eQuilter Blog

Good morning –  I am writing to you from Birmingham in the UK, where the Festival of Quilts is opening tomorrow. I woke up very early and for some reason checked the BBC and saw the surreal news of the earthquake and possible tsunamis in the Pacific Basin. By the time you read this we will know what waves hit what countries and states, so I am just hoping all of our friends and customers in the potentially affected areas are staying safe.

It brings back memories of the tsunami in Japan on March 11, 2011. In partnership with Mission of Love, we collected 3500 donated comfort quilts that were eventually delivered to a devastated coastal community in Japan.  In the US as the popularity and community of quilters has grown over the decades, we see local quilt groups stepping up to send comfort quilts to local/state disasters such as fires, hurricanes and flooding. These local and state quilt guilds often meet regularly to sew quilts that are destined to be distributed during emergencies. This is part of why we love being part of the quilting community who are so generous and compassionate.

Here in Birmingham, I arrived 2 days early to hand-deliver my quilt for the exhibit, and to take a class. I got to see the first day of setup when I dropped off my quilt, which is always fascinating. A crew of workers were constructing the walls, and another crew of quilt wranglers followed them, sorting and hanging the quilts. Today the exhibiters are setting up their galleries and booths…..here the vendors are in ‘stands’ full of threads, embellishments, patterns, etc. 

Starting Thursday I will be attending the awards ceremony, and then photographing the quilts over the next few days. I look forward to sharing those photos with you soon! There is an army of judges combing through the exhibit today. I had dinner with one of them last night and we always have an interesting conversation comparing quilt festivals on different continents.

I am showing my quilt “Kubota’s Dream” that was made for the Kyoto Quilt Festival. If you are coming to the show, I’ll be spending time with my quilt to meet several of you. It is in the Pictorial category, so look out for the quilt with Mount Fuji!

Friday night I went to the opening reception for Sue Sherman and Ricky Tims at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum in Golden Colorado.

Ricky has a massive exhibit in the main part of the gallery, and all of the pieces are for sale. So go visit the show and maybe pick up your own precious piece of Ricky Tims history. I got a sneak peek of his large quilt that is going to Houston. (*shhh!* – on his phone) I can’t wait to see it in person!

Sue Sherman is an award-winning Canadian quilter who makes art quilts about endangered species. Her dye-painted machine-quilted pieces are in the 2nd gallery, with beautiful lighting that shows the details in her quilts. As you know, show venues don’t always have the best lighting but here with this (eQuilter-sponsored) lighting, you can examine her fine stitch work up close.

I had a special visitor to eQuilter and my studio this week – Renee Fleuranges Valdes is in town as the CQC speaker, so she stopped by for lunch and a visit to my studio. Renee’s storytelling quilts are such a delight. It has been a busy week!

Sunday I am flying to Birmingham UK, hand-carrying my quilt “Kubota’s Dream” for the Festival of Quilts exhibit. I will be there all week, looking forward to a SAQA get-together in the Hilton Lobby Friday after the show.

If you see me at the show, don’t be shy…come up and say hello! I love meeting eQuilter customers and fellow quilters at this show.

Thanks to those of you on Facebook who gave me ideas about a bag to carry my rolled-up quilt on the plane. I ended up getting a ‘replacement bag for folding chair’ that is about 40″ long and 7″ wide. Perfect!

I have 8 quilts out now for shows, and if you’d like to see my work in person in the next few months, you can see the schedules on my artist website on the Exhibits page.

Wow, July is winding down which means kids are going back to school soon. Some of you will be more busy with the school year, and some of you will have more time to quilt. Either way, it is a time of transitions and anticipation. The heat is bearable, knowing that a seasonal change is just around the corner.

My Bernina 790 is having a ‘Spa Day’ while I am on this trip. Many machine techs have a wait list so if your machine is due for a cleaning and annual tuneup, contact your local shop and see if you need to get on that wait list.

sharing your love for fabric,
Luana and Paul

Subscribe to my artist blog here.

Travel/Lecture Dates:
July 27 – Aug 6 – Festival of Quilts, Birmingham UK
Sept 12 – SAQA “Camouflage” reception – Arizona Sonora Desert Museum – Tuscon AZ
Oct 9-12 – Houston Quilt Festival – Soul Stories
Nov 2-6 – Art Quilt Tahoe – Independent Study
Nov 7-10 – Sacred Threads – Indianapolis – Art & Activism lecture
Nov 21-23 – Taiwan Quilt Festival – Taipei

Visit eQuilter’s Instagram, Pinterest or TikTok pages for Color and Design ideas.

See Luana’s Artist Blog, Flickr Photo Pages for travel images, comment on our blog, or follow us on Facebook.

Check out our Video pages for interviews and show reviews.

Last Friday I made a very quick trip to Durango for the opening of the SAQA “Balance” exhibit, and this lovely quilt was hanging next to mine.

I met the artist Nancy Baldwin Woods, and she told me about her piece. It is called “Stick the Landing” and it is from a photo she took at the coastline. In fact she showed me the photo and I enjoyed studying how she had taken the original image and interpreted it for this art quilt. She created the feathers of the birds with various patterns of batiks, which is how I like to work also. I was so delighted that our pieces were hanging side by side….and I recognized many of the batiks as ones we’ve carried here at eQuilter.

Everywhere I travel, I take photos. I take them on my cell phone. I have small and large cameras that hang around my neck or across my shoulder, depending on the subject matter. I post cell phone snapshots on my personal Instagram account, as inspiration from the beauty around me. (Of course, we have eQuilter’s Instagram page as well.) My most inspiring photos go in a big fat digital folder on my laptop labeled “Design”, and my screensaver randomly cycles through about 10,000 images saved over the years. This is often how a new idea will germinate, as my screensaver shows me a different set of random art inspirations every day. Be sure to back up your photo archive!

Do you have an inspiration file? We used to rip pages out of magazines and make mood boards. Today we have so many ways to collect, review and display these images.

Sharing our passion for fabric,
Luana

Subscribe to my artist website.
www.luanarubin.com

Travel/Lecture Dates:
July 27 – Aug 6 – Festival of Quilts, Birmingham UK
Sept 12 – SAQA “Camouflage” reception – Arizona Sonora Desert Museum – Tucson AZ
Oct 9-12 – Houston Quilt Festival – Soul Stories
Nov 2-6 – Art Quilt Tahoe – Independent Study
Nov 7-10 – Sacred Threads – Indianapolis – Art & Activism lecture

Visit eQuilter’s Instagram, Pinterest or TikTok pages for Color and Design ideas.

See Luana’s Flickr Photo Pages for travel images, comment on our blog, or follow us on Facebook.

Check out our Video pages for interviews and show reviews.

It has been a busy and inspiring week here in Colorado. On Wednesday I visited the new studio for Quilting Arts TV. We have been a sponsor (and sometimes guest) since 2008, supporting the growth of the art quilting movement. We hope that this popular PBS show will continue, but we have concerns about recent cuts to funding.

Friday I flew to Durango for the opening reception of the SAQA “Balance” exhibit, and it was delightful to see many of the artists in attendance. SAQA is another organization we have supported for many years, as the art quilt movement has matured into a brilliant fine art movement represented in museums and galleries around the world.

I am happy that my “Stardust Mothers” will be traveling in this exhibit for a couple years, so more of you can hopefully see it in person. As with all textile art, you have to see it in person to see all the details. It will be at the Durango Art Center through August 30.

I’ve had a lot of questions from visitors about the materials and techniques used in my recent art quilts. I’ve been painting Evolon for my background layer, and using a lightweight paper-backed fusible called Gentle Fuse for my fused batik applique. I use the 12″ wide Gentle Fuse in my Silhouette Cameo digital cutting machine, and strips of Misty Fuse to make my quilt ‘sandwich’. If you are coming to the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham in a couple weeks, you can see the Japanese-themed quilt “Kubota’s Dream” which uses all of these techniques.

The Hoffman Challenge fabrics are here, and it is one of my favorite challenge collections: PURPLE BATIKS! You must use 5 fabrics from the challenge collection, to qualify for entry. I am so excited about these beautiful batiks…I plan to make an entry for the first time this year.

Stay cool out there – and keep stitching.

sharing your love for fabric,
Luana and Paul

Subscribe to my artist blog here.

Travel/Lecture Dates:
July 27 – Aug 6 – Festival of Quilts, Birmingham UK
Sept 12 – SAQA “Camouflage” reception – Arizona Sonora Desert Museum – Tuscon AZ
Oct 9-12 – Houston Quilt Festival – Soul Stories
Nov 2-6 – Art Quilt Tahoe – Independent Study
Nov 7-10 – Sacred Threads – Indianapolis – Art & Activism lecture
Nov 21-23 – Taiwan Quilt Festival – Taipei

Visit eQuilter’s Instagram, Pinterest or TikTok pages for Color and Design ideas.

See Luana’s Artist Blog, Flickr Photo Pages for travel images, comment on our blog, or follow us on Facebook.

Check out our Video pages for interviews and show reviews.