Quilts can be whimsical and comedic, eloquently political or patriotic, or moving, deeply felt personal expressions designed to celebrate special occasions, treasured gifts for family or beloved friends.

Their themes can embrace the family, social and environmental concerns, a deep love of country, and even national traumas such as 9/11.

At the Hawaii Quilt Guild's annual exhibition, which closes today, a viewer can experience on glorious display over 200 quilts by 69 quilters. Not all are home runs, but the overall quality of the exhibition is impressive.

For something like 20 years, the Guild has provided its members a community that shares the love of the touch and look of fabrics and the craft of needle and thread.

The sly, mischievous sense of humor and infectious fun in the accomplished works of Charlene Hughes, this year's featured quilter, infuses this exhibition with rare energy and excellence.

Never has the main Linekona gallery space been utilized to better effect, from the rafter beams on which hang the oversized pieces, to the floor level where smaller, more intimate works are shown.

The pieces appear to almost explode the boundaries of the gallery into the side hallways and upstairs in a riot of color and form.

The days when quilts were only the size of a bed have long passed, and quilts now more than hold their own like paintings on walls.

Very small, almost miniature quilts in the shapes of pillows and on dolls are also on display.

"Asian Asymmetry," one of three of Joan Santoro's large handsome quilts, speaks in rich earth tones of Japanese shibui sensibility.

Deanna Smith scores big nostalgia points with "Christmas Wishes," with all the warmth and childhood memories of a Currier and Ives traditional print.

The quilt can offer an imaginative artist a versatile canvas for both abstract and representational images.

Judy Baukman's "Aunty's Flower Gardens," for example, consists of complex patterns and skillfully balanced color effects.

June Aycock's impressive 17 pieces — including "My Grandma's Quilt" and "Star of Africa" — demonstrate not only the range of expression the quilt is capable of communicating, but also highlight the fact that almost all the pieces in the show are not for sale, because they are deeply personal expressions.

Group efforts using traditional patterns (Hawaiian quilts and even Civil War-era heirloom pieces) can be seen, quilts alive with color made by loving hands and pulsating human hearts.

Jo Okita's "Group Hug" is especially memorable in this genre.

Jean Harr's "Love Mary" features a perennial theme in a strong design with a puffy tactile presence that all but seduces the viewer to touch it.

Quilting can be a process that can take years to produce just one work. Just consider Laurie Vernier's dramatic "Be Still My Heart 2004," which took the artist several months to hand applique the 396 berries that decorate its surface, just one element in a richly articulated design.

The traditional and the unusual co-exist side-by-side.

Marilyn Santiago's richly imaginative "In the Beginning" and Jo Okita's deceptively simple yet elegant "Bo Ball's Korean Fighting Kite" are but two examples of possible directions where the traditional quilt form can take the artist.

Camille Kanemori's subtle and delicate "Mystery Quilt" is all that and more.

Hiroko Ono's "Blue/Grey Kaleidoscope," a subtle and hypnotic Op Art-inspired design, using by-request muted colors instead of her more usual penchant for more vibrant colors, glows with a fascinating restrained energy, illustrating the maxim that art is often created out of restrictive boundaries.

Inventive pieces by Gail Hoover ("Cat Tails"), Donna Eng ("A Quilt Is Art You Can Cuddle") and Sandra Finney ("Our Hearts Reach for the Stars") are also on display. All winners of the Five Elements II Challenge, these quilters have created original, quilt-size designs using the elements of heart, star, black, seaweed green and Snail's Trail.

In the end, it is the magical spell that Hughes weaves that unifies and informs the many different works on display. Her work from the last 20 years is divided into pieces from her Early Period (A New Quilter), Middle period (A Semi-Experienced Quilter) and Late Period (The Quilter I Am Now).

From her very first "50th Anniversary Quilt," through her thoroughly delightful and inventive middle period works like "Tea Bag Quilt," to her most recent "Multiple Personalities," Hughes' works radiate with a human warmth and twinkle in the eye that illuminate her solid craftsmanship and attention to detail.

If you have never appreciated the quilt as an art form, this exhibition is a must-see experience that will transform your view of what is possible. For the already converted, the show is endlessly fascinating, transfixing and inspiring.