Boro in Position

Today we finally got my beautiful indigo textile in position on the bedroom wall.

I am really pleased to be able to appreciate it and give it a new life.  I used a few leftover pieces to make coasters.

I can sleep surrounded by soothing blue and white.

The Continuing Life of a Boro

I must first declare that I am prepared for thunderbolts and criticism...

I bought a boro cloth from Japan.  For a while I admired the history of the piece, the poverty of working people that led to repeated repairs and patching of textiles,  the elegantly fading indigo, the large hand stitching.  

I have done a lot of houseclearing lately, and this made me consider what my children think of the tatty blue fabric? Sara will know what it is but I can't imagine she'd want to give it house room.  So, I am giving it a new life, as sympathetically as possible but it still involves....SCISSORS!!

I started by cutting a large section of the cloth, about 6'x3', and hemmed it using cotton thread I dyed with indigo in Fujino four years ago. I used big, soft stitches.  This section will become a wall hanging, so that I can enjoy it everyday. The sides I stitched in sashiko thread, echoing the stitching on the edges of the cloth.  The thread will become less bright with time.

The next stage is to patch and repair the textile.  I have the tattiest end of the boro cloth to harvest for that.

The fabric I cut from the width has made a lovely runner for the bed (or a table), this section has few repairs.

Catching Up

I've mainly been doing household sewing recently, even though I say "I'm a creative textile artist, I don't do domestic alterations!".  I made these cushion using some of my wonderful indigo-dyed fabrics. I must stop anyone in a white shirt from leaning on them.

I have been keeping up with the JQ Challenge and have finished the first four, with a little purple in each.

January

February

March

April

For the next four months the focus colour is green and do I have disassembled this silk obi and will use some of the green areas as well as some other small pieces of green kimono silk I have.

The "Inchies" workshop was fun but I don't think I'll be making many inchies although I can see myself going to the previous stage and making more pieces like this:

Today is a beautiful Spring day so I'm going to make the most of it and put some new plants in the garden, agapanthus and allium.

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.

Blue and White Quilt Progress

This is the bottom quarter of "my" side of the blue and white striped quilt.  

There is less gold and red, more cream, a quieter side, night to day, female to male, yin to yang, to completely mix up my cultures!

If you compare my quilt with the pattern in Selvedge magazine (link a couple of posts back) you will see that I am embracing random while the design that inspired me is anything but!

It looks rather wobbly at the bottom, I blame that on it being pinned to the airing cupboard door for the photograph!  I've had a lot of stitching time over the wet weekend and only have one more quarter like this to piece and then the layering and quilting starts. I visited Camelot Crafts, my LQS, for wadding yesterday and Laurie kindly cut the yardage into four quarters, perfect for 'quilt as you go' for this project and I didn't have to find the floor space to do it.

I'll be at Country Roads Quilters for the first time since January on Tuesday and am really looking forward to catching up with everyone, welcoming a new member and seeing what all the clever ladies are creating. I'll try to remember to take some photographs.

Blue and White Quilt

Two posts in two days!  With all those goodies from the Springfields Quilt Show calling me I have been machine piecing today, quite a rare occupation for me these days.  

I have used basically blue Japanese cottons from my stash and those I bought from Katie on Friday to make a start on my strippy quilt (I wrote about this idea recently and showed a picture of the inspiration).

This is one quarter of the quilt top pieced, it measures approximately 42" square.  The quilt will be for our bed but I'm doing it in four "quilt as you go" sections for ease as it will have both machine (on the white) and hand (blue) quilting.

Also today, I've done a little research on my new toy sewing machine. It's a Muller 15, made in Germany by F. W. Muller at the beginning of the twentieth century.  She needs an appropriate name..,

Weekend Show and Tell

I've just unpacked my goodies from the weekend and thought I'd share them with you (virtually-speaking, of course).  The haul shown above is from Images of Egypt and there are exciting things to be creative with, including a couple of their amazing £1 offcut bags.

On Friday I attended the Springfields Quilt Show and was impressed with how this small show is developing. The quality of stalls, workshops and displays was much higher than on previous visits.  The catering is still poor but I had time out of the show to visit a local café. The best thing, though, as ever, was the time spent meeting fellow quilters both around the show and on stands.

This quilt, by Kathy Unwin, caught my attention, it really appealed to me for many reasons.

Here's a detail and the label:

I was delighted that Katie Chaplin, of Japan Crafts, was attending the show and had a lovely chat with her as well as selecting some gorgeous fabrics:

I was caught by a member of Country Roads Quilters who said she was "amazed" to find me looking at Japanese fabric!!!

This is not Japanese but it is indigo.

A length of vintage indigo-dyed fabric from a Hmong pleated skirt.  I was also tempted by this quilt hanger, made from wood recycled from looms by Burmese refugees. The carving is traditional but not an original piece.  I spent a long time talking to Beryl Lee on the Karenni Student Development Programme stand, do take a look at www.ksdp.org.uk (website currently being upgraded but it has a link to their Facebook page).

On Saturday I had a change of pace, spending the day with Angela Daymond at Fenland Textile Studio. I trialled a dyeing idea for her and now have this piece to do something creative with, preferably before Festival of Quilts!  It's dyed with logwood and weld.

There was also a surprise waiting for me at the studio, this stunning baby:

Some research is needed, and some dusting, but isn't she cute?

I hope it was a good weekend for you.  To top it off I think Summer has arrived, we had wonderful weather from Thursday onwards. And, in case you think I ran short of food while doing all this textile stuff, here's dessert from The Black Horse at Gosberton Risegate last night:

Absolute Unbroken Continuity - May 2015

This is my journal quilt for May.  The words, "absolute unbroken continuity", come from a poem my sister read at Daddy's funeral earlier this month.  It was Death is Nothing At All by Henry Scott Holland.  The quiltlet is similar to my usual style, and adheres to my rules.  The text this time was printed rather than written and I overlaid the fabrics with some sheers.  The stitching is all done by hand.

Today I remembered why I don't often make large quilts these days.  I spent a few hours layering this sampler quilt from a thousand years ago.  All that crawling on the floor, smoothing, adjusting, phewy.  The quilt itself is not terrible square (it was one of the very first quilts I pieced, using Lynne Edwards' Sampler Quilt book), and I like it but it has many, many faults.  I felt bad for it, sitting there in my sewing room, thrown over for more "arty" pieces and decided to layer it, quilt it and then use it!!

Talking of "arty" pieces, today was windy and sunny and a perfect day to rehang my prayer flags in the garden.  DH put the re-proofed gazebo up yesterday, complete with fairy lights, so we are all ready for balmy summer days and evenings.  The prayer flags from friends have been joined by a classic set I bought when we were in New Zealand last year and are all fluttering away beautifully with the prayer:

"May all beings everywhere receive benefit and find happiness".

The Quilters' Guild published a link to this pattern on Facebook and I loved it, possibly because it's blue and white/Japanese/indigo fabrics.  For whatever reason, it has inspired me to make a similar quilt with some of my indigo fabrics.  It will be for our bed, so a king size.  I have obviously forgotten the lessons of earlier already, but have been having fun pulling out all kinds of blue fabric.

http://www.selvedge.org/uploads/how-to-items/downloadables/How-To-Make-a-Strippy-Quilt-Instructions.pdf

http://www.selvedge.org/blog/?p=10754

http://www.selvedge.org/uploads/how-to-items/downloadables/How-To-Make-a-Strippy-Quilt.pdf

Indigo Prayers

My dear Indigo Sister, Judi, stitched this prayer flag for me. It was waiting for me, having flown all the way from Australia, when I returned home from Daddy's funeral.  I cannot tell you how wonderful it was to open the package and find this special gift inside.  If recipients of the prayer flags I stitch feel at least half as special as I did I would be honoured.  Thank you Judi.

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!

Review of Indigo & Sarasa by Shizuko Kuroha

In her final post from the recent Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival, Carin wrote about Shizuko Kuroha and shared a link to more information about her work. 

 

I was very taken by the incredible work of this lady and when I found she has a book available, well, you can guess!  It was a little trepidation that I ordered it from France, from the Quiltmania website. They are the publishers of the book and the price was considerably less than on some other websites I looked at.  However, you may like to look at this link as there are several pages from the book shown.

I need not have worried, the book arrived more quickly than if it had come from up the road.

The initial impression I had of this book (which is written in both French and English in this edition) is that it would be something of a "coffee table book" full of wonderful illustrations of Mrs Kuroha's work to inspire the reader.  There are many illustrations, of exquisite quilts made mainly with vintage fabrics and a lot of gorgeous, gently worn indigo, but this book is much more than that.

Mrs Kuroha writes about her journey with quilting and with these fabrics, her way of working and they way her work has influenced her life and her thinking.  A gentle, thought-provoking read.  

She is also incredibly generous with the techniques and patterns she has included in the book, it is like having a private workshop continually on hand.  There are step by step, illustrated instructions for the various techniques Mrs Kuroha uses:  hand piecing, log cabin, chenille, quilting.  There is detailed information about sewing tools and about the various textiles that she uses.

Finally, there are extremely well-illustrated patterns for many of the quilts and smaller items shown in the book, including layouts and full size templates.

Many books on my shelves have a combination of things that attract me and are useful and chapters that I can happily ignore as not appropriate to me.  "Indigo & Sarasa" has nothing that isn't of interest to me (except for the French text but two of my friends in Country Roads Quilters are keen to look at my copy and to read the French, because they can!) and I thank Carin for introducing me to Shizuko Kuroha.

ISBN:  978-2-916182-53-7
€30
First published, in Japanese, 2005