A NEW DISCOVERY

OKAN ARTS

Creative Quilting and Japanese Textile Shop

Co-owners and designers,

 mother and daughter team Patricia Belyea and Victoria Stone run Okan Arts,

a delicious Quilt Shop in the Seattle,Washington area.

They specialize in importing vintage Japanese textiles and also leading fiber tours to Japan.

They also carry the coolest new machine on the market which gives a handquilted stitch look.

It's called a Sashiko 2 by Baby Lock.

I'm in love!

You might be familiar with Patricia's quilt book East-Meets-West.

I have just added her blog to my list of Artists I Follow.

I'm really enjoying perusing thru her blog and also doing a bit of shopping in the online store.

Patricia also holds a retreat every year to teach her East-Meets-West style

in a fabulous venue in Wisconsin.

I can't quite remember how I found this shop or perhaps it found me.

I do know I have loved Japanese Quilts for many years now,

especially the work of Yoko Saito.

Yoko is a quiltmaker famous for her taupe favored fabrics she uses.

I own two of her books and really enjoy watching her demos on YouTube.

But before I found Yoko I found the work of Contemporary Japanese Quiltmakers

which is super graphic in nature.

When I see it it's like an injection of pure joy and happiness.

Some of it can be quite minimal which I especially enjoy,

while other works are so incredibly complex you can't even imagine the time and skill 

it would take to create something so exceptional.

Check some out if you haven't had a chance to.

A good place is Patricia's blog,

a sampling:

The Tokyo Quilt Festival 2020