More photos of Hawaiian Quilts

15 10 2009

Delicate Beauty, by Nancy Lee Chong and Janice Baehr,
(c) Pacific Rim Quilt Company

Hawaiian quilt makers have long borne special feelings towards their creations. Naming a quilt, is a nuanced affair that can incorporate strictly private symbols or meanings and bear no relationship to the visual pattern of the quilt itself.

Hawaiians were skilled in the creation of tapa, clothing or bedding made from the bark of the wauke or paper mulberry plant. The tapa technique — involving the pounding together of strips of bark to form sheets of different textures, which are then colorfully decorated by pen with various dyes — provided the foundation upon which Hawaiian quilting was eventually built.

Waterlilly design

Waterlilly design

Water Lily Reflections: Wai Akoa Na Wai Lilia, by Janice Baehr,
(c) Pacific Rim Quilt Company

Mahalo to the quilters of the Pacific Rim Quilt Company for these images.





Hawaiian Birds: Nene

10 10 2009
Photo by Alejandro Bárcenas

Photo by Alejandro Bárcenas

The Nene is the state bird of Hawaii and is also known as the Hawaiian Goose. They are 22-26″ a medium sized goose with a buffy neck with dark furrows. Heavily barred gray-brown above, lighter below (see photo).

Its strong toes are padded and have reduced webbing, an adaptation that allows it to swiftly traverse rough terrain such as lava. Black billed it breeds from November to June. Females incubate the 2-5 eggs for 29 to 32 days.

An herbivore they feed on plants native and introduced.

Nesochen sandivicensis

Nesochen sandivicensis





Hawaiian Sayings

2 10 2009
Apapane     photo by Forest and Kim Starr

'Apapane photo by Forest and Kim Starr

Ho`ola`i na manu i ke aheahe.

The birds poise quietly in the gentle breezes.