It May As Well Be in Japanese....

I have a pretty good collection of quilting books, and while I do not subscribe to any magazines at present, I truly love to indulge myself by purchasing a copy of Quilts Japan or Patchwork Quilts Tsushin.  They are every bit as inspiring and useful as a book - even though I can't read a word of them.

The colors are fabulous, the ingenuity is incomparable - look what they do with something as simple as a yoyo! They also have a thick wad of patterns included in each issue, and while you can't read the directions, the exact shapes are there and the general drift of things is usually attainable.  They also have a zen-like magic about them. I can sit in a comfortable chair and flip, flip, flip through the pages and find myself calmed, inspired, moved and nudged outside the boundaries of my usual self-inflicted limits.

This is an example of a wall grouping I would have never come up with, but absolutely love:

How gorgeous is that? Click on the image and you should be able to see it in greater detail. It opens up such a world of possibilities, and it is in manageable bits so that it can be completed and changed/added to over time.  I think this would look fabulous in my dining room.

Admittedly, the price of these magazines can stop you in your tracks (around $16 a pop) but they are well worth their cost.  Not every issue is a "keeper" but most of them are splendid.  It's a wonderful treat as a gift for another quilter, too. The only downside - you become addicted to the beautiful Japanese taupes that are used so beautifully by talented artists like Yoko Saito.  Spendy? You bet.  Worth it?  Undoubtedly. Indulge. Enjoy.