CONFETTI NATURESCAPE QUILT CLASS WITH NORIKO ENDO

On Sunday I took a quilting class with Noriko Endo, who (for those of you who have never heard of her) is a Japanese quilter.

The class took place at Central Chitlom.  We arrived to find that there is a complete craft fair going on.  I am hoping to get back over there to check it out before I leave for Singapore.
Alan came along with me to carry my sewing machine, and was back again at 4.30pm as arranged to carry it again for me.  In fact he ended up sitting around for an hour or so, as I struggled to get my quilt into a position where I could move it without it all falling apart.

Jill, the person who had told me about the class, spotted a quilt that she had jointly made with a friend, on display at one of the sewing machine stands.

Noriko has won prizes at Quilt Nihon, Yokohama, Quilt National and IQA, to mention a few.  I knew her work from when I lived in Japan, and have long admired the beautiful pictures that she was able to achieve with her technique.  I found her a lovely woman, who called herself our 'mum' as she guided us through the process.  A very approachable teacher, she was willing to offer up advice and support with a huge smile on her face.

 Here are a couple of her quilts.

 Both are made using her confetti technique.

Our class was soon beavering away on our individual projects, based on landscape photographs we had brought along with us.  This belongs to my class neighbour Iris.  The clouds are made from shredded batting.  As we got talking we realised that we also live in neighbouring streets, had both lived in West Africa and have Japanese connections.  Small world.

 Jill was so laid back in the class.  She walk around taking photos or filming us working.

The safety pins on Jill's work are to hold the black tule in place.  The tule is placed over the confetti to hold it in place.

Here is another quilt using shredded batting, this time to make a waterfall.  I kept hearing the maker say, 'it needs sparkle'.  Clearly she was headed home to raid her beed tins.

This quilt appeared to come together very quickly.  I think she was way more confident than the rest of us.  I threatened to 'accidentally' knock it off the table, to spill the confetti, just to allow the rest of us a chance to catch up!

 I really liked this quilt.  The photo doesn't do it justice.  It was very simple and pretty.

Here Noriko is helping out one of the students, whose quilt involved lots of loose threads on the bottom half.

This quilt was the closest to mine in subject matter.  I loved the handrail along the forest walk.  I think she was going to do a lot of embroidery on it to make it stand out more.

So, where is mine?  I have finished it except for the hanging sleeve, which I forgot in my excitement to be finished!  I'll put it on my blog as soon as I have taken pictures of it, so keep checking.

If you are interested in this technique, be sure to keep an eye out for Noriko, she goes all over to teach.  She also has a book called Confetti Naturescapes.  This was a fantastic class to do, as it merged my new interest in watercolour painting with quilting.  This really is just like painting with fabric.