Toulouse

Betty Ford-Smith created "Toulouse" originally as a teaching piece and ended up dedicating it to her French friends.

Betty says of Toulouse, "This quilt weighs 28 pounds. I started this quilt as a demonstration piece for the Florida Folk Festival, but completed it for the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky. I dedicated it to my French friends after returning from a teaching trip to France."

Artist Statement: "I started this quilt one week before participating in the 2018 Florida Folk Festival in White Springs, Florida, during the three-day weekend of May 30, 2018. I worked on my quilt at the Festival and then nine days later, I left for France. I continued working on the quilt when I returned from France. The quilt reminded me each day, row after row, of Southwest France, Toulouse, Penne, Bezac, and Salvage and the fantastic time I had there. I kept thinking of the cheese, the purple flowers, the food, the gardens, farms, pigeon houses, and the friendship of all the women I met. I could still see the old houses on the hills, the rivers, the churches, cemeteries, and the memories of women bending over their first pine cone quilt lesson with me. It seemed fitting to name my 10th quilt Toulouse because of the memories."