An applique chinese lantern would be perfect, and a play on the theme as well. The plant not the light. I would run a plant up the border from the bottom and cover the whole with the flower.

Jan's suggestion of the folded flower would be perfect with the lanterns. Thanks Jan for sharing this.

I remember the first time I saw Kumiko Sudo's folded flower quilts - some as individual blocks - at Houston Quilt Festival in the 1990s, I was stunned, they were so new and different and amazing! Her colors were beautiful, the context of the flowers were lovely. A friend and I stood for 45 minutes in that smallish section of the show and studied each one carefully. When her book came out I sold a lot of them in my shop.

I have her first book somewhere in my library but not all are unpacked; I fear it is in the attic where it may have suffered heat damage. The flowers are so much more interesting than the usual appliqued or dimensional flower.

Hmmmm, got to make the effort to find that book and perhaps make my own Japanese themed quilt on which to use them!:)

Jan in VA

I like the ideas of the origami additions too. They will really accent the Asian theme.

Yes, do make lemonade out of lemons...but wait until tomorrow!

I once created a couple small holes in a pinwheel quilt. Three times my needle broke while machine quilting and I finally figured out that it was when the needle hit the pinwheel right in the middle where the points all came together. I marked my little holes with a marker and finished quilting making sure I avoided those thick centers. Then I put a drop of fray check on the small holes so they wouldn't get bigger when the quilt was used and washed. I looked for the holes again after washing the quilt and couldn't even find them!! So depending on the size of your hole, this could be another solution.

I really like Jan's idea of a folded fabric origami flower. Another option is a butterfly or moth. We all know how moths are attracted to lantern light after dark and one being attracted to your Japanese lantern would also fit right into theme. Some moths are quite beautiful like luna moths and there are some really beautiful asian print fabrics and batiks that feature butterflies. I would fussy cut one out and stuff it up like trapunto so it was 3-D. Perhaps cut out two of the same motif and use the back of the fabric as the bottom of the butterfly. Then you could do just the one applique.

I'm just finishing a scrappy baby quilt & noticed there were a couple of dirty smudges on it...so, yes, I'm appliqueing over them, plus a few. Will take a pic once I finish it.

Ok, got it finished & took a pic...The quilt itself is all pastel baby colors (I went into my already cut squares & partial 1 1/2" strips & just started putting like sizes together into panels, then put them all together building around the center panel I made snowball squares). When I saw the 2 smudges on it that I couldn't get off; I have this butterfly fabric that I use for appliques on different things & it's with primary colors...but I actually think it works & brightens up the quilt. What do you think? So, yes, applique will be your answer to your problem. Just a design opportunity! Go for it! :)

I made a bunch of the flowers already and just playing with it to see how they go. I love it and it's prettier than it would have been. Thank you again and I'll have to post a picture when I"m done.