Okan Arts Quilting & Textile Tours to Japan are open for booking. To learn more +click here By Patricia Belyea TOKYO JP Three days after a traffic-stopping snowstorm hit the most populated city in the world, the Tokyo Quilt Festival opened its doors. Here are oodles of photos from Opening Day so you can vicariously tour the show floor. NOTE: This is only a thimbleful of the quilts exhibited! Most of the credits were listed in Japanese. I have included the artists’ names when they were available in English. original design category—a sampling original design category—the winners Detail: First Place—Jim Hay Detail: 2nd Place—Emiko Yakushiji Detail: 3rd Place— Hiroko Ouchi wa (the essence of Japan) category—a sampling wa category—the winners First Place—Yasuko Anai Second Place—Momoe Kashihara Third Place—Tamiko Mawatari traditional design category—the winners First Place— Rieko Hasegawa Second Place—Emiko Kobayashi Third Place—Kyo Saito invitational category—a sampling Quilt Artist: Sachiko Yoshida Quilt Artist: Mitsuyo Akita Quilt Artist: Keiko Miyauchi Quilt Artist: Toshie Shinohara Quilt Artist: Etsuko Ishitobi show winners Friendship Award—Chikako Akashi Hand Making Award—Toshiko Imai Japan Quilt Grand Prix Second Place—Chiharu Katsuragawa Japan Quilt Grand Prix First Place—Masako Sanada To take a look at the SPECIAL EXHIBITS at 2018 Tokyo Quilt Festival +click here To examine UP-CLOSE PHOTOS of the quilts at 2018 Tokyo Quilt Festival +click here # # # # # ABOUT US: Okan Arts, a petite family business, is co-owned by mother-daughter duo Patricia Belyea and Victoria Stone. Patricia and Victoria sell Japanese textiles online, host creative quilting experiences, and lead quilting & textile tours to Japan. FOLLOW OKAN ARTS ON INSTAGRAM @okanarts
My first post from this years show featured a section on children's book quilts. I don't know why Tokyo Dome and NHK pick out books for eac...
See, how doable this quilt is.......my part is completed, except for the binding and the label. It was an absolute joy to make......as a reader from Tenn. commented, "It made my little ole heart leap with joy", .....and isn't that what quilting does for all of who are constantly planning what to start next. As for me, I do have several ideas mulling around, but first I want to finish getting everything ready for market. I've decided to ship my booth supplies this year, as I've made the trip to Houston a few too many times. UPS says....drop everything off 1 week in advance and it will be waiting for me at the other end. That made me smile big time! :-) I've made one other big decision.....pack light so there is lots of room to bring home treasures, or we'll just tuck them in the UPS boxes......always need to be thinking. "May you be blessed with the four comforts of life: love, liberty, health and contentment". unknown...everyone have an extra special, happy sort of day!
A large part of one day of my visit to the Quilt Festival was devoted to visiting the various exhibitions. Again, there was soooo much to see, such a variety, such great idea’s, such wonderful workmanship. I came away just itching to get back to fabrics, needles and thread! First stop, of course: ElaTED, the fabulous quilt by Ted Storm, a very deserved price winner of the Founders Award! The quilt just jumps at you, such great design, vibrant colour, so much to see, different designs in each corner, and her explanation so wonderful: ‘I started with a fabric I really did not like…..’(the plaid fabric) the sign of a true artist to make this out of it! Then, America Let It Shine by Sherry Reynolds, Best of Show Award, all to do with the maker’s love for her country. Just about everything in the quilt had a meaning, the various hues of blue, the different kinds of red, quilted text from the Declaration of Independence etc. What I liked was that her original – now plasticized - sketch (contrary to the quilt itself which was totally machine made, this was done the old fashioned way, with paper and crayons) was available to be looked at. This piece of wonderful workman ship is from the quilt Baltimore in the Provence made by Ellen Heck, second place in the Handmade Competition. And look at that hand quilting: If you want to have a look at all the prize winners (there are two more Dutch prize winners, Janneke de Vries-Bodzinga and Antionia Heering) you can click here. Of course there were some really cute quilts by Japanese quilters, this is Spring Farm by Yuko Sawada:- And The twelve days of Christmas by Osami Gonohe:- All the ‘snowflakes’ you see, there must hundreds – maybe even more - of them, are embroidered French knots. This quilt is called BBK, loved the name, it stands for: Bookcase Before Kindles! Made by Margaret Kessler. Some other quilts that caught my eye, this is Sunburst by Connie Watkins (handpieced, handquilted):- This is Four block Democratic Rose, unknown quiltmaker, c. 1860:- You have to love this name again: TGIF by Becky Stehpenson, quilted by Cynthia Clark , TGIF in this case stands for Thank Goodness It’s Finished J ! Then on to my favourite exhibition this year: the Quilts de Legende exhibition, French handmade quilts, inspired by antique quilts:- First, Clarissa by Aline Joulin:- Detail: a lesson in how to make a simple pattern look different using different values of fabric.. Second, Bath by Marie-Louise Stipon:- Detail: notice how not all blocks of triangles are the same size Alice Springs by Annick Tauzin:- This year a lot more exhibitions were allowed to be photographed than the last two years, and there were so many beautiful quilts, it was dazzling! Unfortunately after an hour my camera refused to put any more pictures on my memory card (a new 4Gb, with only about 100 pics on it…) so I had to use my telephone to make pictures, watching my battery go down, down and further down. Made less pictures than I was planning to but hope you enjoyed these! Phyllis
This is Lorna’s Saturday Surprise quilt and it was a 2012 BOM project. Lorna decided to put her blocks on point and added the criss cross sashing design which looks fantastic in the two colors giving it a woven effect. The fabric choices are brilliant and the cool mint green with the red is stunning. **For those of you that are wanting to find this pattern the shop that did the BOM no longer offers it as the shop as changed ownership. So please do not email me asking for the pattern as I did not make it, I just quilted it! Please use the photos as inspiration to making your own** She asked for custom quilting and to just have fun with it so I did! I started with the Beadboard design in the outer border, used my channel locks on my Millennium for this design. Then quilted feathers in the setting triangles, curls in the sashing and various designs in the blocks and keep the quilting light. SID on the sashing strips and around the blocks. Lorna brought extra wide Stonehenge backing which is one of my favorites to quilt on as it is so soft and shows off the quilting very well.
It is time for a little summer shopping. Join us for our annual online shop hop. Here is how it works. Make an online purchase before the end of July and receive our recent Shop Hop goodie bag. It includes: Prairie Queen block pattern Kaufman sunflower yellow batik fat quarter and Our Dresden Sunflower quilt and pincushion pattern (perfect for your sunflower yellow fat quarter) If your purchase is $25.00 or larger you will receive our new Temecula Quilt Co Tote Bag Free. Here are a few of the new items we have added to the website. Our newest collection booklet T is for Tiny. It features 6 tiny quilts approximately 7" x 10" T is for Tiny display clip This clip is perfect for displaying your Tiny quilt collection. Prairie Burgoyne Pattern Finished Quilt 65" x 81" Historical Stripe Fat Eighth Bundle This bundle is perfect for fussy cutting Little Gems Back to School Finished Quilt 51" x 54" Our quilt featured on the cover of the 2009 Quilt Sampler Magazine is back in print and ready for you to create a scrappy classic. **NOTE** If you placed an order over the weekend I will be including it in our Online Shop Hop and all the goodies that apply will be on there way to you. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Please be patient with us (and by us I mean me) I will get your order in the mail as soon as possible. Thanks.
Bundled-up children make snow angels and skate across a frozen river while horse-drawn...
My friend Ann makes beautiful appliqué quilts. Although she is also a talented hand quilter, she asked me to quilt her Baltimore Christmas Album quilt for her. As I worked on each block I was so im…
A snowy mountain scene inspired today's free pattern day. Scroll down to find two dozen free quilt patterns for winter white quilts! These c...
Welcome to finish up Friday AND the final day of the No Scrap Left Behind blog tour. I appreciate all of the kind comments that were left along the way. It's been fun to finally show the quilts I worked so hard on behind the scenes for months on end. (Secret sewing is not easy!) Today my friend Amy, of Diary of a Quilter, is sharing her beautiful take on the subtle quilt. Amy and I have been long time blog friends and we've even been quilt market roommates a time or two. I had to chuckle when she picked the subtle quilt, because it seemed like it would be right up her alley. It's fun to see the quilt sewn up in a different color way, too! She's giving away a copy of the book, so be sure to visit her here. There's so much I could say about this quilt, I don't even know where to start. It's definitely a favorite! In a lot of ways this quilt reminds me of my grandmother. She was a simple, hard-working lady who loved the color red. She was definitely a make-do-and-mend kind of woman. This quilt is an homage to her. This quilt started out with the idea of making a scrappy Irish chain quilt, but completely scrappy, not focusing on just one color for the chain. This is really embarrassing, but this was the start.... It was a very rocky start, I might add, but I liked the idea too much to let it go. In the book, I shared the process of how I got from the photo, above, to the finished quilt, below. I thought it was important to include a section in the book about what to do when things AREN'T working. (Because I know that that's my reality a lot of times. ha!) Sometimes it's quite a process to get from the initial idea to the finished quilt.... but it's always worth it! I used up a LOT of scraps for this quilt. Especially my low volume stash. I love that there is so much variety in the patchwork. One could look at it for hours. All of the chain blocks are red and white polka dots. A classic and a favorite. I have a feeling that this quilt will age very well. Steffani did the beautiful quilting on this one, as well. I chose a simple daisy pattern, which finishes it off quite nicely. This quilt is a generous twin size...66" x 90", but it would be easy to adapt to almost any size. Today, I'm going to do a giveaway as well! I'm going to be giving away two copies of my new book! One winner, within the US, will receive a hard copy of No Scrap Left Behind. One winner, outside the US, will win a digital copy of the book. If you'd like to win, please leave me a comment in this post. In your comment, I'd love to hear what your favorite color (or combination) is at the moment. Be sure to include whether you are in the US or not, as well as your email address, so I can contact you in case you win. Thank you SO MUCH for celebrating my book release with me. I sure appreciate it! edited to add: the giveaway is now closed. thanks to all who entered! Ok, now it's time to link up your finishes for the week! Thanks for joining me for finish it up Friday!
My block is not completed to finish up the Winter/Christmas DYB.
Merry Christmas everybody! Alie's search for an ice skate christmas decoration led me to do this picture & I have to say I'm really pleased with it - I really love blue & brown together! A continuation of this was thinking about the nutcracker & how I loved the ballet! This is my winter wonderland picture. I hope you all have a really special christmas & a lovely new year. Lots of love Sharon xxx
The first day of winter, December 21, is quickly approaching in the Northern Hemisphere! To herald its arrival, we're featuring this lovely ...
A guided tutorial to making the Homebound Quilt Pattern using Ruby Star Society Candlelight collection
I just love Stack N Whack because the possibilities are endless. I just finished this today- started last week when my quilt group theme was Christmas in July. The block setting was inspired by my favorite Stack n Whacker, Linda Rotz Miller.
When I am stalled on a quilt (as I am currently with the Ohio Star), or if I am waiting in an office for Karl or for car maintenance, I take along handwork to keep busy.Quite a while ago (years and years) I began making Christmas stockings, table runners, wall hangings, ring bearer pillows, etc., using Crazy Quilting as the medium. I fell in love with the art form quite unexpectedly. < As a younger woman I always found Crazy Quilts to be especially unattractive, and wondered "what would possess someone to create such monstrosities?" Then, one day while shopping in my first true quilt shoppe, I found a CQ sampler hanging on a wall, with a sign-up notice for a class. There was something about this woman's work that made me really stop and look at the mixture of materials and embroidery work with curiosity and excitement instead of the typical dismay and repulsion. It was beautiful and compelling, and no longer a gruesome mash of confusion and mayhem. I wanted to learn this art form...I wanted to Crazy Quilt! I signed up right on the spot! These are some of my Christmas stockings, with a close-up view of my needlework: Sometimes the stockings have themes; either color, or a specific idea. This particular stocking centers around fishing. For children the themes can be based on toys or cartoon characters, or even Santa himself. Or, perhaps something reflecting what it is they would like to "be" when they grown-up. Of course, a good theme could be sports- or hobby-related, too. Perhaps a favorite team....or all about travel. This purple and cream colored confection was my first attempt at creating a stocking pattern of my own. I drew up a stocking shape pattern (with a shape and size I could work with) and set to work collecting remnants of many types of material other than cotton to use. Sometimes I broused flea markets or barn sales and had great luck. Other times I had to stick with sorting through remnant bins at the local chain fabric stores. Then I began to add beads, laces, pieces of doilies, old hankies, ribbon and the like to my stash. It's just the thrill of finding another way to use material, and combining different material textures and threads in one place, that keeps me working with it. This piece is still in process (a lot of stockings are in process), and the yellow thread you see is my method of basting - to keep the pieces in place while I quilt them down.I was taught to use long straight pins to hold the edges over and everything in check while embroidering, but I found it painful to work around all of the straight pins, so I adopted the practice of basting the edges very loosely to accomplish the task. I don't mind pulling the threads out as I work, and I certainly don't mind not being gored every time I handle the work! As you can see, it doesn't compromise the final results in any way, either.This last little sample is simply to show that I also use traditional blocks in creating stockings. Although, I do allow myself the fun/luxury of adding beads and gold thread to the quilting process. The fun is in the selection of materials for the blocks, and then embellishing like mad on the top (in this case, the front of the stocking). If you look closely you'll see I stitched a holly leaf and berry design at the intersection of the half squares, then echo-quilted the holly leaves with a matching cream thread before adding the gold beads as specular highlights. Anyhow, besides making clothes every once in a while, I do have other sewing projects besides the quilts. And, as my sons have pointed out, if I would finish them I could sell them (which I have done a time or two in the past). So here goes nothing!
For Day 16, here's a quilt which celebrates the delight and innocence of children everywhere. The "Little Darlings" theme relates to the Hu...
Explore ivoryblushroses' 10029 photos on Flickr!
Hello Friends, my Silver Maple quilt is featured in the latest Fons and Porter’s Easy Quilts Winter 2012 issue! YAY! [image source: Fons and Porter] This small-sized wall hanging can e…
Use Scraps to Make Yours in Any Festive Color Combo! Yo-yos in decreasing sizes are slipped over dowels to create these sweet little trees. They are charming in just about any color and will make fun additions to your holiday decor. They are also lovely gifts, and a great use of scraps. The trees can …
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It's Day 5 of our Winter Quilts series! We're here to talk about the concept of dark/light harmony ("Notan") in art and quilting. Notan ref...
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. What better way to spend Black Friday than finishing up your Secret Santa Sew along. Lets get started! S e c r e t S a n t a S e w A l o n g S t e p S i x + + + + + Cutting from a variety of light prints, cut: 31 strips, 2-3/4" x 11-3/4" Use diagram below to piece 5 sashing rows and 4 block rows. Sew the rows together, quilt as desired and Enjoy!
Hello friends! I don’t know about you, but just the idea of Christmas this year has me super-excited! I already
Explore Lilolein's 666 photos on Flickr!
As promised, here are more of the antique quilts that were on special display at the Vermont Quilt Festival. (Please refer back to my previous post for ownership info.) Enjoy! Touching Stars with Red Bows, circa 1850. From the show book: "As pretty as a Christmas package, there are appliqued hearts in the center of the leaf clusters as well as at the ends of the bows. Was this a wedding quilt, perhaps, for the Elizabeth who included her name in the quilting?" I just love those bows on the ribbon border! Beautiful! Love Apple, circa 1850. "The pomegranate, also referred to as a love apple, was often used to represent love, abundance, and marriage. This bright color scheme is often found in Eastern Pennsylvania." Cornwall Hearts, circa 1890. "This unknown pattern found in Cornwall, NY. Finely appliqued, crudely made into a summer quilt at a later date." Oak Leaf and Heart Rose with Oak Tree Border, circa 1850-70. "The maker is unknown, but this pattern with tree borders is common to New York, Pennsylvania, and New England." Emily's Oak Leaf and Reel, circa 1854. "Emily Webb of Monroe, New York made this quilt just prior to her marriage to David Fosdick. Emily died in 1865; David committed suicide in 1869. Their children were split up and sent to live with relatives. Emily's 10 year old daughter Ruth inherited her mother's quilts (A16 below) and passed them down to her children." I love the half blocks on the top and side of this quilt! Awesome! Emily's Star, circa 1854. "Two years before her marriage, Emily Webb of Orange County, New York created this unique star quilt using thirteen different turkey red prints and one green fabric. Emily's quilts (A15 above) are in remarkably good condition that gives us an idea of how much they meant to her family." New York Oak and Rose with Willow Tree Border, circa 1850. "Made by a member of the Halstead Family of Middletown, New York. Generally found along the Erie Canal between Albany and the Finger Lakes during the period 1840-1870, this pattern does not usually include hearts as in this quilt. Trees in the border are characteristic of central New York." Southington, Connecticult Signature, circa 1847. "Numerous inscriptions from women friends and family on this quilt offer best wishes to Harriet A. Jones on her upcoming 1848 marriage to the newly ordained Rev. Robert Palmer Stanton. Especially touching is the block inscribed by Harriet telling them how much she will miss them. Towns of Chester, Meriden, Southington, Connecticut are noted, as is Westfield, Massachusetts." Interesting big-check fabric used on the border; gives a unique effect. Unadilla, New York Signature, circa 1860. "This almost perfect quilt has names of family and friends of the Prindle family in the Unadilla, New York area. Note the quilted heart next to each signature." Beautiful penmanship! Great fabrics! New Hampshire and Indiana Signature, circa 1859. "For reasons we don't yet understand, a group from Boscawen, NH relocated to West Creak, Indiana. This quilt bears signatures from both locations." Not often seen as a signature block......but I like it! Cotton-Fuller Stars, circa 1885-6. "All but two of the star centers have 'Mother' written on them. One center has 'Mrs. Jennett Cotton + Fuller Dresses.' Another has 'Made by Cora B. Cotton 1885-6.' Preliminary research places both mother and daughter in Stamford, Vermont." I love that some of the stars were fussy cut......great effect! I think that is all of the antique quilts from that exhibit that I have pictures for, but I'll keep checking......I took over 200 pics at the show! One of the lectures we attended was "The Textile Detectives Are in: What does your antique quilt have to say?" Hosted by the Carolyn Fernandez, Priscilla Hatch, Donna Bister and Richard Cleveland (with some help from Gerald Roy!), they invited us to bring in antique quilts and they would examine them on stage and talk about them. It was wonderful! Here are a few of the quilts that were on the stage. (We were quite far back in the seats, so these are as zoomed as I could get! lol) Yeah.....this one's going on the list to make! You betcha! lol This is the front...... ......and this was the back. Really interesting use of a big striped fabric for the sashing on the front. They cut it without caring where the stripe fell. I love that! I'll check to see if any more of the antique quilts are on my camera. If not, then the next post will be the show quilts.......they're AWESOME! regan
This Peek Through Quilt Card is stunning and the best part is that if you change up the colors it would be perfect for any occasion!
Photo memory quilts are wonderful gifts and make great keepsakes. They all look cool draped over a couch and will constantly serve as a reminder of happy time. With just a little time and effort, you'll be able to make your own memory...
Yesterday I sat with my husband Eddie in Kalamunda Hospital and finished the edging on Hexagon number 25. He had been transferred to Kalamunda Palliative Care Hospital and Hospice earlier in the day from Royal Perth Hospital and was much happier to be in a place of quiet calm instead of the frenetic pace of a large public government hospital in the middle of a big city. Kalamunda is on the eastern edge of Perth suburbia, it is leafy and shady and surrounded by tall gum trees and the hospital is built around a quadrangle which has ferns, trees and a pond and fountain with gold fish........a lovely place to be. We could hear the sounds of Kookaburras and Magpies and Eddie could lie back and feel peaceful knowing that he is in a much better environment. His room is light and airy with an en-suite bathroom, the nurses are much more patient-friendly and he looks out onto the open garden area. Hopefully, if the doctors can do something about controlling his pain levels, he may be able to come home for a while, if not, then he couldn't be in a nicer place. While he lay back and relaxed either on the bed or on a large comfortable chair, I stitched and when this hexie was completed, Eddie reckoned that it is definitely his favourite by a long way. I think it is the colours which are very light and Summery - whatever the reason, this one will always be special to me now.
The Twelve days of Christmas Osami Gonohe
Fabric + thread + beads + buttons + wire = WOW! This “Fennel” origami ornament is a perfect example of the end result being greater than the sum of its parts. In just a few minutes, using the simplest of supplies, you can create a beautiful Christmas ornament sure to impress anyone lucky enough to […]
The Feathered Star is a long awaited design by Judy and Brad Niemeyer. Playing off the feather units in the Glacier Star, we've created a waterfall effect of feathers that we are thrilled to see o...
A large summer bag is great for trips to the beach and this one matches the Painting Flowers quilt. The fresh summer colors are perfect with any colored denim and a nice summer tan. The Painting Flowers fabric collection used for the bag is a limited edition collection, but you can use any fabric that you like.
Step into the cold European beauty that is Scandinavia with our 15 Scandinavian Quilt Patterns. Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, and Swedish quilts are so gorgeous, each with their own style and grace. From Dala horse applique to traditional colors of these countries, these inspired quilt patterns will transport you to the Nordic world of the north. These quilts make perfect gifts for family and friends. These Scandinavian patterns will also look gorgeous in your home year-round, but particularly in the wintertime. You don't have to get on an airplane and travel across seas to find authentic and inspiration for Nordic or Scandinavian quilts, just check out this collection!
We recently visited the River City Quilters Guild quilt show in Sacramento, California, where we saw some lovely quilts with a Christmas t...
A winter quilt in spring with summer riiiight around the corner? Yup! This one is for my fellow quilters currently gearing up for winter in the Southern Hemisphere! Or, to inspire anyo…
We are very excited and happy to share with you our brand new and totally free new pattern, Mod Ornaments! Our gift to you this Christmas season! :)But first, we're happy to inform Nancy Ottothat you are the winner of the Hand Maker Fabricfat quarter bundle! Congratulations!Please contact us at [email protected] claim your prize.Jenny's fun Mod Ornaments wall hanging turned out...
Free Patterns English French (Selected patterns) Please do not print and resell our free patterns. Shops are welcome to kit our quilts provided they use Tilda fabrics and refer to tildasworld.com/free-patterns for the explanation.
I had such a great time attending Winter Quiltfest in Logan, Utah last weekend. I got to be around fun people, eat good food, and be around the wonderful Je
I just had to share this beautiful Snow Days quilt! Rose Ann Cook of Quilters Emporium in Stafford, Texas (just 50 feet southwest of Houston...LOVE that!) sent in this picture of their version of the quilt all done in teals and tans. This is SO BEAUTIFUL!!!! Makes me wish mine was in this colorway too! xo Meg
