I love seeing ruins and cultural influences in the Caribbean!

I want to introduce my “Mayan Tree of Life.”
It’s not new, but I love it! I made it and the pantographs for it back in 2007.
I’ve always loved Archaeology to the point of taking a few classes in college, where I was exposed to the so-called, Tree of Life Stone.

As a student, each day I passed a 5′ replica of the Izape Stelae #5 in the lobby of the Maeser Bldg. I was mesmerized by it and the images it held. So years later I decided to make a quilt focusing on that stone.

Several years ago when we visited Chitzen Itza and other sites in the Yucatan peninsula my interest was heightened. I drew several Mayan patterns as a result of that trip. I learned on that trip that the buildings/ruins had been painted in bright colors. They were not the bare stone we see today, hence the bight colors I chose for the figures on the stone as the central focus of my quilt. It shows the family of Lehi with angels (blue) surrounding the Tree of Life. I attached white beads for fruit as in his dream.

1) For the borders I designed several pantographs/borders/sashings as inspired by the ruins and srtifacts of meso-america. The largest border is entitled “Mayan Glyphs” and pictures representations of many of the recurring glyphs found throughout the area interpreted into continuous-line drawings. I learned many things, such as: a single bar equaled 5 years and single blocky circles, one year. It was fascinating.

If I’ve sparked your interest you can find more information at https://ancientamericafoundation.org/stelae/ But they chose different colors! 😉

2) Inner borders were done with my sashing “Mayan Trim,” inspired by vases, etc. (Tricky to do “hand-guided!”) You can see Kukulcan , too!

3) The next border is “Feathered Serpent or Kukulcan.” It is a combination of two images, one from El Castillo at Chichen Itza and the other from numerous bas reliefs on scattered temples throughout the region. As the The Mayan version of the Great White God it scrolls down the side of staircases and is ubiquitous in Yucatan. (You’ll even see him in National Treasure 2!)

4) Finally in the green area around the stone I stitched my earlier 6″ pantos Jungle and Rainforest.

The challenge that year for Machine Quilters Showcase was “Tropical.” What better way than to use these images from the American tropics embellished with tropical fruits and the Jaguar from my “Big Cats” block set.

The quilt has traveled a bit. It was showcased and video made of its visit to Festival of Quilts in Birmingham UK. It has also been displayed/entered in other contests across the country

In the next few years I designed some narrow pantos for smaller machines. (I can’t find a picture of the mosaic in Playa del Carmen that inspired “Laguna de Cancun.”) A great thing about Portico Blooms is that the combined 4.5″ rows create an 8-inch flower!

When making this quilt I was concerned that the bright orange backing would show through the loosely woven white front, so I have another layer of white cotton fabric beneatheth the front. Then I used 2 layers of batting. (I was really worried!)