tropit

A while back I asked for everyone's opinion on what design to use for an Asian inspired quilt that had to be made up fast. (I'm meeting a friend on Jan. 29th and plan to give this to her.) I decided upon the Chinese Lanterns Quilt, http://quilting.about.com/od/quiltpa..._lantern_2.htm . If you look up "Chinese lanterns quilt block" on a search engine, you'll find lots of images of this block made up into some darling quilts.

It's going together pretty quickly, but now, I'm wondering about the details. Has anyone ever made this quilt? If so, what did you do for the tassels, knobs, pendants, top hooks, etc. to make it look more like a lantern? Did you use embroidery, applique, a small block, etc.? Like I said, I don't have a lot of time left to get this done. Good ideas are much appreciated...thanks!

~ Cindy

Jo C

Hi Cindy. I didn't add anything to my Japanese Lantern. I did put sashing between the blocks, then added two borders. It clearly looks like lanterns. The trick is to keep the color of the tops and bottoms of the lanterns cnstant. Good luck! Jo in NC

tropit

Thanks Jo. Yes, I agree. I have to keep the lantern tops/bottoms all the same fabric to give the illusion that they're lanterns. I'm thinking of stacking the blocks to look like a string of lanterns hanging down. I'm also thinking of adding handles at the top of the string and tassels at the bottom. I've seen a couple of layouts done this way and it looks really cute. However, I'll probably have to applique, or embroider these...that takes time...augh! Maybe I won't make too many strings of lanterns in order to keep down the handwork.

Jo C

That would he cute, Cindy. I'd go the applique route...quicker than enbroidery!

Jo on NC