2013 Tokyo Quilt Festival

 
Greetings from Tokyo!
I've just arrived in my room at the Tokyo Dome Hotel on
Saturday night, and Sunday I'll be at the Tokyo Quilt Festival walking
the show and taking photos.

I know many of you are anxious to see photos
of this year's beautiful Japanese quilts, so I'll get those posted on my photo page as soon as
possible!

As you may recall, last year
I had a quick 3 day trip to Tokyo planned, and I was going to visit the coastal
community devastated by the tsunami, which received our 2155 quilts. However
my 3 day trip turned into only 2 days in Japan, because of a freak snowstorm in
Seattle. This time, I am happy to report, there were no delays and I caught my
connection across the Pacific with time to spare. I will be meeting with some
residents who lost their homes in the tsunami, and hopefully getting an update
about how the community is doing now.

Originally I used my miles to book
a round trip ticket on an ANA Dreamliner. 2 weeks ago I decided to rebook my
outbound flight on something besides a 787. Yesterday at the airport in Denver,
I decided to change my return flight also, since the Dreamliner woes don't seem
to have any end in sight. On my international flight today, I sat next to a
Boeing employee and we agreed that we were glad we weren't booked on a
787!

When I checked in at the hotel here, I had preview copies of the 2
show books waiting at the front desk. I have several quilts picked out from the
books, that I'll be looking for tomorrow! The show opened 2 days ago, and there
was a pleasant buzz of excitement in the lobby tonight. (The Tokyo Dome Hotel is
adjacent to the Tokyo Dome where the show is held – a baseball stadium that sees
250,000 visitors to this awesome show!)

Every year I meet up with my
Japanese friend, and she arranges for me to see a private showing of antique
"boro" quilts. These are the 50-100 year old peasant quilts that were dyed with
the indigo plant, with yarn-dyed shima or ikats, and Katazome stenciled
motifs, often made from old Noragi work clothes, and sometimes stuffed with hemp
straw instead of batting. They were loosely stitched with thick floss to hold
the 3 layers together – the precursor to today's fancy sashiko
stitching.

The Japanese quilters collect antique
indigo fabrics and vintage silk kimonos, then cut and stitch them into contemporary
quilts with a distinctive style that is immediately recognizable as Japanese
quilting!

The day before I left, my neighbor and her quilter friend came
to my door with the first memorial quilt for Sandy Hook Elementary. I told
them to get their group together and we'll take a group photo with the quilt. If
your group is interested in participating, check out our Piecing for Peace
page.

We are up to 1323 quilts for Hurricane Sandy
survivors, but it is COLD this weekend, and if you are following this story
you know things are only getting worse for those who lost possessions and/or
homes in the storm. If you are wondering if we are still accepting quilts for
this project, the answer is YES!… Thank you!!!

p.s. the photo above is of the quilt and textile artist Keiko Goke (whose fabrics we carry at eQuilter) in her exhibit about the tsunami. Keiko had a house in Sendai but from what I can understand, because the community was wiped out 2 years ago, her house became uninhabitable. She is holding a photo of one of the memorials on the coast – with tiny pinwheels – and a beautiful poem which I will have translated for you soon.