The Queen's Quilt

Rhoda E.A. Hackler and Loretta G.H. Woodard

The Friends of ʻIolani Palace

Softcover, 33 pp.

In 1985, an irreplaceable and priceless piece of Hawaiʻi’s history was anonymously donated to ʻIolani Palace. That gift, which has come to be known as the Queen’s Quilt, is displayed in the very room where Queen Liliʻuokalani was imprisoned in 1895 by the Republic of Hawaiʻi for nearly eight months after her arrest and trial for treason. It was here she and her companions would begin to create one of the most unusual forms of historic documentation in Hawaiian history. Upon its plush and velvets, satins, and silks, they passed the time in seclusion stitching, embroidering, and appliquéing the blocks with messages that spoke to the hopes and dreams Liliʻuokalani had for her people.