Quilting Beauties: Asian Beauties

I'll share another project from the "Quilting Beauties" book, this time one entitled Asian Beauty.
This one is really simple to sew, but it's such a pretty setting as the New York Beauty blocks merge to resemble fans.

As usual, Polly put herself in charge of the project.

The quilting addresses my mantra of "quilt what you want them to see", so a beautiful line of feathers was stitched the length of the piece in the black bands.

The design of black blocks down the centre also feature linear quilting to keep your eye moving up and down.

 We took it next door to photograph on the neighbour's pergola and Polly climbed to the top...

 while this nonsense with Maddie took place below.

Once the chase began, I was free to take the photos!

After the book projects went off to the publisher and I had a moment to putter, I found a gorgeous collection of Oriental fabrics at Mrs. P's begging to come home with me. I knew this was a perfect design for them.  

As I stitched, I had this nagging feeling that the colours were really familiar...and yet I had never sewn with this line before.  When I went to take the photo, the light bulb came on.  The colours are an exact match for an Imari china plate which had belonged to my grandmother.

Orange red (Chinese red), green, navy and black - the colours of the china echo those in the fabric collection.  They look a little off in the photographs but in person they are the same.

 I finished off the quilting in a similar-but-different manner, showcasing the fans.

This latter piece is for sale, so if you are interested email me for details The pattern for Asian Beauty may be found in the  book  Quilting Beauties, available on my website..