I have been working away on some childrens’ tote bags for my dear Kompadres K & L. They asked me to make bags as the graduation presents for their students – adorable little munchkins 4 and 5 years old in an all-English preschool and daycare program – and I was happy to help out.
I spent the weekend cutting my fabric and felt appliques, and hopefully I will be able to get these finished in near-record time. I’m already behind!
More goodness from the Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival!
Look at all those lovely shades of blue! Indigo was widely used for fabric dying in Japan, hence the reason many traditional Japanese textiles are blue.
Apologies for the sub-par composition on this shot. Definitely not one of my best. But look at all those varying shades of indigo. And it’s a traditional Japanese wave pattern that can be found in fabric patterns, needlework, and even handmade textured paper.
What’s up next? Photos of the special exhibit on indigo and the antique vintage (anyone know which term would be correct?) really old textiles on display.
May life continue to inspire you,
Miss Kaizer
While I wasn’t able to do much by way of sewing this weekend, I was able to accomplish something tangible – I set up my Etsy shop! Woo-hoo!
So far I have listed some traditional Japanese fabrics for sale – both by the half-meter and fat quarter bundles. And guess what? The international shipping is affordable! No more of the international-shipping-costs-more-than-the-purchase-itself nonsense.
I plan on listing some more traditional fabrics before I start listing the super-cute Japanese fabrics everyone in the crafting community loves so much. You can also expect adorable trims and paper goodies in the future, too.
May life continue to inspire you,
Miss Kaizer
It’s time for the first post showing the phenomenal detail work on some of the quilts at the Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival. First up? The Goldfish quilt originally posted here. (I don’t know what the actual name of the quilt is because I didn’t take any pictures of the signs next to the quilts, so Goldfish is my title.)
‘ello, fishie! (Make sure you imagine that in an Eliza Doolittle pre-makeover voice. Sounds better that way, I promise.) Seriously, though, look at this thing: piecing, applique, embroidery, hand beading, free motion quilting…all on a variety of fabric types.
You can tell, if you look closely enough at this photo, that there is satin and a thin rayon fabric (stretchy, slidey, and nearly impossible to work with – at least for me) stitched together in some of the most beautifully executed curved seams I have ever seen. I need to take lessons from this guru of the needle. And the stippling…oh my word, the stippling.
I wish I had gotten a better shot of this border. But have you ever seen the lighting in a convention center? Garbage. Combine that with trying to get the shot as quickly as possible so as to not get run over by a pack of obasans (pack? gaggle? herd? if you know, please tell me) and you get a photo with a narrow depth of field when that totally isn’t what you’re going for.
But enough griping. This border is seriously awesome. Forget typical binding…it’s a three dimensional finish, really enhancing the overall impression that the quilt is a framed painting rather than a quilt. And I cannot imagine the amount of time it must have taken to make sixteen of these cords by hand. (Four per side by four sides equals 16, right?) The workmanship that went into this is just remarkable.
May these quilts continue to inspire you!
Miss Kaizer
Self-restraint on a Herculean scale – that is the best way to characterize my shopping at the Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival. Of course, it helped that most booths were so crowded that I couldn’t have gotten near anything if my life had depended on it. But the things I did get were either phenomenal deals or just too awesome to pass up.
First? A piece of fabric printed with vintage floursack advertising on it. I’m going to make it into a bag, but I’m not sure what for. And knowing how long it takes me to finish projects, it will be 2012 before we all see it again…ahem. I also picked up metric ruler trim – I’m sure you have seen the ones with inches, but metric? That was a first for me. And a meter of it was only about $1. Score! I also got three meters of lace for just a couple of dollars. Woo-hoo! To feed my sashiko obsession, I got two bundles of sashiko thread for $5 each. I don’t know how many yards of thread there is in each bundle, but I know it’s a lot. They also had sashiko thread for sale in varying shades of indigo, and I almost got a variety pack – 8 bundles of thread varying from off-white to nearly-black-navy, but I was a good girl.
As I was trudging away from the sashiko thread, bound and determined to not turn around, I saw a basket on the floor filled with old wooden thingies (yeah, there has to be a better name for that – lemme know if you come up with one). They look like they were used to wind thread for weaving or spinning or something. I plan on using them to store my sashiko thread. Vintage Japanese crafting goodies? Oh, yes! I’m a happy girl. And the people running the booth gave me the fabric scraps you see in the picture. Two of each color. I have to find the perfect project for these, cuz they’re totally fabulous. Again, we probably won’t see them until 2012.
The final find of the show? Thread nippers. I have been watching the Cutting Tools 101 videos over on Threadbanger, and on one of the videos couture designer Kenneth D. King stressed the importance of not using your shears to trim threads. Why? Because you will most likely wear a dull spot into your scissors. When I heard that, a lightbulb clicked in the old noggin – so that’s why my scissors don’t cut as well as they used to! So I had been looking for a good pair of thread trimmers, and I stumbled across a super-sharp $4 pair at the show. Done and done!
All in all, I was very pleased with the goodies I got. But next time I think I’m going to go shopping for more hours in the day so I can actually do something with all this stuff.
Until next time, may life continue to inspire you,
Miss Kaizer
Ok, Kaizer-peeps. Time for more quilts from the Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival.
You absolutely have to see the detail on this quilt. It is fabulous.
Ooooh, lovely!
Keep checking back for more. May life continue to inspire you!
Miss Kaizer
Sewing | Miss Kaizer | 
February 22, 2010 5:21 am | 
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