One of the things I truly love about traveling to all these international quilt shows, is to see how the art and craft of quilting is mutating and expanding every year. I love seeing how techniques and ideas develop in parallel but unique ways on opposite sides of the planet.
Sometimes a true piece of fiber art makes the traditional quilters scratch their heads. Sometimes a masterful and technically perfect pieced quilt can be dismissed as unoriginal. Hey, it's all fabulous! I love seeing when the two halves of the Yin-Yang intersect and you find a distinctive forging of the artistic and the technical in one visually stunning piece.
At the Tokyo Quilt Festival, there were so many of these types of fusion quilts. To be sure, there were many on both ends of the Art/Tech spectrum, but here is a *closeup* of just one quilt, that shows a fusion of intricate curved piecing, precise applique (with a difficult gold metallic fabric), swirling topstitching and quilting, then scatterings of opaline and moonstone-like beads that look like Tinkerbell just flicked her wand… but in reality we all know they were painstakingly placed, and applied individually by hand.
Emiko Osawa created this beautiful piece: it took 2nd place in the "Wa" category, which showcases Japanese techniques and traditional themes.
I am working on a slideshow from the Tokyo show to be posted this week, but first I wanted to share the photos taken by my friend Akemi, when she visited Kesennuma on July 15. This was just two days after our 2155 donated quilts were distributed (through Mission of Love) in this coastal town. For those of you who graciously rushed quilts so we could get them to those in need quickly, I wanted you to see what it looked like in this community, the week those homeless residents received your beautiful quilts.
Many of you have asked where the survivors are living now. Akemi included photos from Miyako in November, showing the temporary housing which is like multi-unit trailer-houses. They told me after 2 years they will have to move out of the temp housing, and the elderly don't know where they will go. Hopefully the government can come up with a solution by then.
To our many friends Down Under, I've booked my tickets to come to the Australasian Quilt Convention in Melbourne, this April. I am planning to be in Canberra the following weekend of April 21. More details to come – hope to see many of you there!
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