This 59″ x 65″ quilt design makes a beautiful Lap/Nap quilt, or hang it on the wall to bring that sense of harmony to any space. You’ll combine this beautiful digital panel with a starry print and 3 Hoffman Hand-Dyes in pieced borders that resemble rippling ocean waves.
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 was a major milestone for our company and our staff – it has been ONE YEAR since we moved into our brand new building! You may recall that we bought the land, designed and built the building, and here we are one year later…the trees and grass are growing, and we are absolutely loving our new location. Many of you have visited for tours and workshops, and we are delighted to share our new digs with you.
Today I am writing to you from our classroom, as we host our Charity Sewing Group. This morning we had a presentation by a group of students from the University of Colorado (Boulder) chapter of Engineers Without Borders. They came to show us a video and photos of their volunteer trip to Nepal this summer, to help install clean water systems in remote mountain villages. They carried our donated comfort quilts to these communities that are inaccessible by jeep (i.e. they backpacked the quilts in for the last part of the journey) and the quilts were presented to those in the village who has the greatest need. Many thanks to EWB – CU!
This week we also hosted a group of licensed artists, many of whom have their artwork printed on fabric which we stock. These artists have had a long road to success, and every story about becoming a licensed designer is different.
I am constantly being asked “How can I become a fabric designer” – to which there is no simple answer and no secret to overnight success. However the quilt industry is putting on a program to help newbies find a way to get a foot in the door – it’s called Threads of Success and this seminar is being held concurrent with Quilt Market Oct 25-28 in Houston. I’ll be mentoring a group of 10 fabric designer wannabes, so if you are interested, you can request to be in my group on Monday.
Tonight Sophie and I are driving down to Southeast Colorado – about a 5 hour drive – to the new Wild Animal Refuge. This is an expansion of the Wild Animal Sanctuary, which rescues captive lions tigers and bears from terrible conditions in garages, basements, trailers and roadside gas station zoos … from people who thought it would be a good idea to have a cub as a pet. Yikes!
eQuilter bought one acre of land for the refuge as part of our charity program, and so we are being invited to take a private tour of the 9000 acre refuge tomorrow as Founders. I will take photos because you are all part of this rescue effort, along with all the other donations that are funded by your eQuilter purchases.
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
Consider using metallic threads to give this additional shimmer. It’s like having a jewel box on your wall, full of sapphires, emeralds, rubies, amethyst, and topaz hues.
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.
There’s a lot going on in the news these days, but I bet many of you were shocked by the report from the Cornell Ornithology Lab that nearly 3 billion birds have disappeared from North America in the last 50 years. More than 90% of the losses (more than 2.5 billion birds) come from just 12 families including the sparrows, blackbirds, warblers, and finches. Even the beloved Red-winged Blackbird has declined by 92 million birds.
I know that our customers care, because you buy so many bird fabrics. We have responded by offering more and more bird prints…so many that we’ve had to split them into 3 categories. (Raptors, Songbirds and Tropical) There are even more birds in the Arctic and Christmas categories.
While I was in the Cotswolds last month (after the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham UK) I spent a couple days out in the English countryside…it was so quiet that I could hear 2 distinctly different streams on the hill beyond my room (one lower pitch, one higher pitch) and I could hear the sheep baaing throughout the night out in the meadows. What really struck me is the variety of birdsong all around me, in the hedgerows, the hillsides, the meadows and the forest. And yet…it was quieter than what I’ve remembered from previous years. There were fewer voices singing.
In my own backyard I’ve noticed fewer birds over the years. Fewer nests, fewer raptors in the skies, fewer robins and bluejays, fewer migrating birds, and no hummingbirds. We do not use toxic pesticides or herbicides around our house, or on our eQuilter property, to protect the birds, the bees, the wildlife, and the people who share these outdoor spaces.
I have friends who are avid birders, who have joined local Audubon clubs, who rush to wetlands and grasslands to catch a glimpse of a rare bird in transit. A bird is a miracle…lifted by gossamer feathers to fly over our heads, leaving us to dream of what it must be to have that kind of freedom.
The beautiful quilt above is by Roxanne Nelson, titled “Technicolor Dream Parrot”. I photographed this Batik quilt at the Quilt Canada Festival in Ottawa in June. I’ve set the quilt in a collage of bird fabrics that we have in stock now. Roxanne has really captured the dazzling plumage of this tropical bird. Trapping wild parrots for the pet trade, has diminished wild populations, with parrots being subjected to more exploitation than any other group of birds.
This week I am making an extra special donation to the Cornell Ornithology Lab to support their important research on bird populations, and so as you buy from our collections of birds, we will support those who have educated us about this staggering loss.
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
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.
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.
We are thinking of our quilter friends, and our Engineers Without Borders/NASA
friends in the Houston area this weekend, with the flooding that has
occurred over the last couple days. We hope you have managed to keep
yourselves safe, and your homes dry.
Yesterday I headed out to the Climate Strike with my Love Your Mother
banner, and was stopped by several people asking where I got my ‘flag’ –
so you never know you might be seeing this at climate marches in the
future. I also know of someone who has made Prayer Flags from our smaller Love Your Mother block panel and I just might have to do that for my front porch! You can see photos of the #loveyourmother quilt exhibit on my photo page.
It was very inspiring to be out with people of all ages –
from little kids in wagons to elders with canes – out peacefully
marching for climate change justice. This morning AOC came to Boulder,
and I got a ticket because Sophie was the sound tech for the event. So
these 2 events in the last 24 hours give me hope that the younger
generation is truly going to get involved with saving the planet. Greta
Thunberg from Sweden is an inspiration to so many.
We know that many of you are passionate about wild animals and wilderness.
This weekend I am going to 2 fundraiser events – Greenwood Wildlife
rescue & rehab that takes in orphaned and injured wildlife – and the
Wild Animal Sanctuary that rescues lions tigers bears and wolves that
have been kept in tiny cages and terrible conditions. Did you know there
are more Tigers
in private captivity than in the wild? This is for situations where
somebody buys a tiger or lion cub to keep chained up in their back yard,
and then realizes it is not such a great idea…and now these animals
live outdoors on acreage, running in the grass and digging in the dirt.
Blissful.
I am excited to have 2 quilts in Houston next month (Polar Bear in the “Endangered Species” exhibit, and my hero portrait of Kathy Price – Mission of Love
– in the “Better World” exhibit.) Even better yet, we are sponsoring 5
categories of quilts this year (!!!) – the “Animals” in IQA, and 4
special exhibits. I’ll be telling you more about these special exhibits
as we get closer to the event. Your support allows us to sponsor
exhibits, contests, and other quilt events around the US and the world.
This 64″ x 71″ quilt design uses 2 panels and 1 large-scale stripe which are richly saturated with color, and then enhanced with opulent gold metallic details. We’ve added one of her blenders, plus a Hoffman Solid Black Hand-Dye from Bali, to make this gorgeous jewel-box of a Cat Quilt just for you!
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 I am bringing you another favorite quilt from the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham UK last month. This is “The Picnic” by Gail Thomas, who lives in British Colombia, Canada.
This figurative quilt depicts the innocence of childhood, and the playful creative qualities that so many of us lose when we ‘grow up’. You can see this quilt in detail on my photo page, in my Birmingham album.
As the heat of summer subsides, and the days are milder, this is a scene we might see in any neighborhood – children playing under the spreading branches of a protective tree. Our neighbors have 2 small children who like to play under the big tree in their front yard, and their playtime today reminded me of this quilt.
I’ve set it in a collage of seasonal prints, including a forest, a field of sunflowers, and falling leaves. We celebrate the coming season of Harvest with fabrics that capture the colors of Autumn. It reminds me of my own kids when they were little….jumping in piles of leaves, gathering armloads of sunflowers, wandering along a forest path dappled with bright sunlight. There are many ways to celebrate our memories, with our quiltmaking.
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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Posted inCreativity, Quilts|Comments Off on Creative Nudge – The Picnic
As Autumn approaches and temperatures cool, we are drawn to the beauty of the outdoors again… as Mother Nature spreads her cloak of golden fiery colors across the landscape. In this week’s Free Quilt Pattern we find a scenic panel with details that remind us of the sounds of rushing water, the whispering of the wind in the trees, and the comfort of our canine companions.
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.
