We have gone down the rabbit hole and it seems we have a long way to fall before this journey is over.
It doesn’t seem like just 2 months ago that Sophie and I were in Tokyo for the Quilt Festival. Now Japan’s cherry blossom festivities and the Tokyo Summer 2020 Olympics have been cancelled. So I wanted to share one of the beautiful quilts from this year’s festival, along with some seasonal Japanese fabrics. This too shall pass. Spring will flow into Summer, and we can only hope that by Fall the world will have returned to some normalcy.
eQuilter remains open at this time, and we are still shipping out orders. As we’ve mentioned the last couple weeks, we are disinfecting, social distancing, washing hands, and following all virus protocols very strictly. The health of our staff remains a priority. We are in touch with the governor’s office and local hospital, working to support local healthcare workers as a collection point for masks.
We are stocking up on requested fabrics for those who are sewing masks and gowns for their local hospitals. We have curbside pickup for local customers, but starting today we also have curbside drop off for those making DIY face masks for local healthcare workers. Many have requested elastic for face masks and we will be restocked in about a week. If there is something you need give us a call or email, and we will try to get it for you.
Despite the current chaos, the Earth will still blossom with Spring flowers as temperatures warm. I hope that you can find time to step outside and go for a walk in Nature, while social distancing. Many of you are sewing masks like crazy but don’t forget to take a break to fill up your soul with the beauty of the season.
If you are sewing face masks for your community, please check out this page where we have gathered lots of information from around the country and around the world regarding the construction of these masks. I’ve been in touch with many doctors and nurses to put together a page which I hope will be of help. Please feel free to share this page with others who are organizing to help those needing PPEs (personal protection equipment) in your community. I am continuously updating this page and it has received over 50K visits in the last few days.
sharing your Passion for Fabric… Luana and Paul
*The red and white quilt “2020” above was photographed by Luana at the Tokyo Quilt Festival in January. The artist’s name is printed in Kanji in the top right corner. The righthand border features Spring fabrics currently in stock. For more photos visit her photo page.
eQuilter Classroom: June 1-5 2020 – Paula Nadelstern – Kaleidoscopes & Quilts – Registration OPEN July 20-23 Betty Busby – Transfer Dyeing August 6-9 – Cindy Lohbeck Returns October 5-9 – Susan Carlson – RESCHEDULED 2021 – Jacqueline de Jonge
Luana’s Travel Calendar: June 19 – Quilt Canada – “Intl Quilt Trends” presentation June 26 – Intl Quilt Museum – Lincoln NE – Opening Reception & Lecture “For the Love of Gaia” July 29 – Aug 2 – “Love Your Mother” Gallery in Birmingham UK (Lecture 8/1) Sept 26 – Quilters Take Manhattan Oct 16-17 – Visions Art Museum – San Diego (Lecture 10/16)
*This page is being updated as needed – SCROLL DOWN for free patterns, VIDEOS and other info!*
Dear Big-Hearted Sewing Friends,
We are now living in a time where a protective face mask must be worn in public to stay safe, combined with social distancing and other health protocols like frequent hand washing. We are now understanding why Asian citizens wear masks in public…it is just common sense!
The majority of Americans now understand the importance of reducing transmission by wearing masks. Many states are under facemask mandates, including here in Colorado.
Many of our customers made hundreds or even thousands of facemasks to be donated to healthcare and other front line workers, then moved on to make masks for Navajo and Lakota reservations, Homeless populations and Low-Income communities. We have worked closely with the Boulder Emergency Taskforce to provide masks for local frontline workers. Now there are calls for masks for students and teachers as the school year approaches. Some of you who lost your jobs have supplemented your income by making masks to sell.
Neck Gaiter Face Masks are becoming more popular. The best are double-layer with an opening for inserting a filter such as Oly-Fun or other nonwoven. Cotton Jersey is used to make these stretchy tubes that are pulled over the face. New links below for easy Neck Gaiter instructions/patterns.
Another concern for the school year is for students playing wind instruments in Band. There are also links below for those needing specialty masks for students blowing on brass and woodwind instruments, and in some cases to also cover the musical instrument’s air exit point(s).
First Responders – EMT, Ambulance, Police and Fire/Emergency workers.
Other Health Care Workers – Senior living facilities, Nursing Homes, Home Care workers.
Government Workers – We are coordinating with the governor’s office to supply those who are still working – making sure our state govt keeps running – including sending out tax refunds. Who is going to work keeping the lights on in your state?
UPS, FedEx and Postal Service delivery employees!
RTD, Lyft, Uber or Via Drivers. Meals on Wheels delivery.
Daycare workers, Foodbank volunteers. Grocery store and cashier staff.
Nursing home residents, homeless communities, prison communities.
Airport, government and construction staff required to stay open during shutdown. Law enforcement and security personnel.
Veterinarian staff, animal shelters and pet boarding services.
Here in the Boulder area we are a collection point, for healthcare workers and government workers who have to work during the pandemic. We are in touch with the governor’s office and Boulder Community Hospital for distribution. You can email me at [email protected] and I can arrange to be a personal collection point on an evening or weekend if you can’t make it to our office during business hours. (Mon – Fri, 7:30 am to 6 pm)
Mask and PPE collection:
eQuilter.com – Boulder Colorado
6201 Spine Rd in Gunbarrel (1/2 block west of 63rd St)
Office Hours – 7:30 am to 6 pm – Monday through Friday
Phone: 303-527-0856
MASKS SAVE LIVES –
Universal mask-wearing is the most overlooked COVID-19 lifesaver
Chart from Bob Huttinga PA – explaining how DIY face masks help:
High thread count cottons like BATIKS and HAND-DYES (and the PFD greige goods for batiks) are more effective than the standard 60×60 greige goods used for quilt cottons. High thread count fabrics in general are best – look for Premium Muslins and Solids with high thread counts. Light colors are preferred by healthcare workers so they can see when the masks are dirty.
Lining masks with flannel or nonwoven fabrics increases the filtering quality. Many mask-making groups are using Pellon Nonwovens (NON-fusible!) and products like Polypropylene (Oly-Fun) for filtering liners.
Elastic will break down in repeated hot/bleached washers/dryers, and many are allergic to the latex in the elastic.
Metal in the operating room is an electrical safety hazard. Metal in the operating room can spark and start a fire.
If the mask is going to someone who will never wear it in an operating room, then it is ok to put in the wire or metal to shape around the nose. Different doctors and hospitals have strong opinions about this, often opposite.
This mask with ties should fit the best for a healthcare worker. Any nurse will tell you that fit of a mask is very important, so you can keep your hands free.
The bindings and ties will contribute to a good mask fit. Hands are full and having to stop to adjust a slipping or gapping mask is awkward and unhygienic.
For all masks, please use clean, tightly-woven cotton fabric on both sides, and sew on a clean work surface. Please place CLEAN face masks in ziplock-style plastic bags for donation.
There is a critical shortage of face masks for health professionals and first-responders. We have been asked to mobilize our community to do what we do best: sew.
I looked at many websites and liked this method best – especially when made with a tie cord instead of elastic (which is becoming hard to get). Also: the tie cord is adjustable therefore more comfortable. She mentions and illustrates it on the YouTube tutorial below. I use floral wire for the nose piece.
Sew It – Cloth Surgical Face Mask Pattern: with Elastic and Wire.
If you want to make masks, this group has a standard, vetted, tested, downloadable pattern, quality control standards, and regional distribution hubs. – Michael K.
How to sew pleated easy mask with elastic, using clips:
How to make a Face Mask from Shruti in India. This is in Hindi but she uses English words and it is a very good visual tutorial. I’ve asked her to do an English version for this page!
Many of you are probably reading this as you are practicing that new phrase – “social distancing” – or even sheltering in place as the coronavirus sweeps over and through our communities.
I am sure many of you have found, if you’ve lived long enough, that you can overcome anxiety and stress by focusing on helping others. That’s what quilters do. We are the ones that Mr. Rogers called The Helpers.
“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.'”
I see on our neighborhood NextDoor app, people offering to help elders who can’t go out to buy food or meds. I see online discussions of neighbors working to solve problems as businesses close down and our communities come to a silent stop. But still there are helpers, whose first thought is to find those who are afraid, suffering, paralyzed by panic…who need someone to say “I’ve got your back”.
As I mentioned in Saturday night’s newsletter, we will continue our online mail-order service as long as we can, but we are protecting our staff by cancelling events, and asking local customers to do curbside pickup instead of coming inside. We have no (known) cases of the virus here, so we are washing hands frequently, disinfecting common surfaces, and limiting our exposure as much as we can.
As always, 2% of sales will go to our charity program, to help those who are impacted by this historic and very surreal event. We send you our love and comfort, and we are here for you if you have special needs while you are undoubtedly sewing and keeping safe at home.
sharing your Passion for Fabric… Luana and Paul
*The miniature quilt above was photographed by Luana at the Tokyo Quilt Festival in January. The artist’s name is printed in Kanji in the lower left corner. The frame features Spring fabrics currently in stock. For more photos visit her photo page.
eQuilter Classroom: June 1-5 2020 – Paula Nadelstern – Kaleidoscopes & Quilts – Registration OPEN July 20-23 Betty Busby – Transfer Dyeing August 6-9 – Cindy Lohbeck Returns October 5-9 – Susan Carlson – RESCHEDULED 2021 – Jacqueline de Jonge
Luana’s Travel Calendar: May 14-15 – Quilt Market – CANCELLED June 19 – Quilt Canada – “Intl Quilt Trends” presentation June 26 – Intl Quilt Museum – Lincoln NE – Opening Reception & Lecture “For the Love of Gaia” July 29 – Aug 2 – “Love Your Mother” Gallery in Birmingham UK (Lecture 8/1) Sept 26 – Quilters Take Manhattan Oct 16-17 – Visions Art Museum – San Diego (Lecture 10/16)
Now seems to be a good time to escape from reality and go for some
meditative Forest Bathing. This Free Quilt Pattern is the next best thing
to going for a walk in Nature. We invite you to open this door and walk out
into a dreamy sunrise landscape…and the stillness of a misty mountain
morning.
You’ll be amazed at how the combination
of a landscape panel, coordinates and hand-dyes creates this inviting and
expansive scenic view. When we look at this quilt, we can almost hear a distant
mountain stream, morning dew dripping from pine needles, and daybreak bird
calls from across the valley.
This 56″ x 62″ quilt design
makes a lovely Lap/Nap quilt, or a peaceful wall hanging for a room where you
like to relax.
What a difference a
week makes. Last week we were reminding you to set your clocks ahead for
Daylight Savings. This week we cannot escape the news about the virus.
Our workshop with Susan
Carlson is on hold, and we are discussing various options including webinar
with “social distancing” in our classroom, or postponement. Several
suppliers have let us know they will not be at Market in May. Many quilt
festivals and other events have been cancelled in the next few months.
We’ve been discussing health protocols with our staff, and teams are
disinfecting common-touch areas twice a day to keep our staff and visitors
safe. We are practicing ‘social distancing’ and washing hands many times a day
so we can continue to process your orders. We will just take this a week at a
time.
Starting this week we will offer curbside pickup for local orders. If you live
locally and wish to save on shipping but not get out of your car to pick up an
order, just let us know when you will arrive and we will bring your package out
to your car for a *quick* hand-off to protect staff and customer.
We know that many of you are staying home to keep safe and healthy from the
virus, and if you are looking on the bright side, it is a fantastic opportunity
to organize your stash, and get lots of sewing done. We are a resilient group
of creative folks, so I know we will channel all that energy in to new projects
that will manifest as an explosion of new quilts and textile art by this Fall.
Quilting is one of the most therapeutic activities I can think of, when the
world outside is crazy.
On my neighborhood Next Door app/site, several folks have offered to help out
however they can – for seniors and those with immune-issues who can’t go out
for food or meds. Local teenagers home because of closed schools, are offering
to help babysit small kids also out of school, for working parents who can’t
take off work. Now is the time to check in on elderly neighbors who live alone,
and continue to call them each day as this shutdown passes through our
communities.
All of the schools and universities are closed here, so we hope that will blunt
the force of the spreading virus. My mom is in a nursing home and they’ve
clamped down on visiting, so I am going to keep working, call her every day,
and pray she can stay safe. Several of the organizations you see on our charity
page, are gearing up to help those affected around the world.
Luana’s Travel Calendar:
May 14-15 – Quilt Market (May 17 – Sophie’s Graduation!)
June 17-21 – Quilt Canada – Edmonton (Lecture 6/19)
June 26 – Intl Quilt Museum – Lincoln NE – Exhibit Opening & Lecture
July 29 – Aug 2 – “Love
Your Mother” in Birmingham UK (Lecture 8/1)
Oct 16-17 – Visions Art Museum – San Diego (Lecture 10/16)
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Are you home quilting during a quarantine-induced Stay-cation? Here’s the perfect Free Quilt Pattern for an extended hibernation while the world outside is in viral chaos. These adorable sleepy bears are just coming out of their long winter nap, hanging out on a tree branch, or sniffing delicate Spring wildflowers.
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.
You will gasp out loud when you see Ira’s artwork in person on this central digital-printed 36″ x 44″ panel…the detail and colors will remind you of the Impressionist Master paintings that we love to visit in the world’s great museums.
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.
This week we are celebrating our 21 year anniversary at eQuilter! In case you are not familiar with the story of our family business, we started the business in the basement of our home, with a little black and white ad in the back of Quilters Newsletter Magazine. I had this idea that I could have a little part time business that I could run out of the basement, and stay home with the kids. However, we had identified a niche of products that was not being provided to the hungry quilters around the world…and the rest is history!
eQuilter is not just an online retailer for quilt fabrics and supplies…we are also a sponsor of quilt exhibits and contests around the world. We support the amazing quilters who create the stunning works of art that are seen at large and small events around the US and the world. Our goal is to inspire and support quilters at every level of their creative development, and to provide those innovative fiber art products that may not be available in a local quilt shop. We advocate for the independent quilt shops in our industry, because if we don’t have those local mom-and-pop quilt shops on Main Street, we don’t have an industry!
All of our kids have worked at our family business, and all of them have traveled to quilt shows with me. Many of you have met our youngest Sophie, when she travels with me to Houston or other quilt festivals. Sophie is graduating from high school in 2 months, and has been accepted into the Music Education program here at CU Boulder. She will come to the opening of my curated exhibit “For the Love of Gaia” at the International Quilt Museum in Lincoln Nebraska on June 26, and she’ll be my gallery helper when we take “Love Your Mother” quilt challenge to the Birmingham UK Festival of Quilts end July. If you come to one of our workshops this summer, she’ll be the classroom attendant.
With your help, our charity program has raised $1.65 million for a variety of non-profits. We give our humble thanks to all of you who have supported this effort, with a special thanks to the quilters who have made and donated comfort quilts for our disaster relief and humanitarian projects with Mission of Love and Engineers Without Borders.
A special thanks to all of our eQuilter staff who keep our warehouse humming, who answer the phones, who wrap your packages and tie them up with a bow. This year we seem to have many new employees with purple, teal and green hair to go with our colorful fabrics!
The world seems to be especially crazy now, but you can count on us to continue to be a reliable source for your creative needs, and we thank you for supporting our dream to be a force for good in the world.
sharing your Passion for Fabric… Luana and Paul
*The beautiful quilt above “I Live On Earth” was photographed by Luana at the Tokyo Quilt Festival in January. The artist’s name is printed in Kanji in the top left corner. For more photos visit her photo page.
eQuilter Classroom: March 28 – Violet Protest & Finish Quilt Tops April 13-15 2020 – Susan Carlson – SOLD OUT June 1-5 2020 – Paula Nadelstern – Kaleidoscopes & Quilts – Registration OPEN July 20-23 Betty Busby – Transfer Dyeing August 6-9 – Cindy Lohbeck Returns 2021 – Jacqueline de Jonge
Luana’s Travel Calendar: May 14-15 – Quilt Market (May 17 – Sophie’s Graduation!) June 19 – Quilt Canada – “Intl Quilt Trends” presentation June 26 – Intl Quilt Museum – Lincoln NE – Opening Reception & Lecture “For the Love of Gaia” July 29 – Aug 2 – “Love Your Mother” Gallery in Birmingham UK (Lecture 8/1) Sept 26 – Quilters Take Manhattan Oct 16-17 – Visions Art Museum – San Diego (Lecture 10/16)
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 hate to tell you
this, but tonight is the start of Daylight Savings Time. Be sure to
“Spring Ahead” and turn your clock ahead one hour tonight when you go
to bed, unless you live in Arizona, Hawaii, or the rest of the world.
We are having a grand time in the classroom this weekend with MJ Kinman, where
students are making her beautiful new Elizabeth
Diamond quilt. To celebrate her workshop, we are launching a new line
of MJ’s Gemstone products: We are producing her Birthstone Fat Quarter Packets
in Hoffman 1895 Hand-Dyes and the results are going to be luscious! Our
first packet is the Diamond, and we’ll be adding a few each week until
we have all 12 Birthstone FQ packets available in Hand-Dyes, to make one giant
gorgeous quilt!
As you may have noticed, the world seems to gone crazy over the coronavirus.
Things like toilet paper and hand sanitizer are sold out, shelves at
supermarkets are empty, and now people are stocking up on things like beans and
rice. I am concerned for my mom who is in a nursing home, but we all have to
take this one week at a time. I have also noticed the quilters seem to be
stocking up on fabric as if they expect to be quarantined! My advice: don’t
forget to stock up on thread
and sewing
machine needles.
Sophie just received her official acceptance letter from CU Boulder: she will
be a Music Education major at our local university here in Boulder, which means
she can come home on weekends to do her laundry. Her two brothers went to CU,
and I also went there long ago, so she’ll be carrying on a family tradition.
Students come from all over the US and from around the world to attend our
beautiful university, and pay crazy out-of-state tuition…so we feel very
lucky to have CU right here in our home town.
eQuilter
Classroom:
March 28 – Charity Sewing Day – Violet Protest Blocks & Finish Quilt Tops
April 13-15 2020 – Susan
Carlson – Sold Out
June 1-5 2020 – Paula
Nadelstern – Kaleidoscopes & Quilts – Registration OPEN
July 20-23 Betty Busby – Transfer Dyeing
August 6-9 – Cindy Lohbeck Returns
Luana’s Travel Calendar:
May 14-15 – Quilt Market (May 17 – Sophie’s Graduation!)
June 17-21 – Quilt Canada – Edmonton (Lecture 6/19)
June 26 – Intl Quilt Museum – Lincoln NE – Exhibit Opening & Lecture
July 29 – Aug 2 – “Love
Your Mother” in Birmingham UK (Lecture 8/1)
Oct 16-17 – Visions Art Museum – San Diego (Lecture 10/16)
