"Caribbean Dreams" was made by Betty Ford-Smith as a way to remember her time living in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Betty lived in St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands for three years teaching school. She missed being there and the water a lot, so she created Caribbean Dreams as a way to remember her experiences. According to Betty, the water in St. Thomas is different than the water in Florida where she lives now, so she wanted to capture what she saw in it by using glistening blue and water-inspired fabrics. She also included rings of yellow fabric throughout to represent all the sun down in the islands and Florida.
Artist Statement: "This is my 9th Pine Cone Quilt. This is called Caribbean Dreams it measures 61 x 63 inches and weighs 19 lbs. This quilt took 2 months to make and a little over 200 hours, sewing sometimes for 5 and 10 hours a day. The quilt used a little over 45 yards of fabric which were hand cut into 2,250 5 x 5 inch squares."
