Hi
again.
The other day Steve called and said I should join him for a little trip to Olongo
- and island off the island of Mactan that is off the island of Cebu. Turned
out to be an even smaller island off the island off the island off the island
of Cebu. He was going to see some Japanese guy about quilts. Hahaha
Turns out to be an interesting story. There was an American guy with us who
was to meet and interview the Jap and his wife for some magazine called American
Quilting or some such thing. Also, coincidentally, when we got there there was
a women who is purportedly the second best professional photographer in Japan
and a reporter from the Fukuoka daily newspaper there to interview and photograph
for a piece.
It seems this Japanese guy had been a banker in Japan. Twenty years ago he sold
two banks and retired. He bought this island. His wife is a serious quilter.
There were 90 families living on the island doing normal small island stuff
- fishing, I guess. After a while, the wife taught a few of the kids how to
make little place mats etc. The kids ended up selling them for 50 cents each.
Eventually a few mothers showed up at the door saying "Hey! 50 cents each!
Teach us how to do that."
That grew into the Japanese woman teaching a handful of them how to do quilts.
Bit by bit it grew. The woman took a couple back to Japan where everyone at
the biggest quilting school or museum or whatever freaked out. So, she started
selling them. Now, 87 of the 90 families have at least one member quilting and
it accounts for over 1/3 of the island's GDP.
Anyway, it was great. Another of those lovely little spots that make me doubt
I'll ever wear snowshoes again.
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Something
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