Handmade Quilts from Japan (2)

Quilts that are entirely handmade are rare these days. We marvel at the technical excellence, precision, and patience it must have taken to create these works of art! All were made in Japan by groups of friends, turning hard work into companionship and fun.

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Quilt Village by Kimi Sakamaki with five friends (Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan).  

Quilts are hanging everywhere in this tiny village! Made entirely by hand piecing, hand applique, and hand quilting, it was designed by Kathy Nakajima. Teensy quilts even hang on the clothsline, shown below:

 Regarding the quilt's name, the makers say: "If there is a village where people who love quilts live, we would name it Quilt Village. What kind of scenery would that village have? We created this work while talking about these thoughts."

 

Olive Groves in Italy by Sachiko Miyagawa with 12 friends (Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan)

Made entirely with hand piecing, hand applique, and hand quilting, this quilt too was designed by Kathy Nakajima. The pieced pattern is known as Burgoyne Surrounded, which has a long tradition in American history dating back centuries, uses tiny squares to create a pixelated effects. 

The extensive applique work softens the geometric pattern. Olive Groves in Italy was made by friends who have been growing together for a long time, with olives that bring happiness.

Spring Milky Way by Mutsuko Shindo with 6 friends (Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan) 

The Winding Ways quilt pattern is beautifully overlaid with applique. The star of the show is the appliqued mimosa which sways in the gentle breeze of a spring day.  For the base, we used pieced work with beautifully coordinated colors.  The quilting was carefully hand-stitched to express the softness of the entire piece. We enjoyed the hand quilting (and fun fabrics) which you can see in this closeup photo:

 Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2025 Houston International Quilt Festival.

 

Best of Utah quilts: The 2018 Springville show !

We had lots of fun seeing the pretty quilts at the 45th annual Utah Quilt Show in Springville, Utah. It's a juried show, featuring quilts of all styles and sizes. We hope you enjoy the "eye candy" below !

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Vision Quest by Connie Healy, quilted by Wren Wookland

Connie says, "I am legally blind and mostly pieced by feel. I saw a wall hanging and thought it would make a beautiful bed quilt, so I just kept going. Someone else will have to tell me where any problems are, because I can't see them."
Our response would be that this is a daunting project even for quilters with perfect eyesight; so Connie's work, which she accomplished despite  her vision challenges, is exemplary. Congratulations to her for this wonderful accomplishment !

The quilt is based on the Convex Illusions quilt pattern by Kathleen Andrews.

Close-up, Vision Quest

In this close-up, you can see the interesting contrasts provided by the ombre green fabric of the inner borders and the textures provided by Wren Wookland's excellent quilting work.

The Circle Game by Patti Jacobs, quilted by Mindy Powell

Winner of an Award of Excellence, Patti writes, "I had this pattern on my shelf for a year or two and was afraid of the circle, y-seams, and many, many templates. Sewing another quilt from [designer] Jen Kingwell,  I was able to successfully make template blocks, which gave me the courage to begin this project. I loved the bright colors. It makes me happy to look at it !"
This blue ribbon-winning quilt is based on The Circle Game pattern by Jen Kingwell.

These happy, vibrant colors really pop out against the fun black and white background of the blocks. We admire Patti's ability in completing this intricate patchwork and applique.

Flying Home by the Quilt-In-Time group. Quilted by Marie Wiggington

This quilt has been cut, pieced, and stitched together by the Quilt-In-Time quilters, a very small group formed in 1998 in Monticello, Utah.
Flying Home is based on a pattern in the 1997 book, More Quick Rotary Cutter Quilts by Pam Bono. (Also see the post at Hidden Treasure Crafts.)

Close-up, Flying Home

The theme of flying geese is emphasized not only by the attractive patchwork blocks which represent actual geese, but also by the triangle motifs known by quilters as flying geese blocks, done here in autumn colors of caramel, gold, and cinnamon. There are hundreds of flying geese blocks in this quilt!

Tribute to Pele by Margo Faccini

Margo notes, "The floral fabric was purchased while on a trip to Portland, Oregon. It took a few years before I added the red and yellow fabrics and designed the background. The flowers are all hand appliqued. Pele is the goddess of Kilauea volcano, which was erupting during the making of this quilt."

Close-up, Tribute to Pele

Here's an excellent example of Broderie perse stitching, in which an entire printed motif is cut out and appliqued as a single pattern onto a background. These brilliant colors are a perfect reminder of the lush tropical foliage of the Hawaiian Islands.

Lap Quilt (Winding Ways) by Marjory Woffinden

Mary states,  "Always enjoying new quilt styles and challenges, I read about this beautiful, colorful quilt and tried it. I'm 97 years old and loved all the hand work of putting together the blocks and applique flowers."

Close-up, Lap Quilt

This patchwork design is the traditional "Winding Ways" pattern. We really admire Marjory's beautiful hand quilting work.  She has done an excellent job in creating this lovely project !

Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration.

Scrap (Happy) quilts from Dad's Shirts and Ties!

For Father's Day, how about a show of quilts made from shirts and ties? We love the idea of making something new, useful and beautiful from clothing.  Here are some quilts we admire, made from plaid shirts, beautiful silk ties and denim jeans.  Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there!
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Tie One On, 67 x 54”, by Dianne Sheppard (California); longarm quilted by Jody Gosnell

This wonderful Dresden Plate quilt, made from silk ties, is machine pieced and hand appliqued. Dianne Sheppard says, "This quilt caused me major anxiety as I had never worked with men’s ties before and had no idea where to begin. My daughter’s mother-in-law asked me to make a quilt from her father’s tie collection. After much research and a book loaned to me from a friend, we decided on this design."

Dianne continues, "It took over two years to make, but I’m very happy with the results. What a learning experience!"  We photographed the quilt at the 2015 Pacific International Quilt Festival.

Dad’s Shirts by Becky Ripley at Ripley Quilting (Arizona)

Becky Ripley says, "I remember my dad every time I see this quilt, made from his plaid and striped cowboy shirts and quilted with pictures of some of his favorite things."  She included shirt pockets with pearl snaps, and quilted some Arizona themes, including saguaro cactus shown below.

Winding Plaid by Layne Rahbar (California)

This Winding Ways quilt is so clever! It is a frayed edge quilt made from plaid shirts, one of a series by Layne Rahbar. Winding Ways creates a secondary pattern of overlapping circles. Layne created high-contrast blocks by alternating dark and light plaids in green, blue red and neutrals. She says, "[I am] having fun with this method and still have a bin full of plaids."

Double Plaid Rings by Layne Rahbar

This fantastic double wedding ring quilt was made with upcycled plaid shirts. Instead of piecing, this was constructed by gluing and basting the arcs and corner pieces onto dark plaid squares. The squares were then pieced together, sandwiched and quilted on a domestic machine.

You can see the frayed raw edges in the closeup photo below.

Moonshadows, 90 x 82”, by Anne Joule (New Zealand)

Moonshadows is a huge (90 x 82") was made entirely from silk ties which were hand pieced, hand appliqued (borders) and hand quilted. It won Best Use of Color in the International Division at the 2016 Pacific International Quilt Festival.  Anne Joule says, "I enjoy paper piecing and hand applique. I like to use [silk ties] as the colors last."

Effervescence #2 by Margit Kagerer (Arizona)

This art quilt was shown in the 2015 Invitational Exhibit by the Mavericks Art Quilters at Quilt Arizona.  A native of Germany, fiber artist Margit Kagerer was introduced to the world of quilting and fiber art when she relocated to the United States.

You can find a book of Margit Kagerer's original quilts at CreateSpace.

Cosmo Quilt by Maria A. Michel-Zavala and Esteban Michel

Denim was used to make this quilt, with the aim to recycle discarded jeans (90% recycled, 10% new fabric.) Cosmo Quilt was based on a spiral galaxy, and was designed by Esteban Michel: “The Universe is the Quilt Of Our World.”

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2016 Pacific International Quilt Festival (Moonshadows); the 2015 Pacific International Quilt Festival (Tie One On);  the 2017 Quilt Arizona show (Dad's Shirts); the 2015 Quilt Arizona show (Effervescence #2); the 2015 Diablo Valley Quilters' Guild show (Winding Plaid, Double Plaid Rings); and the 2014 Tucson (Arizona) Quilters' Guild show.