Today we bring you this beloved Gnome collection and exclusive Free Quilt Pattern to kick off the holiday season. These Timber Gnomes have been a runaway best-seller at eQuilter, and we have it back in stock now, so take advantage of this opportunity to snag a quilt project that is sure to delight someone special!
To make this 53″ x 59″ quilt design, you will start with the central whimsical panel, then piece together collection coordinates plus solids and a Hoffman Hand-Dye. Add the stripe for the border and you’ll have a captivating quilt and a conversation starter!
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 we are lucky, as we travel the path of Life, we intersect with special people who are meant to mentor and inspire us. When I was in 7th grade, 12 years old, I had an art teacher who I am sure changed the course of my life. She recognized my talent, plucked me from shy obscurity in the back of the class, and told me that I was an artist. We cannot possibly overestimate the power of a mentor choosing to support a talented young person.
I had always been an artist of course. I was the one drawing on the back of my math homework, drawing in the borders of my cursive writing pad, overjoyed on the rare days we went to the art room in elementary school. But…I did not think of myself as an artist until she told me so.
Later that year I got a copy of “The Agony and the Ecstasy” – the fictionalized biography of Michelangelo – and I read it until the cover fell off and the pages fell out. Then I did the same thing to a copy of “Lust for Life”. (About Van Gogh) That year, at Christmas, I got a set of oil paints. I was in Heaven! (see photo above)
Years later, I encountered Bob Ross on PBS. He assured me, in warm honey tones, that I too could be a painter. You see, I had forgotten that I was an artist, and that I loved to paint. I watched Bob every day for a year, until I finally went out and got another set of oil paints. I found a weekly group that painted from a live model. There I met other artists, and we went out plein air painting in the mountains, in the Iris gardens of Boulder, and in farmlands of Colorado. I took master classes with a classical oil portrait painter, and with another impressionist painter who taught me to see color.
Even though I never met Bob Ross in person, I felt like I knew him. He was such a gentle soul, and he reminded me of what it was to feel the joy of making a piece of art. Fortunately I was able to thank my 7th grade art teacher for being my mentor, as I went off to college at 17. She said…all I ask is that you do the same for someone else someday. And so I have, when I teach, lecture, sponsor, curate, jury or purchase…I am carrying on the joy of mentorship that was gifted to me so many years ago.
I’d like to express my gratitude to the International Quilt Museum, and the artists who contributed their work, for the exhibit I curated – “For the Love of Gaia” – which closes today. It has been an honor to work with all of you, and our exhibit’s next venue is being planned now.
Our creative work is a healing balm for the soul in these challenging times, but even now as we see light at the end of the tunnel, it is so important that we continue to support and inspire one another. We are so lucky to have the quilting community to nurture our creative souls throughout 2020, and I can’t wait to see you all again. We do hope that our fabrics have brought some color and joy to you over the last 8 months while we collectively made a stand (and millions of facemasks!) against Covid.
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.
Many of you are preparing for a Thanksgiving like no other, here in the US. Our oldest son has gone into quarantine and got a Covid test yesterday, just to make 100% sure that he will not bring the bug to our house on Thanksgiving. We will celebrate 2 birthdays and Thanksgiving all on the same day. I am trying to get my mom moved to another room in her nursing home, so I can come visit her at her window. We are making adjustments in a matter-of-fact way, because the bottom line is to get through the next few months without becoming contagious or ill. We are just taking it a week at a time, as I know you are.
In an effort to keep my brain cells from melting during the pandemic, I’ve been rescheduling my 2020 quilt festival lectures so I can share creative inspiration with all of you via online talks. Right now I have 4 in the works and the next one will be for the First Friday presentation with the International Quilt Museum on December 4th. More details coming next week!
Now that we are past the initial push for sewing face masks for healthcare workers this last Spring, the new trend is to have multiple facemasks to match every outfit! Multicolor bright prints for fashionable face masks is the big sewing trend for Christmas. We have stocked these Adjustable Drawstring Elastic Cords now so you can finish sewing fun face masks for holiday gifts, to help get loved ones get over the finish line in 2021. However I predict that even after the vaccines are universally available, there will be an ongoing culture of wearing facemasks here, as there has been in Asia for decades. It is the gift that keeps on giving!
We have joined with the Colorado Quilt Council (CQC) and the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum (RMQM) in an effort to collect and distribute quilts to the 300 families who lost their homes in our terrible wildfires last month. We have donation bins at the front door to drop off donated quilts. Please call us or email if you have questions.
Re our ‘Curbside’ Retail Pickup – Only available if you bring a *working* cell phone to call us when you arrive, then we will place your package just outside the front door. Thank you for respecting our efforts to keep everyone here safe, i.e. no face-to-face contact at the door for drop-off or pickup.
with Hope for the Future, Luana and Paul
Share Post:
Posted inCharity, COVID|Comments Off on One Week At A Time
The central panel will cut up into 9 blocks, featuring vignettes of various ocean creatures. The artist has used lots of juicy wet brushwork to give the impression of water, and the coordinates are splashes of saturated color.
We’ve shown this quilt design pieced with a ‘starry sky’ digital print, but you can play around with our customized quilt design program, to make your own unique color story. With such a rainbow of colors, anything goes!
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.
We are all traveling through space together on this beautiful blue marble – Spaceship Earth. All of us except the astronauts now on the International Space Station. Unless you’ve been living under a rock (which is possible during this pandemic) you probably heard that a civilian-made spaceship took 4 astronauts up to the ISS in a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, which docked Monday night. This crew included the first black man to stay and live on the space station. It seems impossible that it took this long, but now it has finally happened.
As it turns out, I have met this astronaut, thanks to the eQuilter charity program and our support of the Johnson Space Center/NASA chapter of Engineers Without Borders. In fact in 2015 Victor Glover was our tour guide when I visited the ISS Mission Control in Houston. I share this with you, because you are part of this connection.
Your support of eQuilter and the 2% of sales donated to nonprofit organizations, allowed me to also meet ISS astronaut Ron Garan 10 years ago. eQuilter’s comfort quilt relief project following the Japan tsunami was actually discussed between Mission Control and the ISS, while Ron was on his extended mission up there. True story! Working with Mission of Love, we collected and MOL distributed 2500 of your comfort quilts to earthquake victims just 4 months after the tsunami. Amazing.
Did you know there are apps that will tell you when the ISS is flying overhead, so you can run outside and track the station gliding across the sky? Many years ago I was having dinner in Houston with EWB friends, when suddenly the rocket scientists jumped up and ran out to the parking lot. The app told us when and where the ISS would appear, and sure enough, it showed up right on time and moved like a bright star in a steady trace across the dark sky.
When I was in South Africa with Carolyn Mazloomi’s guild, we visited a rural township, a shantytown out in the countryside. We spent an afternoon at an after-school program for AIDS orphans. They asked if I would speak to the older children. There were about 150 teenagers in their matching blue and white school uniforms, who gathered in a circle to hear me speak. What could I possibly say to them?
I told them about the International Space Station. I described to them how they could identify the ISS moving across the night sky. They had never heard about the station. They could hardly believe that humans had been living in space for so many years. You could have heard a pin drop. I encouraged them to make their education their first priority, and to dream big. When I finished they clustered around me, their big eyes moist with emotion. My eyes were pretty wet too. It was hard to say goodbye. As I left, I made a donation to the student center, on behalf of eQuilter. Wherever I go, you are always with me, and together we can make a difference. Thank you for supporting our family-owned company, our charity program, and our efforts to help those in need.
with hope for the future… Luana and Paul
p.s. The Dragon rocketship blasted off with a Baby Yoda tethered to the dashboard, as the ‘zero gravity indicator’. Baby Yoda is now floating around the ISS, orbiting the Earth at 15,500 mph.
Share Post:
Posted inCharity, Travel|Comments Off on Spaceship Earth
If you have driven through the Canyonlands of the Southwest at sunrise or sunset, you recognize the incredible colors in this eQuilter Exclusive landscape quilt. From the Golden Hour to Twilight, these rich hues of purple, gold and coral are intensified in the red rocks of Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado.
To make this 64″ x 71″ quilt design, you will use 2 stunning gradient prints and 2 coordinates from this Northcott collection, plus 2 Hoffman Hand-Dyes and a Solid Black to set off the intense colors. Honestly, we think the main scenic print would make awesome curtains too!
You might consider using some metallic threads in these shades of purple, coral and gold, to add that shimmer that we see at sunset in the red rock canyons.
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.
I know most of us are breathing a sigh of relief now that the election season is (almost) over. The virus is spiking around the US so we are all taking extra precautions, and planning a quiet holiday season to keep our loved ones safe. Our Thanksgiving meals will be perhaps simpler, and the silver lining is the opportunity to reflect on our blessings with true gratitude. Sometimes we have to lose something of value (like our usual holiday celebrations) to see what is most important in our lives.
We have joined with the Colorado Quilt Council (CQC) and the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum (RMQM) in an effort to collect and distribute quilts to the 300 families who lost their homes in our terrible wildfires last month.
New and never-used quilts can be shipped to, or dropped off at eQuilter. We request that you give Twin, Double or Queen size bed quilts for these families who are starting over. Be sure to put a label with your name, and perhaps a message of encouragement,on the back of the quilt if possible.
We have donation bins at the front door to drop off donated quilts. We will not receive face-to-face, to protect our staff. Please call us or email if you have questions.
Re our ‘Curbside’ Pickup – Only available if you bring a working cell phone to call us when you arrive, then we will place your package just outside the front door. Thank you for respecting our efforts to keep everyone here safe, i.e. no face-to-face contact for drop-off or pickup.
with Hope for the Future, Luana and Paul
Share Post:
Posted inCharity, Quilts|Comments Off on 2020 Holidays and Silver Linings
To make this 69″ x 69″ canine quilt design, you will start with a 24″ x 44″ central panel, then cut up another panel with puppy vignette blocks. Add in a couple coordinates plus the Puppy Stripe for the border, and you have the ultimate Cute quilt that will invite viewers to gasp “Awwww!” and will bring big happy puppy smiles.
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.
