Tokyo quilt show

The show is the size of a baseball field filled with quilts and vendors selling quilt materials, kits, patterns, sewing machines, and things that quilters might like.  There were two exhibits I could identify; one was from the International Quilt Study Center in Nebraska, with a collection of mostly 19th century quilts, and an exhibit of Quilts from the Wizard of Oz with a long line, so I never saw it. The rest of the juried quilts were in Traditional, Wa (that were made mostly from Japanese fabrics in a Japanese style),  non-traditional, framed quilts (think art pieces),  juniors, and bags; I did not see a wearable art catagory. Fabric wise, there were old kimonos, pieces of kimonos, shibori, kasuri, all kinds of things that I don't have the knowledge to identify.

The DH and I spent an hour over dinner discussing what was unique to our experience of quilt shows; he's been to several at home. Neither of us have been in years.  What stood out was:






The backgrounds of some of the appliqué quilts had a lovely tonal ombre affect that was stunning.

The color palette in most cases is more subdued, but uses subtle pops of color.

The fabrics often have subtle patterning or interesting combinations of yarns in the weaves. Many of the fabrics are not made-for-quilting fabrics.

The appliqué was exquisite, especially the curves; there seemed to be a lot more small pieces than in our quilts.
Many of the quilts had embroidery on them; some of them were quite heavily embroidered.
The level of workmanship was amazing.

More photos here.

The crowds were pretty intense so we grabbed a bento for lunch from the bento lunch sales people and took a break before diving back in. I bought a purse kit, and I'm going to have issues with the instructions, but if I can pull it off, I'll have a lovely purse.