Annual trip to Ishinomaki

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
We wish all of you a bright and happy new year!

Some stories that I am going to post are about what happened last year, but I hope you enjoy them!

Since the Tsunami, March 11th 2011, we have visited Yoko's quilt shop in Ishinomaki at least once a year. Masako cannot forget what Yoko's mother once said to her, "Please don't forget about us and what happened here."

Some students were familiar and some were new.

They all seemed to like the Christmas tapestry project.

Upon arriving at the store, we found a great seafood feast awaiting us!

Squid sashimi

Abalone sashimi

Stewed whale

The good news was that most of the students were able to find new places to live and could leave their temporary housing.

Some promised to come to Tokyo Dome Show! 


Emi

At Yoko's quilt shop

As one of annual events, we visited Ishinomaki to give a lesson at Yoko's quilt shop, NASA, at the end of November.

Once we opened its door, students and wonderful homemade meals, were waiting for us to arrive!

After having lunch with all of them (time quickly passed by chatting!), we began the lesson to make a pouch!

We have to introduce this adorable girl to you :-)
She is a granddaughter of one of the students and one and 3 months old. Her name is Mei.

She could play by herself with some pictures books and toys ... but her favorite was my smart phone. She seemed to know how to use it already!

Many of the students could finish the top of the pouch and looked happy to take them home.
Some of them still live in a temporary house as they lost their houses because of tsunami.
A town looked like getting back to normal, but they still have a lot of issues which are unsolved yet. Most importantly we should not forget about the tsunami and them.

Magic Patch

When Masako was invited to exhibit her quilt coverlets by L'aiguille en fete last February, an editor of "Magic Patch" from the Saxe Publishing Company had an interview with Masako about how she had started quitling and what had made her feel like doing patchwork.

←

Please note that one of Masako's books will be published in French this August and the Japanese verison is no longer available!

Next to 3 pages of Masako's interview, there was an article of "Patch for Japan" as well!

Annual exhibition at the Tokyu department store in Shibuya

We had our annual exhibition at the Tokyu department store in Shibuya from the 26th of April to the 1st of May.

The ad flag was waving outside the building.

We exhibited some of Masako's old works on the passage to the entrance.

This was the entrance. Welcome!

Then stepping to the right you would find quilts and blankets of "Patch for Japan" (Anata to Watashi no Quilt), and the 25th anniversary quilt.

This wreath was made by Ms. Yoshimoto who was a dried flower arrangement artist and a friend of Masako's. Look at the cute cookies! They were gifts from Masako's students to celebrate the 25th anniversary!

Visitors could see Masako's latest quilt which was first displayed at the Tokyo Dome Show this January and some other works using her latest fabric collection called "American Country 12".

During the exhibition Masako gave a talk at 2pm everyday but the first day.

The quilts from Marylene to Yoko

We have received a couple of pictures of "Patch for Japan" quilts from Yoko!

They were taken right in front of Yoko's quilt shop, Nasa.
The quilts look like smiling in the warm sunshine!

Just arrived!

On the 11th of March 2011 we discussed what we could do for victims with Marylene, and we decided to start this project "Anata to Watashi no Quilt" (Patch for Japan) and announced it here on the 18th.

It has been a year.

Finally the quilts from Ruette, Belgium and crochet blankets from Paris have arrived at Yoko's quilt shop, "NASA".

12 boxes were unloaded from a truck

The shop must be filled with the quilts!

The blankets, and Yoko's customers and friends who got them

There are so many choices! They all differ from each other so it would be hard to pick only one out.

We are happy that they can get them in time for the continuing cold weather.

Shipped out!

On the night of March 17th the quilts and crochet blankets were shipped out to Narita airport in Japan!

The total weight was 155 kg which was not as heavy as we originally had thought.
12 boxes should be arriving at the airport by now.

The boxes are supposed to be delivered to Yoko's quilt shop in Ishinomaki, not via CRIB QUILT in Kawasaki, but we have one big problem.

As this project is a charity, we are trying to avoid customs duties but Japan customs asked us  to show something which verified that the quilts and blankets would reach victims.

I'm still not sure how it will go so I will keep you posted.

We have sold a set of 4 postcards of "Anata to Watashi no Quilt" (Patch for Japan) to raise money for shipping.

Even after Yoko receives the quilts, we will keep selling the cards to help people living in Ishinomaki. I think it is our duty to care for each other, especially in such a harsh time.
It has been only a year since the natural disaster happened.

And I would like to thank all who have already joined it.

Yoko in one of French papers "la-Croix"

While we participated in " l'aiguille en fete ", which was a well known craft show about everything with needles in Paris at the middle of February, editors of "la-Croix" visited Ishinomaki and stopped by Yoko's quilt shop.

It appeared in yesterday's paper in color!
It is a shame that we don't speak French ... If you are a French reader, you can get more info here! 

Hi Claire!

If you love knitting and Japanese craft magazines, you might have seen "Knit Marche" published by Nihon Vogue before. ( Did you want to browse this? )



In their latest volume, an article of our dear friend Claire and project "Patch for Japan"  appeared.

This photo was taken at the entrance of our hotel when we visited Paris last November.

How beautiful the blankets are! Claire, you did an amazing job!

CRIB QUILT also opened our postal bank account to raise donations for shipping them to Ishinomaki. If you live in Japan, please click here to get further info.

L'aiguille en fete 2: Patch for Japan and Crochetons pour le Japon

On the 2nd floor, displays of "Patch for Japan" and "Crochetons pour le Japon" appeared opposite from ours.

With quilts from Marylene and crochet blankets from Claire and her friends, this project started for people living in Ishinomaki who were affected by the tsunami.

80 quilts and blankets on handrails of staircases.

At a table they sold postcards with which were to raise money for shipping the quilts to Ishinoamki as charity.

Near the table, there was a board that letters and pictures from people who sent grannies to Claire were pinned on.



Looking at all these, we realized what a great thing it was that so many people joined this project.

In the middle of the show, 2 ladies from Claire's started walking up and down rows of people to sell cards!

"A postcard at 1 euro for Japan!"

Don't you think how courageous they were? Putting a blanket on their shoulder, holding a card in their hand, they looked happy to do that, which moved me very much.

Marylene started making the new one ...



The show was over and so packing was with those IKEA plastic bags (how useful!).

We will make every effort to send them to Ishinomaki by the time winter approaches.