Wednesday 4 February 2015

Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival - part 11


Some of the quilts in the Traditional category really played with the idea of a Traditional quilt.  I think in the UK many of these would be classed as Contemporary, at least for the purposes of Festival of Quilts.  The fabric assortments were quite amazing, with the quilts having a very retro, scrap bag feeling, but seemingly made from modern fabrics.  There were lots of incredible fabrics printed with text too - I love these and wish I'd bought more of this kind of print when I was at the show.






The crazy kitties on this quilt were so amusing.




Many of the quilts show very humorous and playful motifs and use of fabrics.  'Asobi' (Japanese for 'play') is the word that springs to mind.



A traditionally inspired Lone Star exploding into more patterns, with very contemporary fabric choices - colourful but sophisticated.


The title is 'Thank you'.


Yes, that border is another text print...



Polka dots have been popular with Japanese quilters for a long time.  I like this combination of dots, stripes and checks. Playful!




Bold touches of red and the wide red border contrast beautifully with the pastel prints. More text on fabric too.




This is so far away from what I would class as 'traditional'.  A very unusual layout.  




The royal blue colour scheme, the variety in the prints and the applique flowers and leaves take the traditional Cake Stand block and give it the wow factor for me.  Love it.  This is one I'd have liked to have brought home with me.




A double Double Wedding ring?  Fantastic.  The ombre shading effect is something that appears again and again in Japanese quilts, reminding me of bokashi shading on kimono fabrics and linings.





The yellow text print creating an inner border made me think of the Yellow Pages telephone directory...




Going beyond strippies, with a folk art feeling to those heart curlicues.



The first impression is that the overlapping circles in the centre are irregular, but the overlaps follow a rotational pattern, made up of little fan blocks.  Amazing.




This was probably the ultimate text fabric quilt - certainly the one with the biggest words.  I wonder if non Japanese quilters make such a good job of using kanji in their quilts?





The fabrics make this one of the freshest hexagon quilts I have seen in a long time.  The use of single and double rosettes mixed in together makes the pattern more interesting.  A proper flower garden.





Sunflowers, zigzags and small applique circles - there were many quilts using little circle appliques as part of the design.  Very nice use of stripes in the sunflower circle backgrounds.



This was another quilt with text prints featured on the binding.



Cosmic inspirations, with hexagons as patchwork and applique.




At least one more post to come...

4 comments:

  1. there is so much to absorb! I do hexi quilts and this last one posted I can not even get my head around HOW it was done. No making a few hundred shapes and putting together. But that seems very true of most of the quilts you have shown. Again, thank you for showing us the level of work that is done at this show.

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  2. I stumbled upon this post of you through Pinterest. The use of fabrics and colours is so different than in my country ( Netherlands ) and Europe a nd USA. I'm intriqued by it. Thanks for showing! You must have had a great time.
    Groetjes
    Annemieke

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  3. Hi Susan, Thank you for all the gorgeous pictures! I hope to attend this festival someday! I was wondering, do you know the name of the pattern with the dots, stripes and checks? (About halfway through your post). Thanks!!

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  4. I love the photos of the quilts. The traditional category is very modern! Do you, by any chance, know the name of the quilt pattern with the 12 pointed stars/flowers that have alternating petals/spikes with black and white stripes, dots, and gingham? Apparently this is a traditional Japanese pattern but I cannot find the name of the pattern.

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