Yokohama Quilt Festival 2012: Bits and Pieces

Yokohama Mahoosive Quilts 2 + 3 by SewBlossomHeart, on Flickr

You’ve seen the quilts, now see the rest of the Yokohama Quilt Festival! Over half the space in the exhibition hall was vendor space. I was one of the first in the doors, and headed there first to scout around as I knew it would get busy later on (thanks Cynthia!). I’ll admit, I was a little underwhelmed. But that’s only due to my personal fabric tastes! If you’re into traditional Japanese or Western fabrics and prints, you would have been in heaven. Sprinkled around were modern prints like Moda or modern Japanese fabric designers, but I can buy them locally with my discount cards 😉 That and the Moda Japan stand was only doing workshops or selling $60+ jelly rolls. Sigh.

Having said that though, I did pick up a few little bits and pieces, but you’ll have to come back on Sunday to see the fabrics as I’m guest hosting Sunday Stash for Fiona! I went alone to the show, instead of with my mum like I used to back in Australia, and so I’ve loved being able to share my day with you all! In thanks, there’ll be a little something for you on Sunday too 🙂

But I will also admit to almost, literally, crying at the sight of that Gutermann store. I’ve had big issues with local threads – tension, lint, keeps breaking, etc. And I’ve been mourning the end of my last white Gutermann since it finished a few months ago. But I snapped up 1000m of it on Saturday, which’ll last me a little while, plus I picked up a brochure which I believe will show me how to buy it online from Japan and save on postage! Yata! [yay!]

Back to the show… I was almost about to head towards the exit, when I heard English through a speaker! When you live in a country where you don’t understand the language, you gravitate towards your own language! I turned the corner and saw that Jen Jones was just starting a gallery tour of her Welsh quilts collection.

Jen Jones Welsh Quilts by SewBlossomHeart, on Flickr

Jen Jones originally lived in Massachusetts, USA but moved to Wales in 1970. She became enamoured with Welsh quilts but found that they were not valued by their owners – she found them on cows, under mattresses to protect the mattresses from the bed, and even on top of firewood! So she has since started collecting and preserving them, and has even written books alongside travelling the world with pieces from her collection.

Jen Jones Welsh Basket Quilt by SewBlossomHeart, on Flickr

Being the only gaijin [foreigner] in the group, I felt like she was almost giving me a personal tour of the collection, as she kept looking at me as she was talking! You can see the translator on the right of the photo. It was actually quite interesting to learn about Welsh quilts – did you know they predate the Amish quilts?! Some antique Amish quilts fetch up to $150 000 – $200 000… And there the Welsh were using them to keep their cows warm?!

Thanks again for joining me on my brief little tour of the Yokohama Quilt Festival. The next big show is the Tokyo one at the end of January, and I’m looking forward to seeing what that one brings!