How are your Winter Sashiko Challenge projects going? I’ve sent out a lot of kits but have seen only one completed so far. Mine isn’t finished either… I need to get back to it! We’ve extended the deadline from Feb. 29 to March 14 to give everyone more time to put a bit of polish…
Category: quilting
New and wonderful sashiko fabrics for 2016
Orders from Houston Quilt Market are starting to arrive! New fabrics, sashiko kits, and a few kits I’m designing right now will be gracing the Kimonomomo Etsy shop over the next few days and weeks. For fans of little pre-printed, wash-out hanafukin (hand towels) there are a few new designs to get your New Year…
Black Friday? How about Blue Wednesday?
Blue because I like blue, and blue is like indigo, which I love even more. I’m rambling. Speaking of rambling… here is the house. So many of you have asked me how the paint job turned out and I had been meaning to post a photo, and now I have. Everything turned out great! The…
Time for a sale!
I brought Thomas along with me to Quilt Market this year in the hope that he would keep my spending under control, but that wasn’t the case. We did stay on budget… until he left and I had one more day at Market on my own to do a little shopping. So! This means I…
Houston International Quilt Festival 2015
Things started off so well. I dropped off our boxes at the trucking terminal, with all the boxes neatly stacked so they fit together like a 3D cardboard Tetris. Unfortunately, that’s not how things turned out once the shipment arrived in Texas. Notice the missing lumber. Almost every box was smashed. Thank goodness it was…
AQS QuiltWeek Grand Rapids Michigan & Japanese Textile Lecture
Helloooo, Grand Rapids! I’ll be heading your way August 11-16 for AQS QuiltWeek and I am very excited. I’ll hit up my two favorite haunts, Reserve and San Chez for fantastic food and drink, do a little shopping downtown, and check out the beautiful architecture of this little gem of a Midwestern city. AQS QuiltWeek brings…
New organic cotton fabrics from Cloud9 and Monaluna, and our latest quilt show
Last year we quietly launched our new Etsy shop, Blue Star Organic Fabrics. We’re still building inventory slowly and collections we ordered last fall at Quilt Market are arriving a bit at a time. Last month we got Haiku from Monaluna, and this month Morning Song from Cloud9 arrived. Both collections are gorgeous, and more grown…
Hyakka Ryoran Neko Collection
Like cats? So do we! Our cranky, flighty Miss Lily sheds, scratches, and bites, but we love her anyway. Like cat fabrics for quilts? We have ’em! This collection from Quilt Gate is playful and yummy, filled with cats, flowers, and fun. It comes in five different prints and five different colorways. The fabric is…
Sashiko Needles – Which to buy?
In Japan one may have an abundance of sashiko needles to choose from, but outside of Japan our choices tend to be more limited. For the past decade or so we were really limited, generally to whatever Olympus had to offer, and that was about it. Times have changed, much to our benefit. Which brand to…
Playing with Texture: Japanese Dobby Cottons
Dobby cottons are fun to play with, but most quilters outside of Japan may be unfamiliar with these highly textured fabrics. What exactly does “dobby” mean, anyway? Dobby looms entered into the weaving scene in the mid-19th century and the origin of the term comes from “draw boy”, usually a young helper who would pull strings…
Schedule for April 2015
It’s spring here in California… actually, we skipped winter altogether so it’s been spring since February, but I digress. Spring is time for new projects, cleaning out the stash, and learning new techniques. Here’s where you can find me in April: NO MEETING for the Bay Area Sashiko Workshop in April. Our first Sunday of…
Thimbles thimbles thimbles! And more thimbles.
As an avowed thimble-hater in my youth, I never expected to carry so many in my shop that I would actually use. You may have heard me evangelize the merits of a sashiko palm thimble, either leather or metal, and seen me wearing both at a quilt show or teaching event. I do use these regularly…
A love for both the common fiber and the extraordinary textile @KimonoMomo 