I am a HUGE Yoko Saito fan. My friend Cindi and I were very fortunate to have been one of the ~15 people who got into the one and only class she taught in Houston in 2017. Earlier in the day, we spotted Yoko and her assistant eating lunch at the same restaurant we were in. We were huge fangirls, so as a surprise we surreptitiously paid for their meals. The waitress gave us up, pointed us out to them, they came over and bowed and thanked us profusely, language barrier notwithstanding. About an hour later, as we filed into the class, Yoko recognized and surprised us by giving each of us a pretty ceramic thimble. At first I thought it was decorative, but later she showed the entire class how to use it under the quilt! I was blown away, until her demonstration I had never been able to conquer hand quilting. Her skills are exquisite. What a fun memory!