Happy Saint Patrick’s Day

Posted on March 18, 2019 by Luana

This week I am writing to you from Atlanta, where I am attending a conference at the Carter Center. Later today I will be in Plains Georgia, and have a chance to visit with Pres Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter. After learning more about the work that the Carter Center does as a nonpartisan organization, working for peace and eradication of disease around the world, I am very honored to have been invited to this event. (Due to eQuilter’s charity program.) The Carter Center also engages in conflict resolution in war zones, and monitoring elections in emerging democracies. They work to end violence against women through education. The dedication of the staff is an absolute inspiration.

You may have heard about our ‘Bomb Cyclone’ last week. Our giant blizzard did not hit quite as hard in Boulder, but it paralyzed the Denver airport and much of Colorado. Yes we had a one-day hiccup in processing and shipping orders, but we are back on track now! Getting to the airport the next morning was an adventure. My flight was delayed 2.5 hours, but our son also had a flight that day and was delayed 10 hours and ended up at the wrong airport. (He is running a piano sale and music fundraiser event at Seton Hall University in NJ this weekend.) Such are the joys of travel.

For those of you coming to the Spring Quilt Festival in Chicago in a couple weeks, please be sure to look for our “Love Your Mother” quilt exhibit. I will be in the exhibit much of the day on Saturday, and several of the artists are coming also. The exhibit has already been seen in Houston and Mexico City, and we are negotiating future venues at this time. Hope to see you there!

They say everybody’s Irish on St Paddy’s Day, but I really do have an Irish branch in my family tree. I’ve been doing more research on our genealogy lately, tracing back Scottish, Swedish, English, Irish, German and French branches. I’ve been as far back as the 1400s on a couple branches. I am continuing the genealogy work my mother started. Like quilting, it is addictive!

In case you are not aware, we have a couple Family Tree panels that make a great starting point for your own genealogy projects!

Thanks for helping us to celebrate our 20th Anniversary over the last week.

sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul

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Free eQuilter Pattern – Great Horned Owl

Posted on March 15, 2019 by Luana

This very special eQuilter Exclusive Free Pattern celebrates the beauty and grace
of the Great Horned Owl.

Start with our exclusive central digital panel featuring a detailed closeup of this majestic animal, watching and waiting in the forest. Then add the elegant ‘winged’ borders, composed with Northcott Stonehenge tonals.

This 64″ x 72″ quilt captures the nobility of this beautiful and dynamic creature and will be treasured by your bird watcher and wildlife enthusiast friends and family.

We’re also highlighting Northcott’s new Stonehenge Ombre Backing fabrics; they match perfectly with this exquisite quilt design.

… featuring the ‘Wildlife Wonders’ collection by the Rubin Design Studio, designed exclusively for eQuilter.

Don’t miss the popular ‘Full Heart‘ and ‘Mystic Ocean‘ 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 – Snow Day

Posted on March 13, 2019 by Luana

Tonight we are waiting for the big blizzard to hit. They are calling it the Bomb Cyclone. The airport has already cancelled flights tomorrow, and the schools are going to be closed. It is a good day to quilt! Maybe a little hot chocolate too….and a nice long game of Scrabble.

Many thanks to those of you who wrote kind words about my mom. She is out of the hospital and now in a rehab nursing facility close to our house. She is still very confused about what happened last week (in the ER and hospital) but she seems to be out of the woods for now.

Thursday I am supposed to fly to Atlanta for a private event at the Carter Center, and then I’m invited to a smaller event in Plains GA. You may recall that 5 years ago I was invited to meet the Carters because of our charity program. Then I made a quilt portrait of Rosalynn Carter that is now traveling in the “HerStory” exhibit. Last time I was invited to this event, I had to cancel because of the hurricane! So now I am hoping I won’t miss my flight Thursday because of the blizzard. I have just finished a quilt of the White House so the timing is perfect.

Most people think of Habitat for Humanity when they think of the Carters, but that is not their organization. The Carter Center is a nonpartisan organization committed to human rights, alleviation of human suffering, working on health issues and supporting democracy. I particularly like their programs to stop violence against women in developing countries, through education.

We are celebrating eQuilter’s 20th Anniversary this week, and are thrilled to be settled into our new headquarters. Please take a look at our upcoming class dates and perhaps you can join us in our beautiful classroom this year!

The image above is a collage from fabrics we have in stock now, including the 3 “SNOWDAY” words which are made from our new Scrabble panel and other alphabet panels. Now I think I’ll go make that cup of hot chocolate.

sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul

****************

eQuilter Classroom & Travel Calendar:
Mar 14-17 – Carter Center in Atlanta
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
Apr 23-29 – Nantes France (lecture Fri 4/26)
June 27-30 – Jane Tenorio-Coscarelli workshop – Alter Quilts & Embellished Garments
July 11-14, 2019 – Cindy Lohbeck – Shibori, Ice-Dyeing and Ombre Dyeing Workshops @ eQuilter – REGISTRATION NOW OPEN
Oct 8-10 – Jacqueline de Jonge – eQuilter Classroom


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Free eQuilter Pattern – Mystic Ocean

Posted on March 12, 2019 by Luana

Fans of Aquaman and the Little Mermaid will appreciate this week’s Free Quilt Pattern, featuring a dazzling Mermaid riding a huge Seahorse! (Remember the giant Seahorse steeds in Aquaman?) Her hair streams out behind in an undulating rainbow of wavy locks as they glide over a colorful coral reef.

This 44″ x 50″ quilt design uses a gorgeous digital-printed panel with coordinates from the same luscious collection. It looks even better in person – those digital textures and colors are absolutely fabulous!

… featuring the ‘Mystic Ocean’ collection by Josephine Wall for 3 Wishes Fabric.

Don’t miss the popular ‘Full Heart‘ 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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20 Years of Fabric and Friends

Posted on March 11, 2019 by Luana

Daylight Savings starts the morning of March 10th, so don’t forget to “Spring Ahead” and turn your clocks forward an hour, if you are in a state that participates in this bi-annual exercise.

March 10 is my mom’s 82nd birthday, and eQuilter’s 20th Anniversary!

20 years ago Paul flipped the switch on our website, and we welcomed the world to visit our webpages full of colorful big bold fabrics! Back in those days quilt shops were full of mostly small scale “ditsy” prints that were washed out or dirty colors. I went to about 40 quilt shops around the country and decided there was something missing. We opened our business with contemporary, ethnic, wildly COLORFUL fabrics and the rest is history!

There are so many people to thank for our 20 years of success, but I’d like to start by thanking our wonderful staff who make this possible by showing up 5 days a week, and sharing your delight in these beautiful fabrics.

I’d also like to thank all of those in the industry who have supported us through the years. Your friendship and guidance as we grew, and as the industry changed, has been a great gift. You know who you are.

My biggest thanks goes to my husband and partner Paul, who left his manager position at another company to come run eQuilter. You don’t see his face, but you see his creative and technical genius on every page, and in every brilliant tool on the website. He also runs the Free Pattern program and has become quite the quilt designer!

Unfortunately I’ve spent the week going from ER, to hospital, to a rehab nursing facility with my mother. Here at the end of the week she is stable and there was a place at a great facility 10 minutes from our home, so I am looking at the bright side. We are spending this weekend moving her things out of assisted living.

We are approaching $1.6 million raised for charity, and all of us at eQuilter thank you for supporting our charity program, and our family-run business. This week I have an invitation to a very special event in Atlanta and Plains GA, thanks to our charity program, so I will be sharing that with you in a week.

sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul

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Free eQuilter Pattern – Diaphanous

Posted on March 8, 2019 by Luana

This breathtaking Free Quilt Pattern is an eQuilter Exclusive, made with the wildly popular Diaphanous collection designed by Jason Yenter. This collection is now back in stock so if you love this, snap it up today!

Jason’s dreamy collection features a cool analogous color story, with an atmospheric dotted ombre used for the border. The tonal blenders used for the Circle and Diamond insets, have Celtic and Floral themes.

Your exquisite 63″ x 74″ quilt is filled with rich, saturated hues that add liveliness to any room.

… featuring the ‘Diaphanous’ collection by Jason Yenter for In The Beginning Fabrics.

Don’t miss the popular ‘Full Heart‘ 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 – Classic Indigo

Posted on March 6, 2019 by Luana

One of the colors we love best is Indigo Blue. This beautiful color appeals to almost everyone, and is based on a fermented plant-based dye. The ancient natural dye was used to make the original denim cloth for blue jeans. One of the places we think of when we say Indigo Quilts…is Japan.

This year there seemed to be less of these traditional pieced Indigo quilts in the Tokyo Quilt Festival. In past years we’ve seen these quilts made from recycled and vintage Indigo yarn-dyes, shibori (tie-dyes), stencil prints and yukata remnants. Quilters will go to temple flea markets and buy up these vintage indigo pieces. Perhaps now most of these fabrics are tucked away in quilters’ stashes?

Fortunately we have contemporary fabric manufacturers who reproduce these fabrics so we can collect and sew with a new generation of Indigo fabrics. They are factory-printed instead of dyed with fermented Indigo plants, but they are colorfast and beautiful! We are loving the new Cotton/Linen Indigo yarn-dyes from Kaufman, and the Sashiko Sampler Panels in the Nuno collection from Moda.

Many customers are surprised to find out that we carry a full range of Sashiko Threads, Needles and Thimbles. After years of traveling to Tokyo, collecting Indigo Boro quilts and vintage Sashiko samplers, I decided we should support a new wave of Sashiko stitching.

The collage image above features a detail of an Indigo quilt from the Tokyo show, surrounded by Japanese-inspired Indigo fabrics in stock now. This includes the new Cotton/Linen Nuno Sashiko Sampler Panels. Enjoy!

(The quilter’s name is shown in the Japanese characters from the artist statement.)

sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul

****************

eQuilter Classroom & Travel Calendar:
Mar 14-17 – Carter Center in Atlanta
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
Apr 23-29 – Nantes France (lecture Fri 4/26)
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 – Faith Saved by Grace

Posted on March 5, 2019 by Luana

This week’s Free Quilt pattern celebrates Faith with Dan Morris’s magnificent and ornate collection.

The ‘Grace and Joy’ panel frames are cut and pieced together with coordinating fabrics: Blessed Crosses, Religious Icons, and Cumulus Clouds, creating a spiritual work of art.

This generous 93″ x 93″ Queen Sized quilt will bless your home with luminous colors, peace and devotion.

… featuring the ‘Faith’ collection by Dan Morris for Quilting Treasures.

Don’t miss the popular ‘Full Heart‘ and ‘Call of the Wild Bighorn‘ 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 March…Happy Wildlife Day!

Posted on March 4, 2019 by Luana

Next weekend we will be celebrating our 20th anniversary, since Paul and I started eQuilter in the basement of our home. Paul and I met in 1995, and we started this business in 1999. We raised our kids in this family business, and the years unrolled like a Jelly Roll falling off a cutting table. Where did those years go?

Our middle child who has had lyme disease and had to leave college 2 years ago, is finally getting better and contemplating having a life again. My friend who had the brain biopsy is now in chemo and radiation. My mom is in assisted living and slowing down. I turned 60 last November and …can’t deny my bad knees are getting creakier. So time passes and we all feel the years going by. I never thought I’d be doing the same thing for 20 years, but then again it has been a wild creative ride and a dream career. Paul and I count our blessings and never take anything for granted. We come from entrepreneurial families so running our own business is in our blood.

Sunday is World Wildlife Day, and we’d like to take the opportunity to point out 2 of our charity recipients that focus on protecting wildlife habitats and endangered species:

Ocean Conservancy is based in Washington DC, and their work extends to our USA shores and beyond. From the Arctic to the Gulf of Mexico, their work includes projects like building sustainable fisheries and reducing the trash that kills marine life. I have visited their headquarters in DC 3 times, to learn about their projects, and share my concerns about the damage I’ve seen in my travels.

The Wild Foundation is our newest recipient, and they are working to preserve wilderness areas and endangered species around the world. I have spent time with their foundation’s president, and was particularly impressed with their program to protect elephants in Mali (hired 600 rangers to fight poachers) and in China. (educating about the value of wilderness) They were founded in South Africa, but are now based in Boulder Colorado.

You can read more details about these, and our other 5 recipients, on our charity page. We do encourage you to learn more about these very carefully vetted organizations. Perhaps you will find one that you’d like to support personally.

We are approaching $1.6 million raised for charity, and we thank you for your support of our family-owned business, and our charity program.

Together, yes, we CAN make a difference!

sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul

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Free eQuilter Pattern – Dragonfly Moon

Posted on March 1, 2019 by Luana

Bring the peaceful silence of a Japanese meditation garden into your home,
when you make this Dragonfly quilt with a subtle shimmer of golden metallic.

This 61″ x 80″ quilt has a clean design aesthetic, with Modern piecing and a rich Lavender/Violet color story. We must warn you though – these fabrics are so gorgeous – it might be hard to cut them up! If you fall in love with this collection, be sure to check out the rest of the Northcott Shimmer collections.

… featuring the ‘Shimmer Dragonfly Moon’ collection by Jill McCloy with Textures from Deborah Edwards for Northcott Fabrics.

Don’t miss the popular ‘Full Heart‘ 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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