eQuilter Blog

Sophie and I arrived in Tokyo at Narita Airport after an 11 hour nonstop flight. Over the years it has gotten so much easier to get to this show at the Tokyo Dome. It used to take 2 flights and sometimes I’d get stuck in Seattle, Alaska or San Francisco on the way, due to delays. We are staying in the Tokyo Dome Hotel and we have a birds eye view of the entrance to the show from our window. When we arrived at the hotel, we saw several old friends in the lobby including Lisa Walton, the president of SAQA, who is leading a tour from Australia.

We slept for 10 hours and we’re up early to go in and take photos of the quilts, and then meet up with our quilter friends here in Japan. This is my 12th time to this show, but I’ve been traveling to Japan since the 80s when I lived in Hong Kong and worked in the garment industry as an import designer. In those days I traveled to Osaka, and it was a very different time. I worked as a designer for a big garment agent with offices in 6 countries, and I would travel to Japan to source textiles for their big name designers in New York.

You can see my photos from trips to Japan and the Tokyo Quilt Festival on this page and while you enjoy those photos, I’ll be at the show here taking photos of the 2020 event. I do urge everyone who attend the show here to make sure to photograph the artist’s namecard to give credit where it is due. Over the years there has been a huge increase in the number of Western tour groups coming to see the show, posting photos but often without credit.

Last year you may have seen the invitation and link that I posted, for Western quilt artists to enter the Tokyo Quilt Show. I will share that information again for the 2021 show, and I hope you’ll consider sending an entry for consideration. This show is opening up more to accept international entries and it is a great opportunity for artists around the world to be seen by a whole new audience, which is very exciting!

I’ll be posting from the show floor on my Facebook page, and then my individual quilt photos will start to pop up on my photo page in about a week. QuiltCon is next month and I’ll be attending that show to document with photos as well.

Ok, it’s time to go to work!

Sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul

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eQuilter Classroom:
March 6-8 – MJ Kinman – “Unicorn Rainbow” & “Elizabeth Diamond” Gemstone Workshop
April 13-15 2020 – Susan Carlson
June 1-5 2020 – Paula Nadelstern – Kaleidoscopes & Quilts

Luana’s Travel Calendar:
Jan 24-Feb 2, 2020 – Tokyo Quilt Festival
Feb 19-22 – QuiltCon in Austin TX
Mar 18-27 – Wilderness Congress – Jaipur India
June 17-21 – Quilt Canada – Edmonton
June 26-27 – Intl Quilt Museum – Lincoln NE
July 29 – Aug 2 – “Love Your Mother” Gallery in Birmingham UK