Mandala CCXIX

(Above:  Mandala CCXIX. Custom framed:  27 3/8" x 27 3/8".  Found objects hand-stitched to a section of a vintage quilt.  Objects include:  A decorative plate onto which a muffin tin and gold button are stitched; out-of-date rabies pet tags; golf tees; metal washers; beer caps; eight, model train cars; aluminum coasters on which coffee K-pods are stitched; toy car wheels; wooden blocks; thread spools on which anonymous photos are collaged; folding travel scissors; vintage fabric yoyos; pale orange Gatorade lids; large blue plastic lids on which are stitched circles of crochet with vintage poker chips; and assorted buttons and beads.

There was something very special about stitching my last Found Object Mandala, the one on which I placed all eighty-eight keys from my long neglected piano.  (Click HERE to access).  I knew I gave "second life" to the musical instrument. I knew that my piano now has a better chance to survive a generation or more, possibly long after I'm dead, because I dismantled it and used the parts for art. 

 

(Above:  Detail of Mandala CCXIX.)

Well ... that got me thinking about the quilt that came from my Great Aunt Janet.  Her mother stitched it but it had never been used until Steve and I started sleeping under it.  How did I know that? First, the faint pencil marks for the hand quilting were still there on the surface. Second, Aunt Janet said she had always kept it in her cedar chest.  It was precious to her though she advised us to USE IT ... to sleep under it ... to give it a life outside in the world instead of closed up where no one could see it.  

(Above:  Detail of Mandala CCXIX.)

Over the years, some of the feed sack fabrics and dress material used in the Dresden Plate pattern got threadbare.  Recently, I noticed that some of these places were totally tattered.  It was time NOT to keep using this quilt.  That also meant that this special quilt needed a new lease on life.  In my hands, that means using sections for my Found Object Mandala series.

(Above: Detail of Mandala CCXIX as seen from an angle.)

The first cut was the hardest, of course, but the results are wonderful!  I hope Aunt Janet is looking down from heaven and seeing this mandala.  She might see serendipitous connections with many of the found objects.  Her father-in-law (my great grandpa) worked as a carpenter for the railroad.  He did the cabinetry work in first class train cars.  The out-of-date rabies tags might remind her of the hunting dogs Uncle Howard dearly loved.  The anonymous photographs were mostly from times in their younger days, long before my birth.  The thread spools, fabric yoyos, and the little folding travel scissors would definitely make Aunt Janet smile; she was a fine seamstress. Aunt Janet was thrifty and fiercely logical about using what one had instead of pining away for something one didn't have.  In my heart, I know she'd be pleased.  I will not waste the rest of the Dresden Plate quilt.  More mandalas will be created on this beautiful surface.  That I can promise!