“Tree-o Ta-li” quilt

When Bettye and her daughters Nina Harvey, a floral designer, and Cindy Denton, a graphic designer, met together to work on a quilt they called themselves a “tree-o,” since their quilts usually involved some pounding of tree leaves. This being the second Cherokee  leaf pounding quilt they designed together, they used the Cherokee word “tali,” meaning “two,” hence the name “Tree-o Ta-li.”  This quilt is different from other leaf-pounding quilts Bettye did because she and her daughters used the leaves to provide different colors for individual pieces of a design they had drawn on the quilt top. Instead of pounding the entire leaf to create its shape, they carefully pounded parts of the leaf to color the small circles that surround the top of the urn, all the zigzags, meanders and border designs on that object. as well as the stems of some of the leaves, grasses and vines that arise from the urn and arch over its sides. This quilt is now part of Merrill Stewart’s collection. (Photos by Don Breland, courtesy of Merrill Stewart).

75″ W x 69″ L (2011)

Detail of “Tree-o Ta-li”

Label on back of “Tree-o Ta-li”