Lattice Quilt Top

Some quilts take many inspirations to find their way.  

This is one of those.   

It started with this floral and gingham yucata cotton, 

a gift from Patricia at Okan Arts, a few years ago.

I was new to using neutrals (still am), and felt very challenged by the prospect (still do.)

I pulled coordinating fabrics from my stash, and the red hopped in unexpectedly.

I was captivated by the Lattice Quilt in Sujata Shah's book,

Cultural Fusion Quilts, page 55, and wanted to make it.

I made a bunch of "Free-form Blocks" and took them to Sisters, Oregon, 

for a class with her in the summer of 2017.

Sujata very sweetly helped me lay out the design in class.  

I loved it, packed it up, brought it home unsewn, put it on my UFO shelf,  

and forgot about it.

Lattice Quilt 64" x 64"

Then, Sujata got us going with the UandU Quilt Along at Basket Full of Scraps.  

I looked through the book, Unconventional and Unexpected by Roderick Kiracofe,

for the upteenth time, and saw his Lattice Quilt on page 34.

It jogged my memory of the unsewn quilt blocks from Sujata's class.

 A few tweeks and a few hours later, the quilt top was done!

Many thanks to Patricia, Sujata and Roderick for your inspiration.

On the Design Wall

A few weeks ago, I took a class with the wonderful Sujata Shah called "Organized Chaos."

I used the fabric on the left for the color scheme.

Sujata said, "These blocks are like potato chips."

She was right!  I just kept making more and more.  

And more!  I was having so much fun, I decided to make it a queen size quilt.

I've always been fascinated by kaleidoscope quilts, and 

Sujata's pattern has a special twist.

I just love the way some of the blocks seem to burst out of their seams!

This is about half the quilt, not yet sewn together.

My design wall isn't big enough for the whole thing, so I'll make one section at a time.

A final check on value before I begin sewing the rows together.  

OK, ready to sew!

Cultural Fusion Quilts Blog Tour!

I am so happy to recommend Sujata Shah's beautiful new book, Cultural Fusion Quilts!

You may know Sujata's gorgeous quilts from her blog, The Root Connection.

If you've visited her there, you know she has a unique and fanciful eye for design and color.  

She grew up in India, where vibrant color and pattern are everywhere.

In the book, she tells the story of coming to the U.S. as a young bride, feeling like 

"a character from a color film that had walked into a black and white film."

With Cultural Fusion Quilts, she introduces us to her world of color and design, 

and helps us step into that joyful place with our quilt-making.

Sujata taught quilt-making at a shop in the Seattle area for several years.  

I had the good fortune to receive her help while selecting fabrics for some of my quilts.

Over the years, we became friends, and I was invited to try the technique she presents in the book.  

I found it easy, fun and new.  The results create unique quilts with just enough quirkiness to add a sense of the maker's own hand.  No two quilts could ever be alike with this technique!

You'll find my quilt in the book.  Today I'll show you some of my process in making it.

I started with pinwheel blocks.  I just love the way each one dances in its own way!

This is one of the many configurations of the Rail Fence block on the cover.

Once I made many, I tried out different arrangements.

Above, I've alternated warm and cool pinwheels.

Each cut set made a group of four. Here I tried grouping the sets 

and placed all the red ones in the middle.

I kept making blocks, (I couldn't stop!), and decided to alternate the sets by warm and cool colors.

I had enough leftover to make another quilt. 

I decided to add them to the border, and make it queen size. 

Now it's my favorite quilt to sleep under!

To win a copy of this book, enter a comment, and make sure I have a way to email you.   I'll do a random drawing Saturday night, 12/6, at 9:00 p.m. PST, and post the winner on Sunday.  If you're in the U.S., you'll receive a print copy.  If you live outside the U.S., you'll get the ebook.

Here are the dates and locations for the next blog tour stops.

Thursday December 4 Victoria Gertenbach @ The Silly Boodilly

Friday December 5 Rachaeldaisy @ Blue Mountain Daisy

Saturday December 6 Lori Dejarnett @ Humble Quilts
  
Sunday December 7 Casey York @ The Studiolo

Monday December 8 Malka Dubrawsky @ A Stitch in Dye

Tuesday December 9 Sherri Lynn Wood @ daintytime

Wednesday December10 Bonnie Hunter @ Quiltville's Quips and Snips

Thursday December 11 Jake Finch @ Generation Q

Friday December 12 Jan Burgwinkle @ Be*mused

Saturday December 13 Janet Treen @ Quiltsalott

Sunday December 14 Lindsay Conner @ Lindsay Sews 

Good luck!