Today I am flying home from the Tokyo Quilt Festival, where I’ve been photographing the quilt exhibits and meeting with Japanese quilters. It snowed right before I arrived, and it has been very cold here!
There is a huge shift going on with Japanese quilting, and it is going to change the way we see Japanese quilts in the next 5 years. More and more quilters here are switching from hand-quilting to machine-quilting, as the masters of hand-stitching are aging…and new quilters are stitching on machines.
The influence of Modern Quilting is seen here, and it is trying to find a category…and not quite fitting into existing categories. In particular I see a shakeup in the Traditional and WA categories, compared to previous years.
There are a lot of Chinese quilters walking the aisles and admiring the quilt exhibits. The quilt movement is very new in China, and it is relatively easy for them to travel to the Tokyo Quiltfest and be dazzled by the Japanese quilt movement which has grown into mastery over the last 30 years. It is exciting to think about what might develop in China in the next 10 years…with their long traditions of textile arts…just as it is exciting to see how Japanese quilters are now translating their quilting skills into a new kind of creativity with sewing machines.
Yesterday I went to the Tokyo Opera to see Die Fledermaus (Strauss), one of my favorites. It was great to see the Japanese and European singers together on stage, wearing costumes in the party scene that were inspired by the artwork of Klimt. Before the opera begins, they announce that if there is an earthquake, everyone should stay in their seats. Hmmm.
There is still time to make a quilt for our Love Your Mother quilt challenge and contest, with a BERNINA machine as First Prize, and a juried exhibit in Houston this Fall! We hope you will join the Challenge! (Deadline May 15.)
sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul
