Quilting and its many related activities has long ago moved out of the front parlor and church basements. Today, quilters have so many choices to feed their "addiction", whether it's fabric shopping, viewing quilts on display, taking workshops, attending a lecture, or simply enjoying the companionship of other quilters.

Several times a year, I have the pleasure of hosting quilting trips for Specialty Tours. Some are cruises, while others are tours, but all are out-of-body experiences....just so much fun! Interest in this type of quilting activity continues to grow, therefore questions arise pertaining to just exactly how we spend our time. (Naturally, everyone assumes we eat ten times a day while cruising!) I'll be sharing some of our adventures from time to time here at theQuilterCommunity.com, perhaps it will inspire you to join me in "real time" travel someday.

In February, our ten-day tour took us to three Hawaiian Islands: Maui, the big island of Hawaii, and Oahu. Our group, consisting of quilters from all over the United States, met at the Ka'anapali Beach Hotel in Maui where we visited several shops, including Sew Special and the large Fabric Mart in Kahului. Students took three workshops, a bead appliquéd Funky Rooster taught by myself, and two presented by local instructors: Leaf Printing by Audrey Antone-Blaak and Hawaiian Appliqué by Agnes Skyes.

Quilters not only talk and think quilting.....we see it everywhere, too. The 4-patch pictured here was actually a life size game of checkers that was in the courtyard, right off the beach of our hotel!

Attending a Luau is a must when in Hawaii. The weather was perfect as you can see by the photo of three happy quilters at the Lahaina Luau! We all wanted to know where we could get the fabric the wait staff was wearing.

Next, a short plane ride away was the Big Island of Hawaii. We stayed in the quaint seaside village of Kona, home of famous Kona coffee and the King Kamehameha Hotel. We gathered for a very pleasant luncheon with The Kona Quilters Guild, the highlight, of course, was show and tell!

Another big reason we were on this island, at this time, was to attend the Waimea Quilt Show. This absolutely wonderful show is held every two years. It's organized by Ka Hui Kapa Apana O Waimea Quilt Guild, whose memberships is only about 30 quilters. These generous women made a tiny fabric block pin, embellished with their guild pin, and a needle grabber, attached with a string of beads, for every person in our group!! We were again privileged to attend the opening "blessing" of the show where the quilts are "blessed" by a local minister before the opening. Goose-pimple time it's that moving! The Hawaiian musicians who played almost constantly at the front of the large showroom charmed us all.

Naturally, the quilts were stunning. Unlike most of the shows, we are familiar with, this one has no admittance fee, and there is no competition. Their sole goal is to share their work and honor their members. I couldn't resist taking this photo of the line up of men, waiting for the quilter in their life to visit the show!

I'm always on "quilt alert".....and when I spot a quilt related motif....where you least expect to find one, I snap a picture. The flying geese tattoos on this young man's leg was one of the many giggles we had. He was very nice when I asked to take his picture, but was unimpressed when we informed him that he was sporting "flying geese" on his leg!

Naturally, the chase for fabrics hadn't been forgotten, so in addition to the traditional fabric stores on our list to visit, we stopped at a combination Ace Hardware & Ben Franklin Store for some really good fabric buys!

Our last stop was the island of Oahu, home of the famous Waikiki Beach where more sightseeing and fabric shopping was accomplished. There was also time to work on our projects and with one "on-demand" instructor available, additional instruction was also provided. Sadly, it was time to bid Aloha to the islands as we all headed back home.

As I write this, my thoughts are already turned to my Alaska Cruise in June. I¹ve invited my good pal, Pat Campbell to be a guest instructor for this inland cruise, and the local quilt shops have already been alerted of our impending arrival!

©2003 Mary Stori
www.a1specialtytours.com click on quilting.