Our captivating Mystical Fox fabric celebrates the wisdom of the fox. This dazzling design combines circular, meditative themes with wisps of ornate floral and foliage.
Plus we offer a Free exclusive 51 x 65″ quilt design! Start with our exclusive Rubin Studios Mystical Fox panel with black framing borders; then miter the Native American blanket print, and enjoy this powerful and inspirational fox featured quilt !
PLUS – you’ll receive Free USA / 50% off INTL shipping when you order the fabrics for this exquisite quilt pattern (orders $100 and over, no coupon needed).
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.
Having returned from Quilt Canada over the weekend, I am still digesting all the beautiful artwork produced by the talented Canadian quilters. eQuilter sponsored the Pictorial category, and this Egyptian-inspired portrait quilt (on the left) was one of the winners. It was made by Galla Grotto, whose career I have followed for many years. She moved from Russia, to Ukraine, and then to France. (where she lives today) When Galla showed her first beautiful portrait quilt of the Madonna in Canada, I bought it for my collection. When I met her and told her about our support of environmental non-profits, she was delighted….and told me that portrait was about the Divine Mother’s sadness for the world.
So being able to see Galla at the award ceremony, to give her a hug and hand her an award check, was one of those ‘full circle’ moments. Galla’s career has exploded, and she has showed her gorgeous portraits of women, all over the world. Her classes are in high demand and her fans are always waiting to see what she will do next.
It is believed that Queen Nefertiti ruled ancient Egypt as regent while Tutankhamun came of age. Her bust is the most widely reproduced piece of art from ancient Egypt. As Galla noted in her artist statement, her name literally means “Beautiful”.
I will be posting photos from Quilt Canada on my photo pages throughout the next week.
Travel/Exhibit Dates: July 18 – SAQA “Balance” opening – Durango CO (Stardust Mothers) July 27 – Aug 6 – Festival of Quilts, Birmingham UK (Kubota’s Dream) Sept 12 – SAQA “Camouflage” opening – Arizona Sonora Desert Museum – Tucson AZ Oct 9-12 – Houston Quilt Festival – Soul Stories Nov 2-6 – Art Quilt Tahoe Nov 7-10 – Sacred Threads – Indianapolis – Art & Activism lecture
Plus we offer a Free exclusive 53″ x 62″ quilt design! Start with our 35″ x 44″ Weld Highland Cows panel, then piece the Sunflower Stars in each corner with Hoffman Hand-Dyes, and set against solid black background.
This 53″ x 62″ quilt is big enough for a youth or nap quilt, but can also fill a room with sunshine during the winter months as a bold wall-hanging.
PLUS – you’ll receive Free USA / 50% off INTL shipping when you order the fabrics for this exquisite quilt pattern (orders $100 and over, no coupon needed).
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.
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!
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
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.
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
Our exclusive Borealis Wolf Pack fabric depicts a wolf pack roaming the arctic beneath a bright sky illuminated by the majestic lights of the aurora borealis.
This beautiful arctic quilt is a great gift for wildlife enthusiasts who dreams of running wild and free!
…from the ‘Wildlife’ collection by the Rubin Design Studio, designed exclusively for eQuilter.
PLUS – you’ll receive Free USA / 50% off INTL shipping when you order the fabrics for this exquisite quilt pattern (orders $100 and over, no coupon needed).
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 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.
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!
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.
Plus we offer a Free exclusive 46″ x 65″ quilt design! Start with the main 24″ x 44″ ‘Day of the Dead Kitty’ panel. Piece the borders with the coordinating Kitty Calaveras allover print and packed multi-color floral, all set against solid black, which makes the bright quilt colors really pop.
PLUS – you’ll receive Free USA / 50% off INTL shipping when you order the fabrics for this exquisite quilt pattern (orders $100 and over, no coupon needed).
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.
