissors; red Mardi Gras doubloons; washers; vintage poker chips; wavy hair curlers; blue Monopoly hotels; purple toddler snack lids; gridded, metal protectors for antique car lights; toy car wheels; blue, plastic lids; four, red checkers; red, heart-shaped rabies pet tags; pale blue and pink sampler spoons; and assorted buttons and beads.  Click on either image to enlarge.)

I finished this Found Object Mandala before going to Florida but didn't get around to photographing it until today.  It was fun to stitch despite the fact that I remember the popularity of the quilt fabrics from my own youth.  It is truly shocking to realize that the 1970s and early 1980s is now considered "vintage" ... at least as far as fabric is concerned! LOL! 

 

(Above:  Detail of Mandala CCXXVIII.)

I still like these fabrics and I'm totally in debt to the nice woman who shipped me this quilt.  I plan on using more of it soon!  The funny thing is, however, that the center piece ... a metal turtle ... blended in with the material so well that I had to remove it, add a scrap of antique, burgundy fabric under it, and restitch the turtle in place.  I know that the burgundy fabric is an antique.  It came off a curtain meant to enclose a bed.  It was ancient when I bought it ... in Amsterdam ... during the summer I graduated from college ... 1980.  Great fabrics remain great fabrics!