My Hawaiian Quilts

 I have always loved these quilts, where you start with a square of fabric folded into eighths, cut it out, and then unfold it, like a snowflake.  I made this quilt about 15 years about from a Dover Publication book of patterns. 
Hawaiian quilting history has deep cultural roots in the islands. Before the missionaries arrived, Hawaiian quilts were made of fabric called kapa, which was pounded from the bark of the wauke (paper bark or mulberry) tree. They dyed the bark cloth and decorated it with geometric block prints to use for bedding and festive clothing.

Around 1820, missionary wives brought woven fabrics and steel needles and taught the Hawaiian people how to make patchwork quilts.
Legend has it that a breadfruit pattern was the first true Hawaiian quilt design. Some Hawaiian women laid some fabric on the grass to dry. They noticed a shadow from the branches of the breadfruit tree on the fabric. The Hawaiian women then cut out the shadowy design and laid it onto another fabric and appliqued and quilted. Thus, the birth of the first Hawaiian quilt.
Here is the breadfruit pattern that I cut out a couple months ago, for a full sized quilt.