Secret Garden
Materials: fabrics, embellishments
Technique: cut-paper lettering design, machine appliqué, hand quilting, sewing
Size: 58 x 58 cm
Description: Early this century Frances Hodgson Burnett wrote a children’s story which has now become a classic. In the story three children tend a long-neglected garden, and in the process find health and happiness. The book is called ‘The Secret Garden’ and is the inspiration for this wall-quilt.
I have constructed the words SECRET GARDEN to depict the tangle of branches and vines in the neglected garden. These words are appliquéd in dark green silk. The background fabrics represent the plants thriving and blossoming as they are tended by Mary, Colin and Dickon. The friendly robin, who led Mary to the garden, keeps an eye on the activity - and the rejuvenation of the children’s bodies and souls as they tend the plants. The words quilted around the border are a direct quote from the book - ‘it was the sweetest most mysterious-looking place anyone could imagine’. I felt these words epitomised the wonder and magic of the secret garden.