Aloha on the Beach

"Aloha on the Beach"
Size: 54 1/2" x 76"
Pattern: original design by Cory and Amanda Bennett
Completed: Summer 2006
Made in: Hawaii

Machine pieced and quilted on a Pfaff Hobby 301

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The story: Shortly after moving to Hawaii in June 2005 we headed to the Swap Meet. Now this swap meet is unlike anything I have ever seen or heard of before. It is mostly all new items and they are definitely geared toward the tourists. It is located around the perimeter of Aloha Stadium where the UH Warriors play football - so it is huge! There is everything from Aloha wear to soaps, crackseed, coconuts, toys, luggage, etc. Pretty much any kind of souvenir anyone would want. We get a fair bit of our clothes there and Cory got his ukulele there and we found a lot of the decor for Leif's room there.

Anyway, they also have, in the shops that sell the clothing, stacks of fabric squares of aloha print fabrics. So on one of our outings to the swap meet we picked out a stack of at least 100 squares. Once I finally got around to do anything with it, Cory helped me layout the squares in this diagonal fade pattern. Then I put in a border of yellow plumeria and a pieced outer border of more of the aloha fabric cut into narrow pieces. The backing is a soft blue hibiscus print that was originally intended to be a sling for the bebe and I bound it in another lighter aloha print. But the most ingenious part of all? The pockets at each corner on the backside. We fill them with sand to keep the quilt from blowing away. I would love to take credit, but I got the idea from a fabulous book of projects by Denyse Schmidt.

A close-up of the pocket.

Another one of the quilt with Leif playing in the background.

This quilt makes it to the beach at least once a week, if not more. We love it, but the fabric is definitely fading due to so much sun exposure. Luckily, I still have enough squares left to make another one!

Wow! I just looked at the pic I posted of this quilt a few days ago. That picture is at least a year old and you can really see how much it has faded when you campare that pic to the ones I took today. Ok, another project to add to the to-do list!