Cristina Arcenegui Bono - My 40 Cousins - My Inspiration

Sew & So...

Travel with us to Andalusia, Spain for an amazing conversation with Cristina Arcenegui Bono whole cloth quilter extraordinaire!

(2:27) How did Cristina learn to sew? Well…she never really did!

(3:15)Who is her inspiration? How about her 40 cousins?! And wait…there’s more!

(5:16) Cristina started out her career in the Travel & Tourism industry in London…to help improve her English. She shares that story here.

(7:05) Cristine used to frequent haberdashery shops www.libertylondon.com which fueled her love for textile art. It all began when she came to London and the first thing she did was to visit the museums. And then there’s the story of how she learned to cross-stitch because she became very ill.

(10:10) The movie How to Make an American Quilt was a springboard for her ambitions, hear the story here…it was all about community!

(13:07) Her work is stunning…many of which are made for the sole purpose of entering contests. She shares a story of one these competitions, the quilt and what made this so meaningful.

(16:40) Her quilts are based on the illustrations of Johanna Basford www.johannabasford.com, Daira Song @daria486, Rita Berman @rite.berman and Svete Dorosheva www.svetsdorosheva.com. She explains her focus on children living authentic childhoods!

(20:50) Her signature quilts are pictorial whole cloth quilts. She explains what this is. And, what it’s like to listen “incognito” to people experiencing her quilts at exhibitions.

(24:43) Patchwork quilts weren’t popular in Spain at the turn of the century. Why? She explains. www.SpanishPatchworkAssociation.org

(27:35) in 2005 she bought her first longarm and opened her quilting business. How’s it going?! She tells us here.

(29:54) The pandemic opened a whole new world for Cristina teaching on line. She talks about the positives that came into her life!

(32:10) What inspires her? Her childhood…and her cousins! Traveling means a lot as she saw her first hummingbird…and a Zebra. Not to mention all those she gets to meet on the road. When she taught in California and needed to then get to Houston, she took a train to experience the country – the trip of her life… including a sunset in Arizona.

(36:04) What’s her dream? To get published in a magazine and to teach in Korea and Japan. Why there? She explains!

(38:06) Finally, what didn’t we ask?

(28:23) Want to contact Cristina? Facebook Cristina Arcenegui Bono, Instagram @cristinaarceneguibono, and www.crisarcbono.com

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