Thursday 15 July 2021

What's In A Quilt - 9

I recently completed my crazy quilt project Crazy for Crazy, and now want to write its history. 


Block number nine can be seen easily in the picture above, navy blue and shocking pink. I am sure you can spot it.


If you were expecting an exciting story about this block, I'm afraid you will be disappointed - there is none. 

Yet, I can tell you that it oozes love -it is mainly made up of gifts. 

The two pieces of kimono silk, the coarsely woven blue near the middle and the velveteen in the centre, as well as the plain navy blue pieces are from friends or relatives in Japan. 

The bright sari silk came in the same pack of scraps I used in block #8, and that I had picked up in an Oxfam shop in the UK. 

My memory fails me about the navy blue with silver print, frosty trees - it is obviously a Christmas print, but where did I get it? Was it at Festival of Quilts in Birmingham...?

The lace ornament, and the arched braid herald from Australia. Both are gifts and have been manipulated with bead and stitches, hopefully with the benefactress' blessings. I kept a ribbon wrapped around a Christmas present from my mother.

The beaded Feather Stitch on the left contains 'cheap' beads, but the Stem Stitched stems on the right sport very expensive 'soroban' beads. They have the shape of the beads used on a Japanese abacus, and the cut makes them sparkle.  I got them from a Japanese lady when she no longer was able to continue her  accessory making hobby... so sad, but I am happy to have put the beads to good use. The floras sequins are simple but add a lot of shine.

Some of my favourite stitches are here: Mountmellick, Ribbon Roses, Fly Stitch, Thorn and Herringbone Stitch...  I enjoyed the Puncetto Valsesiano, rich and thick and undulating, the best.

The two flowers in the middle have petals made with Granitos Stitch. The thread is a very nice slippery rayon thread from Art Fibre Endo (A.F.E.) in Kyoto. They regularly had a traders' booth in Tokyo Dome for the Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival every January, and I bought quite a lot of their unique threads.

I worked this block between Dec 19th 2018 and 30th Jan 2019.

My gratitude goes to: Maureen, Auntie, Kaoru,  Mrs S, the person who donated to Oxfam, A.F.E. Jacquie, FOQ, my mother, and all my loyal readers for kind support and encouragement.

7 comments:

Pamela said...

Very pretty!

https://linsartyblobs.blogspot.com said...

It's great that you are using all the gifts and acquisitions instead of leaving them in a drawer.

jacaranda said...

Another stunning block. It must be extremely satisfying to use up all those bits and pieces stored away, you never know when you might need them.

Rachel said...

It doesn't need a story if it's full of love and memories!

Julie Fukuda said...

A story doesn't have to be exciting to be worthy of telling. I love that all those bits and pieces found such a lovely home.

Angela said...

How fun to have such a great shop. I just checked out the link. Oh, the silk ribbon!

crazyQstitcher said...

Your telling of the C.for.C work here, is a story for sure. The additions to each seam are lovely. It's always a joy to read the history of these items.