My African Wall Hanging is Finished!

Just want to share a newly finished project with all of you.  This started off as a handpainted wall hanging that was given to me by a very dear friend when I left South Africa.  It has been sitting in the "gotta do something wonderful with this"  pile since 1994.  Well, I have finally trimmed down the wall hanging, added borders and gotten it quilted.  It will hang in either our dining room or master bedroom, not sure which yet.

The birds are guinea fowl,and they are one of my favorite African animals (along with zebras and giraffes). The original wall hanging was 32" X 48" , and continued 4 " on each side of the present thin black border. But this area did not contain any design element, so it was cut off. The remaining original fabric is now the center of the quilt, and it is 24" X 40".  The total piece is 36" X52" with the addition of the 3 batik borders.

One of the hardest decisions was trying to figure out how to quilt this. My daughter looked at it and said, "Mom, they are African animals - that should be clue."  Brilliant!  The overall background quilting of the center is a meandering back and forth stripe - just like zebra stripes!  Among the guinea fowl and zebra stripes I also added a free motion elephant, and giraffe, and a rondavel - a traditional African hut. I am enclosing additional photos that show close -up images of these last 3 items. The first photo shows the elephant, the second shows the giraffe, and the last shows the rondavel.  You can click on any of the photos for a larger view.

As for the borders, the striped batik is quilted with a traditional African motif - triangles.  Geometric shapes are found in many African art forms, a good example is the art of the Ndebele people.  Their clothing and housing are all decorated in straight lined, geometric shapes.  You can see more of their work by clicking here and here.  I am especially enamored of the Ndebele style - I am fortunate to have brought back a beaded Ndebele apron and a beaded Ndebele doll from my time in South Africa.

The final border is quilted with straight lines, to mimic the shape of a frame around a piece of art.  Can't wait to get this hung.  And, I am happy to say, this has gotten me back to thinking about South Africa and my quilting friends there - it is time to reach out and contact them once again.  If you are interested in seeing some other quilts done by South African quilters , you can click here or else you can always mosey over to the links on the right side of this page and click on the link for the Quadrille Quilters under Other Blogs That I Read and Love For Inspiration.