Queenie's Needlework: Michelle Hill

Sunday, 24 January 2016

Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival 2016 - Part 1

January is the time of the quilt show in Japan, Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival.
As it is such a crowded event I usually try to visit more than one day and then write up several reports. Lack of free time is hindering me from keeping up this tradition, but I'll try to show you some titbits from the show.

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I was joined by my friends Julie and Tanya. Walking around with friends you see so much more, and are seen by so many people! We were stopped by fellow bloggers (Thanks for stopping to chat, Jenni!) and quilt masters (Chikako Ueno-sensei), apart from all the visitors who just had to look at Julie's beautiful patchwork jacket and bag.

The first thing we did was to check out our blocks on the Partnership Quilt Project.

Here is Julie with her charming Cardinal. Read her amusing account on the making of this block.

My block had been worked into this quilt. I really like the four sections of various musical instruments. If you know that blue and yellow are the colours of the Swedish flag you will easily find my block with the key harp:

Tanya made a crisp block and as you can see she was not the only one to settle for a clef!

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Every year TIGQF features something historic, be it Amish quilts, Swedish wool embroidery or Laura Ingalls Wilder's 'Little House on the Prairie' quilts. For 2016 it was time to showcase the design genius William Morris. I am sure you can recognise some of his beautiful designs from these posters.

A model room with William Morris wallpaper, tiles, curtains and upholstery had been made:

Japanese quilters showed how they have made WM inspired quilts.

Filtered Sunshine, by Isako Murakami＊村上勇子

Taeko Watanabe used the print 'Strawberry Thief' in this quilt＊渡辺多恵子

Some five years ago I took a design class at Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, UK, with Michelle Hill. This Australian quilter is William Morris' biggest admirer and makes the most fantastic quilts in his honour, in a very different style from the ones at this show. I had read on her blog that she would be in Tokyo and was looking forward to seeing both her and her quilts. Unfortunately I saw neither; her work was not represented (NHK made a great mistake by not including her work!!!) and I did not see her in person either. However she has posted several reports on her blog, there are plenty of photographs for you to look at. Enjoy!

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Something you do see at Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival, and probably not at any other show, are framed quilts. These are rather small and are often heavily embroidered.