This week we are blessed with the uplifting visions of Laurel Burch, and we see the orders coming in for Sea Goddess already. We’ll be enjoying the beautiful colors and artwork of Laurel in our cutting department this week, and remembering the special talent of Laurel who lives on in her whimsical and open-hearted paintings.
I have posted the first batch of photos from the Tokyo Quilt Festival on my photo page, so I hope you will take a look. I’ve been going to the show for so many years, that I now have a press pass and can get into the show before the crowds descend. About 35K people attend the show each day, and the show lasts one week. Not only that, but the Japanese quilters love to get up close to the quilts to examine the stitches, the embellishments, and the special techniques used…so it is hard to take photos when the show is open! Unlike other shows, there is no tape or rope boundary between the viewing public and the quilts. The visitors get very close but do not touch the quilts – they are very respectful of the amazing quilts on exhibit there.
You may have noticed that I hand-carried copies of the 2 show books again this year. These collector items go fast…if you want one snap it up today!…From my suitcase to your kitchen table.
This is the 2nd year that I’ve met up with a group of American quilters who live in Okinawa. This year we had a nice long chatty breakfast together, and we share an appreciation for the Expat lifestyle. (I lived in Hong Kong for 3 years, in the early 80s.) It is an unlikely place to find a group of quilters, but they have been meeting and sharing their love of quilting there for many years.
My friend Keiko Goke is now designing for Free Spirit, and I got a photo of her in front of her latest colorful quilt. You may recall that the coastal section of her town of Sendai was wiped out by the tsunami in March 2011. Partnering with Mission of Love and many of our customers, friends, and quilt guilds around the country, we gathered and then shipped 2500 quilts for a nearby coastal community that was decimated by the tsunami.
I have another new tradition in Tokyo – for the last few years I have attended a performance at the Tokyo Opera. This year I saw Tannhauser for the first time in person! 4 hours of Wagner, while appreciating the costumes onstage, and the lovely ladies in their silk kimonos in the audience…a visual and auditory feast.
I hope to see many of you this month at the Mexico Quilt Festival or QuiltCon, or if you are local come have fun with paint and fabric collage in our eQuilter classroom with Lynn Koolish’s CQC workshop! (Dates below)
sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul
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eQuilter Classroom & Travel Calendar:
Feb 14-16 – ‘Love
Your Mother‘ exhibit at Mexico Quilt Festival in Mexico City
Feb 20-23 – QuiltCon – Nashville TN
Feb 24 – Lynn Koolish for CQC – in eQuilter Classroom
Mar 28-30 – ‘Love
Your Mother‘ exhibit at Spring Quilt Festival in Chicago
Apr 1 – Quilting Arts TV, Cleveland
Apr 12-14 – Jean Wells for FRCQ workshop – in eQuilter Classroom
June 27-30 – Jane Tenorio-Coscarelli workshop – eQuilter Classroom
July 11-14, 2019 – Cindy
Lohbeck – Shibori,
Ice-Dyeing and Ombre Dyeing Workshops @ eQuilter
4 Classes $50 each – $80-$100 Materials Fee
