Bienvenue
a’
Tahiti - Moorea
(Welcome to Tahiti & Moorea)
By Linda M. Poole
TAS International Outreach Volunteer
Linda and friend
Buckle
up with me for an adventure to the French Polynesian Islands
of Moorea and Tahiti! This particular excursion was a
beautiful 2 week vacation with my husband Bill and our
friends…..well, let’s just say it started out
as a two week vacation and was extended for an extra two
days; thank you very much to our airline going bankrupt
and leaving it to us to find our own flight home. Thank
goodness we flew via Hawaii. Oh…but that’s another
story! Sometimes fate can play in your favor, as I was
about to find out in this beautiful month of May last
year.
First,
I must begin by telling you that Moorea is a beautiful
small island off the big island of Tahiti. It has everything
you could want, good food and lush mountains with low
clouds that hover near their peaks every morning. This
made for gorgeous pictures, flowers everywhere… those
that send you into heaven with their tropical aromas.
Crimson sunsets that illuminate a colorful pathway on
the evening waves of the ocean. And of course all the
water sports, fire dances, music, and tranquil relaxation
on sandy white beaches.
This vacation offered us the exquisite palette of hot
tropical colors that was a welcoming site as we stepped
off the boat shuttle from Tahiti to Moorea. Emerald greens
and turquoise blue water lapped the shores as the sun
kissed our mainland pearly white skin.
I
am sure that I am no different than any other appliquér
out there… everywhere we look, we can see appliqué
designs hidden in the most obscure places or can find
the most obvious designs in front of our noses. Bill and
I are avid certified scuba divers and as we went to register
for a dive one day, I could not help notice the beautiful
designs on the walls of this dive shop. They were just
simple black and white paintings of turtles, dolphins
and sharks that could easily be transformed into gorgeous
appliqués and could you imagine what beautiful
molas they could be. Some of the Tahitian tattoos looked
very much like these drawings too. So before beginning
my underwater photography with my new camera, I took the
first pictures above water of these designs! Needless
to say, underwater was a sensation of indescribable beauty,
pink corals, neon purple and electric blue fish and a
mindful of inspiration.
Our last few planned days were spent on the Big Island
of Tahiti, and with the extra days we were stranded there
(what a shame, poor, poor us… grin) I wanted to wander
around a bit.
In
the lobby of our hotel were two stunning quilts made by
native Tahitian quilters. One was meticulously appliquéd
with tiny little stitches and proudly hung behind glass
in a frame and the other quilt was a flower I fell in
love with…we know it as a gardenia tahitensis , there
it is called Tiare Tahiti. Every morning I awoke to this
exotic aroma, as it was abundant every where we walked.
I was so happy to see that someone else thought so highly
of this bloom to create a quilt.
Images from the wall of the dive shop.
On
my walk one afternoon, I came across a Tahitian quilter.
She was like a magnet to me. I could almost feel my body
move without taking a single step. My eyes were fixed
on her. I think that we as quilters, have a special honing
device built into our senses to seek and find anything
fabric and quilt related, because my husband could not
believe what he saw when he finally found me. Yep, there
I was teaching my method to this beautiful lady and she
was teaching me her method. Bill knew I was in a bit of
my own tropical heaven and he headed for the ocean and
I relaxed and chatted with my new friend. I was enjoying
myself and soon her friends joined us and we had a little
old fashioned quilting bee…outside under a tarp and
they had their fabrics hanging as walls to shield the
sun.
Linda's
gift quilt
The afternoon circle was nice and simple. Just friends
chatting, sewing, and yes singing. No sewing machines
or fancy scissors, just 2 fabrics, a colored piece on
top of a white piece with a design marked on top and no
batting. They would just cut and needleturn. The early
evening seemed to approach quickly as the sun set her
orange glow into the horizon. It was time to say goodbye.
We exchanged addresses, hugged and then some giggling
from the girls. I was asked to turn around and when I
was allowed to turn back, they all stood there bestowing
me with the gorgeous pink and white quilt they had been
working on. I had done nothing to deserve such a gift,
but was told it was for me to take home and remember them
and their beautiful island. I always will………I
have been so honored to receive this quilt with the love
and care of these women. That was one of my most favorite
days of my vacation, to teach these ladies appliqué
methods they had never seen and to be taught their method
and above all, patience, kindness and generosity is universal
amongst quilters everywhere!
