Showcase of Asian Fabrics made and quilted by feline fanatic
 

I love Asian prints but have a hard time finding good patterns to showcase them. Two years ago at the Bennington Quilt show I saw a quilt that was simple circles of fussy cut Asian prints appliqued to squares. I thought what an ingenius way to showcase Asian prints. So without a pattern, only a picture of this quilt I set out making "Karyukai - Flower and Willow world". I hand appliqued fussy cut 5" circles to 6 " squares and just to make things fun and different from the quilt I saw at Bennington, I set my squares on point. The background fabrics fade from very light white on white prints in the center to darker hues of beige, tan and gold. I had a load of fun picking the different elements from Asian prints to fussy cut. Gorgeous flowers, sand hill cranes, koi fish and of course Geisha. With so many geisha I dubbed the quilt after the world of Geisha, Karyukai which translates to flower and willow world. For a geisha is beautiful like a flower but strong and flexible like a willow tree. I background quilted stylized chrysanthemum flowers behind the appliqued circles, then a stylized curly willow leaf in the inner border and a very asian inspired ginko leaf in the outer border. I wish I had a better place in my house to photograph quilts but no place is quite big enough to get the whole quilt in. As always, I look forward to reading your comments.

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Your quilt is simply lovely...great job

Beautiful!!!!

That is gorgeous.

What a wonderful quilt you have created! The fabrics and your design are beautiful and your quilting on this is out of this world! Great job!

It is beyond beautiful. Drooling all over my computer!! ;o) What a far cry from the feed sacks our grandmothers used!!

nice quilt and quilting

incredibly beautiful.

WOW is all I have to say....love it

Wow that is amazing!

You made a beautiful quilt :)

Holy moly, feline--you're a master. I really love how you faded the background. Quilting is superb. Thanks for letting me know it was here!!!

wonderful quilt and quilting

Very inspiring!

I love the way you "showcased" each of those beautiful asian prints. And the quilting... just makes me beyond envious of your talent and skills. Is it harder to work on your own quilts? in that you fuss more over just how to quilt it?

really like your quilt, it sure shows your lovely fabrics. nice work

Perfect way to show off beautiful Asian prints. Your quilt is lovely!

So beautiful, great work!!!!!

Your pattern sure did showcase your beautiful fabrics. It is absolutely beautiful and your quilting is too.

That is simply gorgeous. The quilting is awesome. love the ginkgo leaves.

What a beautiful way to show off those fabrics!

This is absolutely amazing.......

Gorgeous quilt. My favorite asian themed quilt EVER

Who would have thought that such a beautiful quilt could come from circles and squares???? Super job!

I can only say that I totally agree!!!!

Before I even finished reading your post I had to admire all the photos and thought the quilting between the circles looked like mums. Then I went back to read the description and sure enough, they were. I am also a big fan of Asian fabrics. This quilt is Absolutely Lovely!

You quilt is beautiful.

Absolutely gorgeous!

I too love asian fabrics! Love this idea!!!! Love the asian pieces!!!!! Great work!!

Spectacular quilt! What an awesome way to showcase the gorgeous fabrics. I like the "shading" of the background fabrics. I will remember that trick!

Wow that is really beautiful. The quilting is wonderful too.

No definitely easier on my own! I don't stess over it as much as a client quilt and if I flub or make a small mistake or slip out of the ditch I usually mutter, Good enough, won't show in the long run and continue. On a client quilt I would rip and redo. I suppose if I was doing a show quilt I would be more fussy but even then... I kinda doubt it. I only enter shows for the fun of it, not to win and some of the LA quilted quilts that are in major shows well I couldn't even compare to those.

This quilt I did do some practice of the motif before starting. My original intent was to duplicate the Sashiko design of pumpkin seeds in the background which is the 4 pointy end ovals that meet in the center forming a 4 petal flower but when looked at overall also form interlocked circles. It is basically done by quilting continuous curves in a crosshatch grid. Also known as Dianeshiko after Diane Gaudynski, who uses it a lot for background fill. It looks fabulous when done well but that would have entailed marking a 1/2" checkerboard grid on point over the entire center portion of the quilt behind the applique. I was willing to do it but when I practiced it my continuous curves left much to be desired (need to practice those more!) and it was very time consuming. I intend to gift this to my mom for Christmas so wanted to finish it before then! LOL. Then I came up with this flower design, it was fast, easy and fun to quilt and it added great texture. Best of all no marking! So the flower won out in my design process.

that is gorgeous, I love Orientals

Beautiful, innovative, magnificent. I love it

Wow!! That's all I can say.


Brenda

A very beautiful quilt.

Ditto. This is just stunning and the quilting is beyond beautiful. I bow down to you. BrendaK

Very pretty, love the quilting.

Outstanding quilt!