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Lantern Quilt

Posted on December 28, 2008October 10, 2009 by Martha

I have chosen this quilt (posted In January, 2009) as my entry in the Park City Girl’s Fall Quilt Festival.

This pattern is from a 1976 quilt booklet, “Stitch ‘n Patch Quilts.” I love these old pattern books — instructions are minimal and usually take up one page or less. I always use templates to draw my quilt pieces & scissors to cut them — rotary cutting and quick piecing don’t work well for the type of scrap quilts I make. Sometimes these newer techniques waste fabric (and vintage fabric is precious), or add extra seams (to eliminate set-in pieces) which I believe detract from the original design. I draw my quilt pieces and also my quilting designs with a #2 pencil, which is another thing I love about quilting — it doesn’t require a lot of equipment. I use a large hoop for hand quilting. Quilting in a frame is so appealing, but I had one years ago and I never quite got the hang of it.

Much of the fabric for this quilt came from an old brick pattern 1940’s quilt top purchased on ebay, together with some large pattern vintage prints that I was desperate to use in a project. The brick blocks were not quite wide enough to form the center pieces of the lantern, so many of these larger pieces are pieced themselves. The small yellow border is vintage, the larger red border is reproduction fabric. The lanterns are quilted in vertical and diagonal lines — the spaces are quilted with diagonal lines and motifs from the book “Japanese Design Motifs.” This book is a wonderful resource for quilting patterns. Some of the quilting designs were probably overly elaborate, because after the quilt was washed, I found it was difficult to make out some of the details.

Lantern Quilt
Martha Dellasega Gray, 2006
machine pieced, hand quilted
75″ x 87″

japanese-lantern

japanese-lantern2

japanese-lantern3

japanese-lantern4

Stitch ‘n Patch Quilts
Copyright 1976
Graphic Enterprises, Inc.

japanese-lantern6

20 thoughts on “Lantern Quilt”

  1. LynnS says:
    December 29, 2008 at 11:25 am

    Lovely quilt! I could sit with this quilt for hours and admire the fabrics you have used.

    Reply
  2. Pingback: It’s the economy, stupid « Mrs. Schmenkman Quilts
  3. Zonnah says:
    October 10, 2009 at 9:44 am

    It is beautiful!

    Reply
  4. Carol Hansen says:
    October 10, 2009 at 12:39 pm

    Lots of interesting fabrics to look at.

    Reply
  5. AnnieO says:
    October 10, 2009 at 2:25 pm

    Your quilt story is so interesting–thanks for all the details and your thoughts on templates and the simplicity that quilting can be. The fabrics are wonderful and the overall quilt a pleasure to look at.

    Reply
  6. Sarah says:
    October 10, 2009 at 8:08 pm

    I’ve never seen this pattern before. I really like it and the fabrics you selected are great for this piece. It is a very colorful quilt, and your hand quilting is amazing. Thanks for sharing this! ~ Sarah

    Reply
  7. LizzyM says:
    October 11, 2009 at 10:20 am

    What a lovely quilt! Those fabrics are so gorgeous!

    Reply
  8. paula, thequilter says:
    October 11, 2009 at 2:14 pm

    I have seen a paper piecing pattern that is similar to this but this is a beauty.

    Reply
  9. Kelli says:
    October 13, 2009 at 5:21 am

    What a unique and lovely design! Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  10. Katie B says:
    October 13, 2009 at 4:52 pm

    Gorgeous quilt! I love the design and your fabric choices.

    Reply
  11. Terri Stegmiller says:
    October 13, 2009 at 6:30 pm

    This is an interesting pattern that I don’t recall seeing before. Lovely quilt!

    Reply
  12. Marika says:
    October 14, 2009 at 2:24 pm

    Very kind beautiful quilt

    Reply
  13. Elizabeth E. says:
    October 14, 2009 at 8:29 pm

    Wow, this was a great visit at your site. Not only did I get to see a wonderful quilt, but I got some great quilting advice and a pattern to boot!
    I so agree with you about the waste. I just finished making a quilt by a famous quilter who has terrific fabrics, but the way the quilt was constructed wasted so much fabric! I guess if the intent is to sell sell sell, then I realize they have not any interest in saving and being careful with limited resources of money and fabric. Such a good point you make.

    We were in Pacific Grove this past summer on their Festival of Lanterns weekend. It was so fun to see all the lanterns hanging from everyone’s porches. And I thought how fun it would be to make a quilt to remind me of that weekend (my son was married there). Thanks so much for this post!

    –ELIZABETH E, #115

    Reply
  14. Madeline says:
    October 16, 2009 at 9:27 pm

    You did an amazing job of showcasing those unique fabrics. Thanks a lot for sharing the pattern.

    Reply
  15. Miri says:
    October 17, 2009 at 12:55 pm

    Wonderful!

    Reply
  16. Rene' says:
    October 29, 2009 at 8:42 am

    I am slowly making my way through the quilt festival entries. I love your quilt. The fabrics are so wonderful. I have not seen this pattern before. I really love the lanterns and the time you obviously took in selecting each fabric. Your piecing and quilting is amazing. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  17. Anne says:
    November 5, 2009 at 7:30 am

    Really beautiful and thank you for showing the fantastic quilting on it!

    Reply
  18. Casey says:
    January 4, 2010 at 5:49 am

    It’s beautiful

    Reply
  19. Melodee Cartin says:
    April 3, 2010 at 10:20 am

    The very first Japanese exchange student we hosted 17 years ago is getting married and I want to make her a quilt as a gift. I have some Japanese fabrics and have been searching for the perfect pattern to display them. I believe I have found it, if I can master the pattern, I think it will make a lovely gift. Thanks for sharing it.

    Reply
  20. marina says:
    September 19, 2011 at 4:34 am

    Hi Martha, This is a beautiful quilt and I would like to make this chinese lanterns quilt. I am fairly new to quilting so I was wondering if the pattern you have provided has more detail on how to cut and put it together. I am not sure on how to work all the angles.Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Marina

    Reply

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