Pinestream Quilters August Club night

Our speaker for this month’s meeting was Claire Smith, (well known for her love of “spiky trees quilts”), who gave a slide show presentation  about her recent trip to the Tokyo Quilt Exhibition.  And what a huge exhibition is was – several slides gave us an overall view of this extremely large complex.  The slide show started with several pictures of monkeys soaking in hot pools surrounded  by snow.  We have all probably seen these animals on TV, and Claire had some marvellous close-up photos of the monkeys, completely at ease, as the tourists snapped away at them with their cameras.  Then came slides of the quilts, all very beautiful.  Claire mentioned that most quilts in the show were hand quilted, and hand appliquéd, probably due to the very small living conditions of most people in Japan.  We saw several quilts featuring the Japanese favoured taupe colour scheme, and most of the quilts photographed seemed to have that “WOW” factor with  intricate piecing, appliqué and hand quilting.   As the show was so crowded, often with 10 deep all looking at a particular quilt, Claire often returned later in the day to take photos when the crowd had thinned out a little.  She also showed us some delightful sightseeing slides.  The beautiful buildings, parades, and cherry blossom all captured the essence of Japan so well.

Patricia had brought along a Japanese inspired quilt for Show and Tell.   Using a commercial panel, she had accented the design with hand embroidery using silver thread.  Those colours are just beautiful against the black background.

Geisha Girl quilt

Another panel quilt on show was made by Jo for her 14 year old grand son, who is obviously a motor bike enthusiast.  Any young budding biker is sure to be delighted with his Nana for making such a quilt. 

Jo’s motorbike quilt for her grand-son

My friend Jenni brought along her stunning bag.  The blocks are made from multi layers of fabric, stitched in circles, then the fabric cut away to expose the under layers.  The circles are then quartered, and stiched back together again.  It was a good lesson in putting colours together, she said.  And such lovely shades too, just like the colours of a paua shell.

Jenni’s bag

Such pretty soft colours in Faye’s nine patch quilt, beautifully set off with the appliquéd border. 

Faye’s quilt

I’m sorry that I didn’t catch the names of who brought in these last few items I photographed, but they are certainly well worth including.  This lovely little beauty is a donation for the Neo Natal Unit at Hutt Hospital.

Neo Natal baby quilt

And I rather liked the knitting needle bag which rolls up neatly.  I heard that this is to be a gift, for an aunt, I think, and is made with knitting themed fabric.  Can you see the sheep busy with their knitting needles?

Knitting needle roll

And last but not least was this vibrant Island tivaevae cover.  The large leaves and fruit have been heavily embroidered then appliquéd to the teal blue background.  These covers are traditionally left as tops (not quilted and no wadding used) and used as bed covers in the Islands.  I understand that a church group is making these tivaevae for sale to Island supporters who will be visiting New Zealand during the upcoming Rugby World Cup games.

Tivaevae cover

Another excellent monthly meeting, with a very interesting speaker.  It is always good to catch up with others, and see what they have been working on during the month.