LIHUE — More than 3,000 people walked through the Kauai Quilt Show and Boutique over the 12 days the exhibit and sale was open at the Kauai Society of Artists gallery at the Kukui Grove Center.
Melissa McFerrin Warrack of the Kukui Grove management team was invited to present the show award on the exhibit’s final day on Wednesday where Liz Thompson was announced the first-place winner for her “Reflecting on the Day” quilt.
“This is an ode to our stunning Kauai sunsets incorporating some of my favorite (at the moment) techniques: using many different fabrics, raw edge appliqued ‘tiles’ and ‘improv’ piecing,” Thompson said in her pinned description, and also talk with many of the viewers. “The sky and sea are made of ‘tiles’ cut from dozens of different fabrics which were arranged and fused to the background. Several more fabrics were ‘improv’ pieced for the sun which was appliquéd to the tiled background and embellished with a small decorative stitch in each row.”
Sponsored and presented by the Kauai Quilt Guild, Nene Quilters, Discount Fabric Warehouse, and Vicky’s Fabrics, the Kauai Quilt Show also had donation quilts available where purchasers of these quilts could specify a local nonprofit from a list that included Child and Family Service, Hawaii Children’s Theatre, Kauai Food Bank, Kauai Habitat for Humanity, Kauai Hospice, the Kauai Humane Society, Kumu’s Cupboard, Mokihana Club, Toys for Tots Kauai, the YWCA Women’s Shelter, Kauai, and the Garden Island Arts Council.
Toni Wass of the Kauai Quilt Show said about $5,000 was raised from all of the donation quilts sold. This total was shared among the dozen Kauai nonprofits.
With the show closing on Wednesday, Wass said the remaining donation quilts will be gone through and some will be given to the Kauai Humane Society, and other nonprofits for their auctions, leaving very little as holdovers for the next exhibit.
Second place honors were awarded to “Twilight,” a 56-inch by 65-inch quilt pieced by Mary Ching and quilted by Lea Ingram using Free Motion on Long Arm, hand piecing, and using English paper piecing to make the quilt.
“I saw this quilt used in the 2023 advertising for The Genesee Valley Quilt Club Show,” Ching said in the quilt description. “I was inspired to search out the pattern. It was a bit of a challenge.”
Third place honors belonged to “My Blue Heaven,” a 53 by 71 quilt pieced and quilted by Louise Olney using Free Motion on a sewing machine with an embroidery machine, and hand appliqued.
The quilt based on a Poakalani Pattern &Designs by Poakalani and John Serrao was inspired by a 1927 Gene Austin song, “My Blue Heaven.”
Bev Gotelli of the Kauai Quilt Show said the Boutique, located adjacent to Jamba Juice, was also a successful venture coupled with the main quilt show exhibit.
“We didn’t have that many big items,” Gotelli said. “But we sold a lot of hand-sewn little items, and the workshops were well attended and successful.”
Wass said there will be another mid-year quilt show that will take place in August — coinciding with the agricultural celebration, McFerrin Warrack added — before the next exhibit and sale that takes place in February just around the time Valentine’s Day rolls around.
