Happy Spring Equinox!

One week after our giant blizzard (which shut us down for a day) the Colorado sunshine is out and the mounds of snow are melting away. The moisture and warmth has encouraged my tulips to emerge from the dirt in my back yard, just in time for the First Day of Spring. We are cleaning up the broken branches from our epic snowstorm, and looking ahead to a brighter season.

Warmer weather means that we need to bring our Chocolate Department to a seasonal close, so I am putting them on sale until they are gone. If you haven’t tried our imported Artisan chocolate bars, maybe now’s the time to try something exotic? I joined a pandemic online chocolate club last year, and learned that with these very special chocolates you just break off one small square and let it melt in your mouth, to experience all the layers of nuance. For the chocolate connoisseur, it is like a wine tasting. However we don’t want these bars melting in the heat so order now so you can enjoy them over the next few months!

Although Laurel Burch is no longer with us, her heart and soul lives on in her artwork. Her goal in her lifetime was to spread beauty and joy through her work, and she is still making us smile with her latest collection Celestial Magic. I was fortunate to meet her many years ago, and her generous spirit continues to lift our spirits as her portfolio of paintings is re-interpreted into another magical collection. We are still fans!

with hope for the future,
Luana and Paul

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Free Quilt Pattern – Tree of Life Celebration

The Tree of Life is an archetypal image that has been interpreted over the centuries and across the continents. This symbol appears in many of the world’s mythologies, and philosophical traditions… closely associated to the idea of the Sacred Tree. Frida Kahlo and your local Genealogy Club are examples of how this iconic image has been used and interpreted.

This 83″ x 83″ bed-sized quilt design has a luminous quality, starting with the 60″ x 60″ central digital panel, and through the use of Ombre strips in the border.

Perhaps when you sleep under this beautiful quilt, you’ll have dreams of your quilting ancestors in your own family tree.

…featuring the ‘Tree Of Life’ collection by Oasis Fabrics.

Don’t miss the popular ‘Australian Journey‘ and ‘Aurora Wolves‘ quilt patterns!

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.

Click Here for a Video Tutorial of the Free Pattern Designer.
Download Instructions for the pattern at the bottom of the pattern designer page.

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May the Road Rise to Meet You

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

Despite the CDC telling us to stay home and drink alone, I am sure that you have enough GREEN in your stash to start your own Irish Sewing Party today. If not, we have enough Green Blenders, Green Batiks, Green Hand-Dyes, Green Solids and Green Threads to start a small green Irish Quilt Shop – Haha! Are you drinking Green Tea or Green Beer today?

I’ve turned our home page Green to celebrate the day, and it is nice to think about the colors of Spring when we are still buried in snow here after the weekend blizzard. Paul and I are very happy that we got our single dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine last week, and we have about one more week until we are ‘immune’. I hope that you have had luck scoring the vaccine as well, so we can see each other in Houston at the quilt festival this Fall!

You are probably itching to travel, like I am, and looking at past photos from trips to quilt festivals has been one of my favorite past-times during the pandemic. 9 years ago I went to Ireland and that memory still fills my dreams with endless vistas of rich emerald green….although there were a lot of rainy soggy days as well! The 2 places that made the biggest impression were the Dingle Peninsula, and seeing the Book of Kells at the Trinity College Library in Dublin.

Saturday is our Spring Equinox…the first day of Spring. (and Fall Equinox in the Southern Hemisphere) The turning of the seasons is a time of vivid colors and milder temperatures, and it will have such a special meaning to us all as we transition to a freer lifestyle again. My hope is that we can all begin to move out of the pandemic restrictions as the vaccines are more widely distributed, so that we can relish the joys of this season which draws us closer to Nature…always an inspiration to artists and quilters.

…sharing your love of fabric,
Luana and Paul

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Free Quilt Pattern – Celestial Journey

Magical Unicorns, Swans and Fairies…are the stuff these dreams are made of…in
this week’s Free Quilt Pattern featuring this stunning piece of artwork by Josephine Wall.

Swirling waves, enchanted landscapes and twinkling stars make up this fantasy image that utterly captures our imagination. Flowers, feathers and butterflies fill in the spaces of this panel design, with celestial misty unicorns galloping through the night sky. Every time we look at this, we see something new!

To make this 54″ x 64″ quilt design, you will start with the incredibly detailed 36″ x 44″ digital-printed panel, then add coordinates from the collection to make the ‘twisted ribbon’ border. We hope you enjoy this fantastical adventure.

…featuring the ‘Celestial Journey’ collection by Josephine Wall for 3 Wishes Fabric.

Don’t miss the popular ‘Australian Journey‘ and ‘Winter Forest‘ quilt patterns!

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.

Click Here for a Video Tutorial of the Free Pattern Designer.
Download Instructions for the pattern at the bottom of the pattern designer page.

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Sewing in the time of COVID-19 – ONE YEAR

Yes, it has been one year since we started marking the weeks passing by, at the start of the pandemic.

It is not over yet, but I will not be marking the passage of time anymore. One year is enough!

On Thursday Paul and I got the single dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. I feel hopeful now about the future, as others around us are vaccinated, as businesses reopen over the next few months, and hopefully we will all discover whatever the New Normal will be.

My first trip that I have planned is to go on a wilderness photography trip in late September to Alaska, out in the middle of nowhere, to see the Brown Bears. (Grizzly Bears) On the way in and out of Alaska, I’ll be stopping in Anchorage to visit with the SAQA group, and the guild there.

This last week my interview with Martha Sielman about COLOR went live on the SAQA website, available to members for viewing. I hope you are following the Color Seminar so you can view this video, plus all the other great Color resources there now.

It looks like the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham UK is planning a smaller and socially distanced event, but we don’t know yet if I’ll be going there with the Love of Gaia exhibit.

Today I gave my “International Quilt Trends” power point lecture to a Colorado Guild, via Zoom. If your state or regional guild is interested in having this presentation over Zoom in the next few months let me know and I’d be delighted to meet with your group while we are still staying safe at home. I generally just give this presentation at national and international quilt festivals, in person, but since I am not traveling until the Fall…I’d love to share my trend report with you! Give us a call or email!

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Free eQuilter Pattern – How Sweet the Sound

For many of us, the lyrics and melody of “Amazing Grace” are part of the fabric of our lives…marking times of love, loss, hope and healing. It was the bedtime lullaby that we sang to all 3 of our children, and it was a favorite of the grandparents too. Perhaps it is a part of your family’s history as well.

This week’s exclusive eQuilter Free Quilt Pattern is a beautiful tribute to this beloved song, wrapped in soothing jeweltones in a ‘stained glass’ quilt design.

To make this 53″ x 64″ quilt, you will start with the 36″ x 44″ central panel, then add Stained Glass squares, a Stonehenge texture, and a starry sky print. This hymn brings solace, comfort and inspiration for those of us who are looking ahead to brighter days.

…featuring the ‘Amazing Grace’ collection by Quilting Treasures.

Don’t miss the popular ‘Australian Journey‘ and ‘Winter Forest‘ quilt patterns!

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.

Click Here for a Video Tutorial of the Free Pattern Designer.
Download Instructions for the pattern at the bottom of the pattern designer page.

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The Seeds She Planted

Today March 10th is my mother’s birthday, and eQuilter’s 22nd Anniversary. For me, our company birthday will always be connected to my mother’s birthday. As I go through old family photos, I see so many things that reach across the decades and the generations, that I have in common with my mother, my grandmothers and matriarchal ancestors.

This is a photo of my maternal Swedish grandma. She was a gardener, an embroiderer, a ceramics painter, and a pianist. So many photos that I have of her, she is wearing a flower-print dress. Here she is happily showing off freshly-pulled fat orange carrots, with her poppies, and iris in the background. She was standing next to her apple trees, and her organic vegetable garden. She would hum and sing when she was cooking in the kitchen. I loved to watch her paint and stitch when we visited them in Oregon.

This year I am going to try to start some garden seeds indoors, so I can plant the seedlings in May. They are predicting up to 2 feet of snow here this weekend, but I’ll be inside sprouting seeds and dreaming of Springtime flowers. I learned to sew from my 2 grandmas, and they also taught me that anything I could dream up in my head, I could make. Those are the seeds they planted in me as a girl, that blossomed into a love of art, color, fabric, sewing and quilting. I was fortunate to have many mentors along the way, who watered those seeds. Paul and I are so grateful that we have had a family business where we could raise our kids, raise money to help those in need, and share our dream of beautiful things with the whole world.

We hope that our weekly newsletters are sunshine for your sprouting seeds, or perhaps the warmth to ripen the creative garden that you have nurtured. You are a constant source of inspiration for us, and we love sharing that abundant spirit of creativity with you as well. There is always plenty to go around.

This week my interview on Color Trends & Forecasting with Martha Sielman for the SAQA Color Seminar is going live. You can still get in on this fantastic online color seminar, and in fact we have a special deal for you:

If you would like to access the entire “SAQA Color Seminar” with 7 weeks worth of video presentations, articles, and resources, you can use the discount code: SEMINAR for $10 off of SAQA membership.

In SAQA Seminar: Color you will explore your current relationship to color, color theory, and the use of the color wheel. Make use of all SAQA’s amazing resources to learn more, find links to various color tests, and test apps that help you explore color in a fun and interactive way.


with gratitude for your support on our birthday –
Luana and Paul

Sat March 13, 2 pm – “International Quilt Trends” Zoom lecture – Rocky Mountain Creative Quilters

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Free Quilt Pattern – Aurora Wolves

One of our most popular design motifs is *Wolves* – representing the wild free spirit of the Northwoods. This week’s exclusive eQuilter Free Quilt Pattern features our digital-printed Wolf panel, with a pack running through fresh powder snow under the Northern Lights.

To make this 61″ x 70″ quilt design, you will create layers of ombre borders around the central scenic panel, using the gradient luminosity of the ombre prints to create a three-dimensional effect.

The Alpha Wolf leads the way for his or her family in this wildlife portrait, and perhaps represents an Alpha Mama or Papa in your life who would appreciate the story that is told in this quilt.

…featuring the ‘World of Wildlife’ collection by the Rubin Design Studio.

Don’t miss the popular ‘Australian Journey‘ and ‘Winter Forest‘ quilt patterns!

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.

Click Here for a Video Tutorial of the Free Pattern Designer.
Download Instructions for the pattern at the bottom of the pattern designer page.

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Anniversaries, Africa, and Festival Update

Sewing in the time of COVID-19 – Week 51

In the coming week we have 2 anniversaries to observe:

* 1 year since the start of the pandemic here in Colorado.

* 22 years since Paul and I started our business in the basement of our home.

You may be aware that big bold African prints have been a hot trend in couture fashion in Europe. We see that trend growing in the US now. We are trying to get out ahead of this trend by stocking more specialty fabrics and products imported from Africa or inspired by Africa. Shipping has been delayed for most of our suppliers due to the ports being jammed up during the pandemic. When we get a big shipment it is cause for celebration!

Right now Langa Lapu is completing another special custom order for us in South Africa. I posted a photo (on the eQuilter Facebook page and our other social media) of the ladies working on the rainbow panels for us – these are exclusive to eQuilter and they have been selling out fast!

We have a new line of imported African prints coming in the next couple weeks, and we just got word that one of our favorite artists is teaming up with a manufacturer again to produce her gorgeous African tribal collections.

There are lots of other exciting trends bubbling up now, as a result of so many artists staying home during the pandemic, and creating fabulous new art for our industry. We are tracking these trends and will have all of these online as fast as possible so YOU can enjoy these delightful new colors and ideas as well!

Festival Update:
eQuilter is a major sponsor for many quilt festivals around the world, including Houston and Canada. We are sponsoring a $5000 Mastery cash prize this fall in Houston, and we are a Platinum sponsor for the Canadian Quilt Association’s online event in June. We were a Gold sponsor of QuiltCon recently, which I know many of you attended…and enjoyed!

This is our commitment to support quilt artists and the quilting industry, and I sincerely hope to see many of you in Houston the end of October. I am planning to be at the Tuesday night awards ceremony to hand a $5K check to another quilt artist with dazzling talent. Who knows…it just might be YOU.

And to think….22 years ago when I started out with 300 bolts in my basement…I thought this was going to be a part-time business so I could stay home with my kids. Watch for my Anniversary e-newsletter on Wednesday.

with hope for the future,
Luana and Paul

Mon March 8 – Color Trend Interview with Martha Sielman for SAQA goes LIVE

Sat March 13, 2 pm – “International Quilt Trends” Zoom lecture – Rocky Mountain Creative Quilters

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Free Pattern – Peacock Promenade

This week’s exclusive eQuilter Free Quilt Pattern is a dreamy interpretation of the elegant Peacock, with graceful flourishes and rich gold metallic accents.

To make this 65″ x 65″ quilt design, you will use a central Peacock panel, and 2 block panels. Piece together with the 3 tonal coordinates, and finish with the Feather Stripe to make this opulent jeweltone masterpiece!

…featuring the ‘Peacock Flourish’ collection by Ann Lauer for Benartex.

Don’t miss the popular ‘Australian Journey‘ and ‘Winter Forest‘ quilt patterns!

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.

Click Here for a Video Tutorial of the Free Pattern Designer.
Download Instructions for the pattern at the bottom of the pattern designer page.

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