This piece began when I bought a quilt book at a used book store here in Iowa City. So focused on the images, I didn’t pay much attention to the written content. I later realized it was the catalog for the premiere exhibit at the International Quilt Study Center in Lincoln, Nebraska. (I visited the IQSC for the first time summer 2010). Of all the quilts featured, I was particularly drawn to (see above) “Sea of Japan in Winter,” 1983, by Shizuko Kuroha (this link will take you to IQSC database search page for more detailed info).

I planned to make my own iteration with some of the Japanese daiwabo fabrics in my collection, but wasn’t quite sure of the exact angle to cut the pieces for the block construction. Later, a co-worker gave me a book that chronicled quilt blocks from the 1930’s. There I stumbled upon the block design; it was called Arabic Lattice. The name seemed particularly timely with events in the Middle East this spring, 2011. More quilt sychronicity.