Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Plovers and waves

Plovers are a somewhat popular motif in Japanese folk crafts. For my guild's challenge quilt this year - "Duck Duck Goose, a Fowl Challenge" -  I used some strips of tenugui* featuring the little sea birds.


 I decided to enter the challenge just last week, and so I was working against the clock but still wanted to create something homespun and handmade.  

Naturally the sea birds needed some sashiko waves...

I used varigated sashiko thread:

And then I just started playing around with flying geese... 


Settled on larger geese against a fishnet tenugui background.   

 

Meanwhile.... 

Here's Daisy promising not to eat our cabinetry.  She's just over a year old now and we are catching glimpses of the great dog she will become. ;).  For the past couple weeks I've been saying "I think we've turned the corner with Daisy."  But she's still not allowed in the kitchen unattended!

* What is tenugui anyway?  I wrote more about it in my previous blogspot (A Quilter By Night) but here in a nutshell:  

tenugui - a Japanese woven, hand-dyed cotton towel.  They are traditionally used by people who work with their hands - carpenters, chefs, gardeners, etc.  Long and narrow, they can be worn as headbands or neck scarves, or used as hand towels.
 

8 comments:

  1. What a sweet little quilt. And thank you for the tenugui explanation as I would have had to look it up! Congratulations Daisy for learning to be a grown up dog. Don't lose your puppy spirit, just your teething rituals!

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    1. Thank you Wendy! Tenugui is wonderful to use in quilting - it is 100% cotton, very durable, but the weave is loose. I collected quite a few while we lived in Japan!

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  2. What an interesting piece! I love its colors. And the sashiko is beautifully done. Neat stitches!

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  3. Tenugui are also a choice to promote a show or maybe a concert or performance by a dancer or Kabuki artist and the like. The strips of cloth are quite narrow, 15 inches or so, and when they are dyed, the dye is passed through a pile of fabric, dying all the way through, making reverse side just the same as the front. It could be a problem when using with printed words because some would be reversed.

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    1. Great info to add, Julie! Thank you! You are the queen of tenugui! Miss you!

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  4. Lovely Cynthia! I'm enjoying seeing your sashiko and your growing dog. They are a joy when you can begin to trust them a little more. Ours is also turning into a delight!

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    1. Thank you Camilla! Yes... I had many moments of near-despair with her, but not anymore! Now it's just the constant shedding....

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