Hawaiian Quilts

I made a hawaiian quilt last year.  It took me over 4 years to finish it (and it was just 24" square).  When it was finally done, I swore off hawaiian quilts.  I love the look of them, but I hand appliqued and hand quilted this quilt (trying to stay true to the art form).  And it turned out to be a lot more work than I had expected, even a little one like this.

Yesterday, my sister sent me a book in the mail.  "The Hawaiian Quilt" by Linda Boynton.  This book has some beautiful examples of hawaiian quilts, and discusses not only the origination of that quilting style, but the adaptations that have happened in more recent times, creating what she calls "Elaborated Traditional Hawaiian Quilts".  They are gorgeous, and many are partially machine appliqued or machine quilted.

Now I have no excuse not to do another, bigger, hawaiian quilt.  I don't have to be scared of the time investment to hand quilt the whole thing.  And I don't have to feel like I'm 'breaking the rules' if I machine quilt it.  Or I can use more than 2 colours, and it's still a hawaiian quilt.  I'm just making an Elaborted Hawaiian quilt.