A Quilting Jolly

I've had a great day out today with the local branch of the Embroiderers' Guild.  They had organised a jolly to Threads and Patches near Milton Keynes and I was able to join them.

It was an early start but we were greeted with homemade cake (chocolate cake for me please) and coffee and then settled down for some really useful demonstrations.  Time for a tasty buffet lunch and then shopping!  Here are some of the ladies queuing to pay for their goodies.

I stocked up on 505, was tempted by a pattern and fell for a Dresden Plate ruler that was demonstrated during one of the morning sessions.  Rulers seem incredibly expensive (I'm embarrassed to tell you how much this one was) but for something like Dresden Plate, that needs to be so accurate, they are worth buying, and it is a block I like to make.

The plastic things at the bottom of the photo are Bob-Eez.  These were demonstrated for use in making kumihimo, they hold the threads clean and tidy and also weight them slightly.  I only bought eight but if they work well I will need to buy a further eight.

"What about fabric?" I hear you cry.  Well my haul was of mixed pink FQs and a couple of metres of cream on cream.  Wasn't I restrained?  The pinks are for the next Global Piecers' swap which will be of hearts blocks as a reflection of the love and support us quilters have for one another.
I was impressed with the selection of fabrics available at Threads and Patches (they also have other craft materials, wool and a longarm quilter who works on site).  It's definitely worth a stop if you're in the area.

Shifuku Finished

Last night I finally finished the little bag I started while I was in Japan.  It is a Shifuku (仕覆), a drawstring pouch

and something like this would be used for holding the utensils used for the Japanese tea ceremony.  I have ordered a Chasen (茶筅), a whisk, from the Japan Centre which I will keep in my shifuku, the dimensions of the bag suit it although strictly speaking the chasen is not Dōgu (道具, literally tools).  I shall have to make more bags!  This one is very special.  The fabric is katazome, dyed at Noguchi san's, the indigo master and the drawstring is my first kumihimo.

The shifuku is lined with vintage silk

that sensei Bryan gave us (and the offcuts of which I included in my bojagi).  It is a wonderful momento of my time in Japan earlier this year.  I know it is not perfect (not good enough for something Japanese for sure) but it is made to the very best of my ability, maybe I could dare to say it is Wabi sabi :-)

Edit:  my Indigo Sister, Nat, has written a great post on bojagi, full of inspiration, it's here .

Scrumptious Silk

Here is Bryan not keeping still for a photo again and about to show us how to reel silk.  It was quite late one evening when we had this demonstration and I was spellbound, two excuses for a lack of good pictures.  Fortunately there is a photo-journal of the process here
Bryan raises his own silkworms, one of my Indigo Sisters tried to persuade us that they are good pets!

Myra was the first to get her hands on some silk - that's a lovely shibori scarf around your neck Myra :-)

We had a wonderful time looking at and handling silk that Bryan had reeled and dyed with a variety of natural dyes.  At this point we all realised how rough our hands had got with washing out our indigo dyed cloth and not having time for our usual regular manicures!

We used the dyed silk thread for kumihimo, making braids on the marudai.  Here's Judi working on her braid which used eight fine threads on bobbins and took a lot longer to make than for those of us using just four threads.  NB Nat is not bored, just tired!

This is my first braid.  I enjoyed doing it, finding the moving of the bobbins very rhythmic and almost mesmerising with their little click-clack as they settled.  I also liked the result.  DH is going to make me a marudai so watch this space for more kumihimo in the future.

Bryan showed us the stitch that is used to attach the braids to our little stencilled bags, he did one side....I just had to do the other!  Er sensei, could you just show me that one more time please?

In a wonderful book of Bryan's containing sketches of Fujino in the 1930s there are some illustrating the raising of silkworms:

16th May
Nat sent me these photos of the silk cocoons bubbling gently to start the reeling process and of Bryan working with one of his wonderous pieces of textiling equipment, some original, some homemade and all rather "Heath Robinson"!