Never mind the bucket list. Shirfeir Sunada has a "honey-do list" — for herself.
The multifaceted artist, whose recently discovered love of quilting will be featured in an exhibition in May, says she retired after 37 years with a plan to do all the things she never had time for.
Sunada, a McKinley High School graduate, first took a job at the Department of Defense. Over the next few years she worked and gathered degrees from Kapiolani Community College and the University of Hawaii for program systems analysis, accounting and various other skills needed for her career.
Her husband, Fred, also worked for the DOD. They raised a family and traveled.
"It sounds like the Travel Channel — many trips to Japan, the Bahamas, Yokohama, Taipei, Bangkok, Chiang Mai (Thailand), Italy, Spain, Yellowstone and Mount Rushmore, and New Zealand to white-water raft, to name a few," she says with a laugh.
Nine years ago, at age 56, she retired and whipped out the list of things she’d never done before. First up: learning to make koa furniture.
"I got lucky and found an instructor who liked women students best. He said they didn’t have any bad habits with tools," Sunada says.
She learned to draw out a pattern and make a telephone stand and a curio cabinet. As an aside, she learned stained-glass work for the cabinet doors and took time out to walk the Great Wall of China.
Next came band-saw training, resulting in a koa jewelry box and ikebana stand. She made traditional inlaid jewelry boxes, then moved up to building a koa rocking chair.
"I had to make two," she says. "I needed a pair."
Also on her list of accomplishments: line dancing, yoga and photography at Kaimuki High School adult education classes.
"I did wedding photos for a while, then moved to creating photo books," she says.
All that during her first year of retirement.
In Year Two she discovered quilting and became hooked.
"I remember my first quilting bee where I learned the basics. From there I studied techniques and found the quilting styles I like best," Sunada says.
She makes blankets and stroller covers for a baby store to fund her fabric collecting. She also mastered the art of stitching wall hangings, pillow tops and quilts from lap size to king size, even creating a tote called the Shirfeir Baba Bag.
Sunada will be the featured artist in the Hawaii Quilt Guild’s annual exhibition May 8 to 17 at the Honolulu Museum of Art School.
The theme of the quilt show — "Aia ka Pu‘uwai i Ku‘u ‘Ohana (My Heart Is With My Family)" — is fitting for Sunada.
"We still have places to go — Paris, Venice, Germany, Russia, Switzerland," she says. "When my husband and I are tired of flying, we will probably switch to cruises."
Meanwhile, in July, at age 66, she might check off another honey-do by climbing Mount Fuji.
"My son may go ahead of me. My husband might stop at the fifth station. I am checking out what I need to do to train for the entire climb," she says.
