TOKYO INTERNATIONAL QUILT FESTIVAL 2017

 

The theme for next year's Festival is "Gardening".

This my contribution to the Festival's Partnership Quilt.

Decided on something simple due to time constraints.

It's a single block (15x15cm) version of what I did for Quilty365.

The flower is hand-appliqued.
Two butterflies at the top right, stamped using fabric inkpad.

 The red rectangle has my initials, gives the block an Asian feel
--- traditional Chinese brush paintings/calligraphy
have the artist's name stamped in red ink at the corner.
 

This is just one of hundreds of blocks being sent to organisers of
 the Tokyo International Quilt Festival by patchwork enthusiasts
mainly from Japan but also around the world.

Volunteers will join and quilt these blocks by hand
to form Partnership Quilts.

 

These will be displayed, then raffled off, at the Festival in January 2017.

 

Last year, over 8,000 blocks were received and made into 74 quilts.

~Ema N~

 



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QUILTY 365 (March 2016)

March flew by!

 

I was busy tying up loose ends at work

before starting a new job in April.

 

But managed....just!...to keep up with Quilty 365.

It's 125/366 days so far.

Just a few highlights:

Week 14

 

Inspired by a linocut workshop I attended.

 

Chose fabric with prints that look like linocut patterns. 

 

Am thinking of designing/carving my own pattern,

printing on fabric and using them for a quilt.



Week 15

 

These are the oldest fabrics I have in my stash. 



Week 16

 Colours of flowers, trees, berries in the park where I walk almost everyday. 

 

Week 17

An emotional week as I remember this man.



Week 18

 My friend lost her beloved cat, a companion for many years.....so sad.

One more look at the flowers so far:

 

 

~Ema N~

Linking up with QuiltyFolk, host of Quilty365.

LINOCUT



 Went for a Linocut Workshop last week.

This is the result of two-and-a-half hours' worth of fun!

I enjoyed the whole process.

Carving was calming.

Printing was challenging,
trying to get the ink on evenly
and placing the block accurately
to get perfect mirror images.

*****

Went to the art supply store and bought
a set of carving tools and linoleum blocks.

With more practice, I may be able
to print something on fabric?

Hopefully.

~Ema N~
 

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Please do not use without permission..



QUIILTY 365 (Feb 2016)

 

A total of 92 days so far....

I had such fun doing flowers for February!

 

Let me show you:



Week 10

I love this flower ~ I call it mum's flower.

 

She made clothes using polyester

as they freed her from ironing,

her least favourite household chore.

Week 11

I love this flower too!

 

It captures the festive mood as we celebrate Spring Festival.

 

This is my favourite flower in Quilty 365 so far.



Week 12

 This is the family flower.

 

The colours are off.

 

The sheep is on a pastel blue background.

This fabric used to make PJs for a little one.

 

Next to it, pink flowers are on a pale yellow base.

It made a pretty dress with fitted bodice and gathered skirt.



Week 13

This is the leap year flower. 

 

An extra petal for 29 February.

 

One more look at blooms for the past three months:

 



~Ema N~

Linking up with QuiltyFolk, host of Quilty365.

Photos and text belong to the author of this blog, unless otherwise stated.

Please do not use without permission.

 

QUILTY365 (Jan 2016)

 

This is how it looks after 63 days.

 

The whole cloth backing is slowly filling up.

 

It's less intimidating now.

 

Unlike early December when there was

just one lonely flower on the two-and-a-half yards of cloth.

 

 

 

Week Six

 

Week Seven

 

Tatting ~ I did get two new thread colours: orange and blue.

 

I'm tatting ahead of the applique flowers as it is so portable

and I make one up when I have a few minutes.

 

Week Eight

 

I bought a black fabric inkpad.

 

Inked the back of Mint and Turnera subulata leaves
and pressed them on to a piece of cloth.
 

 Ironed, rinsed and the imprint is still there, I hope permanently.

I like this: it captures a part of my daily environment on fabric.

 

 

Another thing that happened this week: tree trimming.

Good reminder at the start of the year:
  Prune the old to encourage new growth.

Not just physical things but also thoughts, habits.
 

Week Nine

 

One more look at the flowers so far:

 

~Ema N~

Linking up with QuiltyFolk, host of Quilty365.

Photos and text belong to the author of this blog, unless otherwise stated.

Please do not use without permission.



 

QUILTY365 (Dec 2015)

 

The flowers are blooming!

Each one represents a week.

So far, I've kept to two sizes: 24cm/9.5" and 18cm/7".

There is no particular order to the layout of flowers.

It'll all be random.
 

Week One

I found out after applique-ing this first flower that

I had sewn it on the WRONG side of the cloth!

 

So ~ unpicked and re-appliqued this again on the right side.

 

I'm glad I spotted the mistake after the first flower.

Imagine if I'd noticed after the 10th flower!



Week Two



Week Three

The tatted centres are not sewn on yet.

 

I keep changing my mind about which colour to use!

 

They will most likely be the last thing I sew on.
 

Week Four

Week Five

 

Now that the shops are having post-Christmas sales,

I might venture out to buy thread for tatting.

 

Need more colours!
 

One more look at the flowers so far:

Thanks for reading!

~Ema N~

Linking up with QuiltyFolk, host of Quilty365.

Photos and text belong to the author of this blog, unless otherwise stated.

Please do not use without permission.

 

 

 

TATTING: CHRISTMAS
 

I tatted this for a friend as a Christmas gift.
 

This pattern* is my favourite for bookmark crosses.

I like that it's lacy but not overly so.

Even the men like it when tatted in hunter green or Prussian blue.

~~~

A modification: I joined the picots.

This way, the cross holds together better.

It tends to flop around when picots are not joined.

This is how it looks without joins.

Thread: DMC Cebelia #30

Read about this cross here.

It's more delicate than the red one as I used finer thread.

I like both crosses ~ this pattern works, the thread just expresses different moods.

This one, fragile and the red one, strong.

 

*Pattern is from "The Complete Book of Tatting" by Rebecca Jones.

~Ema N~
 

 

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Please do not use without permission..

SCRAPPY X'MAS TREES
 

 A friend and I agreed to exchange hand-made Christmas cards

 instead of e-greeting cards.

We found blank postcards and decided to use them.

 

 I filled the blank space on the postcard with x'mas trees

 using scrap fabric and double-sided tape.

 

 Paste the tape on the back of the fabric.

 

Then cut out triangle shapes,

remove the tape backing and stick them on the postcard.

Stripe fabric work as trunks and
a rummage through the scrap bin yielded a few stars.

(As I type this, I realised stars fit in with the "Space" theme too.)
 

This was fast – and fun - to make!

I think this would be a great craft project with kids.

 

 

~Ema N~
 

Linking with up Le Challenge, where the theme this month is “Space”.

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PATCHWORK BUILDING



Do you see what I see?

 Half-square triangle patchwork on the façade!

This building made me smile the whole day.



It looks so cheerful.

Inside are doctors' offices and all things medical.

 

~Ema N~

 

 

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Please do not use without permission

 

NOODLES  IN SPICY COCONUT BROTH

 

On a cold, rainy day, the perfect lunch is noodles like this.

 

Only the green beans are real.

 

Everything else came out of a packet:

the noodles, flavouring oil, powdered seasoning & coconut.

 

This was the lunch of my secondary school years.

 

I succumbed this afternoon because I recently watched
something on telly about instant noodles.

 

Also because today is M's birthday.

We were classmates
and she loves instant noodles as much I do.

She always adds an egg to her noodles.

She went on to Cambridge.

I didn't.

It must be the egg.

 

~Ema N~

 

Photos and text belong to the author of this blog, unless otherwise stated.

Please do not use without permission.

QUILTY365

I'm making flowers for Quilty365.
 

I'll pick fabrics based on what made me happy or what I'm thankful for each day.

 

Each flower will represent a week.
 

 The centre was originally to be a circle applique

but I wanted to have some variety, ie not all fabric.

 

I tried a tatted* motif and like the way it brought the petals together.
 

So all flowers will have tatted centres.
 

It doesn't take long to tat these, so I think it's do-able.

(*Tatting is a method of making lace by hand using a shuttle and thread.)

 

I started on December 1 and here's my week:

 

I'm using a whole piece of cloth as the base fabric.

 

This saves me from having to cut background squares

so I can concentrate on needle-turn applique for the flowers.

 

 

There is two-and-a-half yards of this men's shirting fabric.

 

I had intended to make a shirt dress out of this but never got around to it.

Can't wait to fill it up with happy flowers!
 

~Ema N~

Linking up with QuiltyFolk, host of Quilty365.

Photos and text belong to the author of this blog, unless otherwise stated.

Please do not use without permission.