Hawaiian Shirts

The February block of the month for my guild, Amador Valley Quilters, was this cute pieced Hawaiian shirt. I bought three blocks and assembled them, tripling my chances of winning several more in the monthly drawing when I enter three raffle tickets at the March meeting. The prints are so fun. When the block of the month chair made her sales pitch, she commented that the pattern would be a good one to use for the Hawaiian print fabrics we all have in our stashes. I realized she had a valid point.

I have this bundle of six one-yard pieces I bought on impulse at Houston when I went to the Festival with my daughter in 2017 (post for 11/9/2017). That package of those luscious colors – purple, aqua, rose, orange, blue, and yellow – was delightfully bright and it was bundled in a fashion that made me drool.

I am grateful for the idea I got from the February Block of the Month for using a tan fabric for the background. The color makes me think of sand on a beach and wiggling your toes in it, a perfect complement to Hawaiian shirts. That image made me call to mind the Slicin' Sand song. There are two versions. I listened to both via YouTube for nostalgia purposes. The one with which I am most familiar, courtesy of my three kids, is from a Beach Party at Walt Disney World. We watched that video over, and over, and over. The other – and probably original – version was in the Elvis Presley 1961 movie Blue Hawaii. These are the lyrics so you can follow along if you choose to listen to either or both at the previously provided YouTube links.

Take off your shoes, let down your hair

Turn on the music and we'll get somewhere

Dance, dance, dance, til your toes gets tanned

We're gonna have us a ball on the beach

Slicin' sand

Hug me a heap, swing me a lot

We got a lot of ocean if it gets too hot

O-o-o, o-o-o, baby, take my hand

We'll have some real rockin' fun in the sun

Slicin' sand

Come baby, come, let's dig some holes

You'll find it's heaven with sand on your soles

Yeah!

Slice through to the left, slice to the right

Slash down the middle baby hold me tight

O-o-o, o-o-o, baby, hold my hand

We'll have some real rockin' fun in the sun

Slicin' sand

Just think – all those memories and images and sound bites from an itty-bitty block of the month. That's one of the reasons I love quilting. It is so multi-faceted it can lead you anywhere.