World Quilt Festival 2022 In Yokohama - Part 5

Japanese homes are small and cramped. There is little space to make or display quilts. The answer for many quilters is making small quilts or miniatures, quilts that have been scaled down from a larger design.

To stitch a Baltimore Album quilt, a Mariner's Compass or other intricate designs within the limit of 50 cm square takes skill and patience. Here are some examples of charm and excellence:

後藤てるみ＊Terumi Goto

If you are into hand embroidery you can spot Lazy Daisy Stitch, Straight Stitch, Stem Stitch, Satin Stitch and Bullion Knot Stitch. 

横井由紀＊Yuki Yokoi

placed zillions of Colonial Knots on her mini quilt which is also heavily stuffed and densely quilted. The quilt measures 40 x 40 cm. You don't need space, but you do need time and endurance for this work.

In the show, there were a number of Log Cabin quilts. Let's have a look.

菅谷由希子＊Yukiko Sugatani

45.5 cm square, and such fine piecework! The embroidery is stunning, too.

塚原和哉＊Kazuya Tsukahara

made a different type of log cabin quilt, partly with Japanese indigo fabric.

川上裕子＊Hiroko Kawakami

delights the viewer with the zig-zag contrast of red and white.

加藤サト子＊Satoko Kato

turned her Log Cabins into a flower garden. 

This photo is unfortunately very blurry, so let's have a look at the details instead.

Aren't the Log Cabin roses just lovely?

She also made the Flying Geese grow in size on the curves.

岡本智津子＊Chizuko Okamoto

built colourful Log Cabin hearts and added trapunto stuffing. On top of that, heavy machine quilting and plenty of beads.

Then she made tiny Suffolk Puffs for the edge.

To see how small they are, compare them with my index finger.

伊藤玲子＊Reiko Ito

is another builder. 

The quilt is just slightly larger than a sheet of A4 paper and still, she has managed to create a  community of 13 buildings, complete with doors and windows, chimneys and towers. There are 27 trees with masses of leaves, a duck pond and three boats on the lake.

Can't you just sit and look and wonder who lives here, what fish they catch in the lake, if they make cider from the apples, whether the schoolmistress is strict, what the sermon will be about on Sunday,  if the children play with rag dolls, the mothers quilt and the fathers play the fiddle after dinner...

近康予＊Yasue Kon

added all sorts of patterns to her sampler, for example, houses, stars, flowers, hexagons...

This quilt is made by someone who loves her sewing machine, and I think her sewing machine loves her back!

ハンフリーズ深雪＊Miyuki Humphreys

offers us even more houses when she takes us on a drive to Castle Combe, a little village in Wiltshire, UK. It is often referred to as the prettiest village in England.

For us who live overseas, to get there we might need

this Mariner's Compass by

高橋千春＊Chiharu Takahashi

She made good use of the prairie point border for the waves of the ocean.

Julie, who is a scout leader of many years standing, pointed out that many compasses use the Fleur-de-lis lily as the symbol for North.

赤松香織＊Kaori Akamatsu

also used small triangles in the border of her hand-stitched and hand-quilted little quilt.

For the last miniature quilt let's admire this Baltimore Album Quilt which also features triangles in its sashing and narrow border.

 坂本桂子＊Keiko Sakamoto

I take my hat off to all these quilters.

I am not the only one who took photos at the show, please head over to Pamela's 'Hokkaido Kudasai' to see more quilts and much better photos than I have shown here.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5