Macro Quilt: Pueblos Mágicos

This wonderful idea to elaborate the Quilt of Magical Towns of Mexico was inspired after seeng a Quilt from Bern, Switzerland exhibited in the Quilters of Mexico exhibition in 2016 in which several houses of that city are represented.

Sara Ruíz and I were observing the Quilt when she asked me: “why don’t we make a quilt with the magical towns of Mexico?” It seemed to me like a fascinating and very interesting idea, and the next day I looked for Sara to insist that we do the quilt she had mentioned. This is how the idea came about.

Mexican Quilters, American Quilters living in Mexico and Mexican Quilters living in the United States were contacted in order to have 76 participants in total.

The magic towns were drawn and assigned to the Quilters with the task of developing the block in the technique of their choice and let their inspiration flow. This is how all of them started researching about each magical town; and some of them even took the liberty of visiting it to live firsthand the beauty of these magical towns.

The only rule for making the blocks was the the size, which, like  bricks, should be 20 cm high and 40 cm long. The rest was free in terms of materials and techniques.

Once the blocks were made, they were sent from different states of the country to Mexico City, and then they traveled to the city of Guadalajara, Jalisco, where the project was assembled and quilted.

The assembly was made in a format of 7 horizontal blocks by 17 vertical blocks, aiming for a harmonious proportion.

It is worth mentioning that assembling and finishing the Quilt took three full days of hard work and enthusiasm with the special participation of Sara Ruíz, who also made the quilt’s heading, Betzabé Orozco, Marisol Lezcano, Luz Elena Castro, Martel Rodríguez and myself.

In the end, the result was a 3.20m x 2.75m quilt, in which the 111 magical towns of Mexico and the inspiration of the participating Quilters are represented, without which it would not have been possible to do it.

It’s a project that started with an idea developed by Sara Ruiz and me as an “insistent”, but in the end it is a work of 76 Quilters who are proud of their roots and the great majesty of the beautiful country of Mexico.

I deeply thank everyone for having been part of this project.

Fatima Landi