The 18th Quilt Nihon Exhibition, Part 2

 Let's continue our walk through the exhibition of Traditional Quilts.

It is a long time since I saw one of these beautiful quilts, where a gradation of indigo gradually seeps into grey and finally becomes an area of milky tea. 

If you stand and look at this quilt for a long time, what do you see? I see a thundery sky over a sandy beach where white foamy waves roll in...

I wonder if that is what 松岡一美 saw when she stitched the quilt.

In 高見裕美子's quilt, you got it all - basic Log Cabin blocks, sweeping meanders of stems and flowers, a Mariner's Compass in the centre, double binding and intricate quilting.

柳澤貴美江 made 'Mimosa Fluttering', so unlike the mimosa tree near my house...

On the other hand, the floral quilt 金澤陽子made looks familiar. She made a similar-looking quilt in 2023 for which she won the Grand Prix.

星野弘子 has added a lot of delicate details to her quilt.

樋田みち子

I must admit that this is my favourite quilt. When I saw it from a distance, I was sure it was made with velvet or velveteen - it glowed, it shifted tones and shades as velvet does when you see it from different angles.

but it turned out there is no 'magic' fabric,  just plain cotton.

大谷眞知子 calls the quilt 'Ah! I found it! I wonder what she found, a flower growing out of the asphalt, or how to trick the eye to make plain cotton look like velvet!

Fabric with a colour gradation is often used for Hawaiian quilts. Is that what 菅谷由希子used for this very feminine floral quilt.

Look at the close-up of the machine quilting.

If you haven't got enough striped fabric for your quilt, why not make some with ribbons? 大野恵子did!

橋田民恵　calls her quilt 'Flower Diamond'. 

We've seen the moon before, we've seen dancing rabbits before (in the previous blog post).

Here is also a multitude of quilting patterns.

Quilt made by 桂川池はる

At one time, black quilts were very popular in the US, but Japanese quilters did not take to them. So this quilt by 鈴木美智子 is rather unique. Can you see that she used hexagons to build the Baby Block pattern?

This was the second Baltimore Album quilt. Made by 鈴木久江.

'My Red Letter Day' by 川﨑あずさ

This was the last of the quilts in the Traditional category. The next post, highlighting Contemporary Quilts, will appear on Thursday.