Tag / aloha shirt patchwork quilt

by princesshotflash

Patches and Stitching

I love Hawaiian-style patchwork blankets. This blanket style is made up of many different prints and is lightweight for the weather in Hawaii. My Grandma Kiyo (my dad’s mom) sewed many of these blankets. We only have a few of these blankets left as time has taken its toll on them. They are well-loved.

Grandma Kiyo’s blanket was a masterwork of patterns. She used many patterns within the blanket. I assume most of the fabric used on the blanket was scraps or old clothing. Most of her blankets had a red backing with a self-binding.

My Grandma Kiyo’s blanket needs repair of all the fraying from being older than me.

At the Kuakini thrift shop where I volunteer, we have started to sell these Hawaiian-style blankets. The blankets were made by the hospital craft group. They would make craft items for use in the hospital and for sale at their rummage sale. This rummage sale turned into a Kuakini thrift shop, and now we are selling some of the blanket inventory. All of the fabric is donated and created by this craft group.

Here are a few shots of the blankets that I liked. Many of them are full of prints; they are just so fun.

These are from the latest batch of the quilt in the shop. They were full of prints, lots of them vintage from the 60s.

I finally finished my stitching sampler on a pillowcase I made a long while ago. Oh well, I think I decided to put my needle down. I added fabric patches to where there were holes and added the stiches to blend the patches into the pillow. I’m enjoying the stitching, it gets me out of my head and it’s quite meditative.

Looks a little crazy, but I was trying out the stitches.

And now . . . my aloha shirt blanket. I finally finished it. I learned a lot. I know there needs to be bit more planning for my next quilt. As you can see, I have a lot of inspiration. I most definitely will be doing some hand stitching.

I figured out how to hide the know midway through working on the blanket. Next time, hopefully they will be hidden.

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by princesshotflash

Quietly Stitching

The holidays were a cold (in Hawaii temps) and wet one. I made use of being inside by hand stitching projects that were waiting for their patiently.

This current wave of hand stitching was brought on by the book covers I stitched in my post; I forgot to add a cover. I started stitching more patches with the same fabric as the book covers and added more stitching. But now I’m stuck about what to do next and what I should become.

I feel like it needs some kind of separation between the patches

I decided to let the patches sit while I figured out what it needed. I picked up my aloha shirt patchwork quilt. I needed to finish the rest of the interior stitching (diagonal lines) then work on the border. The half triangles are machine stitched with interior quilting and border handstitched.

I reworked some of the stitching to be more consistent overall.

The quilt looked a bit empty; it needed more than the diagonal lines. I decided to add some stitching around the white flowers on the green triangles. Slightly smaller stitching than the diagonal lines makes it stand out a bit. More in the style of the book covers.

Working in tandem with the patchwork quilt, I picked up an ancient project sitting in my project pile, a Hawaiian quilt kit I started. I don’t even know when or where I got it or created it.

I did a really crap job attaching the applique. My Quilting Yoda would not have been happy. I restitched the applique, adding many more stitches to lay flat. Some of the corners were pretty awful; the turn-over edges were coming apart. The stitching was close enough. Ugh!! But the more I worked on it, I got into a rhythm, and my stitches were more consistent. So satisfying. I like it now.

I’m quilting around the applique now.

All the while, as I hand stitch, I’ve been binging Silent Witness on Prime Video. It’s like a CSI, UK version, focusing more on the pathologist up to the season 16 when they combined department with forensic. It has 24 seasons, more than enough to keep me company while I stitched away.

I finished this while I was writing this post. I’m so proud of it.

Oh, by the way, I finished the my Hawaiian Quilt Patch. What began as forgotten project, turned out looking better than I expected. I’ve decided to turn it into a pillow. Now I need to find the perfect backing for it. I’m hoping I have it in my stash.