Quilts of Curaçao

There are incredibly talented quilters everywhere... including Curaçao, an island in the southern Caribbean Sea.  A constituent country of The Netherlands, Curaçao has a population of 150,000 and a vibrant art scene. Here are some fascinating quilts from Curaçao.

Caribbean Beauty, 24 x 33, by Lucia Schnog

Lucia explains, "[This is] my own interpretation of a painting by the Swiss artist Jean-Etienne Liotard. With the original headscarf on the painting, I went a bit "out of the box." What Lucia means is that instead of plain white cotton for this beautiful girl's scarf, Lucia used strands of gorgeous white crinkled organza fabric. We love Lucia's creativity in choosing the organza fabric, as it gives such a fashionable, stylish look to her work. 

Close up, Caribbean Beauty by Lucia Schnog

Inspired by a painting, Lucia's work is hand and machine appliqued.The visage of this lovely young woman with exquisite, soulful eyes is embellished with a three dimensional pearl necklace and a gold circular earring. In addition, the neckline of her dress features long three dimensional black and white fringe which looks almost silver in the photos.

Here's a close-up of the crinkly organza fabric for the headscarf.  Don't you want to reach out and touch it to see how ruffly it is?  We surely did; but we restrained ourselves and kept our perfect record intact of never touching a quilt in a show !

The wide range of historic buildings in and around the capital of Willemstad has resulted in the city being designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Here is a photo of Willemstad harbor (below).  You can see why the name "Curaçao" has become associated with a shade of blue, because of the deep-blue version of the liqueur named Curaçao (also known as Blue Curaçao): 

The houses of Curaçao are depicted in fiber by Nel-An van Eenennaam:

Curaçao Houses, 33 x 25,  by Nel-An van Eenennaam

Nel writes, "As a paintress, I produced a lot of watercolors with topics of our island. Most of those are of houses and small streets. This is because our houses and streets are very colorful and show typical influences of the Dutch and Spanish cultures, which give them a very special character."

Close up,  Curaçao Houses by Nel-An van Eenennaam

We really admired the  elegant lace, ric-rac, and cording Nel-An used for embellishment on this original design.  It is hand embroidered and hand appliqued, with some use of a sewing machine.

In The Countryside, 32 x 20,  by Lucia Schnog

Lucia notes, "This quilt was inspired by the old kunuku houses of our island. I love to incorporate knitted or crocheted pieces in my work to create a three dimensional effect." 

Close up, In The Countryside by Lucia Schnog

Here you can see Lucia's excellent yarnwork in the form of the roof and the nearby cactus. The knitting and crochet provide a unique and innovative look to the traditional art quilt. Lucia's original design is hand appliqued with some use of paint.

Caterpillar 46 x 32, by Lucia Schnog

Lucia says, "When the Frangiani [Plumeria] is blooming, lots of huge caterpillars love it as much as I do. Then they gorge on the leaves." 

Close up, Caterpillar by Lucia Schnog

These dainty, delicate pastel pink organza flowers with their petite stems and petals lend such a contrast to the large dark, (and probably squishy !) caterpillar.  Lucia's intriguing embellished quilt was inspired by a picture in 2013 and is hand appliqued, with knitting, crocheting, embroidering, and beading.

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2015 World Quilt Show in Florida.