Thursday, April 24, 2008

Cha Bu and American quilts


These patchworks are all creations by my (German born) mother. This art form is also called American quilting. Patching and sewing different fabrics together used to be done out of necessity. It was a way to use leftovers with style. Nowadays, this art is quite international with Japan a main center for creativity for fabrics and patterns. Some of the nicest pieces on these creations come from Japan.

What my European mother does, is to mix American quilting and Japanese influences for her tea drinking son in Taiwan!

The American quilt pattern on the left is called Double T. Below, the triangular pattern is called Flying Geese.

This Christmas quilt helps me feel less homesick at the end of the year.
The white stitches below look like waves. This is a traditional Japanese stitching pattern.

Quilting may be a way of saving on material, but it makes a big use of an even more precious resource: time. It often takes more than one day to make one quilt.

These Cha Bu make my tea drinking more personal. A lot of emotions come from these pieces of art and love. I owe many thanks to my mother for taking so much time and inspiration to make them for me. Her smile is shining through them and brings me warmth and comfort, even before the first sip of tea.


Faith is another source of inspiration. Here is one of the quilts she made to decorate her church. As always, I find that The colors are nicely matched.






More traditional for a quilt is a bed cover. Below, here, is one she made for her latest granddaughter.
And she gave this one to my wife.

Related: While Googling about American quilts for this post, I saw this news: John McCain visiting quilters of Gee’s Bend two days ago. For more on the subject, you can get stitching patterns for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on the Black Threads blog.

8 comments:

Michel said...

phhredYour Mum is a fine artist as well as a great 'craftman'.

Creative, she has a natural flair for tone, texture and composition.
A delight to the senses.

geneviève meylan said...

cela fait longtemps que l'on voit les créations de kilt de cette super maman et voilà enfin un bel hommage à cette dame si radieuse qui exprime dans ses créations sa foi, sa vision de la vie , harmonie des teintes et aussi des cultures ! bravo à elle !et merci pour cet article

venant tout droit de provence , said...

il est vrai que ta maman à un don pour harmoniser les forme et les couleurs .
je pense qu'un jour je vais tenter de me mettre au patchwork , mais vu le travail la dexterité et surtout le bon gout que cela demande je ne pense pas m'y mettre de si tot. bravo à elle

Tomla said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Tomla said...

Chapeau bas pour ses magnifiques créations, j'aime particulièrement le bleu avec style japonais.
Y en aura t-il un jour proposé à la vente ?

TeaMasters said...

Merci pour vos compliments. J'ai eu ma mère au téléphone hier, et elle a cru que c'était sa fête!

Bruno, vu le temps que cela prend à ma mère pour en faire, je ne pense pas en proposer sur le blog.

Tomla said...

Ce n'est pas grave, le plaisir sera pour les yeux, comme toutes les photos des reportages de ton blog.
Vive le Printemps, et surtout la Nature !

Laurie E. Miller said...

Growing up as I did in the part of America where I was first handed a quilting needle at the age of 5, I'm a fan of every photo on your blog that has these tea quilts.

I particularly admire the ones that have a log-cabin-esque type of block; this one of the first blocks quilters learn, but being fundamental, the finest masters bring out new beauty in it. Your mother's examples here are wonderfully harmonious with your cha xi styles, adding depth and texture.