Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Sniffles and Roosters

Whew. How long was I asleep in that beach chair? I successfully recovered from a busy pattern flurry, but woke up with a head cold this morning. It was probably all those post office germs. I'm going to take time for a short post, and then I'm going back to my beach chair for a while with some hot tea and lemon.

Happily, your pattern orders are starting to be received all across the country (yay! and thank you all again!!). Many of you have emailed me to thank me for the Hawaiian fabric charm squares that I enclosed with your order--you're welcome!--and to ask me the best way to buy more Hawaiian fabric.

Believe it or not, I am one of the WORST people to ask where to buy Hawaiian fabric! Okay, maybe not the worst, but I'm not a very good person to ask. I always buy it here in Hawaii! Our stores are stuffed with the stuff. As a matter of fact, Hawaiian prints, Asian prints and batiks are just about ALL I can get. I would love to be able to fondle some of those neat Civil War repros I keep seeing online, or drool over a rack of pastel thirties prints...or even catch a glimpse of what a Thimbleberry looks like! But noooooooo. Even our local Wal Mart is a veritable Hawaiian fabric shrine!

So here are my suggestions on how YOU can find Hawaiian fabric, short of hopping on a plane:

1. Call Kapaia Stitchery at 808-245-2281 and describe what you want. They don't have a website, but they do have mail order and they are very, very nice. Closed on Sundays, open 9 to 5 Hawaiian time. (Update 4/2--I corrected the phone number...sorry!)

2. I often send people to http://www.hawaiianfabric.com/ Be sure to click on the "cotton" tab, because they have lots of polyesters and it's easy to get lost amidst all the prints and end up with polyester. There are several pages of cotton fabric to scroll through, and you can click on prints to enlarge. It's a pretty good site! I don't often hear back from people I send there, but when I do, it's a positive report.

3. eQuilter has got some great Hawaiian prints! This link here will take you right to the Hawaiian prints section.

4. Read the comments section of this post. Hopefully, others will chime in with their favorite sources. Anyone?? Feel free!

5. Google "Hawaiian fabric" and see if there is someone in your state or nearby that sells it. You'll save some money on shipping. There are lots of suprising little niches in stores that have devoted a little corner to Hawaii--probably because the shop owner is a frequent visitor.

Okay, I'm going back to my beach chair and try to stop sneezing. I'll leave you with a picture of our friendly back yard chickens. These were wild, but my husband has since trained them to eat out of our hands and they're pretty friendly now. They come to my back door every morning to get leftovers from the cat's dish; they stand and watch me until I come out with a bowl for them.

This rooster is very brave. His girlfriend hangs back a little with her dainty foot up in the air:
She won't come any closer until I set the bowl down and turn around. They're such a cute couple!

G'night...

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oops sorry your may have got that head cold from me. I'm still trying to get rid of my sinus headaches. I have stopped sneezing but now my daughter has it. Oh I'm so sharing and caring.
Love all those fabrics. What a shame that is all you can get over there. At least we have the internet. What ever did we do without it.????

Anonymous said...

Oh, as you know I love to see those fabrics! Your Rooster looks so proud! I wish you soon get rid of cold! Very sunny and lovely here, but still too much snow.

Mom IsAmagpie said...

I hope your head cold gets better. I hate those!
I love the roosters, you can almost picture them.
"Marvin, I will NOT eat from her hand, she thinks she's better than me!"
"Now Darlene, she's nice. Just try.."
"No, you go make her happy and do your thing so she puts my bowl down and LEAVES! Sometimes I think you like her a little too much"
"Oh Stop it, I'm goin' I'm goin', just stop your yakking..."

Sally said...

Oh, Lisa, so sorry you are feeling 'punky', as my dad used to say. Hopefully, a day in your chair, with the sun coming thru the windows to warm you, and some - dare I say it? - chicken soup will make you feel better. I began to worry when we didn't see you blogging for a few days. Feel better!

Mar said...

oh gosh, that darn head cold keeps popping up. Hope you feel better soon.

susan said...

my least fav creature, or is it deer?...do NOT miss the roosters crowing at the full moon...what a bunch of dolts! mike had them trained to eat out of his hand too, but i hated it, they would poop all over the back porch...soon put an end to that particular activity, at the back porch anyway :-) there is more snow in the yard than ever, but it is sunny and about 30 degrees. back upstairs to sew

Mary Anne said...

HI Snufflufagus (sp?) ...er I mean Lisa .... sorry to hear you're not feeling too great ...get better soon!

....also, I LOVE that chicken couple! I was thinking of getting some chickens for our back yard, but I'd have to bear proof their coop (a friend of mine has chickens and had to install electric fences to zap Yogi and Boo Boo when they were out hunting for a snack .... now Yogi and Boo Boo have a perm....)

Dawn said...

Those tubs of fat quarters look like yummy boxes of brightly colored popsicles---such a delicious choice of fabrics!

Anonymous said...

I so feel for you on the headcold thing. Hubby and I are just getting over bronchitis. I found that a little bourbon or whiskey in the tea and lemon helps it to go down and absorb much faster. Either that, or it makes you not care so much that you feel crappy!

Under the Lychee Tree said...

I'm glad you are feeling better. Hawaiian fabric hunters can also check e-bay. Some sellers even have vintage Hawaiian fabrics my favorite!

Rhonda said...

Hope you feel better soon. The chickens are too cute!

Tine said...

Here are some virtual feel-better-hugs from Denmark! According to my daugther, they make you feel better instantly :-)
I only hope they don't loose their magic on their way to you!

The Calico Quilter said...

Wait a minute - the chickens get leftovers from the CAT'S DISH? What's the cat's opinion of this state of affairs? Although I guess if it had an opinion it learned quickly to keep it to itself. (For you city girls out there who are inexperienced with fowl, roosters can be mean as a snake!)

Dana said...

sorry your not feeling well. cute rooster!!!

Anonymous said...

Take care...and feel better!!!

Beth said...

Hi Lisa! So sorry you have a cold, they are no fun at all! Hope you feel better soon!

I'm in the process of starting your Hawaiian Rainbow Baskets for a friend that is getting married in May and moving to Hawaii in July (they will be there for at least 3 years and I am soooo jealous!!). I ordered fabrics from www.gotfabric.com as they sell fat quarters, 1/2 yards and continuous yardage for very good prices on the Hawaiian fabric. They were also very quick to process and ship the order and the fabrics feel and look great! NAYY just a very happy customer!

I must also say that you are top notch in your customer service and speed of sending out pattern orders!! Thanks so much!!!

Unknown said...

I hope you are feeling better. Thanks for the info on the Hawaiian fabric. We visited Hawaii about 4 years ago and I found a wonderful store with Hawaiian Fabrics. I believe it was a chain and cannot remember the name. I wish I could. I do know that it was a short name. The fabrics were the right price too! 100% cottons for about $4 per yard and they also had some of that wonderful fabric that you wish you could get your hands on. If my memory banks come up with the name, I'll be sure to post it!

Opal said...

I love eQuilter! In fact I just bought some fabric from them. (Not Hawaiian) Hopefully it will turn into a lovely bag. With my sewing skills it's anyone's guess.

Anonymous said...

I hope you feel better soon! I love the chickens! I am obsessed with them at the moment and want to stitch a Janet Bolton style applique quilt with chickens- if I could just decide on what kind!
On the fabric note-I buy at Fabric.com and Sew Mama Sew and Repro Depot and ebay too! I want Liberty of London in the worst way, so I know what you mean about the Civil War stuff- it's really nice!
Get well soon! xxxooo calamity k

get_my_goat said...

I was at Kapaia Stitchery before I was a quilter - I can imagine how much trouble I would get into now. I bought that Happy Hula Huts pattern (complete with bow) and even saved the bow till recently I needed a scrap to mark the back waist of someone's p.j.'s. My bow was orange. Your island photos were everything that I remembered, except better weather. When we arrived, they welcomed us to Vancouver because there was so much rain. Is Jo Jo's Shaved Ice still around? There is also a stone Episcopal church with beautiful stained glass. I love colour. We kayaaked (I swear our guide tried to lose us!) had icecream for breakfast (our first trip without kids) and ate food with way too much ginger from some health nut place. Did some killer hike (was younger and in better shape then) and toured the spca where I wanted to take all the dogs home. And some election was going on where a candidate had pineapple shaped signs which we would have liked to take, but they were nailed on too firmly An excellent trip all in all. Wish I could get back to the Kapaia Stitchery. I need fabric to do my quilt!