eQuilter Blog

As I mentioned in my last couple emails, I was at the Alegre Retreat in SW Colorado all last week, and Thursday I drove over to Moab and Arches National Park for the day. What an amazing and inspirational experience! I did speak to a woman park ranger about the federal funding cuts to the National Park system, and she told me they are just barely hanging on. I urge all of you to support and visit at least one National Park in the next several months, and experience the wonder of these sacred places. They deserve to be protected and cherished.

This is one of my favorite photos. It is of a 350 foot tall rock tower know as the Three Gossips. To the right of them is Sheep Rock. If it looks familiar, it was shown briefly in the opening scene credits of the 1989 film ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’. (The John Williams theme song is my morning alarm.)

I had a glorious day to visit the park and take photos. About 25 years ago I took my kids to the park. When I realized that Gateway Colorado was just over the border from Utah, I figured it was time to go back! There is nothing like spending time in Nature to get your heart and soul re-aligned. I got my creative mojo back in high gear, and this week I am finishing the piece I started at the retreat.

For those of you near Lowell Massachusetts, please note that a week from Saturday, on May 16, I will be attending an Artist Reception for the Soul Stories exhibit at the New England Quilt Museum. You can RSVP for our 1 pm lecture on their website. About a dozen of the artists will be in attendance!

On Friday June 5th I will be in Houston giving a lecture on Art & Activism, for World Environment Day. Information is on the top of my personal Facebook page now, including a QR code to RSVP.

Subscribe to my artist website and blog for more updates on future events!

We just got a nice heavy wet Spring Snowstorm and the kids are having a Snow Day off from school today. We need the moisture here!

Sharing your passion for fabric…
Luana & Paul

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

Travel/Lecture Dates:
May 16 – New England Quilt Museum, Soul Stories Artist Reception
June 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.

I am writing to you this week from southwest Colorado, on the last day of the Alegre Art Retreat in beautiful Gateway. I’ve spent a wonderful week with many brilliant artists and members of the textile art community. And … I made a lot of progress on a new piece! So I am feeling productive.

Thursday I drove over to Moab in Utah, and spent some time in Arches National Park. Many years ago I participated in the National Parks quilt project, and my quilt was for Arches National Park. The exhibit traveled for several years, and there was a companion book. So while I was here, I just HAD to pop over to visit Arches. It was 2.5 hours to Moab, then a short drive to the entrance of the National Park. Once I was inside I had the most amazing experience. It was busy, but everyone was polite and happy. Lately when I am out and about, people are grumpy and stressed, but my day in the park was like being in a parallel dimension where everybody smiled and took turns. Why? Because everyone was so ecstatic about being in such an other-worldly and beautiful landscape. Our National Parks are priceless, and I urge you to support our public lands, and visit at least one National Park in the next few months. The park ranger told me they are just barely hanging on, after all the funding cuts. I have a Senior annual pass which I got at Rocky Mountain National Park, but it also worked at Arches. They are very affordable. Support your National Parks!

Our daughter Sophie Quinn spent several hours in her college parking lot Thursday evening, rescuing an 8 week old orange kitten who was stuck inside the chassis of a car. She took the kitten to an emergency vet because it was shivering and starving. The owners of the car decided they wanted to keep the kitten so it worked out for everyone because Sophie Quinn already has a cat. But I am proud of her that she did the right thing and rescued that tiny baby who was lost and alone. Probably would not have survived the night otherwise.

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.

Today I am writing to you from Southwest Colorado, near the Utah border. I am attending the Alegre Art Retreat run by Katie Pasquini Masopust. I met Katie over 20 years ago, when I took her class at Art Quilt Tahoe. Most of the attendees are in classes, but I am in independent study. I started a new piece last week and I am hoping to get it mostly done while I am here.

Yesterday our guest speaker was Kaye England, who many of you will recognize as one of the Matriarchs of the quilt industry. I have not seen Kaye for many years, but I used to say hi at Quilt Market, and we took some trips together. We traveled to Switzerland, China and Italy together, with Bernina Ambassador group, and Beth Hayes/McCalls tour groups.

We are in a drought in Colorado, but we’ve had blessed rain the last few days. Here in the red rock canyon of Gateway, the rain has brought an explosion of pink, yellow and orange-red cactus flowers. Springtime here brings a wide palette of greens, from the yellow-green of new leaves, to the pale silver-green of sage. When the rain stops and the monumental stone cathedrals glow against the electric blue sky, it takes one’s breath away. The starry skies dazzle across the velvet black curtain of midnight. This is what we love about the Southwest … the colors of sky, earth and nature … nurture and energize us as we dream of our next creative adventures.

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 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.

The last few days I have been enjoying the SAQA virtual conference, with presenters from all over Asia. It is wonderful to see so many familiar faces and beautiful quilts from Japan, Taiwan and Korea. You may recall that last year I traveled to the Kyoto Quilt Festival and Taiwan Quilt Festival as a featured artist and speaker. The friendships I formed over many years at the Tokyo Quilt Festival (sadly, now defunct) were renewed with many smiles and hugs.

For those of you who enjoyed the conference segment about Kawaii by Teresa Duryea Wong and Naomi Ichikawa, we do still have a few copies of their book in stock. You may recall that a year ago I spent Girls Day with Naomi in Kyoto.

In addition, fans of Japanese quilting may want to snag a copy of the new issue of Quilts Japan that just arrived in the warehouse this last week.

The latest issue of Quiltfolk features Houston Texas quilters, with Japanese-American artist Kumiko Frydl’s miniature butterfly quilt on the cover. It is one of my favorite issues so far!

My favorite fabrics this week?
The Sloth and Penguin in the Wild Animals category!

I will be at the Alegre Art Retreat in SW Colorado this coming week, starting a new piece and seeing many old friends…and I know I’ll be seeing many eQuilter friends and customers there also!

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.

Like many of you, I follow the ‘nextdoor’ app to keep in touch with what is going on in my community. Lately it has been flooded with bird photos, from fledgling owlets, and crested cormorants, to circling pelicans and yellow-headed blackbirds. This last couple weeks I have enjoyed the lyrical singing of red and yellow Finches in our yard and around the eQuilter warehouse. One neighbor shared that the first hummingbirds showed up today.

Often when I leave work just before sunset, there is a chorus of multiple bird species. Lately a large blue heron appears slowly gliding across the sky as I get in my car. Tonight there was a pair of Canadian Geese slowly working their way through our patch of native grasses out front.

I pull out my phone and open the Merlin Bird ID app, to capture the songs and learn who is singing around me in the moment. Yesterday I spent quite a long time watching a European Starling who had perched in a tree close by. There was nobody else around so I felt I had a private performance, and the gift of being in the moment with this miniature minstrel.

Occasionally there is a breathless announcement on Nextdoor, that a new species has been spotted…passing through on migration. Due to climate change this is one of the things we are noticing, as the timing of migration routes is apparently confusing some of the birds.

I am delighted that people are taking such an interest in the migrating birds this time of year. Last year we had a huge flock of waxwings stop by the creek in our neighborhood, attracting a crowd of photographers and birding enthusiasts.

But the one bird I wish would appear is….
The Dove of Peace.

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 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.

This afternoon I’ve just come back from a local university production of The Cunning Little Vixen. Last year the Denver Art Museum had a fantastic exhibit about Maurice Sendak (Where The Wild Things Are) that included illustrations and artwork from his entire prolific career. One of his books was The Cunning Little Vixen, and we enjoyed seeing the original illustrations and opera costumes as part of the DAM exhibit.

Vixen is a three-act Czech-language opera by Leoš Janá?ek completed in 1923 to a libretto the composer adapted from a serialized novella by Rudolf T?snohlídek. Using Moravian folk music, and translated into English, the costumes for the cricket, frog, grasshopper, mosquito, chickens and fox family were cleverly created from ruffled, pleated, gathered, embellished fabrics. We laughed out loud at the whimsy of the unexpected costume choices. I am sure there was a bit of Sendak in those costumes. I decided I need to donate some fabric to the CU theater department!

It was just a reminder that there is no limit to what we can do with our fabrics. I hope that you can find museum exhibits, theater costumes, and other experiences of textile creativity to fire up those creative juices. Because the Sendak exhibit traveled around the country for several years, I expect there will be other productions of Vixen circulating.

My favorite new fabric this week is the tumble of vintage books on 108″ quilt backing. I just might have to make curtains for my library from this new print!

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.

If you follow my e-newsletters, you may remember that we lost our beloved young dog Rosie about a month ago. Last week our 10 yr old golden Leo had surgery to remove tumors. If you are an animal lover, as we are, you will understand the stress this has brought to our household.

After we lost Rosie, our Leo was so sad and lonely. We decided to search for a rescue dog who would be a good fit for our household. When we found her, she was in Texas in a foster home. It took a few weeks to get all the paperwork done and arrange for her transport. We got her last Friday. She was a stray so we don’t know her history, but she is 1-2 years old, and a total sweetheart. River is a black brindle gorgeous gentle mutt. We love her. Leo loves her too, and she is giving him space during his recovery.

We don’t just love domestic animals. We love wild animals also. My wolf-themed quilt “Invisible Borders” is in the Soul Stories exhibit that just opened at the New England Quilt Museum in Lowell, Massachusetts. It is open through July 18. If you are in the area I hope you can stop by to see this group of art quilts with powerful messages.

This morning I got a text from a quilter friend as she was checking in for surgery at an area hospital. She was greeted by my quilt “Stardust Mothers” in the reception area, and sent me a photo. That made my day, knowing my work is hopefully a comfort in that space. This quilt is traveling with the SAQA Balance exhibit.

Tomorrow the SAQA fundraiser starts and if you take a look, you’ll see my small donated quilt “Resist” when you scroll down to “L” for Luana. I hope it raises a bunch of money for SAQA!

You can see more of my work on my artist website gallery.

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 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.