I Love Sushi

Who loves sushi?

I love sushi... especially this type of sushi! I had lots of fun testing this fabulous paper-pieced "I Love Sushi" quilt pattern by Sonja Callaghan of Artisania. As always, I spent way too much time picking out just the right fabrics...

Any level quilter will be able to paper-piece these simple blocks with ease. The finished quilt is 37 x 43 inches which makes a lovely wall-hanging or baby quilt.

I love adding extra details so the embroidery around the sushi & rice was a pleasant break between the piecing and quilting stages. I even embroidered the name of the quilt pattern on the cup!

The following shows my usual quilting method. First, I doodle on a small black & white copy to figure out how I want to quilt it. Sonja has made it easy for you by including some design pages in the pattern booklet!

Then I trace the design onto Glad Press'n Seal with a Sharpie and once dry, I wipe it down to make sure none of the black transfers to the quilt... especially if it's white! Next, I position & stick the designs to the quilt. I quilt on the main lines through the plastic film, tear it away & add details later. As you can see in the picture, I have cut the centre from the flower. The film tends to be a bit tricky to pick out of intersecting & travel stitches. I use this same method for transferring embroidery patterns to linen.

Once my cherry blossoms were quilted, it was just a matter of filling in the empty space. I haven't done a lot of compact free-motion quilting especially on something this large so I admit I was a bit hesitant and terrified at first. I did some more doodling on paper and quilted a test swatch before I started on the quilt but once I got going it was quite fun and it was a lot easier & quicker than I expected.

After quilting the entire centre panel, I even felt confident enough to free-hand the blossoms in the outer border using only chalk dots marking the centres. The heavy quilting caused the quilt to pull into the centre and distort the shape but Krista came to my rescue. She suggested to quilt piano keys in the brown outer border and it worked perfectly!

Make your own "I Love Sushi" quilt by instantly downloading the pattern from the Artisania Pattern Shop or by running out to select local shops to add a professionally printed paper pattern booklet to your collection. You can find more information & watch some cute videos by visiting Sonja's blog.

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)