Featherweight Challenge and a Little Extra

I am a few days late for the FWC 4th. installment. I have been quite busy since returning from our holiday in New Zealand and Japan. I have still not settled back to my routine yet. I wish I was back in Japan for a bit longer!
I completed the top before we left so the only thing to do was to add the border and while I was in Japan I found the perfect border fabric for it. I didn't go to Arimatsu, a town where Shibori originated. The traditional technique used to tie-dye fabric started 400 years ago, and is still carried on today. Instead I found the same fabric in Nippori Street, Tokyo.

I found this tie-dye fabric in Nippori Street (fabric street) in Tokyo. DH went to the electronics street and I went to fabric street. That sounds fair, right? There was a little hick-up when I got off the train where the instructions said to take the West exit, but the only two exits were North and South, ha? I decided to follow some Japanese ladies out thinking that they might be going to the fabric street too. Yes and I was right!  

After a long walk and stopping at every fabric shop along the way, I found Tomato the famous fabric store which is 8 floors high. I took the elevator to the 8th floor and came down by stairs. Phew that was a smart move walking down because I ended up with a few carry bags by the time I got to the bottom floor! 

 What do you think about the border fabric I found? It is a tie-dye fabric made in the traditional way. I spotted this piece of fabric in a vintage Kimono shop. The fabric was rolled and stored in a basket and placed underneath the hanging Kimonos. I think it jumped up at me when we saw each other...! 

A closer look at the pattern. Can you see the leaping deer? I haven't added it on the quilt yet. I'm happy with how it looks with a small strip of red for the inner border.

Here is Abela, my Featherweight Sewing machine working hard till the last stitch to get this quilt done. 

While I was piecing this quilt I was using the method Leaders & Enders from Bonnie Hunter's new book and made enough bias squares for this mini quilt. All the dark pieces are the end bits from this quilt and the light bits are from vintage kimonos. Some are silk and other are linen and cotton mixed. 

I'm very pleased to end up with a mini quilt from this challenge. I have started quilting it with Sashiko stitching on the light triangles. I'm thinking of making a second rail fence quilt using my scraps with steps setting similar to what Ria and Terry have done with their quilts.

Both Ria and Terry are in this challenge with me so don't forget to check out their blogs for the update.