Back to the blog!

As it has been for everyone, life has been quite frantic and strange for the last few months. Now I have a bit more time to sort out the photos properly, it is time for me to revive my blog. You can still follow my artist page on Facebook and my photos on Instagram of course, but it is always easier to find things retrospectively on my blog - which I will explain later on.  We were at Nagoya castle back in January when we first heard about the 'new illness' in Wuhan, so traveled back to the UK wearing masks... and having no idea of how things would change so suddenly.

At the beginning of March, Yuza Sashiko Guild, along with Reiko sensei's sister and brother in law, came to Scotland for a trip that included teaching and exhibiting at the Scottish Quilting Show at SEC Glasgow and again at Dornoch Fibre Fest, near Inverness. We managed to pack in visits to Edinburgh Castle, the Kelvingrove Museum at Glasgow, Charles Rennie Mackintosh's House for an Art Lover, Stonehaven and Dunottar Castle (just the outside), Tomatin Distillery and Urqhart castle as well. Quite a trip!

Reiko sensei taking photos of my antique boro display at SEC, where we shared the exhibition space.

Yuza Sashiko also launched their first book in English in the UK during the tour (I have copies for sale online).

After we waved them off at Edinburgh airport on 16th March, things started to change here very quickly and the UK went into lockdown on 23rd March. Things are still not back to normal and they are not likely to be for a long time.

As a result of the precautions we are all having to take now due to COVID-19, all my face-to-face teaching and all our shows have been cancelled - all the quilt shows, and all the World Textile Days. This has changed life for me a great deal, as I was used to traveling a lot! Fortunately I set up my online store last summer, so getting geared up to sell 100% online hasn't been as hard as it might have been. At the start of lockdown, I made sure I got plenty of threads and materials in stock. At that time, I was concerned about shipping from Japan. I mostly use FedEx, but some of the places I buy from use Japan Post, which has suspended all the economy shipping services. The 370m fine sashiko threads are shipped by Japan Post, which took quite a lot longer, even for the express post, so I made sure I ordered the complete range this time!

I have started an online newsletter (you can sign up here) and have been coming up with new products and new combinations of products (like these kogin thread sets, themed after seasonal colours).

I've also got the stencil and pattern booklet pack I designed for Today's Quilter in stock, along with many other new things, including my latest preprinted sashiko panels for Olympus Thread Mfg. Co. (Japan), some fabulous new designer hanafukin sashiko panels and lots of new hitomezashi kits and panels too.

I have been busiest during lockdown stitching boro...

My next book, The Book of Boro, will be published by David and Charles on 10th November 2020.

It has 20 projects, large and small, inspired by items from my personal boro collection (I've been collecting for nearly 30 years now, which I find hard to believe!), plus all the techniques you need and, of course, a history section about where boro comes from, how it was made, the boro revival and more.  I will be taking advance orders towards the end of the summer.

Now that the first and second pages edit are done and I only have the proof to check (when it arrives), I've returned to sashiko. I am just starting on a sashiko sampler stitch along, and will be posting instructions and photos here, as well as on Facebook and Instagram, very soon. It will be free and there is no need to sign up to anything - just get your sashiko supplies together and join in, at your own pace. The idea for the sampler is to use my preprinted sashiko panels, but if you have The Ultimate Sashiko Sourcebook and Japanese Quilt Blocks to Mix and Match, you could mark up your own panels instead. Hopefully I'll get one of the sampler quilt tops completely finished before starting the stitch along. It will be free to join in and you will be able to follow it here or on Facebook, where you can join my sashiko group, The Ultimate Sashiko Sourcebook (named after my book), to share photos and chat with other stitchers. I also want to do some short video tutorials, which will be on YouTube. Keep checking here for stitch along posts!

Edinburgh - Exploring Japanese Boro

Saturday 1st December at Edinburgh Patchwork, I'm teaching a new class - 'Exploring Japanese Boro'.  We will be looking at boro and boro inspired pieces old and new, and starting some hand stitched boro panels.  Definitely slow stitch!  Very easy, meditative and suitable for all levels of stitching ability.

I have a few places left, so if you are interested, please contact me asap.  This will be a much smaller class than usual, as I want everyone to have plenty of space to arrange their boro pieces i.e. no shared tables.  Cost for the day is £40.  

Materials - as you can see from the photos, you can use all kinds of materials, including really worn pieces of clothing.  You will need a foundation fabric (this can also be recycled if you wish).  Thread for stitching can include sashiko thread, perle, coton a broder, crochet cotton etc. You will need a strong needle - a sashiko needle is good.  Pins and scissors to cut your fabric are really the only other tools you need.

At the Amuse Museum yesterday

Here's some highlights from the Boro exhibition at the Amuse Museum yesterday.

As ususal, the captions are from collector and museum founder Chuzaburo Tanaka's writing.  There is a book of his stories and essays about his collection, but unfortunately it is only in Japanese - I think Yasuko bought a copy. I would love to be able to read that book in English.  One of the things I really like about his collection is how you can still feel the link to the makers.  All the boromono/boro pieces I have have passed through the hands of antique dealers or auctions, and that link has been lost.

I love the way this museum displays work - such as hanging pieces inside floating picture frames. There is a more playful and human approach to display than that used for the Somerset House boromono exhibition in London last year.

Glyn's favourite.  He's inspired to keep going with his boro jeans project.

Showing old pieces against strong colours really works.

Next to the 'special exhibition' gallery, there's a rail with a few items you can try on.  This hanten coat was quite a good fit for Glyn, even with his jumper underneath.  It was two layers, with mid blue indigo for the lining and darker 'commercial' kasuri cotton for the outside, held together with minute dark indigo sashiko stitches.

Sodenashi hanten with sashiko on stripes - double kakinohanazashi (persimmon flower stitch).

In the room showing a permanent exhibition about Kurosawa's film 'Dreams', there's a maekake apron stitched with Nanbu Hishizashi sashiko in wool on hemp.  You can try this on too.  Unfortunately the security wire isn't long enough to reach across to all the figures dressed like people in the film, otherwise you could get a sense of being part of it!

It goes rather well with Glyn's chunky Noro wool/silk sweater.

That yarn reminds me of sakiori weaving.  This sakiroi apron was used a costume in the film.

Mottainai - scrap bundles in the first exhibition hall.

When we came out of the museum, it was just starting to get dark on the Nakamise-dori.  We had a great day and enjoyed meeting everyone.  Hopefully I'll get a chance to meet Yasuko at the Festival of Quilts this year? We'll see.

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!