Chinese Girls at Play

I've been working on this quilt off and on for a long time!  I made it for my two little great-nieces whose parents are my nephew Kris and his wife Jasmine, whom Kris met in China.  Kris is in the diplomatic corps and the family is currently living in Taiwan.  Eliza and Margaret are the little girls' names--Eliza is three and her baby sister is several months old.  I thought the fabrics with the little girls playing was a perfect choice for two little Chinese/American girls!

This quilt is formal enough looking so that the parents could easily hang it in their living room, if they'd like, or of course, in the girls' room, if they happen to be sharing!

Below are some close-ups of the charming fabrics that I used.  I love it that the fabrics that depict the beautiful girls at play show girls of all ages--some toddlers, slightly older girls, and even some pre-teen or teenaged girls.  The girls are playing with traditional Chinese toys, and they are wearing traditional clothes.  All of the fabrics within the blocks were a group of fabrics sold together.  I bought these fabrics a good long time ago, and I first used them in a quilt for a friend of Susan's who adopted a little girl from China.  I was delighted, though, that I had enough left over to make this quilt for these two little special great-nieces of mine.  I bought the border fabric many years later, and was so glad to find one that echoed the carnations that appear in the quilt in the black background fabrics.  My friend Rita did a beautiful job of quilting it on her long-arm machine, and the pattern she used is a carnation pattern.  The quilt is so busy, however, that you can't see the design though you can see how lovely are the swirls that cover the quilt.  Rita used a dark red thread that is perfect for this quilt!

Each block is composed of two fabrics, divided by a strip of red.  When you put the quilt together, the red strips form a lattice.  I forget the name of the block; it might well have the word "lattice" in it!