Creating Comfort and Art With Fabric and Thread
This quilt was made with free half-yards that Christa Quilts was giving for orders over a certain amount. The design, called Japanese Yen, is taken from the book Loose Change.
This is a double-sized rendition of a once-popular Bargello tutorial no longer online. Bargello is an interesting technique of joining different width strips and blocks, perfect for using Jelly Roll strips. For this design, the strips even come in the color arrangement that will show off well.
An antique-looking beige toile print for the background, along with a fussy-cut fruit study print, gives the whole quilt a look of the old Dutch or French still-life paintings. Inspired by a Missouri Star video tutorial.
Blocks of fabrics with different prints make an excellent focus for the traditional "I Spy" game. Add a slightly different pattern of laying out the blocks, and definitely non-traditional fabrics for the borders, and you have a unique quilt that will entertain a baby for years.
A photo of this gorgeous quilt caught my attention. After some searching, I located the original pattern, Stars and Stripes Forever, in the book "Knockout Blocks and Sampler Quilts" by (who else) Judy Martin.