Yokohama International Quilt Show 2013

Already a week has gone by since arriving in Japan. One of the highlights of my first week was attending the Yokohama International Quilt Show, 2013 held in the ultra modern Pacifico Square.

I was quite prepared not to be able to take pictures but to my delight the quilts were separated into groupings where permission was granted and permission wasn’t given. As a result I am able to share some wonderful quilts from this show. Some of the quilt titles are missing as they were only written in Japanese but I was able to identify all the creators of the quilts.

Yuko Koshikawa

Fusae Kamijo

CHASING BUBBLES  by Hiroko & Masanobu Miyamo

Kiyoko Saito

Masuko Masukura

BEYOND ART DECO GLASS by Patricia Reid, Australia

Fusae Kamijo

ZONE by Mitsuko Kinoshita

Masako Nishimura

Atsuko Fujii

Of course, I had a great wander among all the store fronts where new and vintage fabrics were abundant. Among my favourites are always the indigo blues.

 

 

There is always something special that happens when I attend these events or go in search of these wonderful fabrics. While having lunch, a group of ladies joined the table where I was seating. One of the ladies was Yume Usagi.

My ears perked up when I heard her saying something about sashiko and she was showing the ladies at the table samples. She is also wearing samples of her own work. She caught my interest and handed me the samples to examine. Yume Asagi works in the antique method of sashiko which is tiny crisscross stitches. She wanted to know where I was from and was delighted to hear Canada. She dug into her purse and came out with a change purse, emptied it and indicated I should accept it.

I had a picture on my camera of the Sashiko sampler quilt I made so I showed it to her and it got passed around the table. Back into her purse she goes and this time comes out with a notebook with a cover in indigo blue fabric which again she insisted I take.

Yume Usagi then took me to the store front where her work was being sold and showed me this wonderful little pillow done in the antique method of sashiko.

As always, I am overwhelmed with the grace and generosity of the Japanese women who share my love and interest in these vintage fabrics and antique methods of preserving and reusing their treasured fabrics.