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| Cela 107, Evora, Portugal |
When the word "cell" was announced, I knew exactly what my quilt would be. In 2012, my husband and I celebrated our 52nd anniversary with a trip to Portugal and Spain. Just days before we left, I learned that a distant grandmother in my family lineage immigrated from Portugal. This made the trip even more interesting for me. While there, I became fascinated with their beautiful, intricate porcelain creations, all in the same color combination: blue, yellow and white. A feature of our tour included lodging in pousadas - historic buildings converted into country inns that are run by the Portuguese and Spainish governments. On our last nights in Portugal we stayed in the town of Evora at a pousada that was originally a 15th century monastery. Our room, an actual monk's cell, was Cell #107.
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| Close-up of Our Cell Number |
Like many of the walls we saw, porcelain tile separates the top and bottom portions of the wall in my quilt. The flowers across the top represent the various floral motifs dominating many of the art pieces we viewed. I used hand-dyed fabric for the top portion of the wall and the door, and batiks for the bottom of the wall and the tile floor. The door stoop is silk.
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| Evora, Portugal |
I made a second quilt for the back. It is covered in photographs we took in Evora. They include a photo of the door to our cell with a photo of the actual cell number sign, a photo of the inside of our room, the front of the monastery, and the Roman Temple of Diana located barely outside the entrance to the monastery. On each side of the temple are photos of the Cathedral and the University of Evora, where we enjoyed a musical performance by students. I am a novice machine quilter and experimented with free-motion quilting on this piece.
Oh I loved this. I so enjoyed visiting monk's cells in Florence and a room of one's own is sometimes appealing :*) The colors and images are so pretty and you did such a good job of integrating the entire experience! That was a lot of work but you have created a treasure of memories.
ReplyDeleteBreathtaking, Carolyn! This quilt is just lovely. I want to know so much more--did you create (paint, draw?) the flower motif at the top yourself, or was this cut from a printed fabric? I assume the latter, since you repeat the motif in the section that separates the two sections of the wall. The door all my itself, incidentally, is a work of art! You did a super job with the quilting. You are moving from novice to expert, in terms of machine quilting!
ReplyDeleteHi Alice, After I do any fusing, I save the large pieces to use when I build various pieces for future fusing. The flower motif was cut from many different fused pieces of fabric to achieve the look I wanted. I arranged them in a design with just a touch of hot iron, adding flowers and leaves on top or under here and there as I went along. When I was satisfied, I peeled them off in one piece, placed them above the door and fused them into place. Then I TRIED to free-motion quilt around and inside the flower motif. The floral border between the upper and lower wall is cut and fused from one piece of fabric.
ReplyDeleteYikes! I just noticed that I have to make a new label for the back of the quilt. (That will be fun retro-fitting!) The trip was 2012 and I put 2011.
ReplyDeleteI also spelled pousada on the label without the "u". Oh well !!!
How fun that you were could commemorate your anniversary trip ( actually, I think this is your second quilt based on your anniversary trip? ) with this theme! I love how you depict doors ( I'm fascinated with doors anyway, have been photographing them for years). You have really captured the feeling of the tiled cell number sign and floral decorations with your fabric choices. The back collage is wonderful also...reveals "the rest of the story".
ReplyDeleteReally love this quilt!
Gorgeous work as always Carolyn!!! I love how yours are often personalized and commemorative of special times and events in your life. The colors and composition are lovely and the details of the tile and flowers so well done. AND the back just as wonderful!! A twofer!!
ReplyDeleteI do love this piece - such a great memory piece for the both of you.
ReplyDeleteHow beautiful and serene. Your artistry comes through on this quilt. The colors are perfect! I just want to open the door to go rest in the room. To fix the label you can always do what Marcia Stein did with her "legs" quilt. Just fuse another one on top of it. I think she said she had 3 sets of legs under the final set.
ReplyDeleteMuch thought was obviously invested in your piece which I imagine is like a fabric scrapbook page and evokes many wonderful memories of your trip. Thanks for sharing your story. The result is in intriguing invitation to open the door and explore more.
ReplyDeleteCarolyn, you have created a wonderful memory treasure. I agree with Alice - kudos for workmanship - your stitching is beautiful. This is indeed one interpretation I thought of for cell and glad to see it represented!
ReplyDeleteThis is my favorite of all the quilts. It is so beautiful! Thank you for sharing how you did the fusing.
ReplyDeleteWhat a interesting story, and a lovely solution that is so unexpected. That's what I love about this group. We are all able to think outside the box. Makes it so much fun.
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