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.
This morning I caught
a 6 am flight home from Nashville, after attending the Award Ceremonies and 2
days of QuiltCon. The weather was drizzly and cold but the colorful quilts and
enthusiastic high spirits made up for the weather outside! Each year that I go
to this event, I delight in seeing how the Modern Quilt movement, and this
event, continue to change and grow…often in unexpected ways.
The Best of Show was a colorful and truly fantastic GROUP QUILT, which just
underlines my theory that if quilters ruled the world we could solve all of our
problems. This genius quilt is a study in how to bring creatively independent
spontaneous elements together into one harmonious joyful expression.
Congratulations to Leanne Lethbridge and her group!
One of the other top awards was the eQuilter Machine Quilting Award made by
Marge Tucker from Massachusetts. My BERNINA Ambassador mentor Jeanne and I had
fun admiring Marge’s machine work together. There was a lot of Kantha-style
handwork and stitching at the exhibit, but there was also a lot of masterful
machine quilting which filled up the ubiquitous Negative Spaces in many Modern
Quilts.
One of my favorite quilts in the show was a multicolor Group Quilt from Russia,
which had a similar feel to the Best of Show quilt. You may recall several
years ago I talked about Group Quilts being a strong trend, after a
particularly inspiring Group Quilt exhibit at the Birmingham UK Festival of
Quilts. The Charity Guild Group Quilts which are sent in to QuiltCon from all
over the US, and indeed from all over the world, are a case in point. Now more
than ever, we need to come together to create beautiful synchronicity.
You may also recall me mentioning a year ago about the activist quilts by the
Social Justice Sewing Academy. This year their quilts in the Youth category
were the talk of the show, and I was lucky enough to spend some time with their
organizers. I’ll be sharing photos from the Mexico City quilt festival and
QuiltCon on my photo
page this weekend.
Now I need to go get ready for Lynn
Koolish‘s CQC workshop in our eQuilter Classroom tomorrow morning. Hope to
see some of you there!
This morning I caught a 6 am flight home from Nashville, after attending the Award Ceremonies
and 2 days of QuiltCon. The weather was drizzly and cold but the
colorful quilts and enthusiastic high spirits made up for the weather
outside! Each year that I go to this event, I delight in seeing how the
Modern Quilt movement, and this event, continue to change and
grow…often in unexpected ways.
The Best of Show was a colorful
and truly fantastic GROUP QUILT, which just underlines my theory that
if quilters ruled the world we could solve all of our problems. This
genius quilt is a study in how to bring creatively independent
spontaneous elements together into one harmonious joyful expression.
Congratulations to Leanne Lethbridge and her group!
One of the
other top awards was the eQuilter Machine Quilting Award made by Marge
Tucker from Massachusetts. My BERNINA Ambassador mentor Jeanne and I
had fun admiring Marge’s machine work together. There was a lot of
Kantha-style handwork and stitching at the exhibit, but there was also a
lot of masterful machine quilting which filled up the ubiquitous
Negative Spaces in many Modern Quilts.
One of my favorite quilts
in the show was a multicolor Group Quilt from Russia, which had a
similar feel to the Best of Show quilt. You may recall several years
ago I talked about Group Quilts being a strong trend, after a
particularly inspiring Group Quilt exhibit at the Birmingham UK
Festival of Quilts. The Charity Guild Group Quilts which are sent in to
QuiltCon from all over the US, and indeed from all over the world, are
a case in point. Now more than ever, we need to come together to
create beautiful synchronicity.
You may also recall me
mentioning a year ago about the activist quilts by the Social Justice
Sewing Academy. This year their quilts in the Youth category were the
talk of the show, and I was lucky enough to spend some time with their
organizers. I’ll be sharing photos from the Mexico City quilt festival
and QuiltCon on my photo page this weekend.
Now I need to go get ready for Lynn Koolish‘s CQC workshop in our eQuilter Classroom tomorrow morning. Hope to see some of you there!
sharing your Passion for Fabric… Luana and Paul
********
eQuilter Classroom & Travel Calendar: Feb 24 – Lynn Koolish for CQC – in eQuilter Classroom Mar 9 – Charity Sewing Day – Please RSVP Mar 14-17 – Carter Center – 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 22-29 – Pour Lamour Du Fil – Nantes France (lecture Fri Apr 26)
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Posted inArt, Quilts, Travel|Comments Off on QuiltCon in Nashville
With Mothers Day just around the corner, we are thinking this would be a great gift for a New Mother, a Grandmother, or someone who is just extra sweet and lovable!
This 60″ x 65″ quilt is a quick and easy project, using a Panel plus 3 coordinates: a painterly Rainbow Stripe, a solid Kona Black, and a Hearts print. The colorful panel is just bursting with Joy and Love, saying more can words could ever express.
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 just returned from the Mexico City Quilt
Festival, I am enjoying the colors and culture of Mexico and Latino culture. The folk
arts and crafts, the music, and food are such a deep rich well of creative
inspiration. From Mariachis to Margaritas, and from Tacos to Tequila, a Mexican
restaurant with a Mariachi show is a good place to start!
I have always appreciated the folk arts and textile arts of Mexico and
Guatemala, and then there are design influences like Day of the Dead and Frida Kahlo. Lately
other influences are creeping in, like Succulents and Cacti. The richness of
these cultures are also expressed in the Colors of Cuba, which has a parallel
but unique Spanish/Latino flavor.
As the quilt movement in Mexico progresses, it is fun to see how the local
culture is expressed in their quilts. In the center of this collage is a detail
from Sonia Flores Ruiz award-winning quilt, “Casa De Las Comadres”.
Notice the Mexican yarn-dyed stripes, the 3-D braided hair, the paper-cut
banners that read “Mi Casa” and “Tu Casa”. (The border
collage is related fabrics we have in stock now.)
On my last day there, we had an embroidery class from an indigenous textile
artist who rode 8 hours on a bus to come teach us her native folk art. She told
us how traditionally they would raise the sheep, spin the wool yarn, and dye
the yarn with natural plant and bug (cochineal red) colors. However the
specialized sheep which their people have raised in the mountains for
centuries, are dying off because of climate change. Now she has to take a bus
that is 3 hours one way, to buy the wool to spin and dye the yarn.
I brought down 17 quilts made by our Charity Sewing Group, to donate to mothers
and children at the Migrant House in Monterrey. This is a charitable organization
that helps families escaping poverty and violence in Central America. Many
thanks to the quilters who contributed time and quilts to this effort!
Tomorrow I am flying to Nashville for QuiltCon. Yes this schedule is crazy, but
these 2 events are one week apart!
sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul
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Posted inCharity, Quilts, Travel|Comments Off on Creative Nudge – Mi Casa et Tu Casa
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.
Today was the last
day of the quilt festival in Mexico City, where I’ve been chaperoning the Love
Your Mother exhibit at the Quilters de Mexico event. It is so exciting
to see our quilt challenge hanging in a new venue, and to see how quilters in
another country react to the message of these quilts. I spoke to the Mexican
quilters today, about how the challenge works, and a little bit about the
jurying process. We have one Mexican quilter in ‘Love Your Mother’ and I look
forward to seeing the quilt movement continue to develop here.
Lea McComas’ ‘Wall’ is also being displayed at this event, and due to the
timing of US events, it has been the spark for much conversation. She still has
bricks coming in from both sides of the issue, so if you want to express your
feelings about this topic, you can still make a brick. Both sides of the Wall
are welcome!
One of my Japanese friends is here. I just saw her at the Tokyo show a few
weeks ago, and we’ll be meeting at the QuiltCon event next weekend. It is such
a special feeling to see quilter friends from other countries when attending
these events. Today I visited the Diego Rivera murals with a Canadian quilter
who lives in Mexico, and a Dutch quilter who lives in the Caribbean. It is so
fascinating compare our experiences of being quilters from different countries.
For those who do not have a quilt shop locally, eQuilter is a lifeline!
I’ve uploaded photos of Love
Your Mother in Mexico’ to my photo page, and
will upload more from this event as the internet here allows. It is a little
spotty. The world may be going crazy but quilting brings us together under the
umbrella of love, creativity and generosity, and I am going to stay under this
colorful umbrella.
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.
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.
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.
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
****************
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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Posted inJapan, Travel|Comments Off on Creative Nudge – Valentine Love
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.
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.
