Quilt by Patricia Belyea
48" x 67"
Off the beaten path, you can encounter many strange attractions in Japan. How about a Parasite Museum, an island inhabited by cats, a town with more life-size dolls than residents, and a nightclub made totally of ice?
The Genji wheel and pine needle yukata cottons are woven with a micro grid of indigo and gray threads, and then hand-dyed with the patterns. I could not resist these fabrics for Hidden Wonders! Keeping the quilt design simple, I added two colors of skinny inserted stripes and a bold floral yukata cotton. The quilt sandwich is secured with stitching-in-the ditch along the seams and minimal hand-stitching around the colorful florals.
A spin-off quilt, Pine Needles (24” x 36”) was made with the same fabrics and blue inserted stripes. Pine Needles is included with Hidden Wonders.
Hidden Wonders and Pine Needles were featured in Patricia’s book, East-Meets-West Quilts, as projects with instructions. Made with vintage yukata cottons, sourced in Japan by Patricia, plus contemporary solids.
The quilts, signed with Patricia’s applique´signature, come with a Certificate of Authenticity and a custom linen bag. Shipping and insurance are free to a domestic US address.
Patricia founded Okan Arts—a family business that imports vintage Japanese textiles. Inspired by these found fabrics, Patricia incorporates hand-dyed yukata cottons into her quilt designs. An award-winning quilter, Patricia’s quilts have been exhibited at quilt museums across the country.
Forty years ago, Reiko Sudo co-founded Nuno Corporation with Junichi Arai. Although “nuno” simply means fabric in Japanese, Sudo’s textile creations are anything but simple!
The innovative textiles produced by Nuno, conceived by Sudo and her team, blend traditional Japanese dyeing and weaving mastery with advanced modern techniques.
Sudo has been recognized globally for her contributions to Japanese textile design. Her work includes collaborations with architects, fashion designers, and artists, as well as major museum exhibits.
The project was designed by Ed Marquand, Reiko Sudo, and Alfred Birnbaum.
All 140 textiles included in The Nuno Box were produced by Nuno: Reiko Sudo, Hiroko Suwa, Sayuri Shimoda, Kazuhiro Ueno, Yumi Yasui, Jun Mashiba, Yuki Abe, Gaku Masui, Tomoko Fujino, Fumi Ito, Masaaki Takekura, and Hiroaki Takekura.
The texts, translation, editing, and coordination were handled by Alfred Birnbaum.
The letterpress printing was by Steve Morgan, and the binding was completed by Maria Solorio and Teresa Martinez.
The Nuno Box was compiled and constructed at Paper Hammer Studios in Tieton, Washington.