This week I am editing my photos from China and slowly posting more on my photo pages. One of my image folders is “Chinese Art” because everywhere I go, I take photos of art, design and color that are inspiring to me. (And hopefully you too!) This is a collage of photos I took in a big tourist Cloisonne factory store (with their permission) and Asian fabrics that we have in stock now. I am just crazy about these jeweltones and Asian design motifs!
Our industry is going through a drought of Asian fabrics. Since Kona Bay closed, other vendors have also cut back on Asian fabrics. Those gorgeous Japanese prints with delicate metallic outlines and traditional mums, peonies, cherry blossoms, and koi fish ….are seldom produced these days. Apparently our industry went through a period of over-saturation and the manufacturers cut way back…but now there is hardly anything!
When we started eQuilter in the basement of our home, we started with 2 categories: Asian prints and colorful batiks from Bali. Because of my background living and traveling in Asia, I had an affinity for these beautiful fabrics. I still do! So we continue to stock every beautiful Asian collection that we can find. If you are a serious Asian fabric collector, you are probably like me….I can never have enough of these exquisite fabrics!
So here is my weekly visual inspiration for you, on one of my favorite topics. I’ve been talking to our suppliers and asking them to give us these lovely fabrics again. In the meantime if you are an afficionado like me, you know I’ll be aggressively stocking every gorgeous Japanese, Chinese, and other Asian motif that I find.
Next week I’ll be flying to Tokyo to photograph the Quilt Festival again, so we’ll be talking about Chinese and Japanese art for a few weeks! I save up my miles all year long so I can make this trip. Now that we have direct flights from Denver to Tokyo, it is SO much easier to indulge in this annual inspiration.
If you’d like to see my photos from previous years, you can browse my quilt albums on this page. (Scroll down to find Tokyo Quilt Festival 2018, 2017, etc.)
You’ll also see several segments on our video page, where I visit Quilting Arts TV to talk about trends at the Tokyo show and other quilt shows around the world. Enjoy!
Sincerely,
Luana and Paul
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eQuilter Classroom & Travel Calendar:
Jan 24-29 – Luana @ Tokyo Quilt Festival
Feb 9 – Charity Sewing Day – eQuilter Classroom – Please RSVP!
Feb 14-16 – ‘Love Your Mother‘ exhibit at Mexico Quilt Festival in Mexico City
Feb 20-23 – QuiltCon – Nashville TN
Feb 24 – Lynn Koolish for CQC – in eQuilter Classroom
Mar 28-30 – ‘Love Your Mother‘ exhibit at Spring Quilt Festival in Chicago
Apr 1 – Quilting Arts TV, Cleveland
Apr 12-14 – Jean Wells for FRCQ workshop – in eQuilter Classroom
June 27-30 – Jane Tenorio-Coscarelli workshop – eQuilter Classroom
July 11-14, 2019 – Cindy Lohbeck – Shibori, Ice-Dyeing and Ombre Dyeing Workshops @ eQuilter
4 Classes $50 each – $80-$100 Materials Fee
