Bento Box: Tracey Brookshier

On Tuesday night, I went to the Quilters Anonymous monthly meeting to hear the talk by Tracey Brookshire about quilting in Japan. Quilters Anonymous is the overarching quilt group with over 400 members, of which the Ballard Stashbusters is just a "satellite" group. Tracey has sold over 50,000 copies of the Bento Box pattern - she says she is sending her son to college on the money she has made from that pattern. Too bad I didn't have photographs of ALL the many bento box quilts I have made!

Her talk was about spending 9 days at the Quilt show at the Tokyo Dome. Her slide show was FABULOUS. I am ready to go! I think it is typically the same week as TRB, so I might have to wait another couple of years, but I am thinking that January 2012 might really be a possibility. Do I really need to go to TRB annual meeting EVERY YEAR? I am not Kim! One of the interesting things she talked about was the "sensei" and student relationship in Japan. This is how the brush painting that my mother studied, and of course, Karate and other martial arts are organized, but they have extended it to quilting as well. She would show a full image of a quilt, and then a close up, showing the meticulous work, especially with applique and hand quilting. She didn't talk too much about different color choices, except for the use of beiges and browns (like the Daiwabo taupes). She asked someone about it, and they said they were going for the "American country look." It is still a mystery. Maybe they saw a faded b&w photograph that looked sepia, and they thought that is what the quilts looked like in real life?

So, start saving your money for a trip to Japan! I am READY! It doesn't bother me that I will never do that kind of quilt making. I think I can just marvel in the fact that they do it, and I am happy to piddle around to maintain my mental health. Frank is building me a shelf for the closet in my sewing room, to help me get a little more order (I hope!).