Festival of Quilts

Posted on August 13, 2018 by Luana

I always say that travel is the best judge of character, because something always happens, and how one deals with it says a lot about one’s character. Well, this last week was one of those travel experiences for Sophie and I. Lost luggage, lost laundry, broken wifi – we just had to laugh. However our experience with the quilters at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham UK has been stellar, and it was wonderful to introduce Sophie to our eQuilter friends across the pond. We especially enjoyed visiting with the Tentmakers of Cairo, and our European SAQA members. On the last day there is always a Cosplay conference (This year is Outlander) and an Indian wedding in this hotel, so the combination of wedding saris, cosplay geeks, and fabriholic quilters, makes for a wild weekend.

As always, I took photos of my favorite quilts, and you’ll see these popping up on my photo pages in the next week or two after I return home. Our return flights are tomorrow – we’ll be home Sunday evening. I think Sophie was surprised at how many people she knew at this event. It is a small world we occupy – the International Quilting Tribe circles the globe and reconvenes at these events like annual family reunions. As many of us have been coming for 10 or 20 years, now we bring our daughters, and new kinds of talents are being revealed by the younger generation.

Tonight one of our quilting friends is driving us to Stratford to the Royal Shakespeare Theater. We’ll be seeing the Merry Wives of Windsor – a fitting end to our week in England. Sophie starts school Thursday so we’ll be back to a school schedule in a few days. We’ll have some big news to share in the next few weeks – stay tuned!

sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul

Share Post:
Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedin
Posted in Quilts, Travel | Comments Off on Festival of Quilts

Free Pattern – Island Sanctuary

Posted on August 10, 2018 by Luana

This week’s Exclusive Free Quilt Pattern combines tropical floral prints from Kaufman and Timeless Treasures. Detailed, brilliant orchids, hibiscus, birds of paradise and more are set on island jewel-tones of jade, pacific blue and iris purple.

Digitally printed floral frames are surrounded with deep green borders, primrose pink sashing, and an allover tropical flower outer border.

This exquisite 67″ x 79″ quilt will bring light and warmth to your room as a wall-hanging, or makes a beautiful tropical twin bed quilt.

… from the ‘Island Sanctuary’ collection by Lynnea Washburn for Robert Kaufman Fabrics and the ‘Island Breeze’ collection by Chong-A Hwang for Timeless Treasures.

And don’t miss the wonderful ‘Heavenly Cats‘ and ‘Dreaming in Color‘ 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.

Share Post:
Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedin
Posted in Free Quilt Patterns, Quilt Pattern, Quilts | Comments Off on Free Pattern – Island Sanctuary

Creative Nudge – Needle and Thread – What to Wear?

Posted on August 8, 2018 by Luana

This week I am writing to you from London, where Sophie and I are visiting an old family friend before going to the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham UK. It is Sophie’s first visit to England, so we are squeezing in several museums and cultural experiences in our few days here. I’ve been coming to London since 1983, and have visited many sites several times. Some things change (like the entrance to the National Gallery) but it is comforting to visit so many historic sites that are maintained in their authentic disposition.

If you sign up for the Buckingham emails, you will find out that Buckingham Palace opens up its State Rooms for the public to visit for several weeks in the summer. Presumably the queen has ditched her London palace for the cooler climes of Balmoral. Everyone here is complaining about the record-breaking heat. Anyway, I have been trying to hit the summertime Buckingham dates for years and I finally made it! We also took the Royal Garden Tour (her back yard, essentially) and visited the Queen’s Gallery. We’ll fit in the Mews and Westminster Abbey tomorrow, before we head up to Birmingham on the train Thursday. The V&A and Tower of London might have to wait til next time. Sophie’s luggage was missing for 2 days, so we lost some time, having to go shopping to find her some clothes to wear. The luggage finally showed up but now our laundry is lost. Oh well, it will all work out in the end. You have to keep your sense of humor at times like this.

There is so much incredible art at Buckingham, collected by multiple monarchs. We loved the gorgeous ceiling designs by architect John Nash, and portraits of Victoria by Winterhalter. We also saw Prince Charles’ favorite art works from the 3 charities he has founded: The Royal Drawing School, The Prince’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts and traditional crafts of Turquoise Mountain.

The photo collage above is a painting by Drouais, of Madame de Pompadour at her embroidery frame. She is wearing silk, embroidery and lace…sitting with tambour needle and thread. My how times have changed. We often sit with needle and thread in our jammies now. You can see this painting at the National Gallery at Trafalgar Square in London.

sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul

********
eQuilter Classroom & Event Calendar:
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:
Aug 9-12 – Birmingham UK Festival of Quilts
Sept 6-12 – CMG – Wash DC, QA TV – Ohio
Nov 2-8 – Houston Quilt Market & Festival – Love Your Mother Exhibit
Nov 13-19, 2018 – POLAR BEAR Tour
Dec 23 – Jan 4 – China

Share Post:
Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedin
Posted in Art, Museum, Travel | Comments Off on Creative Nudge – Needle and Thread – What to Wear?

Free Pattern – Winter’s Grandeur

Posted on August 7, 2018 by Luana

This week’s Free Quilt Pattern is a merry combination of the Winter’s Grandeur and Holiday Flourish collections, with a delightfully decorated Christmas tree surrounded by crystalline holiday ornaments and coordinating shimmering stars and swirls.

Start with a large central Christmas tree panel, then add borders of festive coordinates and a beautifully detailed ornament outside border. This 55″ x 76″ quilt will hang in a place of honor during your holiday celebrations, or will make a treasured gift to be cherished for many seasons to come.

… from the ‘Winter’s Grandeur’ collection and the ‘Holiday Flourish ‘ collection by Peggy Toole by Robert Kaufman Fabrics.

And don’t miss the wonderful ‘Tiger Eyes‘ and ‘Dreaming in Color‘ 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.

 

Share Post:
Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedin
Posted in Free Quilt Patterns, Quilt Pattern, Quilts | Comments Off on Free Pattern – Winter’s Grandeur

Flying Across the Pond Tonight

Posted on August 6, 2018 by Luana

It’s time for the biggest quilt festival in Europe – the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham UK! When you read this newsletter I’ll be halfway across the Atlantic on my way to England. eQuilter is a major sponsor of this event (we sponsor the Festival Theatre) but the reason I go to this show every year is to photograph the beautiful quilts that express so much variety of culture from so many countries. It is a smorgasbord of artistic delights!

This time I am bringing Sophie with me, and she is going to help me with some videos at the show. She’s been helping out at the office this summer in the buying department, and she will also be coming to Quilt Market in Houston this year. Our family business is expanding. We are first stopping in London for a few days to visit an old friend of the family, then we’ll be in Birmingham for the Thursday night Festival Dinner, and the Friday night SAQA dinner. We’ll be on the floor of the show Friday and Saturday, and we hope to see many of our European friends during these few days.

A few days ago we met with our Natural Habitats travel specialist and she said we still have a couple spots open for the Polar Bear tour in November. This is a very special trip for me because it is a few days before my 60th birthday. If you’ve been noodling about joining us, I urge you to call NatHab Monday and nab that last spot, and you can help me celebrate my big birthday out on the edge of the Arctic Circle. My most recent quilt is a Polar Bear which will be in the Endangered Species exhibit next year. (from a photo I took of a very charismatic bear on the last Polar Bear tour.)

If you are a longtime subscriber to this e-newsletter, you know that I love to share photos that I take when I travel. I’ve recently uploaded photos from Sweden, and also the Lotus Festival from the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in Wash DC. I’ll be sharing photos from the Birmingham Festival of Quilts in a week or two also. I hope these photos give you lots of creative inspiration.

Our next featured workshop will be MJ Kinman’s Gemstone Quilts on Oct 6-7. The link to the discounted hotel rates is at the bottom of the workshop page here. We now have in stock the fat quarter packets that go with her Birthstone Patterns.

sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul

Share Post:
Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedin
Posted in Animals, Quilts, Travel | Comments Off on Flying Across the Pond Tonight

Free Pattern – Southwestern Soul

Posted on August 3, 2018 by Luana

The colors and ambiance of the Southwest Desert are calling to you from this week’s exclusive eQuilter Free Quilt Pattern, with artwork by one of our favorite artists … Dan Morris.

A smiling Sun radiates from the central panel, with dancing Kokopelli blocks set on point in the pieced border. We’ve used a Hoffman Hand-Dye and a Stonehenge texture to give the feeling of a Southwest sand and rock landscape. Native American geometrics have touches of Turquoise as an accent color.

This 50″ x 50″ quilt design is easy to construct, and makes a beautiful statement as a wall hanging or lap quilt.

… from the ‘Southwestern Soul’ collection by Dan Morris for Quilting Treasures.

And don’t miss the wonderful ‘Paisley Cats‘ and ‘Dreaming in Color‘ 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.

Share Post:
Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedin
Posted in Free Quilt Patterns, Quilt Pattern, Quilts | Comments Off on Free Pattern – Southwestern Soul

Creative Nudge – Echoes of Footsteps…

Posted on August 1, 2018 by Luana

One of my favorite activities when I travel, is to photograph design motifs that might translate into textile or quilt motifs. Here is one of those photos from my visit to the palace in Stockholm: an inlaid floor with an exquisitely styled design in 5 shades of woodgrain.

Another one of my favorite things to do on a trip, is to visit historic rooms or buildings, and imagine what might have happened there over the centuries. What footsteps have trod on this decorative floor? What books were pulled from the shelves and read while in the red velvet chair by the window? What secrets were whispered…what flowers were in a vase on a table…what letters were delivered…what guests were entertained?

I’ve uploaded many photos from my trip to Sweden, and if you scroll to the 2nd page of the Sweden album, you’ll see photos from the palace in Stockholm.

MJ Kinman’s gemstone patterns and fat quarter birthstone kits have been blowing out! If you don’t know what all the fuss is about – come to her class here at eQuilter Oct 6-7 and learn how to make your own pieced gemstone quilts!

sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul

* The collage above features a photo by Luana at the palace in Stockholm Sweden, plus fabrics currently in stock at eQuilter.com

********

eQuilter Classroom & Event Calendar:
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:
Aug 5-12 – London & Birmingham UK Festival of Quilts
Sept 6-12 – CMG – Wash DC, QA TV – Ohio
Nov 2-8 – Houston Quilt Market & Festival – Love Your Mother Exhibit
Nov 13-19, 2018 – POLAR BEAR Tour
Dec 23 – Jan 4 – China

Share Post:
Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedin
Posted in Creativity, Design, Quilts | Comments Off on Creative Nudge – Echoes of Footsteps…

Free Pattern – Alaska’s Northern Lights

Posted on July 31, 2018 by Luana

Imagine stepping out of your cozy snow-covered log cabin,  gazing up at the sky, and seeing a dancing curtain of Northern Lights up above. This week’s Free Quilt Pattern has captured that experience, with the central scenic panel by Alaskan artist Jon Van Zyle.

This 52″ x 60″ quilt uses Stonehenge textures and a Hoffman Hand-Dye to create the pieced border. The inner and outer border are our exclusive Starry Sky print. Bring the magic of the Aurora Borealis into your living space with this wall hanging, or use flannel for the backing for a snuggly lap quilt.

… from the ‘Alaska’s Artist Jon Van Zyle’ collection by Jon Van Zyle for P&B Textiles.

And don’t miss the wonderful ‘Paisley Cats‘ and ‘Dreaming in Color‘ 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.

Share Post:
Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedin
Posted in Free Quilt Patterns, Quilt Pattern, Quilts | Comments Off on Free Pattern – Alaska’s Northern Lights

Post-Trip Glow

Posted on July 30, 2018 by Luana

Today I had lunch with an old friend who was my neighbor in Hong Kong. He brought along another HK expat buddy who I last saw in 1984. These 2 are Americans who were born and raised in Hong Kong, and have lived and worked around the world as adults. They each speak about 6 languages and Sophie got to listen to a lot of good stories during our lunch. Many of my friends comment that I travel so much, but these 2 are part of my old expat network who have traveled even more than me. Some in our old network have had diplomatic careers and travel around the world all the time. So you know…it is all relative.

My post-Sweden creative inspiration continues to expand. This week I got the English version of an out-of-print book about Swedish quilts in the late 1800s and early 1900s, by Asa Wettre. I’ve been digging around in the family tree on Ancestry, while watching the news about fires in Sweden where we visited. I also discovered the beautiful artwork of Carl Larsson this week. I have so many ideas bubbling up now, and I will share them with you as they come into focus. In the meantime you can see my photos from our trip on my photo page.

Our Colorado Rocky Mountains have been hidden by the smoky haze that is blowing east from the fires in California. Our daily summer rainstorms have been helping to clear the air, but we are also thinking of our friends and customers who are threatened by these western fires, and hoping you can stay safe.

Our next featured workshop will be MJ Kinman’s Gemstone Quilts on Oct 6-7. The link to the discounted hotel rates is at the bottom of the workshop page here. We now have in stock the fat quarter packets that go with her Birthstone Patterns.

sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul

Share Post:
Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedin
Posted in Classes, Creativity, Travel | Comments Off on Post-Trip Glow

Free Pattern – Maplewood Ombre

Posted on July 27, 2018 by Luana

Are you dreaming of cooler temperatures and Fall being just a few steps around the corner? This week’s exclusive eQuilter Free Quilt Pattern features this gorgeous Autumn-hued collection that has been blasting out of our warehouse … and we promise it is even more beautiful in person because of the subtle shimmer of gold metallic.

This clever 58″ x 74″ quilt design uses only 3 fabrics – the central panel, an ombre leaf print, and an ombre texture. Using the gradient print to create a three-dimensional effect, you’ll find this special quilt will fill a room with soft light and words of admiration.

… from the ‘Stonehenge – Maplewood’ collection by Helene Knott for Northcott Fabrics.

And don’t miss the wonderful ‘Paisley Cats‘ and ‘Dreaming in Color‘ 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.

Share Post:
Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedin
Posted in Free Quilt Patterns, Quilt Pattern, Quilts | Comments Off on Free Pattern – Maplewood Ombre