Though I am not even done with the applique border on Summer Stars let alone layering and quilting it, I am planning my new project, sort of. Before we left for Italy I ordered "Bella Bella quilts". The book arrived while we were in Europe. Then when we were in Italy we spent a fair amount of time in various churches in Florence, Siena, and San Gimagnano. Some of the floors, as many quilters before have remarked, are spectacular mosaics and of course the Bella Bella book demonstrates this nicely. Norah McKeeking isn't the first quilter to see this. I even have a very old book by Ami Simms that has quilt patterns from ancient mosaics. But what I am contemplating is slightly different since I am more of an applique person.
While driving through the spectacular Tuscan country side, I realized that the hills on the horizon in many cases are different from the norm. Often there were cypress trees, lined up in a row, across the horizon, not like a clump of trees but more like the spikes on a New York Beauty block-silhouetted against the sky. Add to that mental image the fact that we walked part of the pilgrimage trail of St. Francis and you probably can begin to see what's going on in my brain. Of course my son has already told me he wants some variation of the spectacular La Rosa Veneziana so I don't know what I will end up with.
And then, the most spectacular floor wasn't a geometric mosaic at all. The floor in the church of San Miniato on the hillside overlooking Florence reminds me more of scherenschnitte, with floral and bird designs in black and white. That would be a fun project as well.
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