Free eQuilter Pattern – Morningmoon Unicorns

Posted on February 15, 2019 by Luana

Spring fairies and unicorns grace this week’s Exclusive Free Quilt Pattern. Jody Bergsma’s magical illustrations are delicately framed with lavender and sapphire borders, then joined with powder blue sashing and graceful corner stars.

We’ve combined Jody’s panels and coordinates with Northcott Stonehenge Gradations and Hoffman Hand Dyes to create a calming and enchanting color story.

This 57″ x 63″ Quilt will cover someone with a special kind of magic as a lap quilt or youth-sized coverlet. You can also invite these gorgeous mythical creatures into your home as a stunning wall-hanging.

… featuring the ‘Morningmoon Unicorns’ collection by Jody Bergsma for Robert Kaufman Fabrics.

Don’t miss the popular ‘Call of the Wild Bighorn‘ and ‘Moonlight Plume‘ 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 – Valentine Love

Posted on February 13, 2019 by Luana

On Valentine’s Day, almost everyone wishes for someone to Love. Whether it is a sweetheart, a crush, or puppy love…the only thing better than receiving a Valentine, is giving one!

Sophie has been complaining for the last week about the PDAs (Public Displays of Affection) that clog the hallways of her high school on Valentine’s Day. What would we do without our kids to de-mystify all these abbreviations and acronyms? Silly me, I was still thinking a PDA was a Personal Digital Assistant. (Remember the Palm Pilots?)

As I travel the world to photograph quilt exhibits, it is obvious that more artists are becoming activists and putting their messages about peace, love, and the environment, in their quilts and textile art. Above is a central detail shot of a charming quilt from the Tokyo Quilt Festival, showing children from around the world sailing away together in a hot air balloon that looks like the Earth. Click through to my photo page to see the rest of the quilt.

The quilt detail is set in a frame of Heart and Valentine themed fabrics we have in stock now.

Thursday I am flying to Mexico City for the quilt festival, to host the Love Your Mother exhibit there. You may have seen that Quilts Inc also featured a Love Your Mother gallery on their website this week.

Consider this your Valentine, from me to you.
Wishing you Hearts and Flowers and Chocolate and LOVE on Valentine’s Day!

sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul

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eQuilter Classroom & Travel Calendar:
Feb 14-16 – ‘Love Your Mother’ exhibit at Mexico Quilt Festival in Mexico City
Feb 20-23 – QuiltCon – Nashville TN
Feb 24 – Lynn Koolish for CQC – in eQuilter Classroom
Mar 28-30 – ‘Love Your Mother’ exhibit at Spring Quilt Festival in Chicago
Apr 1 – Quilting Arts TV, Cleveland
Apr 12-14 – Jean Wells for FRCQ workshop – in eQuilter Classroom
June 27-30 – Jane Tenorio-Coscarelli workshop – eQuilter Classroom
July 11-14, 2019 – Cindy Lohbeck – Shibori, Ice-Dyeing and Ombre Dyeing Workshops @ eQuilter – REGISTRATION NOW OPEN

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Free eQuilter Pattern – Moonlight Plume

Posted on February 12, 2019 by Luana

Create your own mysterious Moonlit Aviary in this week’s Free Quilt Pattern, with a shimmering Peacock panel as the central element.

This 40″ x 57″ quilt features deeply saturated tones of Sapphire, Turquoise and Amethyst…enriched with dashes and sprinkles of Gold Metallic. You will piece together 2 coordinates and a Blue-Violet Hoffman Hand-Dye for the simple border.

… featuring the ‘Moonlight Plume’ collection by Chong-A Hwang for Timeless Treasures.

Don’t miss the wonderful ‘Call of the Wild Bighorn‘ and ‘Northern Lights Shimmer‘ 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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We are Fragile and Strong

Posted on February 11, 2019 by Luana

Wednesday I spent the afternoon in the hospital with a friend, a brilliant woman who works to help others peacefully resolve conflicts….who was having a brain biopsy the next day. I was there to give her strength and love, to bolster the courage that is already there. Even for those who are brave and strong, we all need support when we face the challenges in life. Even if you don’t know what to say to someone facing a loss, trauma, or challenge…. it doesn’t matter. Just show up. It means so much. Don’t try to fix it with words. When we can’t be there in person, sometimes the best thing we can give is a comfort quilt stitched with love. Every stitch is a prayer, a hug, and silent words of love and support.

When we lost our baby daughter 23 years ago many of my friends disappeared from my life. It was so shocking, and they didn’t know what to say to me, so they just disappeared. So I try to be there for people facing these life challenges, in the way I wished others had been there for me. The ones who WERE there, turned out to be my true friends.

Just wanted to share those thoughts, after my afternoon among so many people who were suffering at the hospital. Show up, with Love. We are so fragile and so strong…. it is always a gift to show up and be present at these times…for us and for them.

Wishing you all loving supportive friends, who show up when you need them.

This week I am working on a couple art quilts, and getting ready to fly to Mexico City on Thursday. Our “Love Your Mother” challenge will be on exhibit there, and one of the artists is from Mexico so it will be extra special for her.

There are still spaces in Lynn Koolish’s fun paint/collage class for CQC on Feb 24 – come join us!

sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul

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Free eQuilter Pattern – Call of the Wild Bighorn

Posted on February 8, 2019 by Luana

The Bighorn Sheep is an iconic symbol of the Rocky Mountains, featured in our exclusive eQuilter Free Quilt Pattern. They are surefooted and nimble, and the rams are known for their hard-headed skulls and large spiraling horns that echo through the mountain valleys when they charge rival males.

To make this 56″ x 64″ quilt, start with a Hoffman Digital Printed panel, add Northcott Stonehenge textures and Hoffman Hand-Dyes, to set our Bighorn in a pieced border of soft textured Neutrals.

… featuring the ‘Call of the Wild’ collection by Hoffman Fabrics.

Don’t miss the wonderful ‘Wildlife Spirits‘ and ‘Cottage Grove‘ 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 – Gung Hei Fat Choi!

Posted on February 6, 2019 by Luana

Happy Chinese New Year of the Pig! This is the 4716th Chinese year.

You may have looked at this image and wondered what the heck I was thinking, but there is a real theme here. In China and around Asia people have just started a 10 day celebration of the Lunar New Year. When I lived in Hong Kong we greeted each other with “Gung Hei Fat Choi!” for the New Year. The factories close down and everybody goes home to celebrate with their families.

Chinese astrology is different from Western astrology. Instead of the sign changing every month, the sign changes once per year. If you are born in the Year of the Dog (like me) then everybody else born that year is also a Dog. Then every 12 years it repeats the cycle. So you can have Pigs who are 12, 24, 36, and 48 years old. (etc.) Pigs are considered compassionate, diligent and generous.

At the Lunar New Year, Chinese families celebrate with firecrackers, Lion Dances, sweeping out their house, and eating Long Noodles. (for long life.) Young people who have gone to work in the city, crowd the trains to go home for multi-generational banquets. They also go to temples to light incense and say a prayer for the New Year. The color RED is considered lucky, and young people receive Red envelopes with money from the parents and elders.

While Sophie and I were in China over our January 1st New Year, we discovered that in the cities the young people have appropriated some of our holidays, like Christmas and Valentines Day! So feel free to celebrate Chinese New Year…it’s the biggest bash on the planet!

The photo above is of two ladies I spotted at the Forbidden City on our first full day in Beijing. I’ve added some of our fabrics to make a Chinese New Year collage. Gung Hei Fat Choi!

Sincerely,
Luana and Paul

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eQuilter Classroom & Travel Calendar:
Feb 14-16 – ‘Love Your Mother‘ exhibit at Mexico Quilt Festival in Mexico City
Feb 20-23 – QuiltCon – Nashville TN
Feb 24 – Lynn Koolish for CQC – in eQuilter Classroom
Mar 28-30 – ‘Love Your Mother‘ exhibit at Spring Quilt Festival in Chicago
Apr 1 – Quilting Arts TV, Cleveland
Apr 12-14 – Jean Wells for FRCQ workshop – in eQuilter Classroom
June 27-30 – Jane Tenorio-Coscarelli workshop – eQuilter Classroom
July 11-14, 2019 – Cindy Lohbeck – Shibori, Ice-Dyeing and Ombre Dyeing Workshops @ eQuilter – REGISTRATION NOW OPEN

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Free eQuilter Pattern – Carina Bloom and Blossom

Posted on February 5, 2019 by Luana

We’re bringing you a little Summer Sunshine this week, in our Free Quilt Pattern … full of Peonies and Poppies and jeweltone Hoffman Hand-Dyes! These lush Red, Pink and White flowers are so realistic, you can almost smell their fragrance.

This stunning 57″ x 70″ quilt features floral artwork by one of our most popular artists – Chong-A Hwang is famous for her exquisite blossoms and distinctive color sense.

As we send this out tonight, we are celebrating Paul’s birthday with a family gathering. So we are featuring one of his favorite designers tonight, and you can share in our celebration. Cheers!

… featuring the ‘Carina’ collection by Chong-A Hwang for Timeless Treasures.

And don’t miss the wonderful ‘Northern Lights Shimmer‘ and ‘Ocean Paradise‘ 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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Happy Groundhog Day

Posted on February 4, 2019 by Luana

This week we are blessed with the uplifting visions of Laurel Burch, and we see the orders coming in for Sea Goddess already. We’ll be enjoying the beautiful colors and artwork of Laurel in our cutting department this week, and remembering the special talent of Laurel who lives on in her whimsical and open-hearted paintings.

I have posted the first batch of photos from the Tokyo Quilt Festival on my photo page, so I hope you will take a look. I’ve been going to the show for so many years, that I now have a press pass and can get into the show before the crowds descend. About 35K people attend the show each day, and the show lasts one week. Not only that, but the Japanese quilters love to get up close to the quilts to examine the stitches, the embellishments, and the special techniques used…so it is hard to take photos when the show is open! Unlike other shows, there is no tape or rope boundary between the viewing public and the quilts. The visitors get very close but do not touch the quilts – they are very respectful of the amazing quilts on exhibit there.

You may have noticed that I hand-carried copies of the 2 show books again this year. These collector items go fast…if you want one snap it up today!…From my suitcase to your kitchen table.

This is the 2nd year that I’ve met up with a group of American quilters who live in Okinawa. This year we had a nice long chatty breakfast together, and we share an appreciation for the Expat lifestyle. (I lived in Hong Kong for 3 years, in the early 80s.) It is an unlikely place to find a group of quilters, but they have been meeting and sharing their love of quilting there for many years.

My friend Keiko Goke is now designing for Free Spirit, and I got a photo of her in front of her latest colorful quilt. You may recall that the coastal section of her town of Sendai was wiped out by the tsunami in March 2011. Partnering with Mission of Love and many of our customers, friends, and quilt guilds around the country, we gathered and then shipped 2500 quilts for a nearby coastal community that was decimated by the tsunami.

I have another new tradition in Tokyo – for the last few years I have attended a performance at the Tokyo Opera. This year I saw Tannhauser for the first time in person! 4 hours of Wagner, while appreciating the costumes onstage, and the lovely ladies in their silk kimonos in the audience…a visual and auditory feast.

I hope to see many of you this month at the Mexico Quilt Festival or QuiltCon, or if you are local come have fun with paint and fabric collage in our eQuilter classroom with Lynn Koolish’s CQC workshop! (Dates below)

sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul

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eQuilter Classroom & Travel Calendar:
Feb 14-16 – ‘Love Your Mother‘ exhibit at Mexico Quilt Festival in Mexico City
Feb 20-23 – QuiltCon – Nashville TN
Feb 24 – Lynn Koolish for CQC – in eQuilter Classroom
Mar 28-30 – ‘Love Your Mother‘ exhibit at Spring Quilt Festival in Chicago
Apr 1 – Quilting Arts TV, Cleveland
Apr 12-14 – Jean Wells for FRCQ workshop – in eQuilter Classroom
June 27-30 – Jane Tenorio-Coscarelli workshop – eQuilter Classroom
July 11-14, 2019 – Cindy Lohbeck – Shibori, Ice-Dyeing and Ombre Dyeing Workshops @ eQuilter
4 Classes $50 each – $80-$100 Materials Fee

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Creative Nudge – Japanese Garden

Posted on January 30, 2019 by Luana

Having returned home from Tokyo Tuesday afternoon, this week’s Midweek Creative Nudge will be just that….a quick glimpse into the beauty I saw at the Tokyo Quilt Festival. This is a detail of a lovely applique quilt in the Traditional category, that may have been overlooked by some. The artist’s name sadly, was not spelled out on the name tag, so I am including an image of the characters so she will have credit where it is due!

This is about 2/3 of the upper left quadrant of the quilt. I zoomed in a little so you could see some of the detail: the delicate strands of leaves and tiny blossoms, the sprays of flowers in the corners, and the clover-shaped central medallion, embracing shaded roses and starry wisps petite blooms.

What gives this a glowing character? The Charcoal Ombre background – lighter in the middle and darker along the borders. The colors of the leaves and flowers are not gratuitously bright, but rather, evoke the soft shades of wildflowers.

I’ve wrapped this breathtaking quilt detail in a flowery border with some of our current Early Spring florals. For those of you being hit with the monster Polar Vortex in the Midwest, I send this to you (as you are probably trapped indoors in the snow!) as a reminder that Spring is still, indeed just around the corner.

You’ll find the first photos posted on my photo page, with overall shots of the show. More quilt and detail shots to follow in the next few days and week. I do hope you will enjoy these Japanese quilts as much as I do. It is such a delight to see this show every year, and I love to share with all of you!

Sincerely,
Luana and Paul

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eQuilter Classroom & Travel Calendar:
Jan 24-29 – Luana @ Tokyo Quilt Festival
Feb 14-16 – ‘Love Your Mother‘ exhibit at Mexico Quilt Festival in Mexico City
Feb 20-23 – QuiltCon – Nashville TN
Feb 24 – Lynn Koolish for CQC – in eQuilter Classroom
Mar 28-30 – ‘Love Your Mother‘ exhibit at Spring Quilt Festival in Chicago
Apr 1 – Quilting Arts TV, Cleveland
Apr 12-14 – Jean Wells for FRCQ workshop – in eQuilter Classroom
June 27-30 – Jane Tenorio-Coscarelli workshop – eQuilter Classroom
July 11-14, 2019 – Cindy Lohbeck – Shibori, Ice-Dyeing and Ombre Dyeing Workshops @ eQuilter – REGISTRATION NOW OPEN

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Tokyo Quilt Festival

Posted on January 28, 2019 by Luana

Hello from Tokyo Japan!
Today is my second day at the Quilt Festival in the Tokyo Dome – the Baseball Stadium. 250,000 people attend this weeklong festival – about 35,000 each day.

I’ve been visiting Japan since the early 80s (when I lived in Hong Kong), but in those days I was traveling to Osaka to textile factories. I’ve been coming to the Tokyo Quilt Festival for 10 years now, and I can see that the quilts are dramatically changing here in the last year or two. Japanese quilts have been known for their exquisite handwork and detail, but now more and more quiltmakers here are using sewing machines. 2 of the top prizes are Handwork, and Machine Quilting. Every year I visit the Bernina booth, and yesterday they were so busy I couldn’t get in the booth.

The Junior exhibit is an inspiration. The work these young people submit, gets better every year. Several of the quilts have 3-D elements, like little stuffed figures. These kids are amazing!

There are also more Western tour groups here than I’ve ever seen. On my first day I’ve run into quilters I know, from Australia, England, France, Spain, and the US. Last year there were Chinese and Russians too. I am here for 4 days and every day is an adventure.

After my recent trip to China, it sure is nice to be able to drink the water, and to have nice clean Western-style bathrooms. By comparison, this trip is very easy. I wish Sophie could have joined me!

Tonight I went to a big Japanese department store in Shinjuku next to the train station. We wandered around 8 floors and looked at all the unique Japanese products, then went to the top floor which had a couple dozen restaurants. We had traditional tempura and sake, with a beautiful presentation of many small colored ceramic dishes, each with a special single item.

I am of course taking lots of photos, and will be posting them next week. Watch for next week’s Midweek Creative Nudge for more details. I like to make sure every quilt image gives credit to the maker, which often means I have to use Photoshop to paste in the name in Kanji characters. After all the work these quilters put into their masterpieces, it’s the least we can do!

sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul

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