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.

..........

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!



...............

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!

..............

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.

母の秘密ガーデン/Mother's Secret Garden by Iwen Liu from Taiwan

 Casablanca Lily by Keiko Morita*森田佳子

 Good Morning by Harumi Mukoyama*向山晴美
元町通6丁目Rainy Days by Kushiko(?) Hosomi*細見久視子

More quilts in a later blog post.



18 comments:

http://textilejoy.blogspot.com/ said...

Thank you for showing many types of quilts and your commentaries.The link to a blog was really good to have.She seems to have a lot of/about Morrison.
Wish you a nice new week filled with inspirations from the show.

Beatrice said...

Hello, thank you so much for sharing these pictures with us again this year. Glad to see you, Julie and Tanya were able to meet again. Congratulations on your block!

Isabelle said...

Thank you very much Queenie for sharing with us photos of this great show :)It is the best way to start a new year ;)
So I Wish you and your beloved a nice and Happy New Year 2016 !
Blessings,
Isa

carorose said...

Great post Queenie.

City Krafters said...

Lovely photo's made me wish I was with you! look forward to more pictures.
Have fun.

Julie Fukuda said...

Thanks for your post. It doesn't look like I will have time for a post until next week. By then maybe I can figure out the names of the quilters ... or maybe not.

Anonymous said...

The quilts are lovely, the partnership quilt is full of life and colour. What will happen to the quilt after the show, who gets to keep it? William Morris designs are fantastic!

Queeniepatch said...

I don't think there is a living person who knows William Morris as well as Michelle Hill.
At the show there were so many different quilts. More photos on my next blog post.
Ulla, jag önskar dig också en bra vecka med nål och tråd!

Queeniepatch said...

Thank you! I am afraid I did not take a lot of pictures as I knew I would find it hard to report on them all. So please cecke out Tanya, Julie and Michelle's blogs.

Queeniepatch said...

Thanks! Several groups of quilters from overseas were at the show, some of them from Down Under. I wish you would have been in one of them!

Queeniepatch said...

Oh, I too, really wish you were here! Plenty to see!

Queeniepatch said...

Looking at great quilts IS a great way to start a new year, however, Tokyo is very cold in January so you need to dress warmly to stand in the queue outdoors, but once you get inside you have to take off the coat and carry it around... it's a bit of a bother.

Queeniepatch said...

I had to stay up well beyond my bedtime to be able to write up the post. The longer I wait the more difficult it will be so I'll try to do the remaining photos soon, although there are not so many left.
It was great meeting you again!

Queeniepatch said...

Thank you, Susan!
What will happen to the quiltS? There are 64 Partnership Quilts, each containing 120 blocks! In the first picture with Julie you can see a chart with the names of the makers on the wall. There is also a 'letter box' with no 60 on it. You can buy a lottery ticket, about £3, on which you write your name and tel no and then drop it in the box. On the last day of the show a winner is drawn from each box and that person gets the quilt. The proceeds go to charity (rebuilding the 2011 tsunami stricken areas).

Shelina (formerly known as Shasta) said...

I really like seeing the framed quilts. I really should do more of that - that would take them to the finish line much faster!

margaret said...

not sure how I missed this post but so glad I found it amazing quilts

Queeniepatch said...

Yes, these framed quilts are rather small. Framing a quilt is a good way to have it on display on the wall all the time. A bed quilt is more likely to be changed each season and stored in a cupboard.

Queeniepatch said...

We are used to framing embroideries, samplers and the Hardanger work, but not quilts. The question is why, as they look quite good and will be on display for a long time.