You have admired Hawaiian quilts for years. Now, with this book and DVD you can design your very own Hawaiian quilt!

Here is Ellen's Story:

A bit about Hawaiian Quilts

One distinctive characteristic of Hawaiian quilts is that they are radially symmetrical to the eighth. What does that mean?? It means that if you draw lines on a Hawaiian quilt design through the center from top to bottom, side to side, and corner to corner what you see in each of the eight triangular segments will be nearly identical mirror images. The Angel's Trumpet quilt makes this very easy to visualize with its strong stems radiating from the center in all eight directions. While not all Hawaiian quilts have these strong diagonal design lines (take for example our Sea Turtles & Dolphins quilt) it is still true that nearly all Hawaiian designs have eight, radially symmetrical segments.

Your first Hawaiian quilt should be a breadfruit design." Have you ever heard that? Do you know why it is said?"

The Hawaiian word for breadfruit is 'ulu; and ulu means to grow, or increase. In Hawaiian arts and crafts the 'ulu symbolizes abundance. Nancy's Hawaiian quilting kumu (teacher) taught her that it also symbolizes greater creativity and more quilts. So, when you hear the advice that you should first make the 'ulu design, now you know why.

Hawaiian-style

This versatile pattern can be used to make a quilt like this one, or individual blocks can be used to make small wall hangings, placemats, pillows, gift bags, or garment embellishments. Put three or four together for a table-runner, or narrow wall-hanging.

When we give thanks at this time of year we always celebrate the bounty of the fall harvest. Although, the flowers and plants in this Hawaiian runner are likely to bloom and present their bounty at varying times of the year.

Writing pattern instructions is not easy. Instructions need to be accurate, concise and complete. Providing information about a specific size for a Hawaiian quilt pattern introduces a number of variables. What we have done on our wall-quilt patterns is to assume that most suitable cotton fabrics average about 42" wide. Since Hawaiian quilts are square (with exceptions, of course) we state that the quilt is 42" square. We have designed the pattern to fit on a piece of fabric that is at least 42" square, but the fabric could be larger.

Pohopoho

I want to make a Hawaiian Quilt for a friend...

We were honored to be invited to have a selection our our Hawaiian Wall Quilts on display in the Kona Hawaiian Quilt Museum, in Kailua Kona, Hawaii

Our display of quilts will be hanging until about the 11th of February. If you are lucky enough to have a chance to go and see them go check it out.

Just wondering, what if?

The following is a newsletter article from 2010 where the story of how our Aloha Album quilt pattern came to be. I thought you would enjoy reading it if you are new to Pacific Rim Quilt Company. Mahalo!

A characteristic of Hawaiian quilts

One of the distinctive characteristics of Hawaiian quilts is the echo quilting. Echo quilting is not a different way to make quilting stitches, rather it is the pattern of quilting lines that radiate out from the applique edges on a Hawaiian quilt. These quilting lines are often described as looking like the waves approaching an island, or the ripples created when dropping a pebble into water.

Here is my three color version of You are in Our Hearts Hawaiian Wall Quilt. This quilt was created using one of the Hoffman Supernova Panels. I am just loving this color combination and how it also shows off the plumeria blossoms. You can find an earlier blog post about Multi-colored Hawaiian Quilts and how to create them by clicking on the link.

I decided I wanted to have it complete for the Mountain Stars Quilt Show so in order to complete it in time I was going to have to quilt it by machine. I felt it would look it's best with the traditional quilting method of echo quilting.

This month I thought it would be fun to share the story of how Sea Turtles and Dolphins came to be. This has proved to be the perfect collaboration between Nancy and Janice.

Hawaiian quilters have long been known to make special quilts. I wanted to create a Hawaiian Wall quilt with a special meaning. Sweet Peas for Grandma was designed with my Grandma Myrt in mind. She always grew sweet peas in her garden in Minnesota.

Drum Roll Please

Nancy has designed a spectacular new Hawaiian Bed Quilt Pattern for us. This is Hawaiian Snowflake or Haukea (pronounced How-kay-a).

Continue the Tradition