The Osaka Quilt Show was today and four of us from the Kansai Sakura Quilters group went to see it. For me this was the largest quilt show in Japan that I have seen. As with previous shows, all the quilts on display (all four of us agreed) were way beyond our skill levels. The colors, blending, designs, hand quilting, and workmanship was superb. I’m looking at all the quilts and wondering first, where do the designers get their ideas and second, I am in awe at how the quilts are done. Since these were made by Japanese (as I did not see any foreigners among the entries), the subjects of many of the quilts was Japanese culture like tamari balls, sakura, there was a Buddah and several oni or devilish characters.
One of the vendor displays was of hand made mini kimono. Looked like a small army of them. Bigger than a baby or child kimono, smaller than a full size kimono. The color spectrum was all in earth tones. Here is a photo.
There were several walls of mini mini quilts; about 18 inches square. Many were done by members of the same quilting school so you saw similar designs and techniques. These pictures do not show the intricate detail of each quilt.
We spent about half the time looking through the many vendor displays. I bought a beautiful blue yukata for about $12.00 that I think I will turn into a skirt. I found an Olfa rotary pinking cutter and it works beautifully. Now to find replacement blades. I may be cutting my fabrics with this blade for some time.
One vendor sold variegated fabrics from yellow to green to purple. Very pretty. What to do with it? I also found some Americana prints I can use in a quilt.
On another note, I finished the blue/brown diamond quilt for the Gardner’s Bible camp. Turned out to be king size and actually beautiful. The quilting was very simple, nothing intricate like at the quilt show, but serviceable.
