eQuilter Blog

The first day of summer arrived with a record-breaking heat wave yesterday – it was 100 degrees when I arrived back home from the quilt festival in Toronto.

In fact the Best of Show at Quilt Canada was a fire-themed quilt, about how the forest renews after a fire. I think the forest recovers a little faster in Canada due to the rainfall. Our burn areas in Colorado remain scarred for decades. There was another quilt about fire in the SAQA “Renewal” gallery in the show. I’ll be editing and posting photos of these quilts over the next week, on my photo pages.

I was very happy to have Global Entry going through US customs in Toronto. There were about 1000 people waiting in the regular line, and I saw people running to catch their flights afterwards. I would say that is not the norm, compared to my previous trips to Toronto. It is a good time to apply for Global Entry if you are traveling abroad this year.

Speaking of which, I am very excited to have my Mt Fuji-themed quilt going to the Birmingham UK show this year. I hope to see many of my friends from UK and Europe at this show in about a month. I’ll be staying at the Hilton Metropole this time. If you just hang out in the lobby during the Festival of Quilts, you see all kinds of quilters there. There is often a LOTR/Fantasy or Comic-Con event in the hotel on that weekend, and almost every time I’ve been there, we enjoy people-watching an Indian wedding on Saturday night with lots of lovely ladies in their colorful saris.

Can you believe our daughter Sophie Quinn is turning 23 this week?!? For those of you who have followed our family business for all these years, I know you will celebrate that this little foundling baby has grown up to be such an amazing young woman. (Many of you remember her appearances on Quilting Arts TV with Pokey Bolton) She is finishing her degree in Music Education at MSU Denver, and works for the Colorado Symphony in Patron Services at the DCPA. Thanks to her, we got excellent seats to the Andrea Bocelli concert last Tuesday. Lucky me!

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” opening – Arizona Sonora Desert Museum – Tucson AZ
Oct 9-12 – Houston Quilt Festival
Nov 2-6 – Art Quilt Tahoe
Nov 7-10 – Sacred Threads – Indianapolis

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.

As you read this, I am on my way to Toronto for Quilt Canada. For many years I have traveled to this show to photograph the amazing Canadian quilts, many of which come to the US and win big awards later in the year. There is so much talent up North, and I guess having a long winter with lots of ‘indoor time’ to sew, doesn’t hurt either.

This week I am sharing the work of award-winning artist Kestrel Michaud, whose latest work is featured at the entrance of the Quilt National exhibit, at the Dairy Barn in Athens Ohio. If you can go see this exhibit in person, I urge you to make the trip!

Kestrel has won lots of top awards in the last year, and when you see her work in person you will understand why. She has a unique method of quilt design and construction, with thousands of little pieces that are cut out on a digital cutting machine. In the meantime we have limited copies of the show book for our eQuilter customers.

This piece is 36″ x 48″, and is titled “Echoes of Time and Magic”

Artist Statement:
“Three modern day explorers have discovered an ancient device in the frozen North. They’re excited to have made such a discovery, but they don’t yet know the significance. In my steampunk world, humans have harnessed steam to power their society because they lack the ability to use arcane energy. This machine extracts arcane energy from magic-infused crystals, allowing magic to be used as an energy source. This device is going to completely revolutionize ‘modern’ steampunk society. It won’t be an easy transition; a war will be fought for control of this machine. the red sunrise foreshadows that coming conflict.”

It sounds like Kestrel’s next career could be sci-fi steampunk novelist!

For those of you playing around with digital cutting machines, we stock a 12″ fusible by the yard which works great with fabric you are cutting on these machines. I am experimenting with this on my Silhouette Cameo digital cutting machine.

We also carry the wool/rayon felt batting that Kestrel uses – available in 2 widths – by the yard. We carry 3 neutral colors, and also offer a sample packet. I also used this wool felt batting in my “Uncompahgre Fritillary” quilt, traveling now in the SAQA “Camouflage” exhibit.

Sharing our passion for fabric…..
Luana and Paul

Subscribe to my artist website.
www.luanarubin.com – New Blog Post about the Kyoto Quilt Festival!

Travel/Lecture Dates:
June 18-20 – Quilt Canada – Toronto Ontario
July 18 – SAQA “Camouflage” opening – Arizona Sonora Desert Museum – Tucson AZ
July 31 – Aug 3 – Festival of Quilts, Birmingham UK

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.

Color is Emotion.

We unconsciously choose colors in our projects…often from a subliminal context of curiosity, desire, fear, joy or courage.

How do we extricate ourselves from this veiled context, to chart conscious new paths of color and design?

Taking photos, capturing images that grab your imagination, exposing yourself to art and design…is a daily practice. One version of this is the Artist Date suggested by Julia Cameron in her classic book, The Artist’s Way. But in addition to going out to museums, galleries, etc….we have a limitless resource of images that we can visit online and save for our own inspiration files.

When I started out as a fashion designer, we would prepare a Mood Board for each new seasonal collection. These days we have so much exposure to images, we can develop a digital reference folder with an almost infinite depth of visual stimulation.

I have been saving striking images for decades now, and my screen saver is a random art show through over 10,000 saved images. Do you save images of quilts, art, color and design as well? How do you use these as a tool for creative stimulation?

Paging through magazines is an obvious method of inspiration. We are lucky that we still have so many beautiful magazines and colorful books being published, to fill our eyes and brains with exciting ideas. As much as we love digital images, we as quilters still love the tactile pleasure of glossy full color pages.

When an image grabs you by the heart, what emotion is it touching? When quilt design or a color combination touches you deeply, do you make a conscious note to identify what it is you love? How can you take that piece to your next project? Keep a notebook, or even a sketchbook, where you take notes as you are exposed to all the art, color and design that surrounds us every day.

As you input a constant flow of inspiration, it will blend and ferment, and come out as something that is uniquely YOU. Don’t be afraid of what flows out in unexpected ways. It is often exactly what we need in the moment, in our journey as creative beings.

sharing your love for fabric,
Luana and Paul

Subscribe to my artist blog here.

Travel/Lecture Dates:
June 18-20 – Quilt Canada – Toronto Ontario
July 30 – Aug 6 – Festival of Quilts, Birmingham UK

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.

This time of year many of you are finishing quilts for those Call for Entry deadlines that are coming up for the Fall quilt festivals. We hope that you have been able to find everything you need to complete those special projects, as you’ve shopped all of our various products and categories over the last few months.

This is also a time of year when we often have groups coming to tour our warehouse. Many of our visitors are surprised to find there are so many products here that they never knew we carried. From basic things like threads, batting and needles…to more artsy creative things like beads, fusibles, and specialty notions….we do hope we have something for everyone. We are excited when new magazine issues come into the warehouse, but often our customers discover a new publication and are delighted that we have back issues.

If there is something you are looking for and can’t find, don’t be shy about calling our Customer Service line. You can also email us, or use our chat service during business hours. Yes we still have real human beings answering your questions here! Deandra is our Customer Service Manager – many of you already know her – and our other office staff may pick up the phone as well. They are all such nice human beings and we feel so lucky to spend time with them here Monday through Friday.

I am so delighted to have several of my quilts traveling in shows now, or being shipped to Fall quilt festivals. I hope you will watch for my work in the next few months.

SAQA Camouflage – opening July 18 at the Desert Sonora Botanic Gardens in Tuscon AZ – “Uncompahgre Fritillary” (Butterfly)

Sacred Threads – currently at the First Presbyterian Church, Flint, MI – “The Children of War”

Festival of Quilts – Birmingham UK – “Kubota’s Dream” (featured at the Kyoto Quilt Festival in March)

Houston Intl Quilt Festival – “250 Years of American Wilderness” and “Invisible Borders”

SAQA Balance – “Stardust Mothers”

I share this to encourage you to enter your quilts, keep track of those Call for Entry deadlines, and celebrate when your quilts are accepted into a show! Once upon a time, as a little girl, I dreamed of sharing my artwork with others. I hope that all your Quilty Dreams come true also!

Sharing our passion for fabric…..
Luana and Paul

Subscribe to my artist website.
www.luanarubin.com – New Blog Post about the Kyoto Quilt Festival!

Travel/Lecture Dates:
June 18-20 – Quilt Canada – Toronto Ontario
July 31 – Aug 3 – Festival of Quilts, Birmingham UK

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.

I have been quilting for for over 30 years – since the early 90s – when I stumbled onto the quilt magazine section at my local grocery store. As those decades have slid by, with millions of stitches passing under my fingers, I have developed more of an interest in the history of quilting. Partially because there are many beloved quilters who have passed into the history of our art and craft…and I remember their inspiration with fondness.

Over the years, despite the fact that I have always been interested in making contemporary quilts, I have also been exposed to more and more historic quilts in exhibits and lectures. One thing that always catches my attention, is that so many of the quilters who precede us…..are documenting the times they live in….and it has made their quilts more precious.

Perhaps in the past we have documented the landmarks in our family history – such as graduations, weddings, babies, summer vacations, special honors, and memorials. When we live in historic times, our attention may turn to events that are larger than our family and our community. Museums are full of quilts about national and global events. When you visit the museum in the basement of the Ford Theater in Washington DC, there is an autograph quilt created in 1864 as a fundraiser for the US Sanitary Fair. It was signed by many well-known politicians, artists, military and religious leaders of the time. Among the signatures are those of Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

I mentioned this awhile ago, but I will remind you to think about creating a historic quilt for America’s Semi-Quincentennial next year. (250th anniversary) I have made 3 so far, that will be displayed at the Virginia Quilt Museum, and the New England Quilt Museum. Your Semi-Quin chronicle quilt will also become part of history, and the story you tell will speak to someone in the future. Be sure to put a detailed label on the back, to record the provenance for future generations.

History is being made now, and your quilt will become part of that history.

sharing your love for fabric,
Luana and Paul

Subscribe to my artist blog here.

Travel/Lecture Dates:
June 18-20 – Quilt Canada – Toronto Ontario
July 30 – Aug 6 – Festival of Quilts, Birmingham UK

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.

Today I am sharing another one of my favorite quilts from Quilt National, which is on view at the Dairy Barn Arts Center in Athens Ohio through Sept 1st.

This piece is called “Composition 3″ and is 91.5″ x 90” – by Laurie Paquin of Lansdowne, Ontario in Canada.

The artist describes this work as:
Improvisational design, machine-pieced, quilted on a longarm. This piece is the 3rd in a series that explores line, color, shape and form. Graphic linework and buoyant forms continue to intrigue me.

You will see both bold value contrast and subtle tonal variations in this piece. It is easy to forget that this is made from all Solid fabrics. It is whimsical and full of movement…the eye goes round and round taking in the curved and spiky shapes.

***

We have entered June, with Fathers Day and the Summer Solstice just around the corner. In these early days of Summer, the season stretches out before us into the distance…but we know too well that Fall will be upon us soon enough.

Now we collect vacation fabrics for memory quilts, we pick up school prints for the new school year, and perhaps we are working on a picnic quilt to watch fireworks in the park for Fourth of July.

June is Pride Month and so we have gathered a variety of Rainbow fabrics and other products into this category, but you can find them year-round on our site by searching for “LGBTQ”.

Sharing our passion for fabric…..
Luana and Paul

Subscribe to my artist website.
www.luanarubin.com – New Blog Post about the Kyoto Quilt Festival!

Travel/Lecture Dates:
June 18-20 – Quilt Canada – Toronto Ontario
July 31 – Aug 3 – Festival of Quilts, Birmingham UK

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.

Well, Summer is really here for many of us. For those of you who live in hotter climates, it is a good time to move the sewing machine down to the basement to keep cool. As the years go by I find that I am more sensitive to heat, and it makes me groggy when I am trying to sew. If you are up North you may be staying indoors (quilting?) this weekend due to the smoke coming from Canadian fires.

I spoke to Brandy Maslowski yesterday, who is on her 209th podcast “Quilter on Fire” based in British Columbia, Canada. She used to be a firefighter, so she has an insider’s perspective on these wildfires. Brandy is a consulting editor for Quilting Arts Magazine, and co-host of Quilting Arts TV. You probably know that we are longtime advertisers in Quilting Arts Magazine, and longtime sponsors of the PBS show Quilting Arts TV. In fact last week I was able to visit with the longtime host of QA TV – Susan Brubaker Knapp – while we were both at Quilt National. You can see my QA TV guest appearances with Susan on our video page.

Note that this week we have FOUR new magazine issues, including Quilting Arts and Art Quilting Studio!

In case you missed this last week, we have Caryl Bryer Fallert’s fabulous new book – “A Life in Color” – in stock, both hardcover and soft cover. Her huge exhibit has been touring all over the US the last year, and I bet many of you were lucky enough to see this stunning accumulation of her life’s work.

Boulder has emptied out due to many of the college students leaving town. It is not quite hot enough to have all the tourists from Southern states, who come up to the Rocky Mountains (and our Rocky Mountain National Park) to escape the heat. So it is a nice quiet time in our town right now, with lush green foothills, and the distant snowy peaks…my favorite time of year here. If you are traveling through Boulder, stop by and say hello!

sharing your love for fabric,
Luana and Paul

Follow my artist blog here.

Travel/Lecture Dates:
June 18-20 – Quilt Canada – Toronto Ontario
July 30 – Aug 6 – Festival of Quilts, Birmingham UK

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.