"The Aloha Quilt" by Jennifer Chiaverini

I've never been to Hawaii, but I read a wonderful book:

"The Aloha Quilt" by Jennifer Chiaverini. 

There she tells us everything about Hawaiian history, culture, the Aloha-spirit and Hawaiian Quilts and how they are made, all wrapped in  a lovely story about a woman searching for the right path to go ...and finding it.

This is what "Aloha" means:

"It has been said to you in greeting and in farewell, and I'm sure you've all heard that it also means love." 

(quote from the book)

Encouraged by the precise instructions given in the book I added my own touch and designed some little quilts - they are also shown in the dia-show about my small appliqué-quilts on the right hand side here . 

I'd never claim these quilts to be "Hawaiian Quilts", they are made with this technique and this attitude in mind and with profound admiration for what Hawaiian masters are able to create, but these here are typical only of me and my way to do things and cannot and should not copy this noble native art -  far from that.

However, with these small items I tried to capture a tiny part of this magical "Aloha"-spirit which is a main feature of a quilt done "Hawaiian Style" . 

Other, more tangible, characteristics are: 

A two-color appliqué design spreads out to the sides from the center. The pattern is created with a special technique of folding and cutting one piece of fabric which is then unfolded and appliquéd onto a piece of background fabric in a contrasting color.

The symmetrical patterns show flowers, leaves, animals or fruit and reflect the loving respect for nature felt by the maker.  A pattern is created originally and individually and is sometimes given as a precious gift to a friend - no patchwork, no blocks, no multicolored designs, no fixed traditional patterns.

The tiny quilting stitches  are done with yarn that matches exactly the color of the fabric and they follow the outline of the appliqué design (echo-quilting).

"No two quilts you create should be exactly alike....

This is the Hawaiian way. Everything is special and unique."

(quote from the book)

Salve!

“We lay aside letters never to read them again, and at last destroy them out of discretion, and so disappears the most beautiful, the most immediate breath of life, irrecoverably for ourselves and for others.” 

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Elective Affinities

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/letters?page=2

Oh, please don't! What a pity to throw away a personal, hand-written letter!

Maybe it helps if such a letter comes with a small hand-crafted quilt?

Such a quilt being an item symbolizing the power of friendship and love?

Even if it is a VERY small one?

I took to making some of those, they are completely hand-crafted and consist of three layers of fabric, just like "real" quilts do. I am fond of  traditional patterns -  however, for this purpose I choose some which I can use without any templates. Thus the result is a slightly uneven, not so perfectly geometrically arranged little quilt - which is something I like! I think it gives the whole piece an extra touch of a  friendly and playful expression.

When finished I fix such a mini-quilt on a folded piece of fine natural-colored watercolor paper, the size of the card is then 12  x 17 cm or 4, 7" x  6,6".

Here are some more:

Ich finde diese Mini-Quilts eignen sich gut für Grußkarten und Briefe?

Diese Minis sind handgemacht  und bestehen genauso wie "richtige" Quilts aus drei Lagen Stoff. Ich orientiere mich hier oft an meinen geliebten traditionellen Mustern, allerdings benutze ich nur solche, die ich ohne Schnittmuster verwenden kann. Dies führt zu etwas ungeraden, nicht exakt geometrisch ausgerichteten Ergebnissen  - was ich ganz schön finde, es vermittelt einen etwas eher verspielten Eindruck.

Die fertigen Minis befestige ich dann auf einem gefalteten Bogen Aquarellpapier, 

die Größe der Karte ist dann 12 x 17 cm.

(in Goethe's home in Weimar)

2014-Quilt: January

This is my first block of a "2014"-Quilt. My plan is to design a block each month with red and natural-colored cotton and linen. It's all for myself because I have no idea where this will lead me to and if this will look good at all in the end. I just want to try out to design blocks without copying anything, although I know very well that all patterns have deep roots in the evolution of cultures all over the world and nothing comes without links to something that is already long since there.
The other thing is that working with two solid colors only is not familiar to me. There are contrasts to handle and I don't want to have too much sharpness in my designs. So I think the next block might have some smooth lines in it, don't know yet.
The size of each block is 24 x 24 cm,  so all 12 blocks plus the sashing could make a light quilt which possibly can be hung as a wallhanging or be used as a plaid. I am very curious how this will turn out! :-)
  

Happy New Year!

"Das Vergangene können wir nicht zurückrufen, 

über die Zukunft sind wir eher Meister, 

wenn wir klug und gut sind."

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I find it difficult to translate these beautiful, simple words into English, but I think what is meant is this:

While we can't bring back the past, we may master the future by being skillful and benevolent.

Happy New Year!