another simple baby quilt with tenugui

Our new friends Alex and Erica are having their first baby soon... an opportunity for me to make another very simple "one patch" baby quilt.  It is fast and satisfying work to cut 80 5-inch squares and arrange them randomly.  I love making simple scrappy quilts.  

In recent years Erica had spent two young-adult years living in Tokyo as a missionary for our church, so I knew that using lots of Japanese fabrics would be just the thing.  I surely brought back a lot of tenugui (traditional Japanese woven, hand dyed cotton hand towels) for use in such scrappy projects.



 Wait... what is wrong with this picture?.... Mount Fuji is upside down - that won't do! ...

 Here we go....

 The little pink and red carp, and the teal pigs, green flowers, and orange and yellow pastoral scenes - those are all cut from tenugui.  Filling in the gaps are random scraps from my stash including several 30's repros.  A little birdie told me that the new momma likes aqua, so I kept that in mind too.  I do find that teal/aqua is a terrific unifying color in scrap quilts.

I backed it with this adorable print, found at a local quilt shop: 

I quilted it diagonally, very simply in wavy lines, using a darning foot, with monofilament in the needle and cotton in the bobbin.  Like all the baby quilts I make, this one is simple and meant to withstand hard use and frequent washings.  I hope it will be used and enjoyed! 

Little " Three Friends of Winter" sashiko sampler

W

One thing I love about sashiko is the inherent symbolism within its designs.  I made this little Sho Chiku Bai (pine, bamboo, and plum - the "three friends of winter") sampler for a friend who has been facing some daunting health challenges with grit and with grace.

 Matsu (pine) remains green all winter and beautifies the landscape.  It denotes endurance and longevity, inner strength and resistance to hardship:

Take (bamboo) grows quickly and bends, but never breaks, during harsh conditions.  It too represents endurance and strength, as well as flexibility:

And ume (plum) blossoms appear during the winter, signaling the approaching Spring.  They  represent hope, vitality, beauty, and optimism during difficult times.   

In thinking about what to add in the fourth square, I decided on arrow feathers (yabane) which naturally symbolize the strength and courage of a warrior:

I worked the sampler on indigo, with off-white sashiko thread (which reads pure white, against the indigo).  And for a bit of whimsy I backed this little sampler with some blue and white tenugui printed with cute plovers:

I confess that it's not really a very practical little item, but it could be used as a bread basket liner or napkin... or perhaps as a drawer liner scented with perfume or essential oil.

And now... with the house in a quiet, relatively clean calm state with dishwasher running, laundry (almost) caught up, fire in the wood stove, fridge filled to the brim...  we are happily awaiting our girls and a passel of their friends for the long weekend to help us celebrate Thanksgiving.  A few from Boston and a few from New York City - sweet compensation for last year's Thanksgiving spent far from them, in Japan!

Linking up with Slow Bloggers... hosted this month by Willis of "Hey, Sis, Look What I Made" - she has a thoughtful post about how "life happens" - we can all relate!!

Simple baby quilt with tenugui backing

Miss K is visiting from NYC - yay! - and one of the great joys in having her here has been sewing together.  We whipped up a simple baby quilt for a friend whose baby shower/ sayonara party is this week.

Easy to cut 80 5-inch squares from 30's repros: 

blue solids, and tenugui fabrics: 

Chain piecing made quick work of the top, with K piecing most of it.  

For the backing we used four lengths of tenugui fabric (found the other day at the country yukata fabric factory).  The material is sheet-thin and I wonder about its durability... but it is sure soft.  Julie Fukuda uses tenugui extensively and has written in detail about "The Art of Japanese Tenugui" here.  

Wavy free motion quilting, corner to corner - so fast and fun - I really appreciate machine quilting when it comes to making baby quilts, and machine quilting means the quilts are so durable, washable, can take a lot of hard use and don't need to be treated as precious objects.

The binding contains a subtle detail - the asanoha (hemp leaf) pattern, which in terms of traditional sashiko, is a protective symbol historically used for children's items.

asanoha (hemp leaf) sashiko pattern

I blogged about another simple baby quilt here:  http://aquilterbynight.blogspot.com/2012/10/sweet-4-patch-baby-quilt.html

Fascinating yukata fabric factory

The other day,  Julie W took and I visited a remote, humble factory where cotton yukata and tenugui fabric are printed and dyed, and where she knew we could purchase seconds for a song.  She hadn't been here in years and was hoping it was still standing!  It was - but with far less fabric up for grabs - but it was still well worth the drive and a day's outing!

For me, it turned out to be one of those rare glimpses into real Japan - far outside the urban modernity of Tokyo - and one of the most memorable experiences I've had in Japan.  I only wish I spoke enough Japanese to have been able to ask questions!

wow.

Making arrangements for us to have a little tour. 

Digging out some of the seconds for us to see. 

We start sifting through the pile of seconds... some good stuff here!

Some of it stained - but no problem - can be cut away at home. 

A brief tour begins... and frankly it was hard to know where to train my eye!  It was very dark and hard to take pictures... 

We watched two gentleman work for a few minutes.  Our guide spoke no English and Julie and I speak such minimal Japanese that the only communication was basically "WOW!" on our part... and polite giggles on our guide's part!

Stencils, painting on the resist. 

And as Julie and I browsed through the fabric, our guide and her helper got back to work: 

In the background you see the giant spinner, where the rinse water is spun out of the fabric.

The printed, dyed, and rinsed fabric is steam pressed on this roller.

We loved some of this fabric but seconds weren't available. 

The pressed fabric is then neatly rolled up.  We each got a roll of this pretty tenugui fabric. 

Finished orders. 

What a great outing!  Thanks Julie!!  

Back home with my haul... dumped right by the washer.  The hot pink was a last minute gift from our guide.  She had so much of it and might just have wanted to get rid of it!  

It took a couple of days to sort and thoroughly wash all the fabric (there was a definite presence of cats at the factory!) using many color-catchers:

I hung it all around the apartment...

And I've started to press and fold it all.

Miss K (daughter #2) is visiting from NYC, and next I'll show you a project we whipped up together using some of these irresistible tenugui fabrics!