"QUEEN MARY'S GARDEN" © 2019 - Back to "Queen Mary's Garden"

 

SHE'S BACK.   SHE'S BACK?   SHE'S BACK!!

"QUEEN MARY'S GARDEN" borders are designed, glue-basted, hand-appliqued, soaked to remove glues, trimmed to fit, embroidered, and FINALLY sewn surrounding my 49 flower blocks...for better or worse.

Now I need to take pictures of the top and get on with organizing backing, batting, and binding.

I really had trouble deciding on what to do with the borders for Queen Mary.  Designing by the seat of my pants gets me in trouble most of the time.  My naughty, undisciplined brain gremlin falls in a ditch and I'm unclear on how to get out and make the best of things.  Then I remembered what was hinted on the panel of slips below...

Birds?  Hmm...are these more practice/practical motifs, crammed on the edge of the waste canvas stitching already in progress?  They are closely placed, with no stop border or boundary.  

Getting to design fun birds?  Deal me in!

Lots of design fodder out there...some pictures are creepy.

Some of them are very creepy...

The types of antique stitcheries that survived and inspired me are thought not to be finished pieces or samplers, but just collections of stitched "slips" that were meant for applying to clothing, large bedding, tapestries etc.  Most of these were lost to fading and poor storage.  

Finished bug motifs, edges ready to be applied to clothing, bedding, tapestries...

Backside of a floral slip, ready to "applique"...

Waste canvas panel of repeated motifs (from the year 1625)...

Stitchery found at Traquair House is credited to Queen Mary and her ladies (the "four Marie's").  These noblewomen were in her court and went with her everywhere, especially in her last months.  Traquair House, in Scotland, was one of the many large/small houses or castles between which Mary traveled to hide from her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I of England.

Cousin Elizabeth ended up beheading Mary, afraid that she would ascend to the English throne and unite England and Scotland under Catholicism.

But I digress, I decided to try birds, mostly, with bugs, snails, butterflies, and a few small garden creatures.  Here's a weird turtle...

  

As posted above, I did not get my inspiration from this depiction.

Legendary beasts of stories and fanciful imagination were still being used...unicorns, griffins, dragons, centaurs, mermaids, serpents, and big cats like lions and tigers.  There are lots of "grotesques" (that's what they're actually called) combining animal parts with some human parts.

Lions were often depicted with sort of human faces...along with owls, for some reason.  I guess if you had seen an owl in the year 1600 or earlier, you would draw the best sketch of what you had seen in person.  Some of these really creep me out as well!  

But, they are fun (the one above reminds me of a former boss.)  Many birds depicted in old illuminated manuscripts and musical scores, sacred and secular, are extremely whimsical, and I am addicted to their big feet.

Well, I've chosen a whole sanctuary of birds on the wing chasing each other around the perimeter of my fruit and flower blocks.  These whimsical, fictional, preening fluffers are drawn in the style of early bird drawings.  There were lots of giggles from the Quilt Cave while drafting them.

Since my flower/fruit blocks are based on the drawing style of the year 1600's, it didn't make sense to try too hard to draw realistic birds.

I have always thought of these texts as a real art form...beautiful calligraphy, rich colors, flora/fauna, and either religious art or simple, pious souls depicted.  Butt, (literally)...

I'm hoping these are secular...

Wow!  I think scribes in the abbeys and artists of local humble villages were drinking a little too much of the proverbial "ceremonial wine." 

Looking closely, there are a lot of weird, shocking details in most of the music scores and manuscripts that I came across.  Very entertaining.

Stitcheries of the time depicted a fanciful version of nature.  The "Herbals" were books containing sketches of plants that started appearing in the later 16th century.  As time went by, early naturalists journeyed far and wide, sketching more realistic images of flora.

Actual, reasonable depictions of birds, beasts, and sea creatures...ahem...came later.

I definitely went overboard with the birdies.  It was just so darned entertaining to doodle them!  Now my quilt is HUGE!

I will post individual birds until I get pictures of the finished flimsy.  It's difficult because the top is bigger than I thought (too many birds).  There's no good place in whole house that is tall or uncluttered enough to get good shots.

My brother visited and suggested making some more design wall panels so I can hang it sideways for pictures.  Why not?

In stitches,

Teresa