We have just spent the last two weeks in Hawaii. Dave was healthy and I didn’t fall this time! Just a little about tags, missiles, and fabric in Hawaii.
Tags
One of the things I’ve been doing since we started traveling years ago is to take fun, fast reads with me on our journeys. I always take tags used as bookmarks that I’ve stamped or painted and after finishing the books leave them in the condos. One of my favorite authors to read at the beach and leave is Harlan Coben. In fact, I started reading his novels when I found one in a condo where we were staying and decided to read it. After that, I’ve been hooked on his books.
I use these tags to test a new technique, or in the above cases, a new stencil I cut. I always grab a few and take them with me and the books. They aren’t fancy, just a little art. Well, this year I decided to put a message and then add my website to see if anyone would contact me. I couldn’t believe when I heard from Renee (Hi, Renee!!) who emailed me that she found it in the book I left in the condo.
Missile Alert
While we were in Hawaii, we received the following alerts on my iphone. There is no time on them but the top one telling us it was a false alarm was not sent until about 30 minutes after the bottom one.
I was sitting on the lanai finishing breakfast enjoying a group of teenagers singing on the beach. Dave had gone inside for a minute and came running back out telling me about the alert and saying we need to get indoors. This is my first smart phone so neither of us was aware of these emergency alert messages coming through our phones. He heard my phone making racket so he checked it out. We turned on the TV to see if we could find any info and couldn’t find anything.
So what was I thinking about at that moment? First of all, I thought it was a false alarm. It couldn’t be happening. But after looking out and seeing that everyone was off the beach, it started to sink in that this may be it. However, as scary as that was I realized nothing could be done if the missile was heading my way. If it hit near where we were, that would be the end. I thought that if this life had to end, what better way to end than with the love of my life and in the place we both love so much. I posted the alert on Facebook, but didn’t contact anyone to say goodbye. They’d know what happened if they didn’t hear from us again. We continued to monitor the news until they said it was a false alarm.
Several of the residents we met throughout that day were so friendly and commented on what a wonderful day it was. From the waitress at the taco shop to the baker at Whole Foods, they mentioned the confusion and the relief that it was false. It sure put a new light on the day for all of us. It also was a reminder that today is all we have.
Fabric
Of course, wherever we go I have to check out fabric stores. Kapaia Stitchery is a store I’ve visited the last couple times we were in Kauai.
Dave waited outside while I looked at every (well, almost!) piece of fabric.
They have a great selection including lots of Hawaiian and Oriental prints. I’m on the quest for white-on-white to dye, but always find a couple commercial regular prints to take home. Here are just a few of the bolts of fabric at this shop.
Here is what I bought. It’s hard to see the patterns on the white fabric. The first one is pineapples. The other is dragonflies. I’m also curious how the black and white will dye.
On Maui I shopped at Sew Special, located in the Queen Ka’ahumanu Center in Kahului. My salesperson, Lynda, was fun to talk to. She’s working on a textile art degree and we spent a little time talking about dyeing and of course, ice dyeing. Here is what I bought in that shop. Aren’t these patterns beautiful?
I really was in search of wool felt, but could not find much in Hawaii. Sew Special had a couple rolls of felt, but nothing special. The Kapaia Stitchery salesperson referred me to another shop just down the road. However, that shop said they had sold out of their wool felt and were waiting on their order. I can get it online, but thought it would be nice to buy some in Hawaii.
Although we love getting away, it’s always nice to get home even if it’s to the cold! I’ll be posting a little more about our trip later, but hope to play with my new fabrics shortly. I promised myself that I would do something this year with this and some of the other Hawaiian prints I’ve purchased over the years. Dave ordered a new camera strap cover, since the one I made quite a while back is pretty worn so that may be my first project. Stay tuned.
Love the fabrics! Hope you enjoy dyeing some of the white on white. I did some several years ago, applying the dyes with foam brushes so I could control where the colors went… came out great! Glad you had a nice visit, in spite of the scare.
Judy, Thanks! I usually just low immersion dye them, but I think I’ll try that brush technique. Sounds like a good idea.
I remember seeing your post on Facebook about the missile warning. I was freaked out for you! And all of us really, if it had turned out to be real. I knew you were new to smart phones, so just you wait until our severe weather starts up here! Ugh, I finally had to turn mine off. It had this awful siren sound that made me jump out of my skin every time it went off.
I really love that black and white fabric you picked out, it’s so graphic. When Daryl and I went to Hawaii, I was after some fabric as well. Only I didn’t think about finding a specialty store, I found a bunch at the Walmart in Maui. I bought so much (without thinking) that I had to check another bag! It cost me a lot more than I expected, then I found that a lot of the patterns could have been found here at our local Walmart… “won wont”.
So glad you came back uninjured this time!
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Jaime, Thanks for the warning about the smart phone alerts. It’s bad enough when our weather radio goes off all hours of the night! I remember the first time we went to Hawaii we went to Walmart and couldn’t believe all of the Hawaiian clothes. I bought a dress which was cheap and haven’t worn it since. Now if I buy dresses I’ll go to their thrift stores – better quality but usually higher price. I wore one of the dresses when we went to dinner at Mama’s Fish House. I never bought any fabric at Walmart, since I scoped out the fabric stores before we left home. I doubt you can get these prints locally, but I’m sure you can get them online but they would cost more due to the shipping. I know what you mean about extra bags. When we went on our honeymoon back in 2008, we ended up buying a carryon to bring back our stuff. The carryon ended up being a great buy at $25 and we used it for ten years and just recently donated it to Mother T’s. We try now to not buy anything we can’t get in our luggage. Yes, it was a great trip – no falls and Dave felt good the whole time. Thanks for commenting. Hope to see you soon.
I love all of the fabric that you bought and am looking forward to seeing what you do with them. The missile alert sounded unreal. I saw your post on Facebook, but by then it had been declared a mistake. Nothing like a little adrenaline rush on vacation!
Sherrie, Thanks. That was an interesting time for sure. I’m excited about using this fabric. Not sure what for yet, but vow to use it this year.