Felting, Genealogy, Bob Ross and Tokyo

Many thanks to felting teacher Dawn Edwards and our new friends at the Handweavers Guild! After a rollicking good time with the felting fanatics in our classroom this week, I am tying up loose ends in preparation for our trip to Tokyo next week. This will be Sophie’s first trip to Japan and the quilt festival there. She will also be traveling to Birmingham with me in August, to help me set up and run the “Love Your Mother” quilt gallery at the Festival of Quilts. That will be about a week before she moves out to go to college!

I bet a lot of you are into genealogy, as I am. In fact last week I ordered a gorgeous 60″ square panel for eQuilter, with a tree that I think will be popular with those who quilt and work on family trees! Here is a 24″ x 44″ panel we have in stock now.

I finally broke down and sent for my DNA report. This morning I woke up to 2 emails from distant (4th) cousins, and realized that my DNA report was completed and posted. I have been continuing the work my mom was doing on our family tree. I like to connect my travels to my genealogy. I learned to sew (and be generally crafty and artistic) from my Swedish and German grandmas. My love of photography comes from my English-Irish-Scotch grandpa. Music runs through the whole family tree. It is cool to think about how these talents and interests will continue down the family tree from my ancestors, to my kids, and beyond…

We had a lovely visit this morning from Karla (Cherrywood Fabrics) as she was driving through on the way to Road to California. Karla is the amazing person who organizes the Cherrywood challenges that you may have seen in Houston. This last year it was the Bob Ross challenge. Prior challenges include Prince, Lion King and Wicked. Her next challenge theme is Princess Diana! If you go to R2CA be sure to stop and tell her hello, and check out the Bob Ross exhibit. Her husband wrote an essay on Wetlands in the new Endangered Species companion book. (My Polar Bear quilt is in there too.)

Some of our eQuilter customers from around the world have reached out and asked to meet up in Tokyo. If you’d like to meet up in at the quilt festival please do send us an email in the next couple days. We arrive the evening of Jan 25, and will be at the show for 3 days. I tend to be there at the beginning and end of the day, because it gets so crowded in the middle of the day. We are staying at the Tokyo Dome Hotel. And yes….I will be bringing back the 2 show books again. Let us know if you are interested and we will email you when I get back.

If you’d like to see photos from previous Tokyo Quilt Festivals or the Birmingham Festival of Quilts, check out my photo albums here.

sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul

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eQuilter Classroom:
March 6-8 – MJ Kinman – “Unicorn Rainbow” & “Elizabeth Diamond” Gemstone Workshop
April 13-15 2020 – Susan Carlson
June 1-5 2020 – Paula Nadelstern – Kaleidoscopes & Quilts

Luana’s Travel Calendar:
Jan 24-Feb 2, 2020 – Tokyo Quilt Festival
Feb 19-22 – QuiltCon in Austin TX
Mar 18-27 – Wilderness Congress – Jaipur India
June 17-21 – Quilt Canada – Edmonton
June 26-27 – Intl Quilt Museum – Lincoln NE
July 29 – Aug 2 – “Love Your Mother” Gallery in Birmingham UK