My name is Inci (pronounce as “In-gee”), which means “Pearl” in Turkish. I am originally from dream city Istanbul, TURKEY.
I started to correspond with a Japanese girl named Tomoko-san as a part of my English studies when I was still a middle school student. Through her letters, I took an enormous interest in Japan, the Japanese language and the Japanese culture and I started to learn the Japanese language from a Japanese teacher as a hobby in Istanbul. Through my private Japanese lessons, I fell in love with the country and the culture and then when I took a Japanese-speaking tour guide license, my love for Japan and the Japanese language turned into a way of life. In the mean time, I made several trips to Japan and made a lot of friends over there. I had worked as a tour guide for 10 years and then I married to a Turkish-born American citizen and I moved to Oklahoma City, USA 3 and half years ago.
So far the Japanese language was my passion, but in the US I gained another passion: patchwork quilting. And it’s also thanks to a Japanese lady named Midori-san living in Oklahoma City and she is coincidentally a friend of one of my Japanese friends in Japan.
Patchwork quilting is a new passion for me. I didn’t attend any courses to learn it. Midori-san was my first teacher. She kindly taught me the basic steps about patchwork. Right now, my knowledge about quilting comes from mostly the books and magazines in Japanese language which I can read easily. I like the self-teaching approach in learning things. And my husband thinks that I am quite good at teaching myself stuff. I am hoping to make further progress in quilting in the future.
I like hand piecing, hand appliqué and hand quilting on cotton fabrics. I don’t know how to machine sew and I don’t have a sewing machine, but I am not sorry for that. I like the rustic feel of hand quilted quilts and I find the time spent in hand quilting to be soothing. The motion of stitching is very calming to me and during these quiet moments I can get in touch with my thoughts easily.
Apart from creating things, I’m a housewife now.
I’m trying to promote my work on flickr and several Blogs. And I tell about my Etsy Shop “Pearlsquiltedcrafts” to all of my acquiantances. That’s it.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!