Rachelle and I picked up her quilt today from the quilter. She started the project over a year go when she disassembled a bunch of antique kimonos that she brought back from Japan.
In January I blogged about the project. You can check out that entry with photos by clicking here. Since that time, she finished assembling all of the pieces and sent it to be quilted by a woman who lives on the Sunshine Coast. That took a month and now it's back in her hands to have the finishing edging done.
Tonight she put the last few stitches in and it's done!! This next photo is a detail shot of the stitching. With the exception of the quiting stitches, this whole quilt is hand stitched. Moreover, most of the fabric used was hand-woven, hand-dyed or painted. There are at least five generations of womens' work in this quilt.
It even has a name. Rie Suzuki, who is a potter friend in Japan, was conscripted to suggest a name and it's a beauty: "Kagari-bi". Directly translated it means "Bonfire Beauty", but the Japanese characters can also be interpreted as "hemming" or "darning". The poetic translation, which is what Rie intended, is "fire or spirit of the kimono makers", a great homage to where the quilt came from.
1 comment:
Thank you for mentioning my name in your blog.
The quilt looks wonderful!!
There is a big quilt competition in Japan, accepting entries from overseas as well.
I'd suggest you enter for that!!
Hat's off, Rachelle!! Rie
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