The Side-Tracked Hawaiian Quilter

Posted on May 31, 2004 by Mokihana

Well, if only I had all the time in the world and didn’t have to work! My creative energy seems to have taken a different path for awhile. I was with a group of my wahine friends, knitting away on a blanket that I’m making, which contains my very first handspinning (from my own sheep!) and knitting efforts. Continue reading →

Posted in Knitting | 5 Comments

Mokihana’s Hawaiian Quilting Journey: Class and the start of a quilt! Part One

Posted on November 3, 2003 by Mokihana

Oh wow. The class with Nancy Lee Chong was fantastic! I was a great enabler and encouraged my friends Susie and Julie to take the plunge too. The class was held at A Common Thread quilt store in Lake Oswego, a wonderful place filled with absolutely wonderful fabrics.

Nancy is an awesome teacher! She’s friendly, informative and extremely knowledgeable. She made learning fun, and had all kinds of tip and techniques to show us, so that by the end of the weekend we all had a working knowledge of how to begin our quilts. Continue reading →

Posted in Hawaiian Quilting | 2 Comments

Variations on a Hawaiian Name

Posted on August 17, 2003 by Mokihana

I love my name! It sings to me when I say it or hear it… singing to me of my island home, of ku‘u one hānau. Singing of the cool trade winds, the rainbows in Mānoa Valley where I was born and raised, of the scent of flowers, the sounds of pidgin, the ono grindz, the Hawaiian music. I love that back home everyone knows how to pronounce it! Continue reading →

Posted in Da Kine: Sometimes Full-on Pidgin | 2 Comments

Mokihana’s Hawaiian Quilting Journey: Class!

Posted on August 17, 2003 by Mokihana

I’ve kinda put my quilting project on hold, and have been concentrating on my beadwork, knowing that this coming weekend (August 21-22) I’ll be lucky enough to be taking a class from Nancy Chong, one of the premiere Hawaiian quilting teachers around. I’m leaving here on Thursday night so that I can be in Philomath first thing Friday morning. Continue reading →

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Mokihana’s Hawaiian Quilting Journey: Week Two

Posted on July 17, 2003 by Mokihana

I thought I’d come out the winner this week. And I did, sorta. Eventually. I got my new fabric all washed and ready and started cutting. Unfortunately, I musta been half asleep at the time, because I cut it wrong and had to go back to the fabric store yet again! Sheesh! Fabric 6, Mokihana O. Continue reading →

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Mokihana’s Hawaiian Quilting Journey: Week One

Posted on July 8, 2003 by Mokihana

In order to survive my grueling work schedule (7 days a week, sometimes 12-hour days), I decided to begin making a Hawaiian quilted pillow. Every Tuesday I attend a group where the focus in on our creativity; I’ve done beadwork and handspinning there, but for the summer decided to start doing some Hawaiian quilting, which I’ve been wanting to do for many years. Each woman brings what she wants to work on, so there is considerable freedom and variety in what kind of projects make their way out to the log cabin in the Oregon woods. Continue reading →

Posted in Hawaiian Quilting | 7 Comments

Willie K and Amy!!

Posted on July 6, 2003 by Mokihana

What a night! I got to go hear Willie K and Amy Hanaiali‘i Gilliom at the Oregon Zoo Summer Concert series. It was wonderful. We went with 2 of our friends, and sat on the lawn area of the zoo, surrounded by hundred-year old fir forests, barn swallows darting over our heads, while the half moon rose lazily in the sky. Continue reading →

Posted in Da Kine: Sometimes Full-on Pidgin | 4 Comments

Mokihana’s First Post

Posted on July 6, 2003 by Mokihana

I was born and raised on O‘ahu up in Mānoa Valley. I spent my hanabata days hiking, ti leaf sliding, horseback riding in Kapi‘olani Park, swimming in the ocean and sailing outside Waikīkī Yacht Harbor and around Diamond Head in our very small sailboat. When I was a teenager, I got to sail to the neighbor islands for a few summers with a good friend’s ‘ohana who had a 43′ sailboat. What a wonderful life!

Now I live in Oregon; I’m so homesick for the ‘āina, but Oregon is nani. I live on a 12-acre farm with sheep, goats, 2 llamas and a horse; my husband and I have a real estate appraisal business. I’m an avid reader and a prolific writer; during my spare time I enjoy beadwork, knitting, Hawaiian quilting and handspinning. I’m on staff at www.alohaworld.com, where I get to talk story with my friends from home, full on pidgin all the way!

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