Friday, June 1, 2018

Quilt Festival Yokohama #1


After  a three year break, the quilt show in Yokohama has returned.

I have attended this show since it's beginning, and was very sad when the event was ended. 
At my small group meeting, Yasuko Kuraishi, who is a quilt teacher, told me the show was returning, and because one of her quilts would be on display, she was given two tickets ... if I would like to go with her.

Well, silly question. Of course I was glad to hear of the show's return and eager to snatch up the opportunity.
We met at the gate at 11:00 am.
The crowds were packed in front of the displays and getting pictures was a challenge, as spaces were narrow ... and with the fine work, everyone was examining from close-up.

We headed to the first section where Sensei's quilt was visible from the entrance. I was able to get a blurry picture of her in front of her paper-pieced flower garden. Kuraishi-sensei considers herself a "minimalist" but there is a certain charm in the variety of those paper-pieced flowers.

 

In spite of the crowds, we worked our way through the 60 quilts by the 60 well-known quilt teachers.


Some were marked with no photo, but most allowed pictures to be taken.

Thankfully, all were marked with the quilter's name in English.

This one is titled "Little Adventures of Sue and Billy".
all handwork by 
Reiko Kato






This quilt by Hiromi Kawashima represents scenes and icons of the town of Yokohama.

I am not very good at figuring out the quilter's comments, but there is something about the 1853 arrival of Perry to Yokohama and the scenes illustrated in the quilt.











The focus of this quilt, 
made by Setsuko Obi in 2007,

is the gradation of color.


Most of the photos I took were of quilts that were done by hand, and I found hand work to be in the majority 
among these well-known quilters.












The title was - KAGUHASHI

I am not familiar with that word but this quilt
was made by Yoshiko Katagiri.

Interesting black on black applique and lots of motion.







This small collection of doll-house items, reminded me of my own childhood.

The biggest thing in my young life was my doll family and doll houses. My early sewing was all stuff for my dolls, who were my best friends.

This set of rooms is by Hiroko Akita.

The title, Red Hair Ann must refer to the well-known story book of Ann of Green Gables.





This is all I could get of this lovely work.

Yuriko Arioka gave it the name of the beginning of Autumn. (or it is about to become Autumn).

The tiny piecing and applique, as well as the limited colors, give this quilt a peaceful feeling.
I wish I could have gotten a picture of the whole quilt but this is a basic all over design.












This quilt by Keiko Akita represents flowers on an apple tree.

The description is about apple trees and Aomori where many of the best apples come from.













From time to time I see quilts in the shape of kimono.

Judging from the roll at the bottom, it may be a wedding quilt.

It was made by Eiko Okano
and seems to have included kimono fabric blocks.

Something about the red flowers being congratulatory.
(I really miss having in-house translators).









I saw a lot of viewers touching quilts which is usually a big no-no at shows I have been to.

There were people in gloves who could help those who wished to view the reverse sides of the quilts....
(If you could find them among the crowds)






Another flower quilt ...

This one by Michiko Shima.

















The "Japanese Taupe" fabrics seem to have become popular with a number of quilters.


These dahlias were quilted by
Chizuko Takashita.









 There are a lot of white flowers with many petals appliqued on these little squares.



Hiroko Ninagawa put a lot of detail into this quilt.

















even the quilting in the borders are full of detail.

















Titled in English, "Cross Flower"

this is a take on the Lucy Boston pieces that I have done twice,

This one is not fussy cut but uses the colored prints in repeats. 

Atsuko Matsuyama used much larger lozenge-shaped hexagons than I have seen before and limited the variety of color. The border frames it quite nicely.






I had to go back later to get this picture of a large detailed quilt by 

Noriko Masui.

I was glad to get a picture without so many viewers crammed in front looking closely at every detail.













There was a long description about the choice of a title for this quilt.

" Itsu demo koko kara ...

A lot of geese flying over a pond full of waterlilies....
and a lot of echo quilting.

(Also a lot of light on those pale fabrics washes out some of the beauty).








"Tyrollean Tulips"

by Yasuko Yubisui



The rows of little girls between the rows of pieced tulips have been appliqued in place.

A nice colorful addition to the exhibit...










By Yoneko Maruya


Something about water and Lorelei












.




"Joyful Flowers"

By Masako Wakayama















And, last of all, a quilt I had to return later to photograph...

This is by Akemi Shibata

and seems to include a variety of blocks both in the center and set on point in the borders, and different styles including Hawaiian applique and a Baltimore album block.

It was interestingly set with prints of numbers and Japanese kana.




I guess this is a lot for one post, but I still have more saved for a later number of posts. The show was only three days long ... which may be why it was so packed with people even on the last day. Perhaps it was a trial run for the return of the week-long show.

Each quilt was lit with one spotlight, with a variety of results depending on the quilt, but better than the strange shadows across the quilts that is seen at the Dome show. Of the 60 quilters represented, some were no pictures and I tended to leave out the fused raw-edge machine applique, so these are more to my hand-made taste.


17 comments:

  1. That is wonderful to get a ticket for the show, they are getting expensive here too. Her quilt is beautiful, I love that style and she did a beautiful job with the work, she put it in. A lot of beautiful quilts and creative designs.

    Debbie

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    1. Years ago. many quilts that were displayed were close copies of American vintage quilts. As the years pass, there are fewer of those and even a Baltimore Album quilt had original aspects in both blocks and borders.

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  2. Too difficult to find a favourite, what a collection, and what talent. Hours and months of stitching. Thanks for sharing the beauty.

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    1. I'll bet some of these took a good long time to do. I see how long my current quilt is taking and it isn't even a "show" quilt.

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  3. Lucky for you to be able to go. I saw about his show through Danny Amazonas and was very surprised the return. All are very much Japanese. Kaguhashi should be pronounced as kaguwashi, smells beautiful if you need to know. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. I hope that this show was successful enough for them to continue it ... and expand it to a week as before. I just copied the word as it was written in romaji. I'm not familiar with that kind of lily but lots of lilies have delightful smells. At our scout camp there will be Yama-yuri blooming and they are especially fragrant in the evening.

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  4. It is such good news that the Yokohama show has returned. I bet many have missed it.
    Kuraishi-sensei's quilt is made up a many small parts, she certainly has patience.
    I am sure I have seen some of the teachers' quilts before; I recognize the Yokohama quilt, Ms Masui's medallion and Eiko Okano's kimono. As you know she is the quilter who made the beautiful blue and white Edo-kiriko Cathedral Window quilt we saw and were inspired by at the Tokyo Dome show in January.
    Thank you for sharing the show with us. I am so sorry I was not able to attend in person.

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    1. Considering I hadn't known of the show until just before, it was very well attended. I wish we could have managed to attend together ... maybe another year if this one was judged successful. Yes, many of those sensei's quilts had appeared in other shows. The ones marked no photo may have been the newer ones. I did see one cathedral window quilt in the contest section (I think). It was very unusual using quite large blocks, turned by machine and in a variety of prints.

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  5. Thank you for taking us along to the show in Parts 1 and 2. I didn't realise it was on again. I have fond memories of attending it in 2014 and that was the final show before it closed.

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    1. I was really delighted to hear the show had returned. I hope, if this was a test for the future, that the week-long show will come back. Three days does not give much choice when coordinatind schedules with work and friends.

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  6. I'm playing catch up on 2 weeks of blog reading, so, all my comments are on this post. Love your native American costume! Thanks for the quilt show pictures.

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    1. My many years in the OA and teaching Indian lore means my regalia is a combination of this and that. I wonder what the Leni Linape tribe's regalia looked like. It was a delightful show and a good way to return home tired.

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  7. These quilts are stunning. I do enjoy seeing the pictures you post after these shows.

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    1. I still have more lurking in my camera so beware...

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  8. The quilting in that green dahlia quilt is amazing!

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    1. Don't you just wonder where those quilters got all that time?

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