The 18th Quilt Nihon Exhibition, Part 3

It's time for the Contemporary Quilts.

This is an imaginary route map of the Tokyo Metro with some landmark buildings in embroidery by

岩本栄

Tokyo Tower

Gabrielle Paquin from France contributed with this 'Join the Dance'.

高野かづ子

The quilting mirrors the piecing/appliqué.

I loved standing and admiring the fabric strips. Once again I was wondering how many kimonos you need to collect to get all the different shades of purple and blue...

Maybe I should ask the maker, Ms 河邊福子?

Many quilters love to depict the morning or evening sky with its spectacular sunrise/sunset and moonlight.

桑原みい子

Isn't the Sun charming?

A delight in colour by 薬師寺恵美子.

In front of this wallhanging, my friends and I struck up a conversation with a young man. He poited out that the fabric had been dyed with dried onion skin. I wouldn't have noticed (please read, I had been too lazy to read the label) unless he told us. It made me look more closely, and surely there you have all the shades of an onion. The quilting is great, too. In the bottom left corner, there is also a hand-embroidered recipe for onion soup!

The quilt was 'cooked up' by 大澤惠子.

When I look at 児玉美貴子's quilt, I think of winters in the North of Sweden.

The next quilt, however, takes you right down to Africa. The title is 'Rhinoceros and Kitenge'. The latter is apparently the kind of colourful fabric often seen in African ladies' dresses. See how much you can learn from visiting a quilt show in Japan!

Quilt made by 松本友美子

Look at the 'Blackwork' embroidery!

須藤修子's statement 'The things I like the most' must be fashionable frocks with wide skirts!

What 野村紀子 likes best must be Komaki City in Aichi Prefecture. 

I came to this conclusion after a bit of online research, followed up by consulting my friend Pamela of Hokkaido Kudasai. Pamela has visited many of the abundance of castles in Japan and can spot details and locations. Komaki Castle sits proudly on a wooded hill high above the city.

The Italian quilter Teresa Gai contributed another of her unique quilts. She won the Contemporary category in the last show, 2024 with a similar quilt. 

Her method is to take a long strand of thread and wind it up into loops, which are then stitched down with a few stitches. After that,  the entire quilt is covered with tulle or netting. This is then 'quilted' with a single stitch in the middle of each circle of thread.

Mt Fuji is in pieces! 齋藤札子 patched it up! 

The title of this quilt is 'Destruction and Creation', and was made by 能登和子。

屋部志津子's made an abstract design in the Mola technique.

Here is a cheerful quilt for you, full of vibrant flowers and small hearts.

赤田千恵子

Let's take a break here, as there are more Contemporary quilts to write about. I will do that in Part 4.