Free eQuilter Pattern – Valkyrie

Posted on September 9, 2019 by Luana

You might need to turn on ‘Flight of the Valkyries‘ by Wagner (from the opera Die Walkure from the Ring Cycle) to fully appreciate this one!

On a Monday morning when you prepare yourself to face the week, this Norse Goddess-Warrior will help you to pick up your Flaming Shield and Sword of Truth, and venture out into a challenging world. If you’ve seen the superhero movies about Thor and Asgard, you’ve met some of the Nordic mythic characters with magical swords, drawing energy from the powers of the Universe.

This exclusive eQuilter Free Quilt Design features our own digital-printed central panel, with a Viking Shaman-Warrioress and a stone castle backdrop. We’ve combined the panel with Stonehenge textures, a digital printed flame, and a Hoffman Hand-dye, to create a pieced border for this striking portrait quilt.

Hang this 50″ x 61″ quilt on the wall to inspire your Inner Superhero, or use it as a Lap or Nap quilt for your own superpower dreams.

… featuring the ‘Mythology’ collection by the Rubin Design Studio, designed exclusively for eQuilter.

Don’t miss the popular ‘Raven Moon‘ and ‘Lovable Labradors‘ 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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Our Brand is Compassion

Posted on September 9, 2019 by Luana

20 years ago, after leaving the fashion industry, I started this business with my husband Paul, because I fell in love with big-hearted quilters and the quilting industry.

Quilters are still one of the most generous and compassionate group of people I have ever met. Our charity program was inspired by your altruism, and together we’ve built a philanthropic force that saves lives and fights for the environment. Does that sound good to you? Then this is the place for you.

Last week I was contacted by one of our customers in Australia. She was touched by a story I posted on my Facebook page. She wanted to donate purchased fabric for a Catholic community that is housing migrants on the border, that is making quilts for these families. We are adding to her purchase and filling up a box to go to these quilters at the Kino Border Initiative. If you live in the Nogales AZ area, perhaps you would like to help them?

Quilters are asking us if they can make quilts for the Bahamas. Honestly what these people need now is life-saving disaster relief…food water clothing medicine and temporary housing. I am contacting our relief partners and seeing who has a reputable contact who we can work with because the recovery will go on for a long time.

This week my “Mothers of the World” quilt was installed at the Peace Tech Lab, part of the US Institute of Peace in Washington DC. Many thanks to Lisa Ellis and Barbara Hollinger from Sacred Threads, who took on the installation project for me! Our Charity Sewing Group is making quilts for a Peace Tech Lab project in India. We are making sleeping mats for teenage girls who sleep on slabs of cardboard in a Mumbai slum.

Yesterday I went to downtown Denver to speak at a formal EPA hearing about worsening air quality and ozone levels in the Denver/Front Range area. You can read about this on my personal Facebook page. I speak on behalf of all those who have respiratory issues due to air pollution.

In addition to the 7 charities list on your checkout page, we also give money to special projects such as hurricane disaster relief. Our comfort quilt projects (in partnership with Mission of Love, Engineers Without Borders, and many quilt guilds) have distributed over 14,000 quilts to those in need over the last 20 years. Will you join us?

Thank you for telling your friends about our charitable projects – we appreciate your support!

sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul

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Free eQuilter Pattern – Christmas Delivery

Posted on September 6, 2019 by Luana

Our exclusive eQuilter Free Quilt Pattern tells a delightful story this week – of walking out in the crisp air, snow crunching beneath your feet, to find a holiday mailbox stuffed with packages and Christmas cards! The house and the white picket fence are decorated with pine boughs and red bows, a red cardinal perches in the foreground, and smoke curls invitingly from the chimney. Surely Santa must be coming soon!

This 51″ x 65″ quilt design makes a festive wall hanging, or you can use a Flannel Backing for a snuggly lap quilt. We just love this cheerful scene, digital printed in a 27″ x 44″ panel. We’ve added in a jewel-tone hand-dye, metallic holiday coordinates, and other blenders to bring this story alive. Christmas will be here before you know it!

… featuring the ‘Christmas Delivery’ collection by Ruth Saunderson for Northcott Fabrics.

Don’t miss the popular ‘Raven Moon‘ and ‘Lovable Labradors‘ quilt patterns!

https://www.equilter.com/pattern/1131/christmas-delivery?fn=pa_20190905193500Order 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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Creative Nudge – Ode to a Spiral

Posted on September 4, 2019 by Luana

Tonight in the US many of us are either riding out a giant hurricane, or glued to a news source, watching for updates on the storm. We have a several good friends on the east coast of Florida whom I hope are keeping safe. I keep watching the animation of the Cyclone Spiral, fascinated by the spinning colors, hoping everyone will be ok in the morning.

I watch with empathy, because I rode out a big typhoon in 1983 in Hong Kong. The highest hurricane signal Number 10 was hoisted for 8 hours, but as I recall the howling winds, rocking of the building, and smashing of objects outside lasted longer. The storm tried to suck our air conditioner out of the wall, so we had to take turns hanging onto the metal box. Our neighbor’s air con got sucked out, flew past our window, and smashed a car below. It was a loooong night.

Spirals occur in Nature, large and small, and can be beautifully delicate. From the unwinding curl of a fern frond, to the unfathomable spiral of a distant galaxy, we are surrounded by the motion of spirals. The geometric perfection of the Fibonacci spiral, and the chaotic spiral of the hurricane, are all part of the force of Nature. I love the tight spiral one sees in the inner petals of a rosebud, holding the secret story of the blossom within its coiled pages.

Tonight Dorian is telling a different kind of story, and we hope the peaceful end of this tale will come soon for those in the storm’s path.

sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul

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eQuilter Classroom:
Sept 13-15 – Cas Holmes – FRCQ Workshop
Sept 28 – 10 am to 4 pm – Charity Sewing Day
Oct 8-10 – Jacqueline de Jonge – Enchanting Stars & Dream Flight – Registration OPEN
April 13-15 2020 – Susan Carlson
June 1-5 2020 – Paula Nadelstern

Luana’s Travel Calendar:
Oct 16-22 – Winnipeg & Churchill, Manitoba Canada
Oct 25-31 – Quilt Market & Festival – Houston
Nov 13-17 – Color Marketing Group – Tuscon AZ
Jan 24-29, 2020 – Tokyo Quilt Festival – 1 day with Lisa Walton’s Japan Tour

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Free eQuilter Pattern – Garden Grandeur

Posted on September 3, 2019 by Luana

Capture the essence of a Spring Garden with this fabulously creative Windowpane quilt, which we are offering on this holiday as a Free Quilt Pattern.

Best of all this is a Full size bed quilt – 79″ x 87″ – so you’ll be able to sleep under this masterpiece when it is finished!

The central ‘Peony Spring Landscape‘ panel is one of our all-time bestsellers, so we’ve combined this with coordinating collection prints, plus Hoffman hand-dyes and a Timeless Treasures white-on-white Butterfly print that gives this quilt a real ‘WOW’ factor.

Add your own special stitching details – perhaps freemotion quilting around the Peonies and landscape details? … from our collection of colorful threads.

… featuring the ‘Garden Grandeur’ collection by Ivy Lane for Quilting Treasures.

Don’t miss the popular ‘Ruff Life‘ and ‘Northern Light Wolves‘ 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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Free eQuilter Pattern – Instrumental Harmony

Posted on September 3, 2019 by Luana

Music is a universal language that reaches across all borders.

This Free Quilt Pattern for the Labor Day Weekend features the gorgeous artwork of Dan Morris, with beautiful layers of texture and color that add to the dimension and romance of this harmonious visual composition. As you examine the brilliant fabric designs closely, you will see more delightful details jumping out, like the tiny notes inscribed on the ivory piano keys.

You will start off cutting apart a panel full of 8 musical instrument blocks, then add in the coordinates from this collection. The generous 68″ x 83″ quilt design will bring sweet musical dreams to the lucky music lover who sleeps beneath it’s cover, or perhaps it will make a fabulous wall hanging for a beloved music teacher or an orchestra’s rehearsal space.

… featuring the ‘Fine Tuning’ collection by Dan Morris for Quilting Treasures.

Don’t miss the popular ‘Love is Adoring Animals‘ and ‘Wolf Moon‘ 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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A Time to Sew

Posted on September 3, 2019 by Luana

The long Labor Day weekend is always a great time to organize your stash, your work space or studio, and take stock of notions like needles and thread for the upcoming sewing season. I’ve noticed the traffic has gotten so bad on these long holiday weekends, I’d rather just stay home and sew! Today I finally got my office (mostly) cleaned up, after a very busy summer. Do you have some time to spend playing with fabric over this long weekend?

We are watching Dorian move towards Florida, and hoping the hurricane will make a turn and head out to sea. We have lots of special friends in Florida and we’ll be watching and hoping you all stay safe.

Part of my life story is that I lived in Hong Kong in the early 80s, and when China said they were taking back the colony, I was part of a huge wave of expats who left. (I moved to New York to work on 7th Ave.) The things we feared are now happening there. It is quite surreal.

We hope you all have a safe and happy long weekend, hopefully with time to organize your fabric stash, get in some time on your latest project, and make plans for the upcoming cooler (quilting!) season. I hope that this week’s gorgeous new fabrics fill your heart and mind with inspiration.

Thank you for telling your friends about our online fabric service – we appreciate your support!

sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul

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Luana’s Travel Calendar:
Oct 16-22 – Winnipeg & Churchill, Manitoba Canada
Oct 25-31 – Quilt Market & Festival – Houston
Nov 13-17 – Color Marketing Group – Tuscon AZ
Jan 24-29, 2020 – Tokyo Quilt Festival – 1 day with Lisa Walton’s Japan Tour

eQuilter Classroom:
Sept 13-15 – Cas Holmes – FRCQ Workshop
Sept 28 – 10 am to 4 pm – Charity Sewing Day
Oct 8-10 – Jacqueline de Jonge – Enchanting Stars & Dream Flight – Registration OPEN
April 13-15 2020 – Susan Carlson
June 1-5 2020 – Paula Nadelstern

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Free eQuilter Pattern – Raven Moon

Posted on August 30, 2019 by Luana

If creepy Victorian birdhouses occupied by clever Ravens with lots of personality is your thing…
you are going to love this week’s eccentric and very exclusive eQuilter Free Quilt Pattern. If Edgar Allen Poe was still around, he’d have this hanging on the wall of his writing studio.

This 46″ x 64″ quilt design is based on 2 digital-printed panels – one large birdhouse scenic – and another panel with multiple blocks. We have noticed that most Halloween prints these days are for kids, so we wanted to offer a more sophisticated quilt design for our more bookish nerdy fans who like things like Steampunk, Gothic Romance, and probably have Mary Shelley and Charles Dickens mixed up in a pile on their side table.

The Full Moon’s light reflecting off the Ravens’ iridescent feathers give this an other-worldly ambiance, and the silhouettes of black tree branches complete the eerie atmosphere. And the best part … there’s still time to make this for Halloween!

… featuring the ‘Raven Moon’ collection by Lynnea Washburn for Robert Kaufman Fabrics.

Don’t miss the popular ‘Love is Adoring Animals‘ and ‘Wolf Moon‘ 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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Creative Nudge – Kaffe and the Cotswolds

Posted on August 28, 2019 by Luana

A few weeks ago I was at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham UK, taking photos to share with our eQuilter customers. I added on a couple days in the Cotswolds, visited Hidcote Manor Gardens, then returned home to find out that is where Kaffe Fassett’s new book was photographed!

So here is some Garden-themed eye candy, starting with Jeanette Orr’s gorgeous quilt, “The Dragonfly”. The tiny bright applique shapes on a dark background really make the flowers “pop”, don’t you think? The overall effect is of stained glass, and the dragonfly really glows on the soft background.

If you have Kaffe’s new book in hand already, you can look through my Hidcote Garden photos now, and get a little more sense of what the estate and grounds are like. It is the most famous garden tour in the area where I stayed. I was there on a Sunday and by midday the gardens were packed! But I was still able to get close to some lovely fuzzy yellow bumblebees.

This new book features Kaffe’s signature bright quilts and fabrics against a rich green backdrop, and the rustic stone and wood of the garden’s architecture. The 17th century manor house is built from the famous Cotswold golden limestone, and the garden is one of the best-known and most influential Arts and Crafts gardens in Britain.

Here’s a video that I made with Kaffe and Brandon a few years ago in Birmingham, and another video with young Sophie interviewing Kaffe and Liza in Houston. We love to hear Kaffe’s timeless comments about Color and Design!

Thank you for telling your friends about our online fabric service – we appreciate your support!

sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul

****************

eQuilter Classroom:
Sept 13-15 – Cas Holmes – FRCQ Workshop
Sept 28 – 10 am to 4 pm – Charity Sewing Day
Oct 8-10 – Jacqueline de Jonge – Enchanting Stars & Dream Flight – Registration OPEN
April 13-15 2020 – Susan Carlson
June 1-5 2020 – Paula Nadelstern

Luana’s Travel Calendar:
Oct 16-22 – Winnipeg & Churchill, Manitoba Canada
Oct 25-31 – Quilt Market & Festival – Houston
Nov 13-17 – Color Marketing Group – Tuscon AZ
Jan 24-29, 2020 – Tokyo Quilt Festival – 1 day with Lisa Walton’s Japan Tour

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Great Minds Think Alike…?

Posted on August 26, 2019 by Luana

Just a 3 weeks ago I was in England, photographing the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, and then I snuck off to the Cotswolds (an hour away) for a couple days of Nature Walks and Forest Bathing. One of the days I hired a car and went to a famous estate garden. Guess what? When I got home and got my copy of Kaffe Fassett’s new book ‘Quilts in the Cotswolds’, it was photographed in that same garden I visited that day…Hidcote Gardens. So for those of you who have bought this beautiful book, I am posting more photos of the gardens (and the Cotswolds) this weekend, so you can further enjoy the beauty of this historic garden.

I saw Kaffe and Brandon several times in Birmingham, but I swear we never talked about Hidcote Gardens! What are the chances? Anyway I thought that was a cool coincidence, and I hope you enjoy the photos.

We had another Charity Sewing Day in the eQuilter classroom today – and had a delightful time with the ladies. I’ve posted photos on my Facebook page and the eQuilter FB page. Our next sewing day is Saturday September 28.

Thank you for telling your friends about our online fabric service – we appreciate your support!

sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul

********

Luana’s Travel Calendar:
Oct 16-22 – Winnipeg & Churchill, Manitoba Canada
Oct 25-31 – Quilt Market & Festival – Houston
Nov 13-17 – Color Marketing Group – Tuscon AZ
Jan 24-29, 2020 – Tokyo Quilt Festival – 1 day with Lisa Walton’s Japan Tour

eQuilter Classroom:
Sept 13-15 – Cas Holmes – FRCQ Workshop
Sept 28 – 10 am to 4 pm – Charity Sewing Day
Oct 8-10 – Jacqueline de Jonge – Enchanting Stars & Dream Flight – Registration OPEN
April 13-15 2020 – Susan Carlson
June 1-5 2020 – Paula Nadelstern

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