Crafts

I wanted to share a few things I've been working on lately.

First one I actually finished! I used the instructions here to make it and it turned out great. I learned about eyelets which I had never used before and I used  some of the multitude of old jeans I have lying around. This is a chalk bag for rock climbing which is one of my favorite things to do and I've been doing it weekly now that the gym is right next to my work.

 I have been working on my t-shirt quilt for more than a year now but I am finally nearing completion! There are only six squares left to quilt and it will be ready in time for winter.

 I'm knitting a hat too. This book has some pretty cool patterns and I'm trying out the "Pine Needle Toque". I was going to do a different pattern but alas I realized that I need to find some one who can teach me the dark art of cabling.

World Quilt show Part 2: a few more of my favorites

In my previous post I put some photos of Japanese quilts at quiltfest. There were a lot more cool ones so I'm doing another post with a few more of my favorites. 

I loved the way this one looked like stained glass. 

This was part of a tribute to the Beetles. It reminded me of a story my dad told me about being at camp only a few miles away from Woodstock. A van of hippies tried to camp out there and the Camp manager had to ask them to leave.

This one popped out at me right away

I had a friend once who told me that she thought of red birds as a sign from God.

 This quilt made me think of her.

I loved the way this one made you feel like you were in the jungle.

I really like green and pink together for some reason.

This one reminded me of the Book of Kells I saw in Dublin this summer.

This was part of an exhibition on the "spice route". I loved the tropical colors and the volcano in the background

This last one was pretty amazing. When you can make something that beautiful with only one color....

Over all I had a great time looking at these quilts. It was weird to be the youngest one there by a long shot. Most of the people were middle aged to elderly women and a few older men. At the same time I don't think quilting is a dying art. I know several young quilters but none of them would have the time or money at this point in their lives to travel to a quilt festival. Serious quilting is probably something most people don't get into until their lives have slowed down. 

World Quilt Show: Japanese quilts

Last week During my lunch break I happened to walk past a little cupcake shop with a sign in its window proudly declaring "Quilters Welcome!"  Not being an especially accomplished quilter (I will post about my T-shirt quilt at some point) I did not feel that this particularly welcome and hence did not buy myself a cupcake. But upon closer inspection the sign revealed that it owed it's presence to the World quilt show going on during the next few days. Back at the safety of my cubical I searched this world quilt festival. I soon learned that many very cool quilts were now on display only a few blocks from my work. Once I finished work I walked over to the convention center, paid my entry fee, and proceeded to explore the quilts. In this post I'm adding pictures of my favorite quilts from Japan. More from other countries will come.

I loved the sea turtles and the corral in this one. Also the way the waves were triangles

This once was so precise and the colors were extremely well thought out.

pretty much all of these quilts had me in awe of how people could have the skill and the time to make these. In some ways it gave me a different perspective on art.

This was my favorite from Japan. I love the way it combines traditional quilting with Japanese fabric and themes.

Who doesn't like mt. Fuji and cranes?