The final Loch Lomond Sashiko class

Today was the final day of the 2014 - 15 Loch Lomond Sashiko course.  All the students have started designing their sampler layouts and several have started putting their blocks together.

Because The Studio is closing in that location, it was the last workshop there.  We are planning a get together sometime in the summer, hopefully with many of the students from the 2013 -14 group, and also I am hoping we will be able to display the finished pieces at the SECC in Glasgow next spring.

Auditioning sashing fabrics - I think Jennie is going to go for the plaid at the top, which will look amazing, perhaps with very narrow borders in the sea green.  The yukata print on the left was one of mine - sorry, none left!

There are so many possibilities with these blocks.  I think we will have some very beautiful samplers once again.

Glyn has been getting creative as well - with valves... these will become the output tubes of his new amps.

Monday and Tuesday in Tokyo

Since we returned to Tokyo on Sunday night, we have been busy.  Yesterday, we started off with a trip to Akihabara, 'Electric Town'. Glyn was looking for parts of his hifi separates rebuild project, specifically valve bases, and we found a few things he wanted - but not the valve bases.  It turns out the ones he wants are too specialised even for Akihabara. Valve amplifiers are much more appreciated by hi fi otaku (geeks) in Japan than they are in the UK. We saw and heard some fantastic gear, but no 6c33c bases in gold plate!

After a curry rice lunch, we went to Tokyu Hands at Ikebukuro.  It was my first time to visit this 'lifestyle and hobby' store.  I chose that branch because it is one of the biggest stores. We had a fab time in the DIY section and Glyn bought some pieces of 'tamo' veneer for his turntable plinth project -
"A species of common ash from the Far East produces one of the world's rarest and most treasured woods. Native to Manchuria but transplanted to the mountainous regions of Japan centuries ago, this particular ash owes its fame to a uniquely figured grain.

"Tamo -- also called damo, shioji and yachidama -- looks like white ash. Few trees, however, produce figured wood that resembles peanut shells laid side by side. Tamo trees develop this peanut figure when strong vines encircle their trunks. This girdling restricts the flow of nutrients. Consequently, the tree grows in spurts, and the grain shows it."

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/…/0080440013_1_tamo-fig…

It is the same wood veneer on my Taisho era sewing box, but I didn't recognise it first, because the sewing box has gone so much darker with age. The colour of the sheets Glyn has got is really pale - think Ikea birch!

Tokyu Hands was great for interesting woods and various other craft things, but I wouldn't recommend a trip for fabric crafts and definitely not for quilters - it is somewhat average in that department.

This morning, we had a short visit to the Sensoji temple just round the corner from our ryokan.

Then we met up with Yasuko Okazaki from Clover.  We went to the tea shop on the corner by the ryokan and ended up getting filmed by a local TV crew - the second time this has happened since we came.

We met Susan Faeder's quilt tour group from the USA for lunch at Aoi Marushin, a huge tempura restaurant in Asakusa.  Susan runs Quilters' Tours to Japan, in addition to making beautiful pieces inspired by Japan.  Of course, they are here in Tokyo for the quilt show at the end of the week.  Sounds like they are having a great time here.

After lunch, we all went to the Amuse Museum, where Susan had booked the lecture room so I could give the group a short talk about my sashiko pieces and the work from the Loch Lomond Sashiko Guild, which Reiko Domon had sent down to our ryokan after their various exhibitions in Tokyo and Sakata.  It was great to see all the quilts once again and I hope everyone enjoyed the talk - please send me photos, if anyone reads this!  I couldn't take any myself.  I ended with a quick demo on marking and stitching the asanoha (hemp leaf) pattern.

Afterwards, we went up onto the rooftop viewing area on top of the museum.

The current exhibition at the Amuse Museum is boromono... photos from that tomorrow!

Loch Lomond Sashiko - first session after New Year

Bad weather (snow) postponed our December workshop, but we met yesterday at The Studio for our fourth session.  It was even sunny for part of the day and Isabel had got the workshop warmed up by the time we arrived, so we had a comfortable stitching session.  The gales didn't arrive until late last night, so I expect everyone was tucked up at home by then.

We have some excellent selections of sashiko coming along for our samplers this year.  Maureen's is very colourful, taking her colourscheme inspirations from Japanese striped tsumugi cottons which will be part of the finished sampler.

Francine has accented her stitch samples with subtle hints of shaded blue and white thread.

Take away the coloured accents and I'm sorry but I can't remember which set of white stitched sashiko samples belongs to which group member - they are all stitched so beautifully and to a high standard.  I think the first set might be Susan's, but I'm not sure!

 

See what I mean?  Like last year, everyone is edging their samples with a different coloured thread in an overlock or zigzag stitch, otherwise very quickly we couldn't tell them apart.

The fan design (above) is a little extra I thought up during the drive over.  Usually I do these easy fans as part of my Sashiko for Summer and Sashiko Furoshiki workshops - they are inspired by the corner fans traditionally seen on furoshiki wrapping cloths, where they are used for reinforcement.  I wanted us to be able to include them in our samplers, but stick with the 9in block format while having the fan on point, so the orientation doesn't lead the eye towards a corner of the sampler.  I worked out that we needed 6 3/8in cut squares for this and we will be adding triangles to fill in the corners, with two 7 1/8in squares halved diagonally (or 71/4in squares, to be on the generous side, and then the block trimmed to 9in).  The corner triangles can be a contrasting fabric and I was thinking about using a reproduction Japanese print for mine. The finished size of these larger blocks, once the sashing is added, is 8 1/2in.  We're working with these square sizes because they are the most economical size to cut from the traditional narrow width cotton, as used by my friends in Yuza Sashiko Guild.

Oops, I forgot to photograph my blocks!  This year, I'm trying to keep up with everyone else.

Loch Lomond Sashiko at Otsuma Women's University's New Gallery

Merry Christmas! Reiko Domon posted these photos showing the Loch Lomond Sashiko quilts and my sampler from 'The Ultimate Sashiko Sourcebook' displayed at Otsuma Women's University's New Gallery, Chiyoda Campus, Tokyo.  The gallery have made a lovely display, hanging the quilts like banners.

UPDATE -
This exhibition is now closed and the quilts have been returned to Yuza-machi.

Loch Lomond Sashiko - year II

The second year of the Loch Lomond sashiko course started in October, with a new group of students.  Everyone seems even more enthusiastic and hard working than last year, if that is possible, and some excellent collections of sashiko samples are well underway.  Francoise, Susan and Janet joined us after the first session, but at this stage it is still possible to catch up, so if you are interested, please contact Ruth or Isabel at The Studio.  Our next session is on December 11th and I am also teaching a one day sashiko furoshiki session at the Peacock and the Tortoise in Perth on December 5th.

Ruth has started two boromono inspired pieces recently, one using her hand dyed threads and fabrics and the other including fabrics she was given by Yuza Sashiko Guild when they visited in May and pieces of Harris tweed.  She describes the second piece as a 'memory cloth', where each piece of fabric is special.

Each piece is tacked onto wadding - black wadding for the Japanese fabric/tweed piece - and will have a separate back bagged out later.

Ruth plans to add simple sashiko stitching using these gorgeous coloured threads.  These will bring out some of the rich colours mixed into the Harris tweeds.

The fabrics include indigo and other hand dyes made by Ruth.  This will look lovely when the colourful sashiko is added!