Monday, January 27, 2014

Tokyo Dome part 2

Still on day one, after looking at the large collection of traditional quilts, Queenie and I decided to check out the "Partnership" quilts. Queenie has written a wonderful post about these quilts and after all, it was her information that connected me with this project.

I had been seeing these group quilts for years but didn't have much of an idea of how they had been assembled.

Queenie mentioned that she had participated each year and shared the information on how to go about taking part.
In early July I posted a picture of my contributing block. The theme was "Flowers" and the quilts were assembled by Kathy Nakajima and her crew.

It must have been quite a task because they assembled and quilted 86 quilts, all but two with 130 blocks per quilt.

Toward the end of the summer, I received a post card with the information that my block would appear in quilt #17.
You can see it in the top row, just right of the center, a basket of roses. Beside each quilt is a little chart telling the names and locations of each donor. This quilt seemed to take many yellow blocks and arrange them getting lighter toward the center. It was difficult to get a picture here because this was a busy pathway with shops on the other side crammed with shoppers. Queenie and I looked at many of these quilts, trying to figure out how which blocks were selected for which quilt.  With something over 10,500 blocks, it must have been a monumental task! I stopped by Kathy Nakajima's shop to thank her for all that work.

After taking a look at #17, we hunted down #28 to find Queenie's block.

And here is my dear friend, celebrating opening day in her Swedish costume.

Her block has a white dove in flight carrying an olive branch and trailing a Swedish flag.










And, here is a bit closer view.


We discussed the blocks selected for this quilt and thought many of them had been selected because they contained various birds and animals ... in addition to the floral theme.












 Here is a quilt made of all the same block in different color selections but with blue backgrounds.


The NHK TV program about the making of these blocks used this pattern and was taught by Kathy Nakajima.


Some of these quilts seem to have blocks made  as a group effort.

On some of the quilt information posters, there is also a picture of a group of women ... perhaps those who assembled and quilted that particular quilt?



A variety of patterns and colors
were used in this arrangement.


















And yet another quilt made from the same block in different colors.














Inside walls and walls around the outer edge of the stadium were used to display these many quilts.

They were listed as "charity" quilts and are to be raffled off. At a booth near the entrance, one can purchase a ticket for 500 yen.

Half of the ticket has a place to write your name and phone number. That half you tear off and drop into the box next to the quilt you would like to take a chance on.

The other half, you keep ... just in case you are lucky enough to win the drawing.

Well, Sunday, while I was out with the Scouts, Nikko ate most of the ticket stub. She did manage to leave the edge with the numbers on it. Wouldn't that be funny to win and turn in a chewed up ticket?

I am still trying to put names with my pictures or decide to just post the pictures and let the blog-world guess who made what!



11 comments:

  1. Thank you for a fantastic post on the Partnership quilts. Some of the block arrangements make really lovely quilts. Kathy Nakajima and her team have all my admiration for a job well done.

    ReplyDelete
  2. As I commented on Tanya's post, I am amazed at the detail in Japanese quilts. So much hand work which I admire but don't like to do. I'm more of a machine quilter. Thank you so much for sharing about the group quilts. Our guild also does charity quilts but more of the lap sized quilts. I think it is fun to think of a quilt block made by an individual and joined to quilt blocks from all over the world. I wonder if you could post where you found the information if it is done again. On another note, there is a quilt challenge going on with Karen Nyberg - an astronaut - who is quilting in space. Here is the link, if you want it: http://www.quilts.com/home/contests/viewer.php?menu=entries&page=../../contests/y2013/2013AstronomicalChallenge

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love seeing all the hand work of course maybe because I love doing it as well? these are such pretty quilts and really rather unique - love seeing your friend in her Swedish costume.

    ReplyDelete
  4. those are wonderful quilts x such a lot of hard work xx oops! Try and keep the rest of the ticket safe xx

    ReplyDelete
  5. Beautiful quilts and fun to have blocks from different quilting friends and putting them into one quilt.

    Debbie

    ReplyDelete
  6. Such a fantastic show with so many beautiful quilts to look at! Thanks for taking us along on your tour.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I hope you win! Those are cool quilts.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Beautiful quilts! I can't imagine all the hours and hours and hours that would have gone into this massive project.
    I hope your chewed up ticket wins! :D

    ReplyDelete
  9. How fun to see your blocks on display in these wonderful quilts! I think the ones that are true samplers - with many different blocks - are more interesting than the ones with just one block design. Your pictures are great!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ha ha, I do hope you win, just to hear the story of you turning up with the remains of your ticket. Better keep that bit away from Nikko! These quilts are an incredible project, it is lovely that you contribute.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Nikko was just trying to help out, I'm sure. How knows, maybe you will win.

    ReplyDelete