Wow was this a difficult task! I had planned to post the winner yesterday but I just couldn't decide so I took today to narrow down my list and try out each name. My final list had 22 suggestions. Can you tell I had a time picking my fav? Hahaha There were so many suggestions that I liked! Some made me laugh, some made me scratch my head and go "where did that come from?" The very best part, however, was all the wonderful stories people told relating what the quilt made them "see" or remember. I loved those suggestions.
The tiles which inspired this quilt were made in the 1920's to the 1940's in California, for the most part, in the Spanish revival style.
Some were made by the American Encaustic Tiling Co. of Los Angeles between 1919-1933. They had plants in Vermon CA and Hermosa Beach CA. They also had a plant in Zanesville, OH from 1875-1935, but their colors were not as bright and their patterns were not as elaborate as those made in CA.
Some tiles were made by Malibu Potteries in Malibu, CA 1926-1932. They specialized in Spanish revival foral patterns with bright glazes.
Solon & Schemmel, San Jose, CA made tiles in this style as well from 1921-1936. They made "cuenca" (raised line) tiles with matte glaze colors in floral and geometric patterns.
Another CA company was the Tudor Tile Co. of Los Angeles, 1927-1939. They used Matte glazes over smooth tiles in the Spanish-style.
Kraftile Co. from Niles CA, 1926-1997 made lots of tiles in this style, as did the Santa Monica Tile Co. from Los Angeles, CA.
At least one of the blocks in the quilt was inspired by tiles made by Flint Faience & Tile Co. of Flint, MI 1921-1933. Flint's prize winning tiles were all made by hand.
Some of the Bonus Blocks, which are available to newsletter subscribers, are inspired by tiles from Spain, England, and Italy. I think it is interesting that almost none of the tiles I researched were actually made in Mexico, but in the USA, mostly in California. I found pictures of tiles all over the web, in books from the library, on ebay, Pinterest, and had some in my own collection. And yes, I had to go to lunch at Chili's just to see their tables and takes some photos of my favorites! It really was fun to try to capture the style, color and joy expressed by these small ceramic wonders!
So what name did I finally choose?
Fiesta de las Flores which translates
from the Spanish as Festival of Flowers.
The closest suggestion was "Fiesta de flora" by Anonymous on January 7!
Since I did not know who Anonymous is, I looked at all the entries which used "Fiesta" and found Fiesta Ole (LadyBugBetty), Fiesta Time (Lynn Jarzombeck), Mosaic Fiesta (Homemother) and Fiesta Tiles (Elayne Novotny and Judy M).
I put their names on slips of paper and spread them on the floor. Then Buster came in and sat on the winning entry in a truly random drawing. . . er. . . sitting. Well, Buster doesn't really sit, he plops and rolls.
So the winner of the stack of Kaffe Fasset Fat Quarters
(which Buster did NOT sit on)
is Elayne Novotny!
Congratulations to Elayne!
And sincere thanks to all of you for the great suggestions. It really was hard to choose, as I liked so many of the names you submitted.
My favorites included: Mosaic Medley, Celtic Mosaic, Tiffany Tiles (just cuz of the great alliteration), Cashmina (fun to say), Hacienda, Isabella, Fiesta Ole, Fiesta Time, Azulejos (tiles in Spanish), Mexican Garden, Talavera Tiles, Majolica, I Dream of Mexico (this was a close third place), Spanish Tiles, Fiesta Tiles (I almost picked this one), Bella, Siesta, Enchanted Tiles, Ufloria (just sounds good), and Spanish Courtyard (a strong contender).
Thanks to all of you and enjoy making this Block of the Month Quilt!
