eQuilter Blog

Last week I shared with you a beautiful portrait that was voted Viewers Choice at QuiltCon, featuring hand piecing and quilting.

This week I’d like to share another fantastic portrait – a bold figure that was machine pieced and machine quilted on a longarm frame.

“Nyota” by Brooke Veale

Artist Statement:
Nyota, whose name means ‘star’ in Swahili, is an embodiment of female empowerment. She was designed to inspire strength and unwavering grace. The star emblazoned on her chest serves as a nod to her name and symbolizes hope and resilience. It’s a representation of the battles fought and the victories earned, both seen and unseen. Nyota shines as a tribute to strength, courage and the brilliance within every woman who dares to rise.
(Original design, paper pieced)

Every time I walked past this portrait quilt, there was a crowd of admirers. In fact I ran into an old friend (Barb Vlack) one of those times.

Thank you Brooke for giving us this inspirational, powerful image!

Sharing your passion for fabric…
Luana & Paul

Subscribe to my artist website and blog!
www.luanarubin.com

Travel/Lecture Dates:
Mar 12 – La Plata Quilt Guild – Intl Quilt Trends Lecture
Apr 26 – May 1 – Alegre Retreat, Gateway CO
May 16 – New England Quilt Museum, Soul Stories Artist Reception
May 18-26 – Montpellier, France
June 4-5 – Featured Speaker – World Environment Day – Houston
July 28 – Aug 2 – Festival of Quilts – Birmingham UK
Nov 12-15 – Intl Quilt Festival – Houston

Visit eQuilter’s Instagram, Pinterest or TikTok pages for Color and Design ideas.

See Luana’s Flickr Photo Pages for travel images, comment on our blog, or follow us on Facebook.

Check out our Video pages for interviews and show reviews.

If you don’t already subscribe to Quilting Arts Magazine, I encourage you to check out the brand new issue. My article “Asia Rising” is about Taiwanese and Chinese quilters, and one of them was featured on the cover! This article comes after my trips to Kyoto and Taiwan last year, as a featured artist in those quilt festivals.

Houston and Birmingham have both sent out their Calls for Entry for this summer and fall. I encourage you to enter your work – you never know what will happen!

This week I was delighted to receive an email informing me that my Papa Bear quilt is in the Hoffman Challenge, and I should mail it to them for the judging process. You will be surprised what I did with this year’s “Amethyst” purple and pink challenge batiks!

If you are a SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) member, look for the email sent out on March 4th. The second item is about the new Juried Artist online showcase, which I curated.
“Heart and Soul – the Human Journey”

If you are NOT a member, and you are interested in learning more about art quilts and textile arts, I urge you to join us!

In case you missed the Wednesday morning email, here is my tribute to my friend and mentor, Harvey Kaufman.

I hear British Columbia just voted to do away with Daylight Savings. I wish we could do that here too. But if you live in a US state that participates in this biannual circadian rhythm disturbance (sigh…) remember to set your clocks FORWARD one hour tonight when you go to bed.

Sharing your passion for fabrics….
Luana and Paul

Subscribe to my artist blog here.

Travel/Lecture Dates:
Apr 26 – May 1 – Alegre Retreat, Gateway CO
May 16 – New England Quilt Museum, Soul Stories Artist Reception
May 18-26 – Montpellier, France
June 4-5 – Featured Speaker – World Environment Day – Houston
July 28 – Aug 2 – Festival of Quilts – Birmingham UK
Nov 12-15 – Intl Quilt Festival – Houston



Visit eQuilter’s Instagram and Pinterest pages for Color and Design ideas.

See Luana’s Artist Blog, Flickr Photo Pages for travel images, comment on our blog, or follow us on Facebook.

Check out our Video pages for interviews and show reviews.

Once again, I must share the loss of a great friend, mentor, and longtime industry leader. Harvey Kaufman left us on February 23, and I’d like to share what was on the Robert Kaufman social media pages about the man I called “Uncle Harvey”:

Harvey was the youngest of the Robert Kaufman children and joined his brothers, Saul and Alvin, in building what would become Robert Kaufman Co., Inc. For more than six decades, he poured himself into the company – not simply into growing a business, but into building relationships. He was a natural salesman in the fullest sense of the word: he celebrated the highs, steadied himself and others through the lows, and never lost his belief in people.

He built our sales force across the United States and around the world. He was the driving force behind the creation and expansion of Kona Cotton. But if you asked Harvey what mattered most, it would not have been a product line or a milestone – it would have been the people around the table.

He mentored the Kaufman generation that followed his and guided countless employees and sales professionals over the years. Many careers were shaped by his encouragement, his candor, and his faith in what others could achieve.

At his retirement celebration in December 2024, he said words that now feel like a blessing to all of us:

“It’s been a wonderful journey for me and I’m so filled with gratitude because of who you are, what I have contributed to each one of you, and more importantly what you have contributed to me. You can work for over 60 years to build something, but the building of it isn’t so much; it is truly what’s sitting at the table tonight. I love all of you and I wish you nothing but continued success.”

Sharing your passion for fabric…
Luana & Paul

* The photo in the lower right is from Quilt Market in November 2003, when Sophie was still a baby.

Subscribe to my artist website and blog!
www.luanarubin.com

Travel/Lecture Dates:
Apr 26 – May 1 – Alegre Retreat, Gateway CO
May 16 – New England Quilt Museum, Soul Stories Artist Reception
May 18-26 – Montpellier, France
June 4-5 – Featured Speaker – World Environment Day – Houston
July 28 – Aug 2 – Festival of Quilts – Birmingham UK
Nov 12-15 – Intl Quilt Festival – Houston

Visit eQuilter’s Instagram, Pinterest or TikTok pages for Color and Design ideas.

See Luana’s Flickr Photo Pages for travel images, comment on our blog, or follow us on Facebook.

Check out our Video pages for interviews and show reviews.

We have lost another great leader in our industry – my friend and mentor – Harvey Kaufman. I will write more about him in my e-newsletter next Wednesday morning. For now, all of us at eQuilter send our deepest condolences to the Kaufman family.

I just got off the phone with a non-profit group in Houston, who has asked me to be the keynote speaker on World Environment Day. The topic will be “Art and Activism”. I will let you know the details in case you are interested in attending.

There is a lot of discussion online this week about the quilts that had powerful messages at QuiltCon. Some have complained that they were political quilts. However most of us look at them as statements about moral or ethical topics, like human rights, social justice, etc.

One thing I know for sure, is that quilts are an expression of love and caring, and they bring us together in more ways than we can count. I had several meetings with friends and industry leaders at QuiltCon, and the constant theme was how can we support each other and help the quilting world to move forward. And I know that YOU are a part of that also. Thank you.

Luana and Paul

Subscribe to my artist blog here.

Travel/Lecture Dates:
Apr 26 – May 1 – Alegre Retreat, Gateway CO
May 16 – New England Quilt Museum, Soul Stories Artist Reception
May 18-26 – Montpellier, France
June 4-5 – Featured Speaker – World Environment Day – Houston
July 28 – Aug 2 – Festival of Quilts – Birmingham UK
Nov 12-15 – Intl Quilt Festival – Houston



Visit eQuilter’s Instagram and Pinterest pages for Color and Design ideas.

See Luana’s Artist Blog, Flickr Photo Pages for travel images, comment on our blog, or follow us on Facebook.

Check out our Video pages for interviews and show reviews.

Having just returned from QuiltCon in Raleigh North Carolina, I’d like to share the winner of the Viewers Choice Award…an absolutely gorgeous portrait.

“Frances” by Jeanne Eileen Garcia
Handwork Category
Denver Metro Modern Quilt Guild

Artist Statement:
“Despite my occasional eye-rolling as a child at comparisons to my mother – in likeness, tone, or attitude – I’ve always valued that connection, like a little echo carried in me. Hand-piecing and quilting this portrait created space to consider her influence and how her traits and choices shape my own. The quilt’s front presents her likeness, the back holds notes and reflections from the process. Together they form both a portrait and a record of thought.”

Congratulations to Jeanne!

I am editing photos and have uploaded this quilt and detail shots in this album – more photos to come soon.

We just sold out of the new QuiltCon Magazine yesterday (!) but more is on the way. You can check back later this week on this page, or contact Customer Service and they will let you know when it is back in stock. Soon!

I got some fun news a few days ago. I have 3 quilts already scheduled for Semi-Quincentennial exhibits at the New England Quilt Museum and Virginia Quilt Museum for this year’s July 4th – 250 year celebration exhibits. I picked up a flyer for the VA exhibit while at QuiltCon, and my Assateague Pony quilt is featured there. Yay!

Just found out my 4th Semi-Quin quilt will be at the Texas Quilt Museum in “My America…What It Means To Me” this summer, and in Houston this Fall. Yay! This is the Wolf quilt with the American Flag that is currently hanging in the Denver Capital Building, in the Speaker of the House’s office.

I hope you are also finishing up at least one quilt to document the Semi-Quincentennial this year. There are many ways to interpret and document what is happening in America, and whatever you make will be studied and appreciated in the future. Be sure to put a descriptive label on the back also!

Sharing your passion for fabric…
Luana & Paul

Subscribe to my artist website and blog!
www.luanarubin.com

Travel/Lecture Dates:
Apr 26 – May 1 – Alegre Retreat, Gateway CO
May 16 – New England Quilt Museum, Soul Stories Artist Reception
May 18-26 – Montpellier, France
June 4-5 – Featured Speaker – World Environment Day – Houston
July 28 – Aug 2 – Festival of Quilts – Birmingham UK
Nov 12-15 – Intl Quilt Festival – Houston

Visit eQuilter’s Instagram, Pinterest or TikTok pages for Color and Design ideas.

See Luana’s Flickr Photo Pages for travel images, comment on our blog, or follow us on Facebook.

Check out our Video pages for interviews and show reviews.