Friday, August 16, 2013

Inspiration from Japan

A few years ago, I discovered this amazing artist at the quilt fest - +Yoko Saito. She is a quiet, beautiful artist whose work is colorful and imaginative - but all from the taupe color palette. I spent months collecting daiwabo fabrics and lots of Yoko's Japanese taupe fabrics and then I adapted one of her pieces for my own art quilt. 

Here it is: 100% handmade.
This one took me almost two years to finish (ok, there were some distractions in between... like moving and work), but working by hand takes an inordinate amount of time.

All of the still life pieces are hand appliqued, the stems are tiny rick rack which I sewed on by hand, and I also hand embroidered it.  The borders are a woven lattice work - all hand appliqued. And my favorite part, the basket, is also hand woven. This was a bit tricky, I'd never made a basket before.


I also hand quilted this baby and the wool batting really makes each stitch stand out.

To finish this off properly, I bought a deep edge canvas and spray painted it dark gray. Then I attached the quilt corners to the canvas and hung it. No glass or anything - it is important to be able to touch it and see it up close - I didn't spend all this time to lock it up in some box.

I am incredibly proud of this one. And I am so lucky to be able to meet artists from all over the world at the Houston quilt fest each year and be inspired by their work.

Someday I am going to convince my quilt buddy, Amy G., to go with me to the quilt fest in Japan! This of all the inspiration we will bring back!

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