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By Patricia Belyea
SEATTLE WA As I created all the quilts for East-Meets-West Quilts, the book continually evolved. Over a three-year period, I made 24 quilts. Seventeen are included in the book. I thought you might enjoy checking out the unpublished ones.
happi
48" x 48"
This quilt has a complicated story. It was made before the Hachi Quilt Manifesto was formalized. Also, the patterned fabric was made by artist Peggy Juve who overprinted a simple indigo and white yukata cotton with her unique designs—so no similar fabric would be readily available.
iris
40" x 48"
The design feature of this quilt is the tall panel that contrasts with the square blocks. This quilt was superseded by Lucky Owls, a larger quilt with a much bigger inserted panel.
kumadori
40" x 40"
This spin-off quilt is made with leftover blocks from Kubuki. Although Kumadori has two innovative finishes—hand-stitching with Prismacolor pencil accents and an exciting curved facing—its overall look is just plain ugly. Sometimes a design doesn’t work out.
morning glory
32" x 40"
Another spin-off quilt, this one was made with extra blocks from The Art of Flowers. Although Morning Glory is pleasing with its narrow, persimmon sashing, the quilt was ultimately too small to be considered for the book.
mottainai
60" x 84"
This scrap quilt is made with 330 4" squares, positioned on point. Not every block is a different yukata cotton, but there are not many repeats! The problem with this quilt is its length. One edge is almost 2" longer than the other. Although a photo could have been skewed using Photoshop to square up the quilt, that approach seemed deceptive. So this radiant quilt didn't make the grade.
Clover
40" x 40"
This monochromatic quilt includes curved piecing. Because the book focuses on improv design, it seemed at cross purposes to include a pattern for the curved blocks. So the quilt was left out.
changing directions
64" x 64"
Half the fabrics in this quilt have been silk screened with artwork from vintage yukata cottons. White silk screen ink was applied to solid-colored cottons through screens to produce the reversed patterns. Introducing a surface design technique to the book was deemed too convoluted.
Enough of looking back! We are about to open the door to 2018.
Wishing you a Creative New Year! If you want to see what’s actually in the book East-Meets-West Quilts +click here
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ABOUT US: Okan Arts, a petite family business, is co-owned by mother-daughter duo Patricia Belyea and Victoria Stone. Patricia and Victoria sell Japanese textiles online, host creative quilting experiences, and lead textile tours to Japan and the UK.
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