It has been more than 2 years since I’ve been to Japan, which is very sad after 12 years attending the Tokyo Quilt Festival. I am following my Japanese friends on Facebook, as they post Sakura (cherry blossom) photos, and their first post-pandemic small quilt exhibits.
I miss walking through 2 panels of dark blue Noren panels to enter the neighborhood sushi bar. I miss the Ginza shops (especially the paper shop!) and the endless aisles of cute Kawaii animals.
And I miss the Japanese quilters and their amazing works of art. I miss the mobs of visitors gathering around the intricate quilts, with 50 cell phones all trying to get the same shot. It is a wonderful craziness that may never be replicated. I miss running into friends from Australia, France, Spain, New Zealand, Taiwan, and America, as I wander through the aisles at the Tokyo Dome.
But from those years when many of us traveled to the Tokyo Quilt Festival, there is a love and appreciation of Sashiko Stitching that has taken hold. It has overflowed and overlapped with an interest in Kantha stitching, and now is exploding further as Modern embroidery. We’ve had fun expanding our eQuilter selection of big threads, big needles, and thimbles to accommodate this new passion. We’re smiling as this renewed love of hand-stitching washes over the quilting world.
For those of you who still pine for the beauty of Japanese patchwork and stitching, we’ve continued to stock imported Japanese books. We also have new issues and back issues of Japanese quilting magazines.
Did you know that when we started our business in the basement of our house in March 1999, we had a few hundred bolts of Asian prints and Balinese batiks? After living and working in Asia, my love of these special textiles was the foundation of our business. They still have a special place in my fabriholic heart.
Sharing your love of fabric,
Luana and Paul
* See Luana review past Tokyo Quilt Festivals and other quilt events on Quilting Arts TV here.
Visit eQuilter’s Instagram, Pinterest or Twitter pages for Color and Design ideas.
See Luana’s Flickr Photo Pages for travel images, comment on our blog, or follow us on Facebook.
Quilt/Travel/Sponsor Calendar:
May 21 – CQC lecture from IQM
June 15-18 – Quilt Canada, Vancouver BC
July 22-26 – Sacred Threads Weekend, Dulles/Wash DC
August 4 – Long Beach Quilt Festival
Aug 17-20 – Festival of Quilts – Birmingham UK
October 2022 – Luana’s Polar Bear Tour – Churchill Manitoba Canada
