Fabric Shopping in Japan

I was very lucky to spend a week in Japan earlier this month, and that meant sneaking in a little fabric shopping. Who could possibly resist buying cute Japanese fabrics in Japan itself?

 

First stop was Nippori in Tokyo, otherwise known as Fabric Town. This is a whole strip of fabric shops; not just quilting but clothing and all sorts of other fabric.

 

I

 didn't have a lot of time so I headed for the largest and most well-known: Tomato. This is a series of stores each stocking different fabrics, but the one for quilt fabric is the largest. The top two floors are where its at. The ground floor is great for 100yen fabric but the line goes out the door and I didn't see anything that really caught my eye. I will admit I didn't really find anything much of interest to me in Tomato, I guess because I have my own shop and can access most fabrics anyway. So I walked away with a little Hello Kitty Kokka and that was about it.

 

I also found a great little shop (called Elegance) selling Liberty fabric for approximately 3000yen per metre and grabbed a couple of pieces there, but failed to take a photo of the shop.

 

I hit my fabric jackpot when I arrived in Kyoto. There are two stores a few blocks apart: Nomura Tailor, and Nomura Tailor House (the latter being a bit smaller, but in my mind the better of the two). I went to Nomura Tailor House first.

 

And was thrilled with the selection of fabric available. All the bolts are neatly sorted, and most are available as fat eights at bargain prices, or half metre cuts all pre-packed.

 

I walked out the door with an arm load.

 

 

As a good scientist I also visited Nomura House, but found it wasn't really necessary. Though I did not visit the upper floor. They had most of the same fabrics, but it was difficult to locate them once you'd viewed the samples hung on the wall.

 

 

 

So if you only have time for one and quilting fabric is your thing, go to Nomura Tailor House. You wont be disappointed.

Honey Pot Quilt

Six months ago I got a little nudge in the right direction, and this month my very first published quilt hit the stands. My quilt is called Honey Pot, and features the Sweet as Honey fabric by Bonnie Christine for Art Gallery Fabrics.

The magazine is the December issue of Down Under Quilts, and it's available in newsagents now.

Quilts For Sale

I'm in between jobs right now, so I need to keep the craft budget ticking over. So it's time to sell a couple of cot quilts that I've made along the way.

I'm selling this gorgeous Paradiso HST quilt.

And this little Chez Moi number.

You can find them listed here.

Happy New Year

2015 is on us, and I hope you all had a lovely Christmas. I spent a week in the country, and while I'm happy to be home, I'm not so happy that it's going to be 40C today!

Last year was a bit of a quiet one in the quilting front for me, I just couldn't seem to find the time. Hopefully better luck this year!

First off was a wedding quilt for my lovely friend Bec.

Then another wedding quilt, this time for my friend Stacy who loves in San Francisco. I carried this quilt all the way from Melbourne via New York City, Boston and Chicago!

I used leftover Daydream scraps to make this massive Fresh quilt.

Then dug into Miss Kate to make Cherrio.

I also made a little Moda Love with April Showers.

And started, but haven't yet finished, my Night Sky quilt using Paradiso.

Daydreaming

Just in time for spring, I've got this beauty finished. There's still enough chilly weather to enjoy snuggling under it before summer is upon us.

Pattern: Fresh from Simply Retro by Camille Roskelley.
Fabric: Daydream by Kate Spain
Backing: Birds and Frogs from Ikea
Size: 96" square

Daydream Quilting

I've been dreading this for a while; I've never quilted such a large quilt, and it's a big job for a domestic machine. Getting backing and batting big enough were also a challenge.

Backing is a print from Ikea. Frogs ans birds rather than the usual number print. I added a strip to the batting to get it wide enough.

It's now in the machine; one block down, 15 to go!

Daydream Quilting

With Daydream yardage delayed in the warehouse, I've had to think on my feet and order some yardage from the US to get this finished in time. Borders went on Wednesday night, and I ducked down to mum's today to get it basted; my lounge room floor just isn't big enough.

I'm using the Ikea number print fabric as it's wide enough for this quilt (which is 88" square). I've heard a rumour they are discontinuing it, too...



She's now in the machine. I have a deadline!

Aurifil Thread Designer Collections

A new product in the shop today; Aurifil Thread designer collections.

The beautiful set from Camille:

And the gorgeous set from Vanessa:

Only one of each available.

Star Blossoms

I managed to get two quilts finished up before the end of 2013, but I can only show you one for now. 

The lovely Star Blossoms, who took an hour per block to put together. Fabric is Marmalade from Bonnie and Camille.Quilting is a lazy loop-the-loop pattern.

I've already made a start on my first quilt of 2014; sneaky peeks to come soon!

Wednesday Quilting Session

Life is just a little crazy right now, but I made sure to put "quilting" on my to-do list for today.

Nothing fancy, just some loopy loops but I'm already pretty happy with how it's looking.

Scrap Quilt

When I finished the 2012 BOM quilt, I packed away all the leftover fabric, knowing there was enough to start another quilt, but having already made two Vintage Modern quilts. Then I got an invite to a wedding, and a little light bulb went off inside my head.

So I cut as many 8" squares as possible, adding in a little Happy Go Lucky and Scrumptious and I think even one piece of Bliss, stitched like a maniac, and it was done!

(excuse the ipad photo)

Just need to get this one quilted, and the Star Blossoms quilt, before Christmas. And guess what?! This is my 500th blog post!

2012 Designer Mystery BOM

I finished the binding earlier in the week, and would you believe, I forgot to blog it! Sorry the photos are a tad bright, its quite warm and sunny here in Melbourne despite it still being Winter.

Fabric is Vintage Modern by Bonnie and Camille for Moda.

 

All twelve blocks are quilted with a circular feather. Flying geese with stipple, the stripes with an up and down pattern. And the borders with a loopy design. I left the sashing strips unquilted.

Now to decide if (and how) I can hang it on my bedroom wall. I've never hung a quilt so any suggestions are welcome.

Friday Finish

Well....almost. It's quilted and trimmed, and is awaiting binding, which I forgot to buy. I'm hoping there is enough backing left to bind it with, but I'm not feeling very optimistic.

This quilt has been quite a headache; if I could stuff it up, I did. Cutting triangles too small. Almost finished the quilting only to discover a seam has come undone. But I made it, and now that I can see it all laid out on the ground, I like it. 

First finish for the year!

Coquette Cot Quilt

Melbourne turned on its best impression of a wet spring day today, so sewing it is!

One charm pack of Coquette by Chez Moi and a little white fabric and I have a cot quilt for Boutique/Mathilda's Market coming up at the end of November.

Had a minor panic when I realised the two bolts of white Moda Bella Solids weren't the same colour despite being the same colour code; I had to dig through my scrap box to find enough for the borders otherwise they would have been a slightly different white to the sashing.

Now she just needs to be quilted!

Half Way!

There's been so much going on at my place that Hopscotch has taken a bit of a back seat, but I'm finally half way through the quilting. Our new carport is almost done (no roof yet), and we've had a couple of large trees removed this morning.

As tedious as this quilting is, I really love how it's looking.

I've also been clearing out the Bella's Patchwork cupboard...I'm running out of room! If you haven't seen my posts on the Facebook page, I'm clearing out the last of Hunky Dory by Chez Moi, a Moda range from a few years ago. I'm pretty much willing to take any reasonable offer on what's left, plus the cost of postage ($2 for 1m, $6.20 for up to 3m, $10.55 thereafter).

From top left: Blue Bud 2.2m, Blue Fantasy Floral 1.75m, Blue Tonal 2.5m, Yellow Garden 4.1m, Pink vines 3.2m and Pink Tonal 3.2m. I also have 2.4m of the Yellow Tonal. If interested leave a comment or email at kate(at)bellaspatchwork(dot)com(dot)au.

As Promised

When I said I was giong to get back to normal, I was serious. So today I popped into my local quilt shop and picked up batting for my Circa 1934 quilt...

I made a little space on my lounge room floor, spread her out, and got to basting.

My poor knees really arent made for crawling around on the floor. But she is all basted and ready for quilting, probably just stipple, but that's the easiest way to get my quilting mojo going.

I'm looking forward to having a "finish" this year!

Glace Stars

She's all done! One year to piece, but only two weeks to quilt and bind. And I only had to unpick the borders and sashing in one corner, not once, but twice to deal with a bit of excess.

It's another gorgeous sunny day in Melbourne, but the grass is still damp, so we did a very quick photo shoot on the front lawn. Apologies for the little spots of bright sunshine.

Each block and the centre star are quilted with a fleur de lys type design, a similar four-pointed design in the cornerstone blocks and some feathery stuff around the center medallion. Stippling in the sashing and border.

Getting Started

A few months ago, I asked for suggestions for quilting the 2009 Mystery BOM. 13 months after putting the quilt together, I'm finally making a start!

Last night I sat down with a print out of the quilt and a few coloured pens, and tried to plot out what I wanted to do. I took on board the suggestions I got, as well as a fleur-based quilt stencil I found a few months back. I wanted to move away from the feather designs I've used on my previous large quilts. I decided to use the fleur stencil in the 12 monthly blocks, as well as the medium centre star.

Then I went looking for some similar stencils that I could use in the triangles of the largest centre star, and found some really nice ones. I'd almost forgotten how hard it is to manoeuvre a large quilt around in the machine; the middle is always the hardest.

But I've made a start; the centre fleur is done, as are the points on one side....and I'm loving it! Now I just need to try to get it finished before I head to the US.