Quilty Pleasures: Virgen de Guadalupe Quilts

I don't know if it's my Catholic upbringing or because for 30 years I taught students whose families originated in Mexico, but the Virgin of Guadalupe story has always been a favorite.  I'm not trying to be sacreligious, but in a way, Mary sightings are akin to UFO sightings. Simple peasant people are out in the boonies and see something revelatory. Others don't believe them and consider them crackpotloonies, like in the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Then, at least in the case of Church documented Mary sightings, a miracle occurs to prove that indeed, she was there.

Juan Diego, the peasant who reported seeing Mary while traveling from his village to Mexico City, was not believed and a doubtful priest sent him back to get some proof. His Mary vision told him to go gather some flowers as proof that she was real, so up on a hillside Juan Diego found bunches of flowers, in the dead of winter, and carried them in his cloak to the pinche priest who didn't believe him. When he opened his cloak, the flowers weren't there, but an image of the Blessed Virgin was imprinted on the cloak's fabric. It was one of those, "So, there!" moments.

There's lots more to the story, but suffice it to say that many believers and pilgrims travel to the church built on the spot where Juan Diego had his vision and The Virgen de Guadalupe's image can be found throughout Mexico.

Because I'm an Our Lady fan and made a quilt using some Our Lady of Guadalupe fabric,  I am always on the lookout for other quilty interpretations of this story. It's fun to see what people come up with.  Wide World of Quilting  is a new blog I found featuring a variety of quilts.  I especially liked the ones Melissa made using Ricky Tims' Convergence Quilt style and Our Lady fabrics. Here's a link to her quilt here .  Another quilt I liked was called "Juan Diego's Vision," a medallion quilt using applique among other techniques. Love it!

A new project is percolating after all that inspiration, but I promise, MBB, I won't start it until your quilt is at the quilter.

Today I shot photos on the covered porch where I've been  spending afternoons, reading and drinking having a glass of wine while dinner is cooking. (Yes, that sounds much better.)

The solids are Kona cottons. I'll add print fabric as I go, and no, I don't have any particular ones in mind right now. That's why making these quilts is so fun- I never know where I will end up.

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