Japanese Swoon Sixteen Quilt

Welcome to the premiere of our Japanese Swoon Sixteen Quilt, freshly finished and ready to share.  This quilt has been brewing for a long time in the imagination.

When we first saw this Tokyo Train Ride fabric from Cotton + Steel at Quilt Market (several years ago), we knew we had to have some.  Then when Diane visited Japan last year, and rode the Shinkansen across the country, it all came together.

Audrey has already made a quilt from this pattern, Swoon Sixteen, by Camille of Thimble Blossoms.  It turned out so well that we had to have another one from this fabric line.   The background for this project, Crossweave by Moda, is a combination of black and cream threads.  We really love the look and texture this fabric lends to a quilt.

The binding is cut from leftover scraps to coordinate with the block colors.  And speaking of coordination, our Market Tote bag is also from the Tokyo Train Ride canvas with other prints for lining. This means we could have a picnic on this quilt with our food in the bag and everything would match perfectly.

For the quilt backing, we used black & white gingham in a brushed cotton flannel by Robert Kaufman.  It has such a nice hand and makes the quilt warm and snuggly.

This line of fabric had a mix of woven cotton and cotton lawn.  We mixed them up and just placed them according to print and color.  We think this adds another dimension of texture and interest.

In this close up, you can see the quilting pattern.  We wanted a cherry blossom motif, but didn’t have one.  We did, however, have a branches and leaves pantograph, so we added blooms here and there in place of leaves.  Voila!

The cotton lawn in this block shows up pretty well.  It gives a bit of a nice sheen to the overall effect.

We feel quite happy with the way this turned out.  It is especially satisfying to finally complete this quilt which has been so long in the thinking and in the making.  Sometimes, old projects go out of style.  We pull them out and say, ” Oooh, I don’t even like that anymore!”  And then sometimes, things have that timeless look and feel.  Then we say, “Oooh la la, I still love it!”