Smooth Jazz and Quilting

For those who follow me on a regular basis, it's clear that Smooth Jazz and Quilting are my passions.  At every opportunity I get, I indulge on these two activities.

Recently I combined these two persuits. I made a quilt for Dave Koz to celebrate the cruise I attended with him and many other of my favourite smooth jazz artists.

 

 He was delighted with the quilt and agreed to have a photo taken with myself and the quilt.

This is a close-up of the quilt... I used a variety of techniques from machine applique, piecing and hand embroidery. I added fotos of Dave and the circular blocks are a representation of his released albums.

 All the fabrics used are music themed including the back of the quilt.

Before the cruise I visited Portugal and discovered this small shop called Loja do Sr Jacinto 
in Caldas da Rainha (appr. 80 kms north of Lisbon).

 It's an old fashion looking store and I believe it has been there for many, many years.

I was looking for "chitas de Alcobaca" which is a portuguese cotton fabric with bright and specific designs which include stripes.  These are the ones I purchased.

Silvia at the store, tempted me with some of her button collection and I could not resist....
  

 The foto also shows the thimbles and pins I managed to collect during this trip.

But the highlight of the quilting part of the holiday, was to meet face to face my quilting/blog friend Teresa Teresa in Lisbon. 

 

We spoke for hours and I promised to visit her again ....

Here are some photos of some of the places I visited in Italy, France and Spain...

Amalfi Coast:

The Vatican:

Pisa:

Palacio da Pena in Sintra, Portugal:

Monserrate Palace, near Sintra (Portugal) which was an exotic palatial villa, the traditional summer resort for the Portuguese court.