My friends and fellow show visitors, Julie and Tanya, have written new reports from the show. Check them out, and I will fill in a few gaps.
Framed category
I don't know of any other quilt show where there are framed quilts. A few years ago this category was added to the contest and it was an instant hit. The area is always crowded, maybe because the small quilts contain many fine details to look at closely. For an embroidery nerd like me it is a constant source of inspiration and awe.
This gold encrusted quilt was heavily bedecked with metal ornaments. The patched pieces were joined in a way you hardly could tell there were several pieces of fabric there.
This picture brought back memories of my brother's butterfly collection. Can you see how the butterflies have been pinned? How the flat pictures looks 3 dimensional? I love the illusion of shadows!
モティールby Sayuri Takao 高尾小百合
For friends of knots, here is a feast!
Lace & Flowers by Takako Koshino 越野多賀子
'Cute' is a good word to describe many Japanese quilts, especially when there are small animals dressed in clothing doing seasonal things, like in this calendar of the year. I only got this detail, there were too many heads and elbows in the way for a full picture.
Most visitors are well behaved and know they should not touch the quilts, but these smaller items have so many details they probably 'inspire pointing and fingering'. Is that why this sleepy owl is behind glass? Aren't the reflections interesting? Isn't the quilting lovely?
Let's move on to the Original category
Is this a jigsaw puzzle? Are there letters?
Entering a quilt in the show is not easy, especially for quilters outside Japan. Some quilters have been successful, though, and here are two entries:
Actually while sitting down for a rest in the stands, I was approached by Michal who recognized me from my blog. She is a bubbly American who lives in Norway. It is so nice to meet the quilt makers in person. This quilt was a masterpiece of curved Flying Geese and all the lines in the border are appliquéd.
Michal, you certainly have found your quilting path!
Many quilters make a series of quilts. I guess this is such a quilt as it has II in the title.
Now if there ever was a crowd stopper it was this Christmas quilt.
Everyone wanted a picture of the whole quilt, as well as of the multitude of details, even late in the day when the venue was emptying.
In it you can see
a Double Wedding Ring border
where each seam of the rings has been appliquéd with bias tape,
each joint has a pieced star,
each centre is filled with a charming scene from Santa's busy life or things associated with X-mas (candles, cake, presents...)
The inner border is made up of
Cathedral Window blocks
Inside that border there is another border with
Pineapple blocks in the corners and
tall fir trees made of Suffolk Puffs/Yo-yos
Sampler with various pieced blocks and
an appliqué sashing!
I take my hat off to Misako Sano 佐野美佐子 for her Merry Merry X'mas
17 comments:
What a wonderful collection of quilts. thanks for sharing the details too. pretty awesome!
Such pretty work.... I can't even imagine all the details. Thanks for sharing!
The 'Women ll' quilt makes me think of my friend Margret's quilts. Take a look at them at her blog: quiltstudio 22. She has some amazing women quilts and of course a lot of other beautiful ones too! Louise
Thank you for sharing. These quilts are incredible. Especially the Christmas one. I truly think many of these quilts need to be in art gallery's around he world - seriously. So much talent to show the rest of the non-quilting world.
That Christmas quilt seemed like a lot of work and was very popular with the close-up viewers, but I think all those parts were competing with each other for attention and it needed some place to rest the eye.
There are so many different quilts, the variety is interesting!
Hi Louise, or if you know Swedish, Hej!
I had a look at Quiltstudio22 and Margaret's beautiful quilts. Her women have a MESSAGE, they take responsibility for the life they carry and the Earth.
Kyoko Ochiai's ladies are more like mannequins in a show window.
The metod of making physical forms out of geometric pieces might be inspired by Yoshiko Kurihara's style. (the first picture in this post: http://queeniepatch.blogspot.jp/2017/01/the-16th-tokyo-international-great.html)
Ms Kurihara won the Grand Prix of this show in 2006 and has been showing quilts in the 'sensei' (professional) exhibit ever since.
There are so many styles of quilting, and it is SO interesting to see others' works.
Thank you for letting me see your friend's blog.
I agree, quilting ought to be taken more seriously as the form of ART it is!
In this quilt show there was a section of antique quilts from the University of Nebraska, and they were well preserved and exhibited (sorry no photos were allowed so I can't blog about them).
The Christmas quilt was a great sampler of all kinds of quilting.
It was certainly a showcase of quilt styles. I wonder if the quilter started with a sampler in the middle and then just added border after border and wanted to make them more and more spectacular... I know the feeling as I have made border quilts and enjoyed it tremendously.
Have a great weekend, Julie-sensei!
Thank you for your kind comments about my work as it was such an honor for me to be part of the Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival.
We, foreign quilters, who live in Japan, are disappointed that the organizers don't let more quilts from overseas in. When a quilt from a foreign land makes it to the show you can bet it is a beauty, like yours. I was also surprised to see an entry from abroad in the FRAMED category as this is something quite unique (I think). Congratulations on passing all the hurdles.
Your quilt is a jewel!
Thank you for sharing these images. Very interesting.
what a delight to see such variety and as you say good to see embroidered quilts too. The flying geese really amazed me the most and how good to meet the lady who made it. Will be coming back to your blog for further browsng of all the quilts you have shared
I am sorry my picture of the Flying Geese was not so clear. Better have a look at Tanya's snap shot:
http://bytaniwa.blogspot.jp/2017/01/tokyo-quilt-show-blogpost-two.html
Many thanks to Julie, Tanya and yourself for sharing the wonderful photos and notes for the quilts. The close-ups show the incredible amount of dedication, expertise of needlework and artistry. Judging must be near impossible to choose winners. It certainly is to choose a favourite from the above.
The judges are all 'experts' arty or academic people. I wish they had a 'visitors' choice' to hear what ordinary quilt makers think.
In a country where there are many housewives with husbands at work, children flown out and time on their hands, then spending years on these hand stitches masterpieces is not surprising. The next generation of women go on working after starting a family and will have little time for hobbies - maybe machine quilting will get a boost!?
That Christmas quilt was one of my favorites. I love all of the tiny details.
Julie, see above, pointed out that there are so many details that they compete with each other. That is true, but is still is a great quilt and I for one loved looking close up at the details.
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