Indigo Heaven

Over the past few days I have had plenty of time to stitch and I have been working on a boro style table runner.

I gathered a selection of indigo and woad dyed pieces of fabric, including new and vintage, dyed by me and by others and the lovely kantha designs on woad dyed fabric from Angela Daymond.

I also bought this lovely book to enjoy when my fingers got sore from stitching.  Some of those fabrics are pretty tough.

The backing of the runner is a lightweight yukata fabric bought in Japan and the "wadding" is simple cotton.

This is half of the runner.  I am stitching as the mood takes me or the fabric directs me, using an Italian 100% cotton perlé thread that I found in a charity shop.  Often I find I have stitched in a similar way to the shibori stitching that would have been used to create the dye resist patterns.

And on the blue and white theme, I found this beautiful feather from a Jay in the garden.

I'm feeling blue, in a good way.

Two Sewn, Four To Do

The weekend's work!  So many of you have, like me, spent a lot of this weekend sewing.  In the UK it has been cold, with a lot of places experiencing heavy snowfall and to sit by a fire and stitch was the perfect plan.

The first two, actually the bottom left two, journal quilts from my NZ trip are now joined and quilted.  I've used a large sashiko stitch and cotton perlé for the quilting in the borders and a variety of threads for quilting the blocks.  Again I was caught out by hand stitching through batiks, also known as sewing concrete, and my fingers are suffering a little, but I live batiks!! How we suffer for our art!!

Parcel Two - Boro Delight

"This is a vintage noragi vest from Hokuriki district. It is made of beautiful sakiori fabric. Sakiori is a traditional Japanese technique of rag weaving.The rag strips are cut finely and woven into a tweed-like fabric. In olden times people in northern district were poor, and people used their fabrics repaired and repaired, and finally make the fabrics to sakiori fabrics, and made noragi, interior fabrics and obi from sakiori fabrics.
This piece has especially beautiful (well worn) sakiori pattern. Textile is very very thick. And in the back near the neck, sashiko stitches are done. Its white pattern is exceptionally beautiful. Please check the fantastic sakiori and sashiko details with more photos.
It has a tear in the right chest, but as a whole it is in very good condition.
For the connoisseurs."

Above are the details from the Ichiroya - Kimono Flea Market website where I saw this vest and, although I am no "connoisseur", I knew I had to have it.

It arrived in the post yesterday, 

along with an apron I took a liking to and a gift of a lovely piece of kimono silk. Ichiroya are great to deal with and the descriptions and photographs of items on the website mean you know what you are buying.

The vest combines so much of what I love about vintage Japanese textiles.  The woven "sakiori" 

fabric, the sashiko stitching, the indigo dye of course, the concept of "boro" and also wabi sabi.  Here are my thoughts, I would appreciate your views.

The vest is old, and fragile in places.  I want to wear it once in a while and I want it to continue to have a life, not just become a treasure I store away in my sewing room.  It has evolved over time and I think it can continue to do so.
Can I do some work on it without stripping it of its integrity?
There are two areas I would like to pay attention to, the tear in the right side of the front (shown in the first photograph) and the stitching down the sides.

I am thinking of patching the front using some vintage indigo fabric, hopefully patching from inside if it is possible.  I would then use a simple sashiko stitch to hold it all together.
I would like to extend the stitching up each side of the vest, using the same stitch and in a cream cotton sashiko thread.
I feel that doing these things would prevent further damage to the vest.
However, should one repair such a beautiful item?
I really would appreciate your opinions and suggestions.

Japanese-speakers out there.... what exactly is on my apron?  Ichiroya say it advertises fish sausages. Are these anything like fish fingers?  I love the zipped pocket detail on the apron which I didn't notice initially!

Article Written - Tick

Phew.  I have finally completed an article for The Quilter magazine following my trip to Japan (one of the conditions of receiving the bursary from the Quilters' Guild).  It was so difficult to sum up the Japanese Textile Study Tour into a few words and pictures but still get across the wonderful experience that it was.  I hope I have managed it.  Of course I can't copy the article here but I will let you know when/if it is to be published.  I titled it "Studying at The Bext Exotic Indigo Hotel", I wonder whether QGBI will use my title.  I did enjoy revisiting the Tour and now I am going to create a photo album for myself.  It's wonderful to have hundreds of photographs on my computer or in a cloud or whatever but I don't think you can beat having an album of printed pictures that can be enjoyed easily and without electricity and cables!
Here's a picture that I haven't shared before.  It's from the Amuse Museum in Asakusa and shows tattsuke, underwear for women that covers the legs.  The tattsuke is made of layers of old cotton textiles and then embroidered with sashiko stitches in a design only recorded in the Nanbu district of the Aomori prefecture in Japan.

What A Day!

As I posted on Facebook yesterday didn't turn out quite the way I expected.
Plan A:  quick trip to the dentist, pop into the garden centre, home to get glam, lunch at the local Italian with friends...
Actual day:

• half an hour with my mouth open while the dentist did a dressing and temporary crown on my broken tooth and then the decision that I'll have to have an extraction
• pop into the garden centre for perpetual spinach seeds and courgette seeds (as they were sold out of plantlets)
• home to get glam
• stressful phone call from the Job Centre Plus people with way too much information to process but I gathered they will continue to support me with Employment and Support Allowance and are sending all the information in a letter
• think Al is being silly when he can't seem to remember the friends we are having lunch with...then recall that FAST campaign for strokes and call the GP (as I wasn't quite sure) then 999. 

Then everything got blurred and frantic.  I phoned our friends and the restaurant to cancel lunch (what a waste of make up, Al definitely owes me), and while waiting for the ambulance the dispatcher stayed on the line reassuring us.  What a pleasant surprise and relief when a local guy arrived on the doorstep armed with various medical equipment.  Clive is a member of LIVES and a first responder which is an invaluable service when you live in the rurals as we do.  He stayed with us, monitored Al and was very supportive and then handed over to the paramedics when they arrived.  More tests and checks, and by this time Al was almost back to normal, if rather shattered, and then off he was taken in the ambulance - after a brief moment of hesitation when he realised he'd put odd shoes on while getting ready to go to lunch and would I swap the brown walking shoe for the brown brogue please?!!
I followed the ambulance and in A&E Al was tested, checked, bled, scanned and finally given a nice cup of tea.  He had had a TIA, a transient ischaemic attack, a mini stroke as it's called, a miraculous self-repairing warning of possible strokes to come.  The emergency department at Pilgrim Hospital were really good and Al came home yesterday evening with mega doses of asprin to thin his blood.  We have just had a call from the hospital and he has to attend the TIA clinic this morning for further support and an action plan.  He has no lasting effects at all (although he isn't permitted to drive for a month which might cause some difficulties) which seems to me to be a miracle for which we are so thankful.
It all endorses our attitude of living for the moment - you just never know what's around that corner.
Oh, and while sitting with Al in A&E I managed to finish a piece of sashiko that Carin gave me when I was in Japan - just to reassure you, dear reader, that this is still mainly a stitching blog!!
Thank you to all those wonderful people who helped and supported us yesterday. 

 

Stitching and Knitting Weekend

Another weekend has passed and here's what I achieved.  Firstly I have really enjoyed doing the sashiko stitching on the quilt I made with Susan Briscoe a couple of weeks ago.  I had thought I might be able to use the sashiko as the quilting stitch but when I made the little mug rug (see the tutorial here) I tried stitching sashiko through two layers of fabric and the wadding and wasn't overly happy with the results, plus it was hard work.  I decided to use the sashiko as an embroidery embellishment to the quilt which I will then quilt, probably in the ditch, when it's all done and layered.
I've also had a little deviation from quilting and have got my knitting needles out.  The needles I have used to belong to my grandmother and I love knitting with them.  This is what I've done so far, too little for you to imagine what it might be!  It wasn't the colour I intended to choose but I think I was subconsciously influenced by Nat's post on dyeing with mulberries!

Quilt As You Go Tutorial

I promised you a tutorial on the little 'quilt as you go' piece we did at the Region 10 Quilters' Guild Area Day a couple of weeks ago, so here it is:
This is the sample piece I made on the day:

and this is how it was done:

To make one block you need
4 x 6" squares of fabric, two contrasting or complementary fabrics are nice
1 x 7.5" square of wadding
Sewing and quilting threads

1.  Join the four squares of fabric to make a 11.5" square

2.  Place the wadding on the wrong side, positioning it on the diagonal in the middle of the block.  Secure it in place, either with a few stitches at each corner or with a squirt of 505.

3.  Fold in half, rightsides together and stitch the short ends.

4.  Open out and line the long sides up.  Stitch together, leaving a small gap to turn the block out.  NB don't leave the gap at one of the ends as it will be more difficult to keep the corners neat.

5.  Turn through the block, ensuring the corners are pulled out and then handstitch the gap closed.

6.  Press and "quilt as desired".

You can make a quilt with these blocks and it will be all finished, wadding, backing and all as soon as you've joined the blocks.  I just made a single block and decorated it with sashiko stitching and tassels to make a pretty little mug rug, although, with the Japanese theme I had to have a pretty tea cup and saucer on mine.

Susan Briscoe Weekend 1

You will remember that I have been rather excited about the QGBI Region 10 area weekend I attended on 22nd and 23rd October as the guest speaker was Susan Briscoe.  I wasn't disappointed.  On Saturday we had a lovely day with a mini workshop (quilt as you go, I'll share that soon), traders, bring and buy, a yummy faith lunch and lots of chat and then Susan's talk in the afternoon.  Called "Japanese Quilt Inspirations" it was right up my street and was a feast for the eyes.  My photos are a bit skewed as I didn't choose my seat very well but anyway I would urge you to get your local quilt group to book Susan so you can see them for yourselves.  You will also hear all the stories that accompany them and the story of Susan's quilting life and her connections with Japan.  I've included a few detail photos too so that you can appreciate the quality of Susan's work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Weekend - But No Photos

I managed to forget my camera so have no photographs to show you but here's a progress report anyway.

On Friday I went to my quilting group, Mustard Seed Quilters, and finished my swap quilt for the BritQuilt Swap.  It has to be in the post on 1st July so that was a bit close for comfort but it met with approval at my group so I do hope my partner is going to like it.  I'll post about it and the one I receive in the swap all together when I have my camera.

On Saturday I went to a Quilters' Guild fun day in North Walsham.  There were lots of people there and the usual attractions - Barbara from Sew Creative was the trader, there was bring and buy, lots of quilting magazines going for 50p each, a good raffle and Steve from The Sewing Machine Centre was there (which was my main downfall!)  As well as the opportunity to eat cake and chat with quilting friends there were two lovely workshops.  Margaret Currie taught us how to make fabric flowers and brooches and then Heather Hasthorpe taught us how to fold an origami box, first in paper and then in fabric.  Photos will follow.  I was also very honoured when a fellow quilter asked me to show her how to do sashiko stitching and she made a lovely start to her sample piece.  I got the last of the cherry blossoms made and stitched to my Mount Fuji quiltlet so it just needs backing and binding but there's no sewing going on here today.  For those of you used to higher temperatures this will sound pathetic but we in the south of England are currently baking with temperatures of 32C and it's getting more and more humid and stormy, not a day for picking up a needle.  A little gentle weeding in the shade and a lot of sitting down with a cooling drink is what I'm up to today.  What are you doing?

Sashiko at Norfolk Quilters' 30th Anniversary Exhibition

I just had to share this wonderful sashiko quilt by Christine Allen that I enjoyed seeing at last week's Norfolk Quilters' Exhibition in Norwich. 
Christine was given one of Susan Briscoe's sashiko books for her birthday last year and created this quilt to challenge herself to work on her hand stitching.  I had a lovely chat with Christine and hope to meet up with her again soon.  Her husband attended the exhibition with her and was really enthusiatic and complimentary about her work - and rightly so!
You can see some other quilts from the exhibition at Online Quilting.

Norfolk Quilters' 30th Anniversary Exhibition - 2

My favourite quilts from the Norfolk Quilters' Exhibition include this wonderful kimono.  It was made by Sylvia Allen who was inspired by a quilting friend in New Zealand and helped with developing the idea by her husband.

Isn't it strange how you can look at lots of quilts and then end up selecting two by the same quilter?  These are both by Linda Turner.  The wonderful "Dark Woods" was inspired by these lines from Dante's "The Divine Comedy":

"In the middle of the journey of our life, 

I found myself in a dark wood, 

for the straight way was lost"

It was one of those quilts that looked simple from a distance but then the more you looked the more there was to see and enjoy.

"Trailing Vines", also by Linda Turner, is one of a pair of quilts, designed for a friend who presented her with two FQs in the bitter winter of 2009/10 in Virginia, USA.  I was attracted by the positive and negative design and the colours.

My steward's "station" was directly in front of this wonderful sashiko quilt by Christine Allen.  I found myself  hearing so many lovely comments about it that I had to fetch Christine to swap stations with me so that she could hear for herself what people were saying. 
Christine worked from one of Susan Briscoe's books and was challenging herself with this quilt to do some hand stitching.  This quilt was completed in three months.

Dragonfly In Blowing Grasses - Sashiko Tutorial Finished

I am very grateful to Susan Briscoe for her comments on the sashiko I am doing at the moment.
I tried using the order of stitching that she explained and found I preferred it.  I enjoyed a better rhythm in my stitching and doing the whole motif in one go rather than returning to do the grasses felt right.  I also had shorter jumps across the back of the work.

Mind you, as Susan said, if I'd wanted to do the grasses in a contrasting colour it would have been better to use the original order of stitching.
If you have done this dragonfly over blowing grasses piece I would love to hear how you got on.  Susan Fletcher is planning to offer two more dragonfly designs in the near future.  Will you be using them all together in a quilt or are you making a set of table mats (there are instructions in her tutorial newsletter for this), or do you have other plans for your sashiko dragonflies?
I hardly dare post a picture of my finished piece.  I realised that my dragonfly would be facing the opposite way to Susan Fletcher's original design unless I transferred the image to the "sticky" side of the vilene and decided that I was quite happy with that.  What didn't occur to me at all was that the grasses would be blowing in the wrong direction. 
Now I'm going to point out that the prevailing winds in Lincolnshire blow from a different direction from those in Japan (probably) and therefore my nowaki are giving my sashiko a locational reference.  Hmm, what do you think?

It has made my mind up for me about transferring the design to the back of the work in future.  I'm going to investigate marking pencils/pens and work from the front on subsequent sashiko projects.  Lovely little design though, thanks Susan at Alderspring Designs.