Tokyo International Quilt Festival 2019 PART TWO: Just Beautiful

It was so hard to choose only a few quilts to feature from the embarrassment of riches at this year’s Tokyo International Quilt Festival, but here are some of the overall stunners, and a couple that had details to die for.

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You can see why this piece won the 2018 Machine Quilting Award…

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There weren’t as many “photographic” quilts this year, but I thought this one was pretty wonderful.

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There also weren’t as many illustration-style quilts, but this one made up for the lack of quantity by over-the-top quality. Look at the border – even the binding looks like melting chocolate!

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And this one. Are you surprised that the artist is an 18-year-old guy? Love the use of fake fur for the hat and mittens.

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There were a number of quilts made with traditional patterns, but very untraditional colors. Isn’t it amazing how different this floral pattern looks with a dark background, rather than the usual white?

And this waterlily quilt just killed me, with its deep watery blue ground:

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There weren’t many “whimsical” quilts this year either, but the quality was super high…

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You can see through the round appliques to the background of this firefly-themed piece, which depicts the lightning bugs as circles of light

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This quilt took first place in the “Japanese” theme category. At first, it seems like a strange choice because it doesn’t exhibit insanely skilled traditional quilting chops like the other entries. What it does show in spades is the long rural history of reusing “boro-boro” rags to make things of beauty, and how raw edges and random shapes and imperfection can come together to make something that can be lovelier (in a different way) than those that are meticulously planned and executed.

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In contrast, this gorgeous thing placed second among the “Japanese” themed quilts. Check out the fabulous use of Hawaiian quilting techniques for the snowflakes.

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I really enjoyed how this next quilt deconstructs a traditional rose motif, unspooling it and playing with scale and orientation. And look how she has “pixellated” some of the elements:

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This is one of the most inventive “autumn” themed quilts I’ve seen, focusing on what happens after the leaves fall. The skeletal ones are composed of hand-appliqued fabric ribs and endless embroidery.

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This landscape piece makes use of eyelet pieces for the background and selected lace appliques to suggest the delicate patterns of hoarfrost. Nice use of a fabric seldom used in quilting!

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There were a couple of quilts in this show that were masterpieces of stitching rather than piecing. This landscape was handpainted, then intricately quilted, using thread colors to create subtleties of light and shadow.

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This next one was made from vintage kimono pieces and quilted in traditional Japanese washi paper patterns. The colors are a typical Edo-era combination, often found in kimonos of that time. A dyer who is trying to recreate the lost dyeing techniques of that time once explained to me that these are the colors that Japanese people look best wearing.

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This next one is a tour de force of optical art. The farther away you stand, the more organized the pattern looks. Up close, it seems to be a pleasing, random patchwork of Japanese indigo patterns. Step away a little farther, and you notice the diagonal squares and the “basket weave” created by alternating similar patterns and colors. And from across the room, the central square swims into glorious focus.

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There were a lot of delightful quilts in the group piecing competition. This year, the theme was “houses.”

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There was also a fun display of 3-D quilted houses by well-known quilter Suzuko Koseki.

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And finally, THIS. It was hard to get a photo of the entire thing (which was enormous), because it was mobbed by people with their noses right up to the quilt, who couldn’t quite believe that every strand of the latticework is hand-appliqued and every border crest hand-embroidered.

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In case you missed it, Part One (amazing quilts from this same show, with Japanese designs) is here. And just for comparison, here are the pieces I posted a couple of years ago, from the 2016 Tokyo International Quilt Festival.

And arg, if I put up all the beautiful pieces I took pictures of, this would be the Only Quilts blog, not Only In Japan. But if you’d like to see the outtakes, I’ll put them up in my Dropbox and temporarily post my personal email in the comments. If you’d like to see the rest, send me your email address and I’ll send you an invite!

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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 
The Last Tea Bowl Thief was chosen as an Editor’s Pick for
Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense on Amazon

“A fascinating mix of history and mystery.” —Booklist

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Jonelle Patrick writes novels set in Japan, produces the monthly e-magazine Japanagram, and blogs at Only In Japan and The Tokyo Guide I Wish I’d Had