Free Quilt Patterns – Heavenly Cats

Attention Fellow Cat-Lovers…..
This one’s for you!

As you may know, Dan Morris is one of our favorite artists, and this gorgeous Cat-themed fabric collection has been one of our top sellers.

We’ve designed our own exclusive Free Quilt Pattern around Dan’s embellished cat illustrations, to make a 76″ x 83″ bed quilt for that special Kitty person in your life.

And hey – being a Crazy Cat Lady is more fun with quilts like this. Your feline quilting ‘helpers’ will enjoy snuggling with you on this Kitty Comforter and we are pretty sure you won’t mind a few cat hairs on this unique quilt.

… from the ‘Purr-suasion’ collection by Dan Morris for Quilting Treasures.

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Announcing the LOVE YOUR MOTHER Artists!

Hello and Happy Summer!

Last week I shared with you a Quilting Arts TV clip about trends from the Tokyo Quilt Festival. This week you’ll see a 2nd clip which features my own art quilts, including a new Polar Bear quilt from a photo I took up in Churchill Manitoba. Enjoy!

We are very proud and happy to announce the names of the 17 quilters whose work has been juried into the Love Your Mother exhibit –

Mirvia Aranda, Patty Arensen, Debra L. Bowman,
Elizabeth A Budd, Melissa Dessent, Barbara R. Dove,
Linda Garofalo, Becky Grover, Sylvia Hernandez,
Janice Jones, Deb Manowske, Karen Ponischil,
Annette Rowland, Sonia E. Ruiz, Deborah Snider,
Silke Steuxner and Marijke van Welzen.

It is an international gathering of artists who have expressed their thoughts and feelings about what is happening to our Mother Earth, and I hope you will come to see this exhibit premier in November at the International Quilt Festival in Houston. The winners will receive their prizes – including the top prize of a BERNINA 570 QE machine at the Teachers Luncheon on Thursday Nov 8. I hope you can join us there.

Sophie’s new violin teacher has invited her to go on a Swedish Fiddle workshop tour for the next 2 weeks, and I invited myself along as a parent chaperone. I am going to treat this as a creative retreat, and will also be meeting Swedish quilters and doing research on Scandi design.

This weekend we are celebrating Sophie’s 16th birthday! How did that happen?

sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul

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Check out our 170 videos from international quilt festivals, PBS TV, artist and curator interviews on our eQuilter Video Page. Subscribe and catch the latest videos on our eQuilter YouTube Channel.

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eQuilter Classroom & Event Calendar:
July 16 – 20 – Lea McComas Workshops @ eQuilter
Sept 14-19 – Betty Busby workshops @ eQuilter
Oct 6-7 – MJ Kinman Gemstone Quilt workshop @ eQuilter
Dec 2 – CQC workshop Victoria Findlay Wolfe

Luana’s Travel Calendar:
June 27 – July 11 – Sweden
Aug 5-12 – London & Birmingham UK Festival of Quilts
Sept 8 – Color Marketing Group – Wash DC
Nov 13-19, 2018 – POLAR BEAR Tour
Dec 23 – Jan 4 – China

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Free Patterns – Nebula and Galaxy Collections

As NASA telescopes evolve and bring back more amazing images from deep space, our imaginations are fired up by the awesome photos of galaxies, and nebulae.

Astronomers, Students and Sci-Fi fans will be thrilled with this fantastic 59″ x 59″ quilt, featuring not just the images but also the names of many of the most fascinating spectacles of the Cosmos.

We use 2 of our exclusive digital prints for this eQuilter Free Quilt Pattern – a panel with multiple images – and a swirling starry sky print. The colorful prints are set off by Kaufman Kona Solid Black, a deep rich and saturated black that is a fantastic contrast for any colorful print!

Available in 2 Out-Of-This-World variations:

Space – Nebula Collection

Space – Galaxy Collection

… from the ‘Outer Space’ collection by the Rubin Design Studio, designed exclusively for eQuilter.

And don’t miss the wonderful ‘Dreaming in Color‘ and ‘Nouveau Belles‘ quilt patterns.
All our Dream Big panels are now in stock.

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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Gemstone Quilts and a Sparkling Personality

In my travels around the world to quilt festivals, I have met some of the most amazing creative geniuses. My “job” as I see it, is to share that talent and inspiration with all of you.

One of those people is MJ Kinman, who I met in Houston last year. I saw her large gemstone quilts and was just blown away. I ordered a large quantity of her Gemstone Quilt Patterns and it turned out you all agreed with me! Because we are setting up an eQuilter Workshop program in our classroom, I asked if she would come and teach in our space. She said yes! Her workshop “Treasure Hunting” will be offered on Sat & Sun, Oct 6 & 7, 2018.

Registration for this workshop is OPEN NOW
along with Lea McComas’ 2 Portrait Workshops in July.

MJ is really interested in the Creative Process, not just the nuts and bolts of how to teach her gemstone quilt techniques. She is very generous and enthusiastic about sharing her ideas. This is going to be an introductory workshop and we hope to have her back again for a longer in-depth creative retreat. She suggests using Gradients (Ombres), Solids and Hand-Dyes for these quilts. Of course we stock all of these categories in depth, in yardage and precuts, for your convenience.

As you can see by the calendar below, we are trying to set up a regular schedule of talented national teachers to come share their ideas, techniques and inspiration in our 15,000 sq ft warehouse. We’ve already hosted Lisa Walton, the first international president of SAQA. So many people have come into the classroom, seen the project we made in Lisa’s workshop, and wished they had come.

So please come and join us!
We are delighted to host both local and out-of-state workshop attendees, and you can stay in the beautiful Hampton Inn with our corporate discount.

Now you may have noticed from my calendar that I am going to Sweden next week. Yes! It’s true!
I will be there for 2 weeks and I’ll tell you all about it, and of course I’ll be taking lots of photos to share. I am going to be doing some design research in my spare time as a parent chaperone.

If you live in Sweden and want to connect while I am there, please send us an email.
I want to meet you for Fika!

You can find my photos from Quilt Canada on my photo pages now. Many thanks to Gabi for sharing that link in her Quilt Art News. Feel free to share links to Quilt Photos on my photo pages – they are there for YOU.

sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul

Enjoy artist interviews, tutorials, and quilt festival tours, on our eQuilter Video Page.

eQuilter Classroom & Event Calendar:
June 20 – Love Your Mother notification emails go out.
June 23 – eQuilter Charity Sewing Day & Sophie’s Sweet 16 Party! (Please RSVP)
July 16 – 20 – Lea McComas Workshops @ eQuilter
Sept 14-19 – Betty Busby FRCQ workshops @ eQuilter
Oct 6-7 – M.J. Kinman Gemstone Quilt workshop @ eQuilter
Dec 2 – CQC workshop Victoria Findlay Wolfe @ eQuilter

Luana’s Travel Calendar:
June 27 – July 11 – Sweden
Aug 5-12 – London & Birmingham UK Festival of Quilts
Sept 8 – Color Marketing Group – Wash DC
Nov 13-19, 2018 – POLAR BEAR Tour
Dec 23 – Jan 4 – China

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Free Pattern – Morningmoon Fairies

Create your own Midsummer Night’s Dream to celebrate the Summer Solstice, with Jody Bergsma’s breathtaking illustrations reproduced in detailed digital printed panels.

Her magical fairies have tamed Butterflies & Moths, Hummingbirds & Doves, to ride across the sky at Dawn. These vignettes are set in blocks, and pieced into a starry background.

This 57″ x 72″ quilt will make a beautiful fantasy bed quilt for a special little person, or perhaps a lap quilt or wall hanging for fans of that enchanting Shakespeare play?

“If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumbered here
While these visions did appear….”

… from the ‘Morningmoon Fairies’ collection by Jody Bergsma for Robert Kaufman Fabrics.

And don’t miss the wonderful ‘Dreaming in Color‘ and ‘Butterfly Pavilion‘ quilt patterns.
All our Dream Big panels are now in stock.

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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Making Memories and Making Quilts

Several of the yummy fabrics we ordered at Spring Quilt Market started to arrive this week, and I hope that they will give a smile and perhaps a giggle or two, with your Sunday morning cuppa.

Recently I was delighted to visit Quilting Arts TV to share photos and inspirations from the 2018 Tokyo Quilt Festival – here is a clip of my segment from the PBS Create series “Quilting Arts TV” with host Susan Brubaker Knapp.

Summer is a time of Festivals – Music Festivals, Art Festivals, Shakespeare Festivals, Food and Drink Festivals. Garden tours and outdoor activities may briefly take us away from our sewing and quilting projects, but they also provide inspiration for our big projects in the Fall and Winter months. Now is the time when we gather images, mementos, color and design inspirations for our favorite indoor activities – quilting and sewing!

We aim to stock every type of fabric that represents all those summer activities – from camping to gardeningbeach vacations and road tripsfarmers markets and horseback riding. When it gets hot and we head to museums and cinemas with air conditioning. And of course those of you Down Under are enjoying your cool Winter weather now!

Lea McComas is teaching her amazing Portrait technique workshops here next month – if you’d like to learn more about fusible applique and threadpainting, sign up for one or more of these fantastic workshops!

sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul

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Free Pattern – Nouveau Belles

Travel back through time to another era of grace and elegance, with
this week’s exclusive eQuilter Free Quilt Pattern. We’ve combined our own digital panel with the Free Spirit ‘Kelmscott’ collection by Morris & Co, to create a truly one-of-a-kind wall hanging.

This triptych uses one digital-printed panel with three blocks, then each Art Nouveau figure is pieced into the larger 56″ x 52″ quilt design using the beautiful William Morris botanic prints.

… from the ‘Art Nouveau’ collection by the Rubin Design Studio, designed exclusively for eQuilter.

And don’t miss the wonderful ‘Dreaming in Color‘ and ‘Butterfly Pavilion‘ quilt patterns.
All our Dream Big panels are now in stock.

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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Brushstrokes and Inspiration

When we pursue being an artist, there is a fire in our belly that is longing to be expressed. Where does it come from? Is it always there, just waiting to be ignited? Is it a discovery, like finding one’s purpose in life? Sometimes one’s purpose in life can be ….to express what we see and feel through our art.

As a kid I devoured artist biographies. I read Irving Stone’s bios about Michelangelo and Van Gogh so many times that the book covers fell off. Their lives, their pursuit of color and form, was a blindingly brilliant inspiration. I could relate to the intensity that burned inside of them, that came out in their art.

As a young adult, as my childhood dreams of travel began to unfold, I always included art museums and galleries in every city I visited. I had visited most of the great museums of the world at a relatively young age. I was obsessed. In particular I loved to find the work of one of my painter idols, and stand in front of their work for long periods of meditative study. That study of color and form was absorbed on a deep level, and provided a foundation for my adult careers.

Do you remember discovering a source of creative fire at a young age? Do you still have a connection to that feeling? Do you consciously source those smoldering fires when tapping into your own creative genius? Do you give yourself permission to break rules and pursue expression beyond normal boundaries?

In the center of the collage above is a Van Gogh painting that I adore. I visited it in the Met in NYC last year. As we received these digital printed reproductions of Impressionist paintings this year, (the borders of this collage) I kept thinking about this lush sunflower painting. My love of sunflowers, my love of blue and yellow, my love of the Impressionists’ sweet raw outpourings has undoubtedly influenced my professional life…and I bet you have such a creative source to tap into also.

You can find my photos from Quilt Canada on my photo pages now.

Our next Charity Sewing Day on June 23 will be for the Guatemala Volcano victims.

We have an immediate opening for an assistant buyer with quilt pattern design experience:
https://www.equilter.com/news/jobs

sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul

Enjoy artist interviews, tutorials, and quilt festival tours, on our eQuilter Video Page.

********
eQuilter Classroom & Event Calendar:
June 23 – eQuilter Charity Sewing Day & Sophie’s Sweet 16 Party! (Please RSVP)
July 16 – 20 – Lea McComas Workshops @ eQuilter
Sept 14-19 – Betty Busby FRCQ workshops @ eQuilter
Oct 6-7 – M.J. Kinman Gemstone Quilt workshop @ eQuilter
Dec 2 – CQC workshop Victoria Findlay Wolfe @ eQuilter

Luana’s Travel Calendar:
June 27 – July 11 – Sweden
Aug 5-12 – London & Birmingham UK Festival of Quilts
Sept 8 – Color Marketing Group – Wash DC
Nov 13-19, 2018 – POLAR BEAR Tour
Dec 23 – Jan 4 – China

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Free Pattern – Three Wise Men

It may be summer, but this is the time of year when savvy quilters start working on their holiday projects and Christmas gifts!

This week’s Free Quilt Pattern features a triple-portrait of the Three Wise Men bringing their precious gifts under the guiding light of the Star of Bethlehem. Rich gold metallic enriches this quilt in the main panel, and in the jewel-toned coordinates.

This 48″ x 56″ wall-hanging features a pieced border with starry metallic squares set on point. The color theme that ties it all together is a deep Sapphire Blue with lots of that beautiful gold metallic for highlighted accents. You might just want to make a second one … for yourself!

… from the ‘Three Wise Men’ collection by Sarah Summers for Quilting Treasures.

And don’t miss the wonderful ‘Dreaming in Color‘ and ‘Butterfly Pavilion‘ quilt patterns.
All our Dream Big panels are now in stock.

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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Guatemalan Volcano Relief Mission

As you may know, eQuilter has supported many airlifts of disaster relief, medical and education supplies by Mission of Love, the largest user of the Denton Program. This week as I read about the volcano destruction in Guatemala, I wrote to MOL director Kathy Price and asked if she is planning a relief effort. Here’s what she said:

I have 85,000 pounds, three C17 Denton Planes being prepared to fly into Guatemala June 22 ( 2 planes) and June 23 ( 1 Plane ) with humanitarian aid for the survivors of the volcano. I will be in Guatemala to meet the planes and go and distribute the aid.

Our Mission of Love team in Tecpan has already been to the site, delivering medical, food etc via the ambulance we just donated last month and the fire truck.

I intend to go and build recycled homes for those in need.

Two of my firemen friends who just last month took aid to these folks with Mission of Love supplies died and they have not found their bodies.

Monetary donations are needed via gofundme for the indigenous Maya Indians of Guatemala. With your donations we can deliver water, food, humanitarian aid to the poorest of the poor people in need via our Mission of Love.

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In addition to the monthly check we send to Mission of Love as part of our charity program, we have just donated an additional $2500 for this relief effort. Please consider visiting their gofundme page and contribute whatever you can – even a small amount helps.

Today Lea McComas was in our classroom, assembling bricks into her Wall Project which we hope will be displayed at a big show later this year. Sophie and I are making bricks too. We did a live Facebook video this afternoon, with Lea explaining the project. You can see that on the eQuilter Facebook page, or my personal Facebook page.

Lea is also teaching her Portrait classes here next month – if you’d like to learn more about fusible applique and threadpainting, sign up for one or more of these fantastic workshops!

sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul

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