It’s Christmas Eve in Kitty Town, and these adorable little fluffballs are waiting for Santa’s visit with milk and cookies in a Gingerbread House. This collection by Kayomi Harai is the definition of ‘Cute’ as far as we are concerned, and we know it will bring spontaneous cries of ‘Oooh’ and ‘Awwww’ as a gift or special wall hanging.
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.
After a year-and-a-half of severe restrictions on visitation, this last week I was finally able to start visiting my mom again in her room at the nursing home. It felt like a huge weight had been lifted. We had several long hugs, tears and smiles.
Sophie has been working at eQuilter through the whole pandemic, and she’s saved up every penny to buy a car for her student teaching at college. So she’ll have her first car later this week, and she is busy getting ready to move out of our family home, into her first college apartment. (her sophomore year)
So it feels like we are about to turn the page, and as things open up we just hope and pray that the pandemic doesn’t push us backwards this Fall and Winter. But you know, we quilters just keep doing what we always do….cut and sew and stitch….and it is a bridge to whatever comes next.
A few things I want to make sure you saw this week: The Persis collection from Kaufman is just so drop-dead gorgeous, no image can do it justice. I promise you, it is even more beautiful in person!
Our quarterly shipment of exclusive Langa Lapu 60″ wide Sun Prints, Hand-Dyes and Linocut Panels came in this week. We increased our order because it sold out so fast last time. These are all hand-made by a group of village women in South Africa who literally have no other income to feed their families, so we’ll keep ordering these unique hand-made products as long as you keep coming back for more!
Also I’ve been in enough Zoom sessions with art quilters who buy their machine needles by the box of 100, that I decided it’s time we expand our selection of these bulk needles. If you are sewing every day for hours, the tip from the professionals is to oil your machine and change your needle every day. If you are a serious quilter, it is cheaper to buy them in bulk so you can have the necessary luxury of a fresh daily needle.
Also the huge shipment of Batik Precuts from Island Batik – Strips and 10″ Squares – tend to sell out quickly so take a quick peek. Fellow Batik-Freaks know that these Batik Precuts are a great way to get a wide variety of colors in your fav fabric.
The start of school is just around the corner so its time to start planning your Fall projects…that’s what I am doing this weekend!
…sharing your love of fabric, Luana and Paul
Quilt Calendar:
July 29 – Aug 1 – Festival of Quilts – Birmingham UK – “For the Love of Gaia” quilt gallery Aug 7 – Zoom lecture “Intl Quilt Trends” for Birmingham Festival of Quilts Sept 27 – Anchorage Log Cabin Quilters Guild – Lecture. Oct 23-30 – Houston Quilt Market & Festival Dec 4 – Zoom lecture “Intl Quilt Trends” – Quilt Canada Jan 12 – Apr 9, 2022 – New England Quilt Museum (NEQM) “For the Love of Gaia” quilt exhibit Sat, March 19 – “International Quilt Trends” power point lecture – NEQM
We may be in the dog days of Summer now, but September is only six and a half weeks away, and the cooling breezes and crisp mornings of Autumn are just around the corner. With milder weather comes the Fall colors, and the joy of going for a forest walk in the shimmering hues of Red, Gold and Orange.
This week’s exclusive eQuilter Free Quilt Pattern uses a 28″ x 44″ digital scenic panel, to make the 60″ x 45″ horizontal quilt design. We love the painterly quality of this collection, with the glowing colors that extend into the mosaic-like border. We’ve combined 5 collection coordinates with the panel, to create a dreamy landscape that invites you on a September Morning adventure. Can you hear the rustling of the leaves, and the gurgling of the stream?
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.
If you’ve been reading our newsletters for awhile, perhaps you’ve found your way to my photo pages and our video pages. Over the years I’ve photographed a lot of quilt shows, and interviewed a lot of quilters! One of the things I treasure about the quilt industry and quilt artists, is that over time we keep running into each other at these quilt festivals. It is so inspiring to see over time, how you all develop as creative people in surprising and wonderful ways.
Recently I was delighted to see a lovely watercolor collage wildlife collection by a British quilter who I first met 9 years ago at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham UK. In fact I did a 10 minute video interview with Kate Findlay about her quilts, which at the time were inspired by a completely different subject. I ordered her collection before I realized that I had previously interviewed this new fabric designer – a pleasant surprise!
We had a little excitement in the neighborhood this evening. A mountain lion was spotted in a tree between our neighborhood and the neighboring property of Celestial Seasonings Tea Factory. That is about a half block right behind our house. We’ve had bears, moose, deer and now a mountain lion wandering East of the foothills into our area which is a rural suburban community adjacent to Boulder. The last few nights when I’ve taken our dogs out for one last whiz at midnight, I’ve heard a rustling in the bushes/trees in the far back corner of our back yard. I think from now on I’ll bring a flashlight out, so I can see the eyes of the raccoon or fox, and not imagine it is the cougar!
My curated exhibit “For the Love of Gaia” will be featured in a gallery at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham UK in 2 weeks, but I will not be there. 2 of our 15 talented artists will be in attendance, so if you visit our gallery, you might get lucky and be able to meet Sheila Frampton-Cooper or Cas Holmes.
However I WILL be giving a virtual lecture for the FOQ the following weekend, and I’ll share the registration link in the next week, as soon as it comes to me! That will be at 6 pm UK time, on Saturday August 7. Watch this space for details.
Colorado is blanketed in hazy smoke from the western wildfires now. We hope all of you out west are able to stay safe from the heat and the fires.
…sharing your love of fabric, Luana and Paul
p.s. Want a sneak peak at one of my favorite new collections? Click here.
Quilt Calendar:
July 29 – Aug 1 – Festival of Quilts – Birmingham UK – “For the Love of Gaia” quilt gallery Aug 7 – Zoom lecture “Intl Quilt Trends” for Birmingham Festival of Quilts Sept 27 – Anchorage Log Cabin Quilters Guild – Lecture. Oct 23-30 – Houston Quilt Market & Festival Dec 4 – Zoom lecture “Intl Quilt Trends” – Quilt Canada Jan 12 – Apr 9, 2022 – New England Quilt Museum (NEQM) “For the Love of Gaia” quilt exhibit Sat, March 19 – “International Quilt Trends” power point lecture – NEQM
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To make this 51″ x 65″ quilt design, first you will start with the 29″ x 44″ digital-printed panel. Then piece and sew stone textures, a hand-dye, a digital Giraffe skin print, and a solid black, to make this African Wildlife vignette.
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.
Several years ago I experienced, for the first time, the practice of honoring the indigenous tribes on whose land we stand. This first time was when I was at Quilt Canada, and it struck me so deeply to hear that our event took place on the traditional lands of a number of tribes. I wondered how long it would take for me to hear this kind of acknowledgement in the US.
Last night I experienced this here in Boulder, when Sophie and I went to the Colorado Music Festival in Chautauqua, which was definitely considered a sacred place for local Native people. It is very bittersweet to ponder this acknowledgement…of the people who for the most part are gone…on whose land our homes and cities and roads occupy.
So I’d like to make this initial acknowledgment for the land that our eQuilter warehouse occupies. (If you’d like to do the same for your home or business, follow this to our blog with links to more information.)
eQuilter acknowledges Indigenous Peoples as the traditional stewards of this land on which we stand. We honor and respect the diverse Native people of the Arapaho, Cheyenne and Ute tribes who have occupied this land from time immemorial. We commit to learn how to be better stewards of this land where we gather.
…sharing your love of fabric, Luana and Paul
Quilt Calendar:
July 29 – Aug 1 – Festival of Quilts – Birmingham UK – “For the Love of Gaia” quilt gallery Aug 7 – Zoom lecture “Intl Quilt Trends” for Birmingham Festival of Quilts Sept 27 – Anchorage Log Cabin Quilters Guild – Lecture. Oct 23-30 – Houston Quilt Market & Festival Dec 4 – Zoom lecture “Intl Quilt Trends” – Quilt Canada Jan 12 – Apr 9, 2022 – New England Quilt Museum (NEQM) “For the Love of Gaia” quilt exhibit Sat, March 19 – “International Quilt Trends” power point lecture – NEQM
Several years ago I experienced, for the first time, the practice of honoring the indigenous tribes on whose land we stand. This first time was when I was at Quilt Canada, and it struck me so deeply to hear that our event took place on the traditional lands of a number of tribes. I wondered how long it would take for me to hear this kind of acknowledgement in the US.
Last night I experienced this here in Boulder, when Sophie and I went to the Colorado Music Festival in Chautauqua, which was definitely considered a sacred place for local Native people. It is very bittersweet to ponder this acknowledgement…of the people who for the most part are gone…on whose land our homes and cities and roads occupy.
So I’d like to make this initial acknowledgment for the land that our eQuilter warehouse occupies. (If you’d like to do the same for your home or business, see links below for more information.)
eQuilter acknowledges Indigenous Peoples as the traditional stewards of this land on which we stand. We honor and respect the diverse Native people of the Arapaho, Cheyenne and Ute tribes who have occupied this land from time immemorial. We commit to learn how to be better stewards of this land where we gather.
To make this 44″ x 56″ quilt design, you will start with the 31″ x 44″ digital printed Hoffman panel, then add Candy Canes and Allover Gingerbread people, plus 2 blenders, to create the borders. This quilt is destined to be a beloved gift or heirloom that will be cherished by tiny tots with their eyes all aglow. (like the Nat King Cole song.)
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.
The last week or so there seems to be a Space theme in the news but also here at eQuilter. We found out Jeff Bezos is taking an 82 year old female pilot into space. Richard Branson moved up his launch date so he could beat Bezos into space. And…Karen Nyberg…the Quilting Astronaut…has a licensed Thread deal with Aurifil!
In the meantime I’ve been chatting with Jean Wright of the Sew Sisters – the Sewing Team for the Shuttle program in Florida. And today I had lunch with astronaut and author Ron Garan, who I met many years ago at the Johnson Space Center because of eQuilter’s support of the NASA chapter of Engineers Without Borders.
If you’ve read my e-newsletter for awhile, you probably know that our family are Star Trek and Star Wars nerds. I was going to photograph Cosplayers at Starfest and ComicCon before it was cool in our industry. I had my photo taken with Captain Kirk….er….William Shatner. Every year when I am in Houston I go hang out with my EWB friends at NASA JSC. And I have an uncle who had a very close encounter in the Fifties. My dad worked at Lockheed for awhile. So, you know, it’s in the blood I guess. Fabric and Space…go figure.
When the kids were little we visited Kennedy Space Center several times, (see photo above) and more recently I met Victor Glover (first Black astronaut to stay on the Space Station) a few years ago in Houston, where our EWB friends arranged for us to tour ISS Mission Control. All of this is thanks to your support of our eQuilter charity program, and our continued support of Engineers Without Borders projects in Rwanda, Kenya, and Nepal. In fact when Ron was up on the ISS in 2011, our friend Dr. Jack in Mission Control was telling him about our massive quilt drive for victims of the tsunami and earthquake in Japan. Many thanks to all of you who helped us to send 2500 comfort quilts after that disaster, coordinated by Mission of Love.
Perhaps you’ve seen the “Fly Me To the Moon” quilt exhibit or book, on the topic of astronauts and space. One of my quilts in that fantastic project was tapped for an exhibit at NASA several years ago, where I finally met Dr Karen Nyberg.
We are excited to carry Karen Nyberg’s thread set which just arrived TODAY, and to tie this story together in a neat bow, today Ron sent me photos of him and Karen together on the Space Station. Small world huh?
…sharing your love of fabric, Luana and Paul
p.s. We’ll be uploading a Dairy Barn lecture I gave on ‘International Quilt Trends’, some time tomorrow on our video page.
To make this 58″ x 46″ quilt design, start with the 30″ x 44″ digital printed panel from Hoffman. You will piece 5 different shades of Gray Hoffman Hand-Dyes to make the crystalline border. This quilt is soothing and romantic, with an image that will draw you into your own Swan Lake fantasy.
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.
