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| detail, Keiko Goke, 2017 |
I went on four separate days. The good thing is that I got my route (walk, train, walk to transfer, train, walk) down to a science, and got to see some of my favorite quilts more than once. The other good thing is that I got to see and experience the show with various friends on two of the days, which was such a pleasure!
Crowds got thinner as the days went on but wowsa, the first day was packed:
The Grand Prize went to this terrific quilt, surely in the "Wa" category:
On the other end of the spectrum, Partnership Quilts - "my favorite animal was the theme" - here's yours truly and my sleepy kitty block circled:
And Julie with her owl and cardinals:
There were over 50 quilts in all, so fun to see. Lots of cats, of course:
Heaven bless the volunteers who pieced all those blocks together and hand quilted each quilt. They will all be raffled off (for charity, I assume?).
One of the first exhibits I saw - and just loved - was of antique English quilts. Sadly, no photos whatsoever allowed!!
On day two I saw the show with Tammy and Carol from church, and also visited with Julie F, (MyQuiltDiary), Carin (Queenie Patch) and Tanya (Taniwa). Check out their blogs for more from the Show! They have already posted a lot of wonderful photos and commentary over multiple posts. I knew Julie and Carin from when I lived in Japan before, but I hadn't met Tanya yet. It's really fun to make these blog-to-real-life connections with lovely people! On another day I met up with Julie F again, and Chaeeun, also from church.
OK, on with the show.
Small and charming exhibit of Mary Poppins quilts. This one was made by Yoko Saito. I wish I'd gotten a detailed picture:
And the others, by her students:
And an exuberant exhibit of Curious George quilts. Yukiko Maruhama:
Incredible quilting detail:
Masako Fujimura:
On another playful note, check out this tower - Tammy had lived in Germany and knew right away from afar that this depicted the Grimm Fairy Tale the Bremen Town Musicians. I thought it was just a whimsical tower of animals, ha ha.
Now's a good time to mention that it's so frustrating that at an "international" quilt festival, there is so little written in Roman characters. Any little bit of English is welcome. Those of us who don't read Japanese are at such a disadvantage. I would LOVE to be able to read these cards!
Keiko Goke had a wonderful exhibit - "Shapes that Sing, Colors that Dance". I absolutely love her quilts.
I adore this quilt. It just says HAPPY. I saw it at least three times. It was one of those "must see" quilts. Every quilt show has some "must see" quilts and those quilts are different for each viewer. This was definitely one of mine!
Like I said.... I wish I could read the card!
How charming is this alphabet quilt?
An earlier quilt, just terrific:
Love the sashiko-like big stitching:
Each day, I brought a little bento snack/lunch. People sit up in the stands and rest, eat. The stairs situation is pretty brutal. It's been an exciting but exhausting week.
Lid on, wrapped furoshiki style in a cloth napkin, and ready to go:
More soon!
