E kaupē aku no i ka hoe a kō mai.
Put forward the paddle and draw it back.
Go on with the task that is started and finish it.
ʻŌlelo Noʻeau 319
John always had a saying. “My designs, patterns are just lines on a paper, until a quilter gives it life and breathes their spirit into the quilt”.
The center of the quilted is always completed first, As quoted from John and Poakalani’s first book, The Hawaiian Quilt A Spiritual Experience, “A solid center usually depicted the core of the family, the center of one’s life. It is the source, strength and the roots of the family and individual. That is why when a quilt was made, the center was always completed first because it was the quilter’s center and focus point and they believed that is where their life and energy force came from.”
When the center is complete the branches of the design is quilted next. The Hawaiian believed in a strong spiritual center but they also believed in growth and the branches of the quilt represented family and individual growth reaching out to family and friends. It also represented spiritual growth of one’s soul and its love reaching out to all.
Some quilts have lei’s or what is usually called borders on a quilt. The lei or border represents the lands outside of Hawaii with its focus as Hawaii at its center. Echo quilting from the branches out to lei shows the aloha from Hawaii going out to the rest of the world and the echo quilting returning from the lei is the love returning back to the center and the islands.
Mahalo to all the quilters who took the quilt home to add the quilting lines and Takako who completed the quilt by adding the binding.
