This 60″ x 72″ quilt design starts with a digital-printed central panel, then adding a rainbow of seashell coordinate prints. The rainbow ombre, and sandy beach prints make this quilt design really sparkle with fine details. We’ve finished the border with a Sapphire Blue watercolor hand-dye from Hoffman.
Hang this on the wall and mix up a Pina Colada… and you’ll be on your own tropical vacation in no time!
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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.
As you may know, I am finishing up my trip to France, with 2 days in Paris to see Notre Dame. Today I went to visit her…or at least I tried. They have it blocked off and you can’t get too close. I went with a friend who lives part time in Paris. Her husband was sitting in the garden on the shady side of Notre Dame when it caught fire. He was evacuated to the street across the river, and after the spire collapsed he went home, thinking that she was lost. You probably saw all the coverage of the people who stood on the bank, praying and singing, hoping for a miracle.
In this photo you can see where the flames came out of the smaller Rose window. The scaffolding is being taken apart now, and there are big cranes on either side. There is a huge white plastic tarp spread over where the roof used to be. The scaffolding was built over the peaked roof for renovations before the fire – and now there is an empty triangle shape under the scaffolding where the roof used to be.
The people here are still in shock, but they are so grateful for the firemen who saved the building and the artwork, which is now safe in the Louvre. Today the tour groups were clustered all around the perimeter that has been set up, so we all gazed upon Notre Dame together…silently taking in the damage.
Here in Paris, I met with 2 old friends, and 2 new friends. We talked about Modern Quilters, aging traditional guilds, the price of fabric, and color preferences in different European countries. We shared our stories about our love for Notre Dame, and the 850 years of history she represents. And I must admit we toasted our love of Paris with glasses of French wine. There might have been a chocolate souffle somewhere in there too…I think this was my 5th visit to Paris since 1987. As they say…Paris is always a good idea.
Many thanks to Carol Veillon for hosting me in Nantes at the Pour l’Amour du Fil event. My week in France is coming to a close, but it was an inspiring trip and I am coming home with lots of stories and French fabric inspiration!
sharing your Passion for Fabric… Luana and Paul
**************** Luana’s Travel Calendar: May 16-19 – Quilt Market May 24-25 – Dairy Barn – Quilt National Opening – Athens OH June 11-15 – Quilt Canada Ottawa – (lecture Fri 6/14) July 18-22 – Sacred Threads & Not Fade Away (VA & DC)
eQuilter Classroom: June 27-30 – Jane Tenorio-Coscarelli – Altar Quilts & Embellished Garments Workshops July 11-14, 2019 – Cindy Lohbeck – Shibori, Ice-Dyeing and Ombre Dyeing Workshops Oct 8-10 – Jacqueline de Jonge – eQuilter Classroom
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Posted inMuseum, Travel|Comments Off on Creative Nudge – Pilgrimage to an Icon
Start with the traveling animal frames from the main panel, then mix in these fun dot and stripe coordinates, and finish it off with the allover zoo animal print for the border. We know this will bring a big smile to the lucky kid who receives this animal travel-themed quilt.
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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.
I’ve just finished up
a few days at the
quilt festival in Nantes France, enjoying my visits with quilters from all
over France, all over Europe, and all over the world! What a great joy it is to
share our passion for fabric, color and stitching. It is also so interesting to
see the local color palette preferences, alongside Dutch, and other European
color palettes represented among the vendors. We had fascinating discussions
about how local weather and landscapes affect the various local color
preferences.
Each year the Color Marketing Group (CMG) collaborates on updated color
palettes for North America, South America, Asia and Europe. I feel like N
America and Europe tend to be more conservative, and S American and Asia tend
to be more adventurous. It is always interesting to compare these global color
trends, to the color trends I see at quilt exhibits around the world. We
certainly see this at eQuilter – that our overseas customers tend to order a
different color palette than our US customers. Color trends can start on one
continent and then bounce across the ocean to another continent, influencing
design decisions not only in textiles, but also home dec, car finishes, graphic
design, house paint and flooring. (I’ll be attending the CMG conference again
in November.)
eQuilter sponsored the QuiltCon exhibit at this Pour l’Amour du Fil event, and
this Modern Quilt exhibit was packed with enthusiastic admirers every time I
walked by. My talk on International Quilt Trends was translated into French by
the show organizer Carol, and the video will be online soon.
My curator friend from the US Embassy in Rome flew in to spend the week with
me, and we had a fun dinner with Kathy Doughty one night. (The American
designer for Free Spirit who lives in Sydney Australia.) It was fun to get to
know her better. Kathy’s booth was mobbed every time I walked by. We have a
parallel history working in the design industry in NYC in the 80s. I got a
little sneak peek of the line she is putting together for Fall Quilt Market in
Houston, and we definitely agree on some specific color trends for 2020…a
certain shade of Green in particular!
I’ll be in Paris on Monday and Tuesday, visiting with Parisian quilters and
visiting Notre Dame. Watch for my Midweek Creative Nudge e-newsletter Weds
morning.
When you receive this newsletter, I will somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean, on my way to the Pour l’Amour du Fil quilt festival in Nantes France. My power point lecture “International Quilt Trends” is Friday at noon, so I hope to meet many of our French quilter friends there! In a week I will be meeting with quilters in Paris, and visiting Notre Dame.
Last weekend we hosted our Charity Sewing Group, and we had a group of students from CU Boulder chapter of ‘Engineers Without Borders’ come to give a presentation about their work in Nepal. They will be making another trip this summer, and we will be sending another batch of colorful quilts to be distributed to those in need. The last few trips the quilts have been distributed to mothers with new infants in remote mountain villages, who lost their homes to the earthquake. By EWB building clean water sources in these remote villages, it allows girls to attend school instead of spending their days hauling water.
I am also in touch with Kathy Price from Mission of Love. We will be sending fabrics to the Pine Ridge Girls School (on the reservation in South Dakota) to support a new sewing program for these Native American girls. She is filling up a 53 foot trailer with humanitarian aid, school supplies, and donated comfort quilts for the girls. They are looking for an industrial sewing machine to make tipees. The trailer is being filled up in the Youngstown Ohio area, and then will be transported to Pine Ridge, which as you may know is one of the poorest counties in the USA.
If you would like to donate a quilt for one of these projects to help girls and mothers, you can drop off a quilt at eQuilter in person by May 10, or you can ship quilts directly to Mission of Love to arrive by May 15. (Be sure to get a tracking number for confirmation – they are too busy to send receipts when delivered.)
Mission of Love 2054 Hemlock Ct Youngstown OH 44515
I am sharing a photo of our Charity Sewing Group, showing off the quilts they have created for these projects. The floral frame is a collage with current flower prints at eQuilter. These are the kinds of floral fabrics that are much beloved for Mothers Day gifts…and loved by the mothers in Nepal and Pine Ridge too.
We thank our Sewing Group for their heartfelt generosity, and the beautiful comfort quilts they have made over the last 2 years!
sharing your Passion for Fabric… Luana and Paul
**************** Luana’s Travel Calendar: Apr 23-29 – Nantes France (lecture Fri 4/26) Apr 29-30 – Paris May 16-19 – Quilt Market May 24-25 – Dairy Barn – Quilt National Opening – Athens OH June 11-15 – Quilt Canada Ottawa – (lecture Fri 6/14)
eQuilter Classroom: June 27-30 – Jane Tenorio-Coscarelli – Altar Quilts & Embellished Garments Workshops July 11-14, 2019 – Cindy Lohbeck – Shibori, Ice-Dyeing and Ombre Dyeing Workshops Oct 8-10 – Jacqueline de Jonge – eQuilter Classroom
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Posted inCharity, Quilts, Travel|Comments Off on Creative Nudge – Flowers for Mothers
This 45″ x 64″ Free Quilt Pattern captures a dream world in the quiet of the night, illuminating dancing balls of energy, and dramatic tree silhouettes.
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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.
Some of you may remember that Paul’s family lived in Hawaii, and we traveled there to see them for 20 years. Now that they are gone we have not been back, but we still dream of ukulele music, fresh pineapple, tropical flowers and mild sea breezes. I miss seeing the Japanese brides in frothy dresses posing in Waikiki. I miss seeing the sinewy brown surfers with colorful boards tucked under their arms. We miss snorkeling with Uncle Jerry and Aunt Laura at Hanauma Bay at dawn. And of course, I miss seeing the beautiful Hawaiian quilt displays there.
What you may not know is that my name is Hawaiian. (Luana – rhymes with Iguana.) My dad was in the Navy in Hawaii in the 50s, and somehow that led to my name….which I’ve found out is common in Italy, Brazil and Africa. Then I married a guy who grew up in Detroit, but whose parents retired on Oahu. Funny how those things happen.
When I took my first Hawaiian quilt class in the 90s, the teacher got mad because I wanted to use batiks and hand-dyes instead of solids for the class project. She threatened to kick me out if I used anything but solids. I already had lots of experience with sewing and applique after working in the garment industry, so I was already thinking about designing a new kind of Hawaiian quilt back then. This was one of my first encounters with the Quilt Police. Back then they dominated the quilting world. Thank goodness today quilters are encouraged to explore, create, sew spontaneously, and be adventurous with color and fabric choices!
My goal 20 years ago when we started this business, was to support quilters in finding their own unique creative voice, and inspiring more adventurous use of color. The artists and workshops we are bringing into our eQuilter Classroom are an extension of that vision – to assist you in opening up your own extraordinary perception rather than just copying a pattern. We want to see what you make next!
This generous 68″ x 76″ quilt starts with a gorgeous digital panel, divided into windowpanes with 3 shades of Hoffman Hand-Dyes and a Kona Solid Black. Then create this 2-part clever border with the lusciously detailed stripe coordinate.
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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.
Often we don’t appreciate what we have until it is lost. Many of us felt this as we watched 850 year old Notre Dame burning yesterday. Today there are hundreds of millions of Euros/Dollars pledged for her rebuilding, but it is still painful to see the photos of the smoldering wreckage where the roof collapsed. So many of us here shed tears along with Parisians, as we watched those surreal images.
Next week I am traveling to Nantes in France, to speak at the quilt festival there. This trip takes on a new meaning after the fire in Paris. I’ve decided to tack on an extra two days to extend my layover in Paris, to go visit Notre Dame and give my support. For my quilt friends in Paris, please contact me so we can meet while I am there.
I visited Paris for the first time in 1987, and the first place we visited on the first morning was Notre Dame. It is hard to put into words how I felt when I entered that huge vault of history…it’s like traveling back in time and hearing the whispers of those who have gone before. We don’t have anything like it in the US, and I have to say the next few times I visited Paris and Notre Dame, it was more crowded and not quite the same. I thank my lucky stars that I’ve been able to see many of the great wonders of the world before they were engulfed by the waves of tourists that line up and roll through the most famous sites. When I was younger I would always climb the spire, the dome, the tower, the crown of the Statue of Liberty…many things my kids will not experience. So I take photos and write about my experience, so I can share with others.
Some of you may wish to collect fabrics with images and motifs about Paris and France. Having spent so much time there over the decades, I am also attracted to these fabrics. I keep them in stock because I know many of you love them also! There is something about waking up in the City of Light, having a *real* French Croissant and Cafe au Lait, and setting out on the cobblestones to take in the charm, the style, and the beauty of a morning in Paris, that one never forgets.
Sophie’s high school theater group just finished their run of Les Miserables, written by Victor Hugo, who also wrote Hunchback of Notre Dame. His book literally saved Notre Dame when it was in ruins. So she will be rebuilt once again.
With Mothers Day coming up, perhaps there is a quilt idea for you, mixed with the flowers of France. From the Roses of Paris, to the Sunflowers of Provence, France has been a great inspiration to my sewing and quiltmaking.
sharing your Passion for Fabric… Luana and Paul
****************
eQuilter Classroom & Travel Calendar: April 20 – Charity Sewing Group – EWB Nepal Presentation – RSVP Apr 23-29 – Nantes France (lecture Fri 4/26) May 16-19 – Quilt Market May 24-25 – Dairy Barn – Quilt National Opening – Athens OH June 11-15 – Quilt Canada Ottawa – (lecture Fri 6/14) June 27-30 – Jane Tenorio-Coscarelli – Altar Quilts & Embellished Garments Workshops July 11-14, 2019 – Cindy Lohbeck – Shibori, Ice-Dyeing and Ombre Dyeing Workshops Oct 8-10 – Jacqueline de Jonge – eQuilter Classroom Oct 17-22 – Polar Bear Tour – REGISTER NOW!
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Posted inArt, Museum, Travel|Comments Off on Creative Nudge – Our Lady – Notre Dame
This adorable 56″ x 56″ quilt features Bunnies, Kitties and Baby Farm Animals in a generous size that could be a Playmat, a Nap Quilt, and eventually a coverlet for a Youth Bed. The soft colors are soothing, to gently encourage a sleepyhead to nestle in with all the charming baby critters.
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.
