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.
Today was the first time I saw my mother in person, in six months. She has declined into a wheelchair since I saw her last, but there is still that spark of love and decency that she has had all her life. It was a very bittersweet visit. We sat at opposite ends of an 8 foot table, and so I could not hold her hand or give her a hug when we said goodbye. But we got to look each other in the eye and speak face to face…not over the phone and not over Zoom…so I will take what I can get. When I got back to my car I burst into tears. I know most of you are facing similar challenges, or worse.
Our warehouse is filled with the jeweltones of the Kaffe Collective, so I thought I would share these with you, because they make me happy. The lovely fuzzy bee in the center was photographed at Hidcote Gardens in the Cotswolds, the site of the photo shoot for Kaffe’s book “Quilts in the Cotswolds”. (I visited there while in the UK for the Birmingham UK quilt festival.)
I have had several inquiries as to whether we will organize a comfort quilt project, or other relief project, but the requests are for several different disasters in different states or countries and some of these disasters are still in the early stages where we need to just focus on donating money for the basic needs of survival. I am very aware of what is happening on the West Coast because I have many friends and family affected by the fires. Even the little town where my mom grew up (Molalla, Oregon) was evacuated.
We are of course continuing to donate to relief organizations like Mission of Love, Doctors Without Borders, and Engineers Without Borders. There are environmental and endangered species disasters as well, so we continue to give to the Wild Foundation and the Ocean Conservancy. I have been in touch with my friends from DWB and EWB and also have information about 2 organizations on the ground on the island of Lesbos in Greece where one of the most miserable refugee camps in the world just burned down.
So feel free to write to me and I will let you know in our e-newsletters what we can do together to help those in need. I also suggest that you keep in touch with local quilt guilds in the regions affected by fires, hurricanes and floods, because so many of these guilds are attempting to organize to make quilts for those in need. There is just so much going on now, we are going to focus on sending money while the need is so raw and urgent in terms of basic survival.
We are missing Disneyland, but we can still capture the magic of Mickey Mouse and Fantasia in this week’s exclusive eQuilter Free Quilt Pattern. This beautiful quilt captures the spine-tingling moment that the Sorcerer’s Apprentice discovers his power over all that he surveys.
To make this 58″ x 50″ quilt design, you will start with this Thomas Kinkade digital 36″ x 44″ panel. As you peer into the depth of this idyllic landscape, you’ll see the range of colors and detail are just incredible!
We just received a shipment of this very special Fantasia digital panel so snap it up before it is gone – it is even more stunning in person. This just might be the perfect holiday gift for that favorite Disney fan in your life…
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.
As Summertime come to a close, we pick the last few flowers from our gardens and bring them indoors to enjoy the bittersweet end of the season. Perhaps you have purchased blossoms in Mason jars from the farmers market, as we have, and enjoyed a wild bouquet that includes the last blooming of Summer. The uplifting words at the center of this quilt is a special touch, to be shared with others who enjoy a positive message.
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.
For those of us who have been suffering from high temperatures and wildfires, the idea of chilly weather and a snowy landscape is a welcome reverie. Here in Colorado we had 100 degree weather over the weekend, and the fires were so bad that I was brushing ashes and burnt pine needles out of my hair after being outside for a few minutes. I had a ‘smoker’s cough’ because the smoke from the fires was so bad. However Tuesday morning the temperature dropped to 32 F, and it started snowing this afternoon! Tonight I had to go out at midnight with a broomstick to tap the heavy snow off the leafy tree branches, hoping they will not break from the weight overnight. Summer doesn’t officially end here until September 22, on the Fall Equinox, but tell that to my tomato plants!
So, like this rest of the crazy year, we just have to make the best of it, and see the glass half full if possible. If this crazy snow and cold temps help to put out our wildfires, that is a good thing. I am reading about the wildfires in California and all over the West, and sending you Western neighbors cold snowy wishes. After boiling in 100 degree weather while I visited my mom at the window of her nursing home this weekend, I was thrilled to get a face full of snow as I cleaned off the trees tonight.
So here is a Winter Fantasy Landscape for you to enjoy. These are all Winter, Christmas or Northwoods fabrics we have in stock right now. Remember that these seasonal fabrics are usually hard for us to restock (what they call “One-and-Done” in the industry) so if something here is calling your name, I suggest you snap it up.
A friend of mine had to evacuate with her family because of California wildfires, and she told me 1000 homes were lost in the flames. Sophie was texting with our family in Oregon today, and got some quick news that my brother and family had to evacuate because of a fire. Just now I am reading about a fire near Molalla Oregon, which is the little town where my parents met. I feel like we are not getting this information in the national news, because there is so much other crazy stuff going on. So wherever you are, I hope you are in a safe place with your families. I wish you peace and comfort and safety, and plenty of thread and needles! For those of you whose courage is being tested, I am sending you a big hugs and wishing you a good night’s rest tonight.
Frida is the groundbreaking artist from Mexico who suffered an accident in her youth, had health issues all her life, but still managed to make a stunning body of work that is admired around the world today. The bio-pic about her life (starring Selma Hayek) remains one of our favorite all-time movies. You can see photos taken by Luana at Frida’s house here.
This eQuilter exclusive quilt design makes a 55″ x 67″ quilt…a generous lap/nap quilt or a conversation-starter to hang on your wall. We’ve stocked up on the main Cameo Border print because we know this is going to be a winner! This quilt includes 2 digital Frida prints, 2 Hoffman Hand-Dyes (Shell Pink and Robins Egg Blue) and Kona Solid Black.
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.
As those of you who have spent time in Colorado know…our weather can change very drastically. We are having 99 degree weather over the Labor Day weekend, and they are warning of a first freeze and possible snow on Tuesday night. My tomatoes are finally coming on strong, so I am hoping the weather people are just being dramatic. I had a ‘window visit’ with my mom at the nursing home today, and I was sitting in the sun on the porch dripping sweat. When I got back in the car it was 100 degrees!
Sophie just finished her 2nd week of college – mostly online. They are testing wastewater in the dorms, and 4 of the dorms tested positive for the virus. My neighbor’s son is going to college out of state, and this week 20 students there tested positive but were asymptomatic. So the moral of the story is…wear a mask! Those positive asymptomatic youngsters are out there!
There are many quilt classes and events that have popped up online, and eQuilter is delighted to sign on as a sponsor for these online gatherings like the SAQA Textile Talks. In just a couple weeks the online version of Quilters Take Manhattan will be happening, re-invented as Quilters Take a Moment. I hope you can join us there Sept 25-26. You can find details on our Facebook page or the Quilt Alliance website.
I hope you took a look at our new Imported Japanese Linen prints this week, and also Leslie Tucker Jenison’s ‘Warehouse District’ which includes cottons, linens and quilt backings. It is a wild new world for these alternate fabrics. Our customers are making curtains from large scale brightly printed 108″ quilt backings, and positive/negative garment blocking with linen prints. It is a great time to be home sewing! I am grateful that the manufacturers are brave enough to unleash these wildly creative designers to light up our imaginations!
We are now on Twitter @eQuilterFabrics for those of you who have quit Facebook. I find myself spending more time on Twitter these days, so thought maybe you’d like to meet me there!
You will make this quilt with a large 42″ x 44″ panel that contains the 4 large block vignettes, then add 4 coordinates to piece the Bear Claw blocks in the top and bottom borders.
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.
Yes you guys like to buy lots of black and white and beige and gray…and then you move on to filling out your palette with jeweltones like sapphire and emerald and ruby…but we also carry carry those crazy juicy colors like Kiwi Green and Hot Magenta Pink for those of you who are diving into the adventurous end of the Thread Acquisition Pool. (Come on in, the water’s….a Rainbow!)
When I am having a stressful day (i.e. made the mistake of listening to the news) I get out my studio thread collection (in the eQuilter Classroom …now my quiet creative space) and spend time organizing the colors and tucking in the thread ends. You may recall we adopted a Pandemic Rescue Kitty in the Spring, who was an 8 month old stray from Amarillo Texas. His name is Paco L. Rubin. The L stands for Lips. (Get it? He’s a Paco-Lips.) Anyway he discovered my thread collection at home and pulled out a new spool each night, played with it til it unwound, dragged it upstairs like a dead animal where my dog-who-eats-anything found it…ate it…horked it up. Not exactly a healthy snack for the dog. So, I had to hide my Residential Thread Collection.
If you haven’t listened to my Quilting Arts Podcast yet (on the topic of Color Trends), please do pour a cup of coffee, or a glass of wine, when you have about 45 minutes to learn some secrets of trend forecasting. Vivika and Susan are the hosts and they are so clever and witty. There’s a great story in there about a hot pink blazer! Just look for Quilting Arts Episode #5 wherever you get your podcasts.
In case you missed the Saturday e-newsletter: Our House Dress and MuuMuu patterns are selling out so apparently you guys are all home sewing and lounging in your new MuuMuus and Caftans! By popular request, I added the photo of my mom in her red MuuMuu, on our blog page.
with hope for the future… Luana and Paul
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Escape from the ordinary with this week’s Free Quilt Pattern featuring exclusive wildlife artwork from the Rubin Design Studio. We’ve combined 2 Animal Portrait Block Panels with a Rainbow Zebra digital print from our own eQuilter.com digital-printed collection. Don’t they look fabulous with Jason Yenter’s Border Stripe?
This generous 97″ x 97″ quilt design makes an exciting bed quilt for the conservationist or budding zoologist in your life. The bright jeweltones of the watercolor illustrations are cheerful and hopeful, expressing the exuberance of these beautiful creatures living in the wild. Animals include Tiger, Flamingo, Giraffe, Lion, Koala, Gorilla and Chimpanzee.
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.
