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From Mt. Fugi (to read last week’s post, click here) we took the bullet train to Kyoto (an experience in itself)

and stayed in a luxurious hotel in an area of the city that was fun to explore.

On Friday we visited Arimatsu town. This ancient area dates back to 1608, and is known as the center of shibori or tie-dyeing. The 400 year success of Arimatsu Shibori began when the lord of Owari decided to protect the industry as the region’s special product and gave credit to Takeda Shokuro. We were invited into the “House of Takeda”

and were able to meet Mr. Takeda who is a direct descendant. He loved sharing his knowledge of shibori as well as some wonderful samples. He was very excited and it was difficult to get a photo of him holding still.

I found the samples fascinating as I didn’t realize that after the fabric has been stitched, dyed, and the stitches have been removed; the silk or cotton fabrics are very three dimensional and almost take on an elastic property prior to pressing:

The items in the gift shop were enticing and I must admit I did support the Takeda house a bit! From there we walked down the main street of Arimatsu town towards the Shibori Museum where we were treated to a wonderful shibori dyeing class – but those photos are for another post.

The following day we had a completely different experience when we were invited into the home of Yoshiko Jinzenji.

Yoshiko is an award winning fiber artist who has been quilting for over three decades. Her work is in the permanent collections of the International Quilt Study Center in Lincoln, NE, the Museum of Art and Design in New York, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, just to name a few. She lived in Bali for 25 years and discovered a way to dye fabric white using bamboo dyes she created. Since she has moved back to Kyoto, she has designed her own home, and now teaches cooking classes. What an amazing woman! We were invited into her home, provided slippers when we removed our shoes, found cushions to sit on and were enthralled and entertained by Yoshiko’s stories and quilts

while her friends (who are also her students)

served us cookies and tea.

Click here to read about this phenomenally talented, gracious, and charming woman. I assure you, you will enjoy reading her story!

The last day of our trip we visited Aizenkobo

and learned all about indigo dye. The married couple who are “Aizenkobo” were delightful.

He taught in the US for many years, yet she was his “very proud” interpreter. They were overwhelmingly generous with stories and samples of his multigenerational link to the indigo dyeing industry.

He talked about the process for making indigo,

and actually burned a piece of dyed fabric to show how it made the cloth fire retardant.

I had the honor of modeling one of their garments:

The samples of ikat were what I found the most interesting. The threads are shibori dyed before the fabric is woven. Here he is holding up a bundle of tied THREADS after it has been dyed. You can see the regularly spaced white areas where the tying kept the dye from penetrating the fibers:

In the following piece the dark blue/light blue portions that look like crayfish were made by using a solid indigo thread for the warp and the tie dyed thread for the weft.

In the indigo/white portions both of the threads were tie dyed and woven to meet up and create the design. I can’t even imagine the planning and effort that go into this process. I have been continually amazed by the work of these talented Japanese artists!

At this point I haven’t even touched on the classes we were able to take. Stay tuned for next week’s post!

We toured a number of amazing museums and studios on our trip. I don’t have room here to do them all justice, but I just have to share a bit and I will include links for you to explore these unique places on your own.

To begin with, our interpreter guide, Izumi, was amazing.

Her English is very good, her knowledge of each destination is great, and she has a delightful sense of humor.

She kept everything running smoothly and made the trip a joy!

Our first stop was the Tokyo National Museum. It had a fascinating display of vintage kimonos, created with a number of different methods.

This detail photo highlights some shibori dyeing (the white spots surrounded by indigo) and embroidery:

Enthralling!

On our way to Mt. Fugi we stopped along Lake Kawaguchi and had the pleasure of visiting the Kwaguchiko Muse Museum where beautiful and distinctive dolls made by Japanese doll artist Yuki Atae are on display. It was a cloudy day and the mountain was not visible, but I love this photo of the group in front of the lake.

We were only allowed to photograph one of the artist’s creations:

but if you’d like to see more (and I highly recommend it), click here to visit the museum’s webpage. Many of the dolls are featured in the changing slideshow of photographs at the top of the page.

From there we went to one of my favorite stops on the trip – the Itchiku Kuboto Art Museum. It is housed among the foothills of Mt. Fugi in structures that enhance the landscape and invite one in.

Itchiku Kuboto was a craftsman who created larger than life kimonos with incredible artistry. Once again, we were not allowed to photograph his work, but I found many of these beautiful pieces on the web. Click here for a visual feast. By clicking on each kimono on the home page, more information will appear.

Some of us had tea in another building on the grounds. We of course removed our shoes, sat on cushions on the floor, and looked out on a captivating view of a winter waterfall. It was lovely.

After visiting these wonderful sites we were taken to our hotel for the night.

As we approached it we were disappointed to find Mt. Fugi continued to be hidden behind the clouds. We had a fascinating dinner that evening (to be featured in a future blog post ?), and at dawn the following morning this was the view from my balcony:

We visited so many amazing sites that I’m finding they won’t fit into one post. Next week I’ll touch on the fiber art stops we made around Kyoto.

Tokyo boasts the largest quilt show in the world. The show is held in the Tokyo Dome.

It runs for seven days and attracts over 2 million visitors – of which my group comprised 18.

This is the English version of the cover of the actual show book and we’re still not sure what the German musicians are doing on it!

In this photo of the show from the stadium seats (where we ate lunch from the concession stands: deep fried chicken-on-a-stick and bugles),

you can see the “white” horizontal lines towards the front . These are row after row of vendors, and they ring all 4 sides of the show.

The areas of color in the center were the show quilts, separated by category, and a variety of special exhibits.

Towards the center there was a huge patchwork ball covered by the work of the famous Japanese quilter Keiko Goke.

Her quilts were fascinating and I recognized a few of them from being in the AQS Paducah quilt shows over the years. This one was in the New Quilts From an Old Favorite – Double Wedding Ring contest back in the early 1990s. What fun to see it again!

There is no way I can share every quilt in the show, so I chose a few of my favorites, in no particular order, they simply tickled my fancy (please be aware that the crowds were huge and the lighting in a baseball stadium leaves a lot to be desired). I’ve included a few comments with each photo:

And those were only a very few. Then we did the vendors. The most popular items by far were purses and the kits to make them. In one of the booths there were machines set up and my friend Marie and I made our own. They took less than an hour even though the teacher spoke very little English. Too much fun!

There was a “coffee shop” around the edge of the show where we stopped for a mid-morning snack the first day, and a “tea room” for a break on the second.

The vendors were filled with fabric, garments, kits, machines, etc., and we could have spent the whole trip there, but there was so much more of Japan to see. Next week I’ll touch on a few of the wonderful sites of Japan we enjoyed.

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This isn’t about Japan, but I thought you might find it interesting, I did a post about a bartar I did with my friend Di back in May. She recently interviewed me for a post on her blog about our collaboration and my journey into blogging. Click here if you’d like to read Di’s post.

I arrived home this past Friday night from a spectacular adventure in Japan.

I’m filled with wonderful memories – and I’m tired.  Yesterday I attempted to organize my thoughts and pictures, but we experienced, ate and created so much that it’s going to take me a while to to be able to share it concisely. So here’s a brief overview ?:

There were 18 of us total in our group and our Japanese guide couldn’t have done a better job. It was a delightful group. We all got along well and everyone stayed quite healthy. Praise the Lord!

The Great International Quilt Festival was fantastic, overwhelming and deserving of a post of it’s own.

Tokyo, Mt. Fugi and Kyoto were each different and very special in their own right.

We were amazed at how friendly the people were, how clean and litter-free everything was, and how few vegetables were included in many of their meals (rice, noodles, seafood, fried food and salt were available in abundance).

I did enjoy the meals, and tried it all. They were beautifully presented but I must admit, I was ready for a hamburger when we returned home!

Then there were the classes and fiber art exhibits! We were bombarded with so much inspiration and creativity. These too deserve their own post.

I believe one of the highlights for all of us was to see Vicki Spiering’s quilt in the Quilt Festival. Her snowboarder quilt “Shred the Gnar” was not only accepted into the show – but she won an award!

Their awards are presented in picture frames (to the right of the quilt) instead of the ribbons so popular at our shows. Vicki’s quilt was quite different from any of the other quilts in competition and very worthy of the prize. Congratulations Vicki!

I look forward to sharing more of our adventure soon. Until then, please read on to learn about an art quilt show taking place now!

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The ThreadBenders Fiber Art group (of which I’m a member) currently have an exhibit of their work at the Whitewater Arts Alliance through February 23rd. I was in attendance at our opening reception this afternoon. Quilts from 3 of our challenges are on display as well as a room filled with our own “artists choice” quilts. Here are a few photos from the exhibit:

The details follow! Please plan a visit – you’re sure to enjoy!

It’s that time of year again! The night’s are getting cooler (at least they are here in Wisconsin ?), the leaves on the trees are just beginning to turn color, and the Madison Expo was a great success! And, just so you know, they announced they’ve changed the name of the show to the Great Wisconsin Quilt Show!

I arrived in Madison on Wednesday morning and helped to hang an exhibit of quilts by the ThreadBenders entitled Photo Inspiration: Door! We are a fairly new art quilt guild and it was very exciting to see our quilts hanging at this wonderful show.

We’d love to have you visit our ThreadBenders site and see each of these delightful quilts “up close and personal”. To do just that click here!

After hanging these quilts on Wednesday I went to visit my friend Evelyn and work on our Japanese jackets (There’s a fun story that goes with these jackets, but it’ll need to wait for a future post). We got them done in time to pose together at the show.

This was the 15th year of the show and I’ve been blessed to teach there every year, but this time was a little different as I didn’t have a class on Thursday. So I attended a great lecture by Deanna Springer on “Celebrating Nancy”. Then I took in the quilts, shopped the vendors, and had an all round wonderful day.

I stayed with my friend, Laura Krasinski, at the Clarion Inn attached to the convention center. This year we were on the 8th floor and the view was great.

The main portion of the Alliant Energy Center, where the quilt show is held, is on the far left. The Holiday Inn Express, where I taught my Friday workshop is the building on the right. The main structure in the center is the Colosseum (no part of the quilt show was there), but the arrow is pointing to our beautiful state Capitol in the distance. I couldn’t resist zooming in for a better view:

I entered two quilts in this year’s show and it was an honor to have them hanging with so many fascinating quilts.

I pinned most of my log cabin blocks to the above quilt so they wouldn’t walk away, but I left 4 tethered with ribbon in case passers-by wanted to try my modular technique. The quilt show volunteers are trained to not allow any touching of any quilts. It was a little disappointing, but I am very grateful to all the wonderful volunteers who make this show possible, and I understand that they have to follow the rules to keep all the quilts safe.

I’m sure the winning quilts from this year’s show will be posted soon on the show’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/WIQuiltShow/

Each year I like to highlight a few quilts that didn’t get ribbons. These are pieces that really touched me (there were so many I liked, but I only have room to share a few). For those of you who couldn’t attend, I hope you find these quilts as interesting as I do.

Joan Beyerl Pierner from Suamico, WI made a fun version of Kim Lapacek’s pattern “Dresden Neighborhood” entitled “Outer Space Dresden Neighborhood Quilt:

I’ve seen many versions of this popular pattern and this one made me smile. Then, as I traveled along the aisles, I found a quilt that took Kim’s pattern to a whole new level. This is the “The Family Board Game Quilt” by Marcia Wachuta of Boscobel, WI:

Her description says: “…I wanted to make a quilt that was a game board for my grandchildren, with the Dresden as the center and all the little houses connecting with pathways to each one. Each house represents a family member’s home.” – how creative!

The next quilt was made by my friend and co-teacher Mary Alice Hart. It’s called “Roses For Caroline”:

It was quilted by Mary Francis and a portion of the description says: “This quilt, started after the birth of my granddaughter, was my introduction to hand appliqué.” It is very different from Mary Alice’s usual work, and it is Beautiful!

Skippers Friends is by Shirley Guier of Houstonia, MO and her description read “I started working with leather last year and wanted to try something of my own”.

I really wanted to know more, and wondered if it was truly a quilt (3 layers held together with stitches). A kind white glove volunteer was nearby and helped me to discover that the answer was yes!

Shirley had placed the batting and backing against the center of the back of the quilt and the stitching was very impressive.

This next quilt was made by Laura Sipes of Clinton Iowa, and is entitled: “Sunshine: Generation Quilt”.

It is more traditional than many that I’m posting about and I love it. The pattern, colors and quilting all work great together. Here’s a portion of the story: “One of four quilts made by three generations: myself, sister, mother and grandmother, made possible through a block exchange. Each quilt looks different regardless of the same blocks used!” I think it’s Delightful!

Another traditional quilt that drew me in was Scrappy Pineapple.

At first glance I commented to my friend “wow – look at all that paper piecing”. Then I read the card only to find the quilt was made by my friend Janell Weinberger of Sun Prairie, WI and it wasn’t paper pieced! Here’s what her description states: “Love the technique Eleanor Burns uses in her book. Makes the pineapple pattern so easy to piece! I did change the sizes of everything to make it much smaller”. She made the block much smaller – yes – but the quilt is bed sized! Another delightful quilt!

My vote for Viewer’s Choice this year went to Deborah Hyde’s quilt entitled “Persephone (Jenn)”:

It blew me away! Each piece is 1/2″ square and the mosaic technique not only perfectly captures the subject, but it does so while using a traditional quilt block pattern. And it’s quilted through every square! Here’s a close up:

The description states: “Inspired by Greek mythology, my lovely neighbor was the model for this work. The pictorial aspect of the work is complicated by the overall pattern in which it is embedded – the traditional Amish quilt pattern “Sunshine and Shadow”. I wasn’t surprised to discover that it had won the Viewer’s Choice ribbon for this year’s show. Congratulations Deborah!

It was a spectacular show – and that didn’t include the vendors, special exhibits, etc.. I’m so blessed to be able to attend every year. And to top it all off, I get to teach! As always, I had a wonderful time sharing with students through my lectures and workshops. This year my lecture was entitled:

I had great groups both days and we all learned and laughed together:

I taught a workshop on how to break through the roadblocks when it comes to choosing quilting designs, and I think I learned as much as the students. It was a great group – and I only wish I’d remembered to take a photo to share here.

This year I was able to attend a number of excellent lectures and my favorite was by Mary DeRay. Her topic was Sashiko

And her quilts were stunning.

Her work is a fascinating mix of piecing, applique and Sashiko stitching. And Mary is full of energy and inspiration!

It was a spectacular show and I’ve already booked my room for next year!

Did any of you who went have anything else to share???