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By Patricia Belyea
LA CONNER, WA The goal of this year's Yukata Cotton & Curves Workshop was to play with simple component compositions. You make one element. Then you make another element. Then you make another element. Then you connect them all together.
The word of the week was FUN. No big masterplans. Just look at what is in front of you and think about what would be fun to make next. As one person commented: a Zen approach.
This was an Alum Session so the quilters had all taken a Curves or Doodle Piecing Workshop with me before. That gave them the skill set to work fast and have fun.
Here’s the Workroom where everyone gathered on Sunday afternoon to drop off their gear and head off to the Welcome Dinner at Nell Thorn. I hung quilts from my book, East-Meets-West Quilts, on the design walls. Ironically, there’s not a curve in sight!
On Wednesday afternoon, after we toured the Pacific Northwest Quilt & Fiber Arts Museum, we headed to the waterfront. There we visited Indigo Stitch and caught up with the Pippens. Sylvia Pippen opened her pristine stitch shop last December. Her mother Kitty, now 98, is a living treasure who introduced vintage Japanese textiles to American quilters in the mid-1980s.
Kitty and I are both identical twins so we share the bond of twinship with our love of Japanese textiles!
The whole experience this May was remarkable: great quilters, amazing projects, good food, and a lovely location.
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 quilting & textile tours to Japan.
FOLLOW OKAN ARTS ON INSTAGRAM @okanarts
