Recently, I received another quilt order from my Japanese friend, Kyoko. We’ve actually never met, but I had the pleasure of quilting for her first-born, Eichi. Now that her second son, Leo, has arrived, she ordered a World -Traveling-Lion theme {Leo, the Lion…get it?}. When I receive orders, I’m often excepting some sort of generic theme and get so tickled when people think outside of the box. It forces me to do the same and get creative. We ran around a few different ideas until I stumbled upon Jill McDonald’s, What a World collection. I’ve never used a panel for a custom quilt, but it felt right and the prints are so colorful and fun.  Kyoko wanted lots of color so this worked out perfectly. And she wasn’t afraid of pink, which I love!!!!!!!  They arrived from Hawthorne Threads and immediately were washed and dried. Then the cities panel was off to get chopped into 7″ X 7″ squares.

What a World, by Jill McDonald

My plan was always to repurpose the panel. However, I loved the in-between highway markings. They inspire movement, travel and a sense of connection. I wanted to incorporate that in my quilt top design. While checking out eye candy on my favorite quilting blogs, I linked over to this quilt {3rd down, grey & yellow}.  It was one of those light bulb moments and I knew what I wanted to do.

This was my first attempt at the layout

     I was very happy about the overall vibe. Plus the pattern linked the cities, which made me smile!  One problem, where was I going to applique Leo, the Lion?  Well, I decided the only solution was to pull out Mexico and give Leo his own square.

Leo has made his debut on the fished top

I was left with the large map and 6 city squares for the quilt back. The map is central and certainly an eye grabber. Again, keeping with the same vibe, I linked the cities.

In progress, quilt back {I ran out of Kona, Ash…darn!}

Off to the fabric store I go…

You could play “I spy” for days with these fabulous fabrics!  Jill, you are amazing!

♥ Robin