One side of the image below is a 15th century Venetian tile floor, and the other side is. . . a quilt!

I know! Isn’t it amazing? When I first saw Christine Porter’s stunning quilts, I could hardly believe that they were made of fabric. They look like soft-hued, aged stone, and many of the designs really fool the eye in other ways, too. As she says in her new book, Viva Venezia! . . . “because of the placement of light, medium, and dark values, the [tiles] appear to be three dimensional.”

What a treat it was to be an editor on the team that produced this book! Not only was Christine herself the embodiment of soft-spoken British charm, but her words and photos also led me on a vicarious tour of Venice. Christine’s husband Nick took the tantalizing photos of Venetian canals, cathedrals, and of course, the timeworn tile floors, whose wonderful designs look remarkably modern.

But the best part was finding out that these quilts, which look so daunting to make, are actually within my reach as a “basic” quilter. I imagined that they would require Y seams, complicated piecing, etc. etc. Instead, the complex look is achieved in many cases using simple strip piecing.

It’s really the clever fabric and color choices that make them look so remarkable. With a full set of fabric closeups accompanying every project, it’s hard to go wrong. The secret is in the kinds of fabrics you use . . . and I’ll leave you to discover that secret for yourself in Christine’s book.

Now I’ve got my eye on this Chevron quilt:

Although Christine uses fabrics that mimic the floor tiles exactly, she also encourages quilters to create the same designs in wider selections of fabrics of our own choosing—and throughout the book are vivid examples of individual interpretations.

I’ve got some lovely hand-dyed Cherrywood fat quarters that would look just beautiful in a version of that Chevron quilt. . . .