Hawaiian Quilt Quest

It’s not really an obsession because it’s not a separate thing. It’s woven right into the fabric of my life. Whenever, and wherever I travel, my quilt GPS is working. My eyes scan new horizons for any signs of quilt shops, quilt museums, or fabric stores. If you read my last blog, you know that I’ve also sucked my family members into my endless quest for all things quilty.

               There I was, in Hawaii, to help my mother recover from heart surgery. I’d brought a Hawaiian quilt wall hanging in my carry-on bag to work on. It’s a wedding present for my sister and her husband. They were married in December 2006. I’m just a little behind.

Breadfruit wall hanging in progress

               While I worked on their breadfruit quilt, and convinced Cynthia and Bruce that it really did exist, I started to crave seeing some actual, completed Hawaiian quilts. After all, I was in Hawaii!

I knew that the Wilcox Hawaiian Quilt Collection is the biggest collection of Hawaiian quilts in the world, but it's at the Kauai Museum,(kauaimuseum.org) on the island of Kauai. (I can’t believe I lived on Kauai for three years, but never saw those quilts because I wasn’t a quilter then). My husband, John, and my parents told me they’d seen some beautiful Hawaiian quilts at the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel—on the Big Island of Hawaii. A neighbor island junket to see quilts was out of the question. I was there to help mom.

I seemed to remember a quilt display at The Mission Houses next to Kawaihao Church when we lived on Oahu twenty-something years ago. I surfed online (missionhouses.org) to see if they had a Hawaiian quilt exhibition, and was disappointed that there was only a virtual tour of the quilts. It was an appetizer, but didn’t satisfy my craving. I needed to visit some "live" Hawaiian quilts in person.

I quizzed my parents to see if they knew of any Hawaiian quilt exhibits. They mentioned the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, and asked if I’d seen any at the Bishop Museum last spring. Then in a light bulb moment, my father said that he knew where there were two beautiful Hawaiian quilts on display.

          He had gone to visit an elderly relative at his condo, and remembered a Hawaiian quilt in the lobby. He promised to swing by there the next time we were in downtown Honolulu.

A few days later, we parked outside the Kukui Plaza Condominium Complex. Dad told me the name of the relative, so that in case the security guard asked what I was doing there, I’d have a more legitimate answer than “snooping around for a glimpse of a Hawaiian quilt.”

I opened the lobby doors, and it was like opening an unexpected gift! A forest green appliqué quilt took my breath away! The pattern design was intricate. The symmetry was exquisite, and the lei around the entire quilt added the perfect finishing touch.

It was one of the biggest quilts I’ve ever seen. Softly lit, it was framed in koa: a rich, deep brown, highly prized wood native to Hawaii. The genius in charge of displaying it had the brilliant idea of making the opposite wall a solid mirror, so it was as if there were twin quilts facing each other.

Hawaiian quilt in the Waikiki side lobby of Kukui Plaza, Honolulu, Hawaii.

I took my camera out and snapped some photos. I was so taken by the quilt, I hadn’t noticed the security guard sitting behind his desk. When I looked over sheepishly, he smiled. I could tell that he appreciated me appreciating the quilt.

I asked if he knew who quilted it and what the name of the quilt was. He told me that he didn’t know anything about it, and added that he’d talked to the condo management about that. We agreed that it needed a label. A quilt that spectacular, deserved to have its maker acknowledged, its story told.

Then he mentioned that there was another quilt at the other entrance to the condo. I asked if I could walk through to see it. He shook his head no, but in a kind of verbal wink, told me what street the other entrance was on. I thanked him, then floated out to my parents’ van, and thanked them too.

I told my father that we needed to drive around the block to the other entrance. I hoped the security guard on the other side would be as friendly, or at least look the other way. He did. I took pictures of the sister quilt. It seemed to me that both quilts were stitched by the same quilter. This one was also striking, and not labeled either.

Hawaiian quilt in the Ewa side lobby of Kukui Plaza, Honolulu, Hawaii.

A few days later, I asked my parents to take me back to Kukui Plaza. I was getting close to the border on my sister’s quilt, and I wanted to see how the mystery quilter handled the border on her quilts. Did she continue the echo stitching from the center appliqué, or stop and echo the border?

               This time I forced my mother out of the van to see Quilt #1 by telling her it was less than thirty steps away. I wanted to see if she agreed with my opinion that the flowers in the pattern were orchids. She was also impressed with the quilt’s beauty. She agreed that the flowers were orchids, and she should know because she has 30-50 orchid plants that she grows in her back yard.

Cattleya orchid

               Mom didn’t see the second quilt, but I know that the heart-shaped flowers are anthuriums. 

Red anthuriums.

              There’s also red ginger, possibly white ginger, and possibly crown flowers in this quilt. 

Red ginger

White ginger

Crown flower

             It would smell sweet and tropical if they were real flowers, instead of quilted ones. If only quilts could talk; I have so many questions. Despite their elegant silence, my Hawaiian quilt craving was satisfied with the pleasure of seeing these two quilt gems. And now you too can take in their beauty without having to fly to Hawaii, and talk your way past the security guards. Aloha!

Laura Keolanui Stark is always on the lookout for all things quilty. She can be reached at stark.laura.k@gmail.com.