Colorful owls inspired by the Australian outback, are the focus of this week’s exclusive Free Quilt Pattern, blending the colors of sky and water, with colors of earth and stone.
To make this 68″ x 68″ patchwork quilt design, we’ve combined 4 multi-color prints with 2 tonal prints and a deep rocky texture. The rich, detailed Australian prints really ‘pop’ against a Kaufman Kona Solid Black background.
PLUS – you’ll receive Free USA / 50% off INTL shipping when you order the fabrics for this exquisite quilt pattern (orders $100 and over, no coupon needed).
Order the pattern as configured, or customize it to your liking with any of our thousands of fabrics. Just place your desired fabrics in your Wish List, and these fabrics will appear in the Fabric Selector below the pattern.
I am writing to you from the historic medieval town of Canterbury in SE England. I am visiting old friends and also visiting a few quilt artist friends. Today I visited the home and studio of Cas Holmes, who is quite well known in the UK and Europe. I met her many years ago in Tokyo, and then would see her again in Birmingham at the UK Festival of Quilts. She has written several beautiful books, with lovely tactile cloth-bound covers. We have one title arriving soon, and a couple more in the near future we hope. I had tea in her lovely garden under a sprawling knotted wisteria in full bloom. Then I toured her 2 studio spaces and saw old and new work. I brought her some fabric and a chocolate bar, and then she gave me a couple of her art books, and another chocolate bar. Great minds think alike!
Yesterday we visited historic Canterbury Cathedral, and attended a beautiful Evensong choral service. Today we visited Leeds castle, and learned about the 8 queens who lived there over the centuries. My friends are avid birders, so we also were identifying the myriad of birds who populate the grounds. The huge ancient trees really capture my imagination. There were many beautiful tapestries and embroidered pieces from previous eras. It is a bank holiday weekend here, so lots of families were out to enjoy the sunny mild weather. This part of the country is about a month ahead of our Spring in Colorado, so I was also loving the fragrance and colors of all the blooming plants, including Bluebells and Rhododendrons. I am told that Kent is called The Garden of Britain because of all the lush blooming plants!
I’ll be sharing photos from this trip when I return home. Paul and I are big fans of the show ‘All Creatures Great and Small’, and I love the rolling green hills dotted with sheep on the back roads here. I don’t think many Americans visit this part of the UK, but it is full of history … UNESCO has granted world heritage status to Canterbury, but locals still have stories about the Battle of Britain here from WWII. When I visited Cas for instance, she said there are neighbors who still remember houses being bombed there during the war.
This last week I launched registration for my Textile & Costume Tour in Italy, in early December. You can learn more about this tour on this page. Make a deposit now to hold your place, and you can set up a payment plan.
sharing your love for fabric, Luana and Paul
Travel/Quilt Dates: May 1-8 – London & Canterbury, UK June 19-22 – Quilt Canada, Edmonton August – World Wilderness Congress, Rapid City SD December 5-13 – Textile & Costume Tour – Italy. Christmas Market Extension Dec 13-15.
Tonight’s Free eQuilter pattern features the calm and colorful underwater world of Sea Turtles. This tranquil design displays Dan Morris’s beautifully illustrated Sea Turtles gliding silently through a rainbow hued ocean landscape.
To make this 73″ x 73″ quilt design, you will start with the main turtle blocks panel … shimmering with beautiful digital-printed colors & detail. We’ve added the smaller panel blocks, turtle stripe, and deep teal hand dye to create the borders. This is a quick and easy quilt design that will delight anyone who loves and protects these endangered creatures.
PLUS – you’ll receive Free USA / 50% off INTL shipping when you order the fabrics for this exquisite quilt pattern (orders $100 and over, no coupon needed).
Order the pattern as configured, or customize it to your liking with any of our thousands of fabrics. Just place your desired fabrics in your Wish List, and these fabrics will appear in the Fabric Selector below the pattern.
This week I am opening up my Textile & Costume Tour in Italy, for registration. I have been obsessed with Italy since I was a kid. I read “The Agony and The Ecstasy” so many times the cover fell off and the spine cracked. (Michelangelo biography by Irving Stone) I loved it to death. I almost was an exchange student to Italy, but then my parents got divorced and that was the end of that dream. When I finally went for the first time around the age of 40, I had such a feeling of familiarity. If there is such a thing as past lives, that was at least one of mine.
Since that first trip, I have returned many times, and have made some special friends there. Over the last 10 years I’ve made 3 trips specifically to research for this Textile & Costume tour. It was delayed by the pandemic, but now I am ready to take a group of textile nerds and costume aficionados with me. It is not necessarily for a first-time visitor….but rather for someone who wants a deep enriching experience with the history of Italian textiles and the garments inspired by these beautiful fabrics.
We are traveling the first half of December, right after Thanksgiving, but early enough to get home for the holiday season. Our Alpine Christmas Market extension will be a leisurely swing through the Dolomites, with a daytrip to Innsbruck Austria. Travel to this part of the world in early December means avoiding the heat and the tourists, and enjoying the festive spirit and glittering lights of the season. These days, it is really my favorite time to take this trip.
What will be my favorite experience to share with my travelers? Perhaps the huge costume warehouse that rents out luscious high-end period garments to the film industry and stage productions. Or maybe the day we rent our own costumes and wear them out to dinner and a concert? But then again, sitting in a cafe sipping hot chocolate, enjoying the fairytale historic buildings in a picturesque mountain setting…and if we’re lucky with the sparkle of snow…is just heaven in my book.
Tonight I am leaving on a short trip to England, and I’ll be sharing more art, textile and design inspiration after I return in a week. I hope you enjoy the photos in the links above, and if you’d like to join us in Italy the end of this year, make a deposit now to hold your place, and set up a payment plan.
Travel/Quilt Dates: May 1-7 – London & Canterbury, UK June 19-21 – Quilt Canada, Edmonton July – Festival of Quilts, Birmingham UK August – World Wilderness Congress, Rapid City SD December – Textile & Costume Tour – Italy
If you’ve spent much time in Alaska or Northern Canada, you know that picking Blueberries in the berry season is a ‘thing’…and all 3 or 4 generations of indigenous households come out to fill their buckets. There’s usually someone standing guard watching for bears, who also love to come out for Blueberry season!
This week’s Free Quilt Pattern captures the celebration of the Harvest Season, with all the Mamas and Grandmas (and a few grandsons) out gathering these sweet little treasures before the winter weather hits. Beloved Alaskan artist Barbara Lavallee also illustrated one of our kids’ favorite bedtime stories – “Mama Do You Love Me?” – which you have probably read to your kids or grandkids also.
To make this 53″ x 71″ quilt design, you will start with the central 3-part panel. You will use 5 other prints from this collection to construct the border, with the Mama allover, the coordinating stripe, and 3 little floral blenders. This sweet quilt is full of Mama Love and reminds us of all those years snuggling up for a bedtime story.
PLUS – you’ll receive Free USA / 50% off INTL shipping when you order the fabrics for this exquisite quilt pattern (orders $100 and over, no coupon needed).
Order the pattern as configured, or customize it to your liking with any of our thousands of fabrics. Just place your desired fabrics in your Wish List, and these fabrics will appear in the Fabric Selector below the pattern.
Many of you know I am gathering signatures for a ballot initiative to ban Trophy Hunting of Big Cats in Colorado. (Colorado customers – Feel free to stop by eQuilter to sign this – call before you come – I am usually there in the afternoons but I am traveling May 2-8.)
Well it seems our house been visited (blessed?) by the Big Cat Fairy. We live in the same house where we started eQuilter in the basement, 25 years ago. It is next door to the Celestial Seasonings tea factory.
A guy came to inspect our roof for wind damage and was shocked to find scat all over the roof. (We have a 2-story home.) He said there was a lot, and it was bigger than the size of a German Shepherd-sized poop. I am just tearing my hair out that I don’t have a photo so we can identify our visitor. He said it was a Bobcat or Lynx, but probably a Mountain Lion because it was so big.
Some people might freak out about this, but I think it is absolutely amazing. We live in rural suburbia, adjacent to open space, with a creek running through the neighborhood. We expect wildlife in our area. In Colorado, if you leave your cats or small dogs out in your yard in the middle of the night, you are asking for trouble.
We see fox, raccoon, owls, hawks, and sometimes eagle/coyote/bobcat/lynx around our neighborhood…looking for the squirrels, bunnies and prairie dogs as prey. About once or twice a year a cougar or bear wanders through. Living adjacent to wildlife nurtures an appreciation for these beautiful creatures, which is part of the reason we carry so many fabrics focused on Northwoods wildlife, Arctic animals, Woodland creatures, Raptors and Songbirds. If you’ve spent time on our Cotton Prints page, you know!
If you have signed up on the advance list for my Italy Textile & Costume Tour, watch for an invitation email this weekend. We’ll be posting on social media soon, and I’ll feature details about this trip in the Weds morning newsletter. You can also contact customer service Monday to get the link to the trip itinerary and registration.
sharing your love for fabric, Luana and Paul
Travel/Quilt Dates: May 1-8 – London & Canterbury, UK June 19-22 – Quilt Canada, Edmonton August – World Wilderness Congress, Rapid City SD December 5-13 – Textile & Costume Tour – Italy. Christmas Market Extension Dec 13-15.
May the Force be with you. (Or….May the 4th be with you.) If you are a true Star Wars nerd, you already knows what this means. A new Star War series – The Acolyte – is being released on June 4th.
To make this 75″ x 67″ quilt, you will start with this new (fantastic!) 36″ x 44″ panel, depicting the Mandalorian and Grogu. We’ve combined 4 starry/celestial metallic prints, plus Kona Solid Black, to make the luminous border. You will piece the 4 corner blocks plus the 4 border insets to create a frame that has a 3-D feel.
PLUS – you’ll receive Free USA / 50% off INTL shipping when you order the fabrics for this exquisite quilt pattern (orders $100 and over, no coupon needed).
Order the pattern as configured, or customize it to your liking with any of our thousands of fabrics. Just place your desired fabrics in your Wish List, and these fabrics will appear in the Fabric Selector below the pattern.
Here in Colorado our crab-apple trees are in full bloom, the snow has turned to rain, and we are dreaming of sun-drenched gardens. The last freeze date is usually around Mothers Day, but it seems to be creeping a little earlier each year with climate change. So we are pulling weeds from the damp earth, and planting seeds. This year I want to plant milkweed for the Monarch Butterflies. I try to make my yard a haven for pollinators, birds and furry visitors. (Which includes keeping our 3 rescue cats indoors.) It is not unusual to see baby bunnies, fox kits, and a family of raccoons in our neighborhood, which is adjacent to open space.
A few months ago I was delighted to find these two gorgeous garden panels (above), which capture the joy that we find in our fragrant flower gardens. Whether you travel to visit verdant botanic gardens, or tend to your own back porch blooming fantasies, we know that Flowers & Quilting go together like peanut butter & jelly. From our first year of business, we knew there was a market for big splashy floral prints. Back then – 25 years ago – the flower prints were either ditsy little designs or muted colors. Part of our overnight success was tapping into an under-served niche of quilters who wanted big BOLD contemporary florals in a riot of bright colors – yeah baby!
While you are choosing seeds and plants for your garden this year, be aware that many commercial seeds from big box stores are soaked in neonicotinoids which spread a fatal pesticide throughout the leaves and stems of the plant as it grows. This class of pesticides is one of the leading reasons for the precipitous drop in pollinator populations.
Asking your local nursery or plant center is the best way to figure out whether the plants and seeds you’re thinking of buying for your garden have been treated with neonicotinoids or other harmful pesticides. Once you start paying attention to this issue when shopping for seeds, you will find there are many companies springing up that specialize in these natural organic seeds and plants.
We do not use pesticides, herbicides (like Roundup) or toxic chemical fertilizers at our home, or in the landscaping at eQuilter’s warehouse property. You may recall that we designed the building and the landscaping 6 years ago, and we chose as many pollinator-friendly plants and trees as possible, within the xeriscape limitations dictated by our city code. As a result we have a resident fox, visiting geese, nesting songbirds, and other critters living in and around our property. AND, it is a safe non-toxic workplace for our employees.
We still stock the “Love Your Mother” panels for Earth Day, Climate Marches, and dormroom decor. For us, every day is Earth Day.
To support our environmental non-profits, choose The Wild Foundation or Ocean Conservancy when you check out with your next order. That 2% donated from every eQuilter order has raised over $2 million for humanitarian charities and environmental non-profits so far, with YOUR help.Thank you.
Travel/Quilt Dates: May 1-7 – London & Canterbury, UK June 19-21 – Quilt Canada, Edmonton August – World Wilderness Congress, Rapid City SD December – Textile & Costume Tour – Italy
Sleek Black Cats are the stars of this stylish Halloween-themed Free Quilt Pattern, with decorated pumpkins and a mysterious Full Moon backdrop. Our exclusive quilt design includes side panels with pieced Bats, and a coordinating border stripe.
To make this 59″ x 66″ quilt design, you will start with this Hallow’s Eve 24″ x 44″ panel, featuring a trio of magical Black Cats, and a moonlit graveyard in the background. You will use an Orange Hoffman Hand-Dye and Kona Solid Black to piece the Bat Panels on each side, then finish the border with the collection’s pumpkin stripe.
Did you know that black cats are the least likely to be adopted from shelters? If you’ve adopted a black rescue cat, you know they are beautiful companions with a silky lithe presence that adds a note of posh sophistication to your velvet couch. Yay for Black Cats and their owners/guardians!
PLUS – you’ll receive Free USA / 50% off INTL shipping when you order the fabrics for this exquisite quilt pattern (orders $100 and over, no coupon needed).
Order the pattern as configured, or customize it to your liking with any of our thousands of fabrics. Just place your desired fabrics in your Wish List, and these fabrics will appear in the Fabric Selector below the pattern.
I am very anxious to open my Textile and Costume Tour up for registrations. I am nailing down the last few details for this unique tour to Italy, which I have been putting together over the last 8 years. (Delayed by the pandemic.) Watch our newsletters and social media for the announcement, or contact customer service to be put on an advance notice list.
The main part of the tour will be based first in Florence, then in Venice. We will be visiting textile museums, historic textile looms, and having fun with carnival costumes in Venice. On one of our last days, we will rent costumes, take photos with our own photographer, then go to dinner and a music performance in costume. The extension up to the Italian Alps will visit Christmas markets, and villages in the Dolomites, plus a daytrip to Innsbruck, Austria. For me, this is the best time of year to visit Italy these days….avoiding the tourists and the heat…taking in the Christmas lights and festive spirit…not to mention fabulous shopping before the holidays.
Basically it is a trip for all my fellow fabriholics and costume nerds, and it is going to be la Dolce Vita with the Textile Tribe. Thanks for your patience, and keep the first half of December open if this sounds like your vibe!
sharing your love for fabric, Luana and Paul
Travel/Quilt Dates: May 1-7 – London & Canterbury, UK June 19-22 – Quilt Canada, Edmonton August – World Wilderness Congress, Rapid City SD December 5-13 – Textile & Costume Tour – Italy. Christmas Market Extension Dec 13-15.
