Tawanda made an appearance in my last post. I referred to her as my outdoor spirit doll. Now she’s an element of an art quilt.
We’ve been sheltering in place now for several weeks with no antiquing adventures to replenish my stash. But, oh, how my collection has grown.
Since friends are at home, they’ve been cleaning closets and drawers and I’m reaping the rewards. One day the mailman brought a box from Alabama. Susan had sent a box of tea towels, doilies, and dresser scarves her grandmother had passed along to her. She kept the one she and her daughters would use, but sent others to me.
A friend is moving to another city and won’t be taking everything she has acquired over the years. She thought I could use a collection of women’s hankies. Oh, yes, indeed, I can.
And Helen had a box of discarded drapery and upholstery samples. Silk, linen, cotton, and wool. Yes, wool. I was amazed, too. Lovely, lightweight, sheer wool. I can’t wait to see how that behaves in the dye pot.
And Joyce, a new friend who was at the last guild where I lectured has a box waiting for me filled with beautiful linens. She no longer quilts, having moved on to a new focus in sewing, but has acquired beautiful pieces. Once Joyce’s friends saw that she could give new life to their linens stored away in hiding, they shared with her. “More than I can use in my lifetime,” she says. So she is sharing with me. Now that’s something to look forward to when this stay home order is lifted – a drive to collect that box!
Garden Dance celebrates Tawanda’s exuberance with Spring and all the treasures I described. I sketched her image, transferred it to fabric, then collaged bits of embroidery from one of those silk samples I mentioned, vintage crochet, some recycled denim clothing. A few buttons, and a lot of hand stitching brought it all together. That pop of color at the top right is a piece of trim I bought in Paducah one year. It was a dusty bolt of unused drapery trim, stained and hopeless looking – and containing some polyester, I’m sure. But for some reason it spoke to me; maybe the many, many yards of something for little money. But it loves new color. I’ve painted some of it and the bit you see here has taken a dive in the indigo dye pot.
Tawanda is a sculpture made of rebar and cement and she’s nearly 20 years old. She was one of those purchases that I thought, “I shouldn’t spend this much money on yard art, but I really want to take her home with me.” She was at a local garden center and I think I saw her dancing there on a couple of visits before I succombed to her charms.
She has brought a smile to my face on countless days over these years and I’ve never regretted that expenditure. It seemed it was time to memorialize her in a quilt.
Her name, Tawanda, comes from the movie Fried Green Tomatoes. if you are familiar with the characters in that production, you understand.
The quilt finishes at 12″ x 16″. Here you see the label attached to the “front” of the old quilt which is now the backside of Garden Dance. The faded homespun backing is one of my oft-used vintage backgrounds. I wonder if the woman who made this scrappy quilt years and years ago would approve of my use of her work. If she was a Tawanda herself, I think she would say, “You go, girl!”