My mother suddenly died in 2012. It was the year after the horrific earthquake and tsunami followed by the unbelievable nuclear meltdown in Fukushima. How time flies relentlessly… Her death was totally unexpected. She was only 82 and relatively well. One day, she had heart failure while taking her bath, and drowned.

She was a creative person, elegant and fashionable. A huge collection of her clothes was left behind. It was a weird feeling stepping into the familiar house with all her clothes, and her scent vividly present, but mom herself was gone…nowhere. Yet I feel like I can still hear her voice, her sigh, and laughter…My father passed away late last year, so my sister and I had to do something about their stuff.

One of the big problems was my mother’s hand dyed silk clothes. She dyed them herself, all from scratch and made into beautiful dresses, but all specifically fit to herself. Unfortunately, neither my sister nor myself could wear her dresses. Over many years I watched mom working hard day and night hand-dyeing the silk. She would make patterns, etch and cut, color onto silk, wash, dry…etc., such a complicated process… Who could throw them away, or donate them to strangers who might or might not appreciate the love and sweat that went into the silk. But then, what should I do with them? After thinking hard, I came up with an idea. What if I undo all the dresses and turn them into patch-work quilt and make bed spreads for my sister and myself?

However, there was a serious problem. I had no idea how to quilt; absolutely zero experience and zero knowledge about quilting. It was an incredible challenge for me and I didn’t even know where to start.

Right then, Jeanette came into my life, like an angel God had sent for me, and offered to teach me how to do this step by step. Thus…. the challenge of making my first ever quilt began. I opened my sewing machine which was tightly put away in its cover case. It had traveled with me through many moves, once across the Pacific Ocean, and had never been opened for many years. OMG… it was in disappointing shape. Some critical parts were missing, and it was in no way usable. So that was the end of my sewing machine that had traveled all the way from Japan 35 years ago. Jeanette mercifully lent me her machine.

My heart ached undoing my mother’s perfectly beautiful dresses. Yeah…mom had such sloping shoulders that were great in a kimono, but a couple of shoulder pads were necessary for dresses. She would hand-dye silk fabrics and dry them hanging wall to wall, like flags hanging in the house. I couldn’t help stopping my hand every time such memories occupied my head. What a slow process it was.

Even so, thanks to Jeanette, there are two beautiful bed spreads, after two years, all finished. My mother’s “bingata-zome ” dyes were reborn, reincarnated into something I could be proud of. I can tell my children, nieces and nephews, that these bed spreads were dyed by your grandmother, and quilted by Obaba (me). They can pass them on to their children for generations to come. Isn’t it wonderful?

I was so happy.

Thank you so much, Jeannette. I have no words to express my gratitude to you!

So…., I’m thinking….What should I quilt next….Is it going to be my new hobby?

母が突然亡くなったのは福島の大震災の翌年、もう13年も前の話だ。年月が経つのは容赦なく早い。母の死はひどいショックだった。母は82歳で元気だったのに入浴中に心不全を起こしてあっけなく溺死してしまったのだ。

おしゃれが大好きでクリエイティブだった母が残した膨大な洋服のコレクション、何年も手付かずに実家に残してあったのだが、父が去年の暮に亡くなったこともあって、ようやく重い腰を上げて実家の整理を始めた。なんとも不思議な感覚だった。母が大好きだった洋服に囲まれて母の声が、息づかいが、笑い声が聞こえてきそうなのに、母はいない。

1番困ったのは母の手染めのシルクの洋服。母の体型に合わせてカスタムメイドされているので私や妹が着ても体型的に合わない。母が一生懸命手染めしている姿を何年も見てきているので処分するなどとんでもない。考えあぐねた挙げ句、洋服をほどいてパッチワークのベッドカバーにしたらどうか。挑戦してみようかと思ったけど、そんなこと全く経験のない私、どこから手をつけていいのやらわからない。

そこにまるで、『神の御使である天使』のように現れたジャネットが、手取り足取り教えてくれると言ってくれて、生まれて初めてのキルト作りに挑戦することになった。何度もの引っ越しを経て40年近くもしまいっぱなしだったミシンの蓋を開けてみると、まあまあなんと足りないものだらけ。結局日本から持ってきたミシンは使いものにならず、ジャネットのものを借りることになった。

母の洋服をほどくのは心が痛んだ。そうだよなあ…

母は撫で肩で着物が似合う体型だったなあ、とか何にでも肩パッドを入れてシャキッと形作ってたよなあ、とか染め上がった反物を旗のように家中に干しまくってたなあ、とかいろんな情景が走馬灯のように現れて、その度に思い出に浸って手が進まない。

それでも、それこそ何から何までおんぶに抱っこでジャネットのお世話になりながら2年がかりで我が家用のクイーンサイズのベッドカバーと妹の家用のソファカバーを作り上げた。これならば母の紅型染の作品も生きる。「これはあんたたちのお婆さんが手染めして、それをオババが縫ってキルトに仕立てたベッドカバーなんだよ」と何代にも渡って子供たち、甥や姪たち、孫たち、ヒー孫たちに語り継いで、残していくことが出来る。すばらしいじゃない？

すごく嬉しかった。

ありがとう、ジャネット。心から感謝している。なんとお礼を言ったらいいのかわからない。

次は何を作ろう、なんて考えたりして…

私の新しい趣味になりそうな予感。