A couple months ago, I took a beginning free-motion quilting class at Santa Fe Quilting,  and when I was there, I found out that they have a section of Asian fabrics in the last room in the store. I had been in the store a few times but never had ventured that far back. The teacher for the class, Deb Martinez, had a small quilt on the wall with blocks cut from a Four Seasons Usagi Rabbit panel. She interspersed blocks made from Tula Pink’s City Sampler 100 Modern Quilt Blocks book in between the different rabbit images and Japanese symbols. I’ve been wanting to make a quilt for my stepson, Drew, who is half-Japanese, and when I saw Deb’s class demo quilt, I knew I wanted to make my own version for Drew and had to leave with one of the panels. I took Deb’s advice and snapped a photo of the entire panel before I cut it apart because I don’t want to place any of the images or symbols upside down!

Four Season Usagi Rabbit Panel

I found some gorgeous Japanese fabrics to use in the sampler blocks in two Etsy shops, Kimonomomo and Shiboridragon. I’m going to use the luscious crane fabric below for the quilt back. I still haven’t decided on what solid fabrics that I’ll use in the sampler blocks to add just the right amount of balance and contrast.

I’m going to use all 30 of the rabbit images and Japanese symbols cut down to 6.5″ squares and will be making 30 of the Tula Pink blocks. I plan to start sewing blocks next weekend at the latest. I hope to finish it in time for Christmas. It should be a fun quilt to make.

Linking up with Molli Sparkles Sunday Stash.