Saturday 8 November 2014

Yokohama Quilt Festival - Part 2

Yesterday's post got us through the majority of the full size quilts (although a few more to come) and left me at the start of the the "Small Quilt" section. I checked (yep, got out my tape measure and measured one hanging there) and these were all 50x50cm. No attribution with these ones I'm afraid as the smaller labels were all in Japanese.
One wall of small quilts
There were probably about 150 all together so prepare for some highlights...
Small quilt - wholecloth quilting
Small quilt - pieced
Small quilt -  tea cups
Small quilt - brown blocks
Small quilt - Quilt Times
Small quilt - Snail
This one won a prize. Can you believe the detail?
Small quilt - Prize winning tiny details
As did this one:
Small quilt - Prize winning wholecloth
Small quilt - cats
Then there were the silver and gold rosette winners - the top two in the whole section.
Silver medal winner - seagulls small quilt
Detail from "Silver medal winner - seagulls small quilt"
Gold medal winning small quilt - flower head
Detail from "Gold medal winning small quilt - flower head"
And of course, where you have "small" quilts, a "miniature" category cannot be far behind. I got out that measuring tape again - 20x20cm. The theme was 'stars'. I'll just show a few - there are a lot more in the Flickr set.
Mini Quilt Display Wall
Cat Star Mini Quilt
Anime Star Mini Quilt
Train Crash Star Mini Quilt
Skyline Star Mini Quilt
This took me through to "The Tale of Genji in Quilts". I have since found this on Wikipedia and so this makes a bit more sense, but the key thing to remember is that everything here was very beautiful.
Decorated traditional fans with quilts above them
Blue Flower Small Quilt
The tale of Genji in quilts - section
Next was the "Seoul International Quilt Festival" section. Seoul, as you know, is the capital of South Korea AND where I am heading off to in just three weeks. This first quilt was mental and amazing in equal parts,
Quilt by Lee Mi Kyoung
Detail from Quilt by Lee Mi Kyoung
The Voyage and the Typhoon quilt by Lee Geum Ja
Then we come to my favourite section of the whole show. I didn't catch which group had made these quilts but they had all used the same fabrics. I met two of the women and saw the quilts they made and despite the language barrier was able to fully convey my awe and admiration. A number of these are hand stitched!
Log Cabin Mandala Quilt
The one below was my favourite. I shook my head, tutted, gasped, took multiple photos - all the time not realising its creator was standing behind me giggling about my reaction with her friend. 
Colour burst quilt
Detail from Colour burst quilt
Bargello Ribbon Quilt
Plume Quilt
What awesome ladies. They were so modest and humbly proud and excited to be exhibiting. Brilliant.

This last group were done by "volunteers" according to the labels but I am not sure what that really means in this context. I did particularly admire this Lucy Boston Patchwork of the Crosses quilt though, given that I am currently in a Bee for this exact quilt!
Lucy Boston Patchwork of the Crosses Quilt
Or how about an applecore EPP - handstitched and hand quilted?
Applecore EPP quilt
Snowy Branches Quilt
Square Block Quilt by Reiko Arita
Hexagon Quilt by Toshiko Sudou

There are so many more quilt photos in the Flickr set! And detail shots of almost all the full size ones (and some of the small ones) I took photos of. All that remains to share is the shopping and what came home with me. On to part 3!


Friday 7 November 2014

Yokohama Quilt Festival - Part 1

About an hour away from our flat is Yokohama, home to the largest Chinatown outside China, or so I am told. I have blogged about that before, but on this visit I was there for the 2014 Yokohama Quilt Show. 329 photos later...

It was a biggy, and the whole arena was dominated by these four huge quilts suspended from the high ceiling.
Hanging Quilts from Below
Quilts which, bizarrely, I don't seem to have a photo of from the front. Trust me - they were big and impressive. As you came in you were head on with a Kaffe Fassett exhibition with the rest of the exhibits to left and right and then the shopping area at the back behind all that - the same arrangement as at the NEC quilt show in the UK each year. As I walked in I heard a man's voice speaking english and who should it be but Kaffe himself giving an opening address.
Kaffe Fassett
I looked at his quilts but was straight away struck by two things.
1. No one else can afford to use this much Kaffe Fassett fabric.
2. These quilts are pretty insipid.
Compared to what modern quilt designers are doing, his designs are purely a vehicle to sell his fabric, which works best in large plain pieces. But hey, that's his thing so good luck to him. There are some pictures at the beginning of my Flickr set if you want to see them.

The exhibition was in sections, with many showing "no photography" signs which was a real shame. However, as you can judge from all the photos I took, there were plenty without this label! To start - a selection of garments and bags. Sadly these were all labelled in Japanese so I can't attribute them properly.
Detail of Sashiko Stitched Jacket
Patchwork and quilted jacket
Patchwork Handbag
Patchwork Handbags
Then Pictorial Quilts. I loved this first one because of endlessly reading the book "Moo Baa La La La" to my niece. The phrase "No No, you say, that isn't right!" is forever suck in my mind. I have been able to attribute these so click on them for more info.
MOO MOO BAA by Junko Ohta
And then next to that one - jaw drop.
Duck Face by Hiroko and Masanobu Miyama
Why this quilt is called "Duck Face" I can't think! Lost in translation I guess. The detail was amazing.
Detail from Duck Face by Hiroko and Masanobu Miyama
Dragonfly by Takami Kashiwabara
British Quilt by Reiko Enomoto
Cheeky little British one there, by a Japanese quilter. Then I moved on to one of my favourite sections - "Japanese Quilts". I am not sure how the sections were defined but these are all what I would consider to be in a japanese style. There are close up shots of details of most of the quilts here in the Flickr set.
Traditional Quilt by Yoshiko Kinoshita
Quilt by Michiko Hiura
Hexagon Quilt by Rika Sakaguchi
Flower Quilt by Hisako Nagase
Quilt by Chiyoko Sakai
Quilt by Shizuko Yoshizawa
Quilt by Yuko Mikoshi
With Billy Quilt by Miwa Kawai
We then get into "Traditional Quilts".
Quilt by Tsunemi Suzuki
Quilt by Nobuko Nemoto
Quilt by Noriko Fukushima
This one must have taken some hefty planning and organisation.
SAM_2391
And from traditional to modern....
Quilt by Motoko Yanagawa
Quilt by Noriko Takeuchi
Quilt by Kiyoko Shimada
This one was rather interesting - using translucent panels between the complexly patched ones. 
Detail from Quilt by Kiyoko Shimada
And then part of the sky.
Detail from Quilt by Kiyoko Shimada
No wonder I ended up taking so many photos - the standard of work at this show was through the roof. Even the funny ones were expertly made. Example - Panda Invaders!
Panda Invaders Quilt by Miyuki Koguchi

Another section was for pictorial quilts inspired by the words "My Beautiful Village".
"My Beutiful Village" theme quilt by Hiroko Horuchi
This next one was by high school students - there were a few done by presumably the equivalent of an A-Level textiles group. Love the sleeping cat!
"My Beautiful Village" theme quilt by Haibara High School Students
"My Beautiful Village" theme quilt by Ryoko Takahashi

All this takes me to about half way through my photos. I'll save the rest for another post! Although if you can't wait you can see everything (including all the ones I haven't included in the sections described above) in my Flickr set.