Creative Nudge – Canada, Trends, Tornadoes & Graduation

There are so many things to write about – I don't know where to begin!

First let me tell you that this is a scene from Quilt BC in Penticton
Canada from last week.
An hour before the exhibit opened, several classes of schoolchildren
were brought to have a preview of the quilt show.
The kids were so interested in the quilts, and the white-gloved docent
had a story to go with each quilt, to keep the kids interested.
At the end of the exhibit tour, their teachers gave them paper and
markers, and invited them to design their own quilt blocks.
Brilliant!

Next I went to Quilt Market in Portland, and the trade show was full of
young people with new ideas.
Several fabric manufacturers previewed digitally printed fabric
collections, and we'll see those starting to show up at eQuilter in the
near future.
The price is a little higher, but the artwork quality looks like a
screen print with 30 or 40 screens! (Normally they are around 15
screens) We are excited to see this huge and very important trend take
hold in the next year.

I can say that the flat color trend with simple artwork that is filled
in with a Photoshop paintbrush, is being replaced by lush intricate
artwork with a handpainted look.
It is more sophisticated and it looks fresh after all the simple flat
artwork we've seen on fabric the last several years.

Our hearts go out to the residents of Moore Oklahoma, and Tuesday I was on the phone with Mission of Love director Kathy Price.
We agreed to start a new quilt relief effort for the tornado victims, and you can read the press release from Mission of Love on this information page.

Quilts can be dropped off IN PERSON at eQuilter, or shipped directly to Mission of Love in Ohio.

DO NOT SHIP QUILTS TO EQUILTER, as this will delay and perhaps prevent distribution to Oklahoma tornado survivors.

The deadline for receiving quilts is June 20.

Kathy and I will go to Moore June 27-28 to distribute disaster relief supplies and comfort quilts.

If you have questions, please call or email Dana at eQuilter Customer Service:
[email protected]

(Please do NOT try to call Kathy at MOL because she is simultaneously
coordinating several different urgent relief projects right now – with
no paid receptionist to answer calls or emails)

If you don't have time to make a quilt, please consider donating directly to Mission of Love via PayPal, so they can purchase relief supplies in bulk and load up a truck bound for Oklahoma.
Mission of Love has no overhead, so everything you give will go straight to purchasing supplies in bulk
at the best price.
Kathy and her team of volunteers are masters at this, so we will also
send them money to help fund the purchase of relief supplies.
You may recall that I went to Guatemala in December, on a Mission of Love Cleft Lip/Palate Surgery trip.

Lastly, our daughter Sophie graduated from elementary school Tuesday night, and we are so proud of her.
I have posted some photos of her from graduation night.
I will also post photos from Quilt BC (Canada) on my photo page.

Thursday night I fly to Columbus Ohio for a very quick 2 day visit to Quilt National in Athens.

* The quilt shown above is "French Garden" by Brigitte Villeneuve of Jonquiere QC, at Quilt BC 2013 in Canada last week.