Counting Our Blessings

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Luana

Sewing in the time of COVID-19 – Week 21

As you probably know, the eQuilter Charity Program is one of my favorite things about our business. We’ve been giving 2% of sales to a list of charities for over 20 years, and we are getting close to $1.7 million raised for those in need. Our recipients are carefully vetted and in fact we try to have a close relationship with these groups, so we know how our contributions are put to use. Over the years it has led to some interesting conversations with fascinating people who have led lives that we can only imagine.

Today I had a socially distanced meeting with the founder of Engineers Without Borders, and a retired administrator for Doctors Without Borders. (2 of our 7 charity organizations.) I wanted them to meet because I knew they had so much in common…working with refugees and indigenous people in developing countries…often during outbreaks similar to what the world is experiencing now. Honestly I just wanted to be the fly on the wall while they traded a few stories about trying to help others and stay alive while working on the edge of disaster. I have traveled to 49 countries in my life, but these two have a collection of passport stamps and stories that will never be published but always capture my imagination. It is a gift to know there are people willing to spend time in the most desperate places to help those with no hope. Kathy Pri ce from Mission of Love is another one of those people.

I am thinking of the people of Beirut this weekend, and I know we cannot even comprehend what is happening there in the aftermath. eQuilter is sending donations this week to help with this urgent disaster relief. With your support, together we are a force for good in the world, despite these troubled times.

We have updated our Face Mask Info Page. Many of you have started new businesses making masks. We continue to stock all of the supplies for Covid Mask-making. Just search for ‘Covid’ on our site and you’ll see what we have in stock.

with Hope for the Future,
Luana and Paul

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Free eQuilter Pattern – Ayana Bouquet

Posted on August 7, 2020 by Luana

One of our greatest pleasures as quilters, is the opportunity to collect luscious floral prints, and then spend time making them into beautiful quilts.

This 71″ x 71″ quilt design is based on a collection of lavish florals that bring to mind the 17th and 18th century Dutch still life paintings. These hyper-realistic paintings developed parallel to botanical watercolor illustrations of naturalists, and inspired 18-19th century textile designs. The more you have explored and delighted in art history, the more fun it is to think about the influences that we still see in textile design today.

This Free pattern uses a 42″ x 44″ block panel, a lush Baroque floral, and a coordinating stripe. We’ve added in a Solid Black plus 2 digital stone textures to make this garden fantasy quilt design for you. This digital-printed floral collection has incredible detail and depth…you might have to admire and pet the fabric for awhile before you cut it up!

…from the ‘Ayana Bouquet’ collection by P&B Textiles.

Don’t miss the popular ‘Joy Love Peace‘ and ‘Winter Blessing‘ 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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Summer Bittersweet

Posted on August 5, 2020 by Luana

The news is full of families and teachers making impossible decisions about the start of the school year. Here in Boulder our 2 school districts (K-12) just decided yesterday that the school year will start 100% online. Meanwhile kids everywhere are wondering what happened to Summertime.

In the next few weeks we’ll be harvesting from our gardens, hopefully finding a way to support our local organic farmers, and watching our Fall flowers unfurling in the late Summer light. (Sunflowers, Dahlias and Chrysanthemums) Maybe we will think about planting bulbs, picking apples, or going for a hot air balloon ride on a chilly morning. It is still summer now, but very quickly Autumn will creep up on us and we will find new ways to social distance in yet another season of this strange year.

I find solace in the turning of the seasons, at a time like this. My rosebushes will put forth one more explosion of color, we’ll have that first chilly breezy evening that feels like Fall, then before you know it we’ll be bringing out the extra quilt to layer on our beds. This year we are not making quilts and pies to enter at the County Fair. We will not have an end-of-summer neighborhood street party. But we are thinking of our friends who live alone, and calling them to make sure they are ok. We are baking for the family who has lost their income and have mouths to feed. We are still sewing facemasks to sell or give away. We are discovering parts of ourselves that we never knew existed, and there is the hidden treasure in the midst of these troubled times.

Through it all, I find I must create every day to maintain my mental health. We hope that in some small way, by supporting your creativity, we can help many of you to find your way from Summer to Fall with a full heart and a clear head.

with hope for the future…
Luana and Paul

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Free eQuilter Pattern – Call of the Wild Winter Owl

Posted on August 4, 2020 by Luana

Enter the shimmering silence of a snowy forest, where chirps of migrating birds and the hooting of owls is muffled by falling snowflakes. This week’s Free Quilt Pattern features a breathtaking scene that our bird-watchers will adore.

To make this 64″ x 52″ quilt you will start with the exquisitely detailed 30″ x 44″ digital panel with a Barred Owl and a songbird sharing a bare tree branch. Add a Stonehenge Gradation and 4 Hoffman Hand-Dyes for a pieced border that matches the subtle tones of this hushed Winter landscape.

…from the ‘Call of the Wild’ collection by Hoffman Fabrics.

Don’t miss the popular ‘Joy Love Peace‘ and ‘Winter Blessing‘ 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 – Week 20

Posted on August 1, 2020 by Luana

If this was a normal time, Sophie and I would have been in Birmingham UK for the Festival of Quilts this week. We had a gallery space to exhibit our “Love Your Mother” quilt project, and it was to be the final exhibition of these quilts. Instead they have all been sent home to the artists, or their new owners.

We send our hearty congratulations to Canadian quilter Kathy Wylie who continues to win awards and fans at quilt festivals around the world. She has won Best of Show at the virtual Festival of Quilts (online this year, instead of in Birmingham UK) and it is well deserved. Not only have I seen this amazing quilt up close and personal, we also have the Northcott collection that was made from her incredible quilt! So you can snap up a piece of quilt history this week before it sells out.

I know that many of you attended the virtual opening reception for my latest project “For the Love of Gaia“, and if not please watch the video recording when you have an hour to see these beautiful quilts in a virtual gallery, and to hear the artists speak about their work.

This week the International Quilt Museum in Lincoln Nebraska is opening up with the Love of Gaia exhibit, plus a Nancy Crow exhibit of her Monoprint quilts. I saw these quilts a few years ago in Birmingham, and it was a fascinating counterpoint to the pieced quilts we think of when we hear ‘Nancy Crow’.

This last week I had the honor and pleasure of being interviewed on the new Quilting Arts Podcast, on the top of Color Trends. It will be airing August 19th, so keep an eye out for this new podcast for creative quilters! (I’ll share the link as soon as it is available.)

Also, I have updated our Face Mask Info Page. As this pandemic continues, the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of Face Masks continues to evolve. They are becoming ubiquitous around the world now, which means those of us who sew have discovered our superpower and suddenly are very popular with friends who need masks. Many of you have started new businesses making masks from our colorful fabrics, especially the novelty prints for specialty masks. We continue to stock all of the supplies for Covid Mask-making. Just search for ‘Covid’ on our site and you’ll see what we have in stock.

with Hope for the Future,
Luana and Paul

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Confessions of an Italophile

Posted on July 29, 2020 by Luana

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been obsessed with Italy. If there is such a thing as past lives, I had more than one there. At 12 years old I got ahold of a copy of The Agony and the Ecstasy (Michelangelo Bio) and read it until the pages tattered and the cover fell off. I tried to take Latin in 9th grade but it was cancelled that year. I wanted to sign up for an Italian art history exchange program my senior year but my parents got divorced so that fantasy was smashed. But still, I read about Italian history, cooked Italian food, studied Italian art, listened to Italian opera. When I finally saw The David in person, I cried.

I didn’t make it to Italy until my early 40s, but I’ve returned many times, and have some very special friendships there. My adoration of Venice transcends the crowds of tourists. I’ve wandered the streets without a map until I am utterly lost, and then walked into a local restaurant at the end of a maze, and shared a meal with a family who spoke no English. That was on a trip I took 3 years ago, to photograph Carnival. That was one of those dream trips of a lifetime and I am still processing the visual treasures I brought home.

So this week I am just sharing 2 kinds of eye candy – this new collection from Kaufman that just blew me away when I first saw it at Quilt Market – and I also invite you to visit my photo page from Venice.

You may have heard about how dolphins and jellyfish have been seen in the clear quiet waters of the Grand Canal during the pandemic. On one of my visits there, we saw George Clooney’s wedding party in tuxes and evening gowns zooming up the Grand Canal, being chased by several smaller boats full of paparazzi and their mega-cameras. Timing is everything.

I hope you enjoy looking at this extraordinary Venice-inspired fabric collection, and my photos from Venezia!

A shout-out to our top-selling thread Aurifil that is made just outside Milan Italy…their factory is up and running again so there is hope we will all get through this pandemic!

If you’d like to keep going with my photo collection, pour a glass of Montepulciano and visit my photo album page.

with hope for the future…
Luana and Paul

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Free eQuilter Pattern – Joy Love Peace

Posted on July 28, 2020 by Luana

Peace, Love and Joy….
Words to heal the Soul.

This week’s Free Exclusive Quilt Pattern is a dramatic retelling of the Nativity Story, with Musical Angels, the 3 Wise Men, a beautiful Manger Scene, and the town of Bethlehem. The entire collection is enriched with accents of Gold Metallic.

To make this 64″ x 64″ quilt design you will use the main panel with golden words, plus an panel of Angel Blocks, and a coordinating silhouette scenic stripe. Add in a rich blue and gold Renaissance scroll, a starry sky coordinate, and you have a stunning wall hanging or lap quilt that makes a beautiful holiday gift for a loved one or your local church.

…from the ‘Silent Night’ collection by Color Principle for Henry Glass & Co.

Don’t miss the popular ‘Winter Blessing‘ and ‘Fireside Kittens‘ 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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Spirit Animal is a Turkey

Posted on July 27, 2020 by Luana

Sewing in the time of COVID-19 – Week 19

It seems like every week now we are faced with making decisions about the New Normal…and you better not get used to that New Normal because it will change again in a couple weeks! This week we had to make difficult decisions about Sophie’s freshman year of college here at CU Boulder. We decided that she will not move into the dorms, but will live at home. She will take almost all credits online, only going once a week for orchestra practice. I do not envy the administrators, teachers and professors having to make big decisions for themselves and their students as we approach the start of this school year.

I had a great visit with Mom through the glass door today. She was a lot brighter and more like herself, so that was a relief and a mood-lifter. After our visit I encountered a mother deer and her twin fawns which felt like a blessing from Mother Earth. I turned a corner to follow them, and watched them munching on someone’s flower garden for awhile, until they wandered deeper into the neighborhood. A few days ago Sophie and I spotted a wild turkey in the foothills, and that felt very special also. (First time I’ve seen one in Boulder.) We had a laugh, that our Spirit Animal for the week was a turkey!

While driving home, I heard a story on NPR that made me smile. It was about baseball teams that are playing games with masks, with piped-in crowd cheers, and cardboard cutouts of fans in the otherwise empty stands. Then they interviewed a guy who had paid the $49 to send in his photo (dressed in his Oakland fangear) so he could sort of be in the stands as a custom cardboard cutout.

That’s what we are all trying to do – to be present and have even a small sense of participation and normalcy while we stay safe for our families and communities. We are saying no to summer travel plans and out-of-state houseguests, we are baking our own bread, buying eggs from the neighbor with chickens, supporting local restaurants with curbside pickup, and otherwise just trying to find a way to get through this by treasuring what we DO have instead of focusing on what we’ve lost, or what we have to put aside for the next few months. As long as we still have our sense of humor, we are wealthy indeed.

with Hope for the Future,
Luana and Paul

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Free Quilt Pattern – Serengeti Safari

Posted on July 24, 2020 by Luana

You’ve made it clear that you are WILD about Dan Morris’s ‘Serengeti’ collection, because we got wiped out in the first shipment! We’ve just received a 2nd shipment so we wanted to give you the chance to snap it up and perhaps take advantage of this gorgeous eQuilter exclusive Free Quilt Pattern.

To make this 66″ x 66″ quilt design, you will use the 36″ x 44″ Block Panel, plus the Stripe (for the engineered border), 3 ‘skin’ blender coordinates, and a Hoffman Hand-Dye. We just love the lush colors and textures of this African Wildlife collection. It may be hard to cut into these fabrics, but we know you can do it!

We’ve known Dan for 20 years, and he is one of our favorite artists.
Check out his designer category and you’ll see why.

…from the ‘Serengeti’ collection by Dan Morris for Quilting Treasures.

Don’t miss the popular ‘Arctic Wonders‘ and ‘Heaven and Earth‘ 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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Dance Like Nobody’s Watching

Posted on July 24, 2020 by Luana

Dance like there’s nobody watching,
Love like you’ll never be hurt,
Sing like there’s nobody listening,
And live like it’s Heaven on Earth.

? William W. Purkey

I am sure you have heard this quote before. It urges us to just get over it, and let loose. The only guarantee we have in this life…is Today. So show up for Life every day, and stop worrying about the past and the future. The only guarantee we have is that we own this moment. As artists and makers, we love to dive into this moment for hours, and days at a time. It rejuvenates us, just as 8 hours of sleep heals and repairs our body at night.

At times like this it is very easy to get sucked into the Black Hole of worry about the future. I learned a new word this week – “doom-scrolling” – which is the Urban Dictionary describes as:

‘Scrolling through all of your social media feeds, looking for the most recent upsetting news about the latest catastrophe. The amount of time spent doing this is directly proportional to how much worse you’re going to feel after you’re done.’

I watch the news carefully and I review all the new information every night, because I am responsible for keeping a lot of people safe. But as the weeks and months drag on, it is exhausting. We need some moments of respite. Sound familiar?

So I’d like to invite you to partake of Joy-Scrolling on eQuilter. Consider us your own private art gallery where you can scroll and enjoy visual delights as long as you like. We do receive emails from customers who admit that they do this every week to take a break from the news and soothe their nerves.

You can also Joy-Scroll through my photo pages, and review images of quilts from Tokyo and QuiltCon earlier this year. It is my pleasure to share these images with you. Settle in with a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, and enjoy!

The image above features a dynamic art quilt from the Tokyo Quilt Festival, featuring African dancers and imported African large-scale prints. I’ve set it in a framed collage of dots, stripes and geometric prints that express ‘Joy’ for me. (A photo of the Japanese artist’s name is inset.)

I know that working with art, color and fabric (while listening to music and maybe doing a little salsa dancing) is what lowers my blood pressure and clears my head. We sincerely hope that you are able to find Joy in your sewing and quilt-making during these troubled times.

Sending you big hugs and love from Boulder Colorado…
Luana and Paul

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