- Author: Karen Metz
Recently I was going through my fabric stash, auditioning fabric for a project, when I came across a fabric panel of flower fairies. Now if you have daughters, grand-daughters or nieces, you probably know all about flower fairies. If not, here is the info in a nutshell. Flower Fairies are the charming creation of Cicely Mary Barker who was born in England in 1895 and published her first Flower Fairy book in 1925. These books had charming illustrations of wildflowers and a fairy to represent it. Each flower fairy also had a little rhyme to accompany it also written by Cicely. Over the decades, these books have impressed both children and adults alike, with their winsome and magical, but botanically correct drawings.
This particular panel had been in my stash between five and ten years. I vaguely remember coming across it at the end of a long browsing period at a quilt shop. There were panels in several colors and I took the one with the neutral background thinking I would be able to use it more easily. I had completely forgotten about it. Upon rediscovering it, I saw that the panel was called Sunshine Fairies and was printed by Michael Miller Fabrics under an agreement with the Cicely Mary Barker Estate. My eye was immediately drawn to the Narcissus Fairy and then the Pear Blossom Fairy. But as I kept looking I saw the White Bindweed Fairy and the Sow Thistle Fairy. Wait a minute here, and that picture of Jack Go to Bed at Noon Fairy looks suspiciously like Salsify.
I had just finished doing an article for the Daily Republic on weeds. This article explored the notion that sometimes a weed is in the eye of the beholder. Plants that some people consider weeds, other people consider beautiful or perhaps useful. Obviously, Cicely thought Sow Thistle, Sonchus arvensis L, Bindweed, Convolvulous arvensis L., and Jack Go to Bed by Noon, Meadow Salsify or Tragopogon pratensis beautiful enough to dedicate a drawing and Fairy in their honor. Of course that is Cicely Mary Barker's great talent, showing us the beauty and magic that is all around us, but is frequently overlooked.