Mahalo Shannon

DH wanted to break the trip from NY to Sydney up so we stopped in Hawaii for 6 days. That meant I could meet up with Shannon of Mushywear.

Ricky at Kaimuku Dry Goods took this photo for us.

Finally. After so many blog posts and comments between us we got to meet. As well as purchasing Shannon’s bags on etsy as Christmas presents for the family a couple of years ago.

Shannon picked me up at the hotel and we grabbed a quick breakfast – Cinnabons – and then started on our fabric shopping journey around Waikiki. Kaimuki Dry Goods has a lot of lovely prints, evening fabrics and notions. The ladies at Kaimuki enjoyed chatting with us and hearing our stories.

A few pieces from Kaimuki Dry Goods to take home.

This was only the second time in eight years of living in Maui that Shannon had ventured to Oahu. The first time was to meet up with Kyle in April. Kyle sent us a link to a small quilt fabric place Calico Cat a few blocks from Kaimuki Dry Goods that we did visit and I bought some large quilt clips for sewing leather.

A bit of carry on luggage.

Fabric Mart was the third store we visited and it is huge with 2 floors of inexpensive fabric.

I had a hard time choosing so I bought a white Hawaiian print on white fabric for a future classic white shirt with a twist. Shannon’s stripe knit purchase was a good one. And she’s already started working on her Kaimuki haul with one of her Style Arc patterns.

After lunch we ventured up Diamond Head. Kyle had done this walk on her visit to Waikiki too.

Hawaii turned on the wonderful weather with clear blue skies by the time we reached the peak.

We chatted so much going up and down the peak, we didn’t really get very puffed.

Shannon has been a sewer I’ve followed for a long time and I was really honoured she rock hopped over to spend the day fabric shopping together in Waikiki. This is Shannon’s post about our day. What a memorable day. Thank you Shannon.

On a whim and with lots of fabric ideas dancing in my head, I did a Google search that night and found another fabric store in Waikiki via Yelp.

So the next day I hopped on the bus and found Hawaiianfabrics.com This was a smaller store but they have a great website and are interested in international sales as well as local sales. David gave me a Yelp discount.

Some of his fabrics.

David’s honest enough to say he’s not a sewer but he does make sure his customers are happy with their purchases. I was happy:) His prices are similar to Fabric Mart.

These are the fabrics and classic Hawaiian patterns I bought. The darker prints were David’s fabric gift to me.

Next to our hotel was an alterations place and she also sold a little bit of fabric. I had spied this small shop earlier in the week and looked at what she had. On my last day in Waikiki I went in to pick a piece and the owner remembered me from my earlier visit so she was very happy to make this sale. 4 yards at $10.

Total Hawaii fabric weight – 11 pounds. Most of these purchases were hand luggage.
Total US fabric haul weight – 31 pounds. A true sign of a fabricaholic aka sewing geek.

The day after we arrived home, I had high tea with the Sydney Sewers.

We’re back home. It’s winter here now. I’m sewing again. So it’s still all about the fabric. But I’m so glad (and very lucky) I got to meet up with Grace, Kyle and Shannon on our 2 week visit.
Happy Independence Day too!

11 comments

You got a fabric Kaimuki shopping bag (QM). I'm jealous!!
I really like that print you picked up from Ashley's.
Also your idea of white-on-white is ingenious! I'm stealing that idea!!! 🙂
I'm so glad you got to spend the day with Shannon–she's great!

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Maria, it was such an honor to spend the day with you! I had so much fun and you are right about chatting all the way up Diamond Head, we hardly got puffed! Enjoy sewing all your beautiful Hawaiian fabrics. Cant wait to see what you do with them all and to continue following you on your sewing adventure! Aloha until we meet again!

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And this is what sewing and blogging is all about – what a memorable trip you had…J

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Oh you flying fabric shoppers. You make visiting different places and other bloggers seem so fun. Glad you had a great time and bought beautiful fabrics.

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What an awesome vacation and its always a pleasure meeting fellow sewers.

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Amazing fabric haul and sounds like you had a wonderful trip with so much happening in 2 weeks.

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I love Shannon's bags! Looks like you both had a good time, and I love the dedication to hot drinks that sustained you on the hill walk.

Those 31 pounds of fabric you bought in the States are wonderful – both in their designs and styles, and the nice memories they will carry.

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What fun! I once had a dream I visited Hawaii and was looking for Shannon. Sewing dreams?!

You'll have to include Minnesota in your next U.S. trip (:

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welcome home 🙂

I am somewhat envious of your fabric haul, saying that, I realise that I have a lot of stashbusting still to do before I should set foot into a fabric store again. Anyway, it's nice to see you are back and I am looking forward to seeing what you make with these beautiful pieces.

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