CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM Charlene Hughes with two of her quilts, "Multiple Personalities."

More than bed
warmers

Some who craft quilts feel they
are works of art to be framed

I tend to spend some of my free time painting, drawing or making ceramics, but one cold winter, during a visit to an aunt's house, quilting piqued my interest.

'Artistry in Quilting' Hawaii Quilt Guild annual show: Where: The Academy Art Center at Linekona, 1111 Victoria St. When: 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesdays to Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays through May 8 Admission: Free; validated parking Call: 532-8741 Also: The Hawaii Quilt Guild meets at 6:30 p.m. the fourth Monday of each month at Central Union Church. Call 373-2661.

My aunt usually takes pride in her neatness, but she has one housekeeping anomaly: As a quilt guild member, her dining room table is covered with fabric. Her ironing board is always out, ready for the next project.

At my aunt's assistance, I patched together two or three sampler patterns of nine squares of fabrics each, complete with (unintentional) zigzag stitching. Like any tough teacher, she made me rip out the stitches and start over.

My weekend stay turned into a five-day stay after a snowstorm shut down nearly 60 miles of highway. By the time I left, I had stitched together an entire quilt, losing track of time as I worked on it for six or seven hours in a stretch. It wasn't because I had to, but because I wanted to. I had caught quilting fever.

After putting in hours of work on a quilt, it's no wonder their makers view them as treasured heirlooms to pass on to friends or relatives as personalized wedding gifts and birthday gifts, or perhaps cover for a grandchild's bed.

WHILE QUILTS do come in handy on a chilly night, some of their makers view them more as works of art suitable for framing, and are striving to change the antiquated perception of quilt makers.

Guild members are more likely these days to view themselves as artists than someone's aunt or granny. With the philosophy of "preserve, educate and promote quilting," the guild wants to spread the word that quilts aren't just for beds or couches. Take the quilt off the bed and put it on the walls, they say. And Charlene Hughes is one such artist choosing to do so.

Hughes, fellow guild member Chris Stengle and Ellen Owens, the guild's quilt show coordinator, gathered together recently at the Academy Art Center at Linekona. Hughes is the featured artist in the "Artistry in Quilting" show, opening today at the Art Center.

Like other members of the guild, Owens and Stengle laud Hughes with descriptions such as "unique," "inventive" and "innovative."

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM "The Teabag Quilt."

QUILTING STARTED making a comeback in the late 1970s, and while many quilters start with the help of an aunt or a grandmother, Hughes began teaching herself in 1985, when she lived on Maui. She started the Maui Quilt Guild in 1996.

"I was hoping two people would come," she said. Instead, 40 people showed up, and its ranks have expanded to 150.

Hughes started attending the Hawaii Quilt Guild on Oahu in 1992, first attending Christmas parties and auctions, before moving.

In the Hawaii Quilt Guild, an organization with about 200 members, the phrase "That's a Charlene" can often be heard, bandied about the show-and-tell portions of meetings in which members share their latest quilts or their frustrations.

In guild-speak, "That's a Charlene" is synonymous with a quilt featuring a whimsical theme, names like "The Bubblegum Quilt" and special touches such as paint. Her work has been accepted in many invitational and juried shows, including the "Artists of Hawaii," "Hawaii Craftsmen," Koa Gallery, Art Maui and the Honolulu Chamber of Commerce shows.

Some might have trouble parting with their creations after putting several hours into picking fabrics and patterns, cutting squares and adding binding and backings.

Hughes is a pragmatic sort who moves quickly onto the next project, knowing there will be more down the road. She puts together 20 or more quilts a year, using whatever material or technique suits her fancy.

Hughes made use of excess fabric in the piece "My Everyday Life," a project utilizing 365 squares of cloth. Each block reflects a particular day covering a one-year period in her life, and the work was purchased by the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts.

Among her quilt subjects is an ode to Andy Warhol. Another features her cat, which sits at her feet as she quilts, and still another features rows of tea bags sewn onto fabric.

As for the tea bag project itself, which took off after she became interested in the different shades of brown tea left imprinted on the bags, "It was harder than it looks," she said. "The tea would leak out."

But "a Charlene quilt" can also mean a well-made traditional quilt, following the do's and don'ts in making a Hawaiian quilt, or making a new pattern for others to follow, perhaps a log-cabin pattern. And what "a Charlene quilt" also means is many, many quilts stitched together in a single year while feeling little creative pressure to come up with new ideas.

"I don't really have stories behind my work," said Hughes, a docent for the Honolulu Academy of the Arts. "I just wish I had more time to quilt."

Like many quilters, she works on three or four projects at once. She also teaches quilting techniques, but as she says, she'd rather be quilting.

"It's so easy for someone like Charlene," said Stengle, a member of the guild. "Others struggle to come up with ideas. It's an artistic gift."

But Hughes also enjoys social aspects of quilting. "I go to a guild meeting, and I come home all revved up," she said. "I want to see all the quilt guilds come together."

Guild member are also, apparently, polite. Hughes would rather talk about anything but herself. She'd rather talk about the works of other members, like guild president Patricia Lei Murray, or the two guild-sponsored charities: ABC Quilts, which make quilts for infants in long-term care in hospitals, and Helping Hands, which concentrates on making quilts for nursing-home residents, older children or adults in an abusive situation, and for families with members on active duty in the military.

"A group of us felt we could make quilts for people who might not have the opportunity to purchase or make a quilt," said Owens. "We probably collect several quilts a month, depending on requests."

About 10 Helping Hands pieces will be displayed at the "Artistry in Quilting" show, along with about 200 quilts by guild members, plus the first quilt Hughes ever made.

That quilt was made for her parents' 50th wedding anniversary, and they still use it. It's a hand-stitched affair made of silky polyester, with a sheet for backing. She calls it an "awkward piece,"as most first pieces are, but she added, "Quilting often begins because someone thought, 'I could do that.'"