William Morris and Quilting Arts TV

Posted on January 15, 2018 by Luana

If you know me, you know I am just a nut for William Morris and his beautiful designs. Any time one of our vendors offers us a Morris collection, I pounce on it immediately! So I was honored to be asked to come onto Quilting Arts TV to talk about the work of this amazing creative force.

This happens to coincide with the release of the new William Morris collection from Free Spirit, so I am happy to offer both the Kelmscott Collection and the QA TV interview this weekend!

Today we hosted another Charity Sewing Day, and many of our regular quilters had taken home quilts to finish… and they brought them back today. If you are interested in joining us, our next Sewing Day will be Saturday Feb 10th.

Our classroom is buzzing with activity, and there are a lot of happy faces and busy hands here as I write this newsletter. My dream of bringing national and international teachers here, is about to launch, with Marty Ornish and Lisa Walton coming to teach in the next few months.

eQuilter is a new sponsor of the Road to California show, and next Saturday Sophie and I will spend one day walking the show. I hope to see many of you there!

You may have seen the links above, for the African fabrics and Tanzanian scarves that I cherry-picked at a market in Arusha, and hand-carried back to the US. They will sell out fast so have a look now if you are interested.

There is still time to make a quilt for our Love Your Mother quilt challenge and contest, with a BERNINA machine as First Prize, and a juried exhibit in Houston this Fall! We hope you will join the Challenge!

sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul

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Free Pattern – Water Garden

Posted on January 12, 2018 by Luana

Enter the dreamy world of Impressionist Water Gardens, in this week’s exclusive eQuilter Free Quilt Pattern, featuring a central landscape panel with a pointillist interpretation of Monet’s personal Lily Ponds at Giverny in France.

This generous 66″ x 78″ quilt will make a large Lap Quilt (a double snuggler!) or a Twin Coverlet quilt, or hang it on the wall to bring the gentle elegance of Nature to an indoor space.

… from the ‘Artisan Spirit Water Garden’ collection by Ira Kennedy for Northcott Fabrics.

And don’t miss our popular ‘Nouveau Muses‘ and ‘I Like Your Cattitude‘ 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 – Zebra Crossing

Posted on January 10, 2018 by Luana

Nature inspires us with color, pattern, and design…and Zebras are a great example of this creative inspiration.

On the endless plains of the Serengeti, Zebras are migrating by the hundreds of thousands…and their distinctive Black and White stripes never fail to catch the eye of the passing safari photographer. The only animal more numerous is the Wildebeest (Gnu) but we never got tired of looking at, and photographing the Zebras. The Swahili word for Zebra means “striped donkey”.

The Zebras know that they are #2 on the predators’ list of favorite foods, so they travel in herds mixed with other herbivores like the Wildebeest, Giraffes, Gazelles and Impalas. Occasionally we were lucky enough to see a few giant Elands hanging out with the Zebras. There were LOTS of zebra babies during our visit…did you know that zebra foals are born with brown and white stripes?

(The collage above features one of my many photos from the trip in the center, with current fabrics in the border.)

Our Charity Sewing Day this Saturday is FULL! Please note that we are hosting Marty Ornish’s CQC workshop next month, and registration for Lisa Walton’s workshop is now open with Early Bird Pricing.

Now that I am back from the Tanzania trip, we are also taking deposits for the November Polar Bear trip. This always fills up so don’t delay if you want to save your seat on the Big White Tundra Rover!

The deposit is due by February 1, 2018 to guarantee your spot – book early because spaces are limited and the trip will SELL OUT!

Registration for the Love Your Mother quilt challenge and contest (with a BERNINA as 1st prize!) will open March 1 through May 15. We will be using the online registration site Art Call so you can upload your entry easily…details coming soon!

sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul

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Event & Travel Calendar:
Feb 22-25, 2018 – QuiltCon – Pasadena, California
Feb 26 – Marty Ornish CQC workshop @ eQuilter Classroom
Mar 1 – May 15 – Registration for ‘Love Your Mother‘ Quilt Challenge
April 5-7 – SAQA Conference San Antonio TX
April 14-15 – Lisa Walton workshop @ eQuilter Classroom
May 11 – eQuilter Chromazone – Color Marketing Group
Nov 14-20, 2018 – POLAR BEAR Tour – Join me in Churchill!

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Free Pattern – I Like Your Cattitude

Posted on January 9, 2018 by Luana

CAT LOVERS … you know who you are – this week’s Free Quilt Pattern was designed for us, and it is a reminder that we find cats to love wherever we go. If you are the person who always stops to pet the kitty at the coffee shop, this one’s for YOU.

Purebreds & Mixed, Kittens and Senior Cats, Fluffy or Sleek, they all have loving purrs and wagging tails … and we love them all!

Start with a whimsical central panel with a happy gathering of cats, add the Hoffman Hand-Dye borders and allover cats, then finish with the clever kitty stripe mitered borders, featuring paw-prints and hearts, and you have a quick 48″ x 60″ quilt that is sure to bring a smile…and a meow!

… from the ‘Cattitude’ collection by Ginger Oliphant for Studio E Fabrics.

And don’t miss our popular ‘Nouveau Muses‘ and ‘Mustang Sunset‘ 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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Jambo (Hello) from Africa!

Posted on January 8, 2018 by Luana

Hello from the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania.

It is Saturday night, and my last night before I start my long journey home. (1 day cross country to Arusha, then 3 flights home through Ethiopia and Frankfurt.)

We have had heavy rains the last few days, which has made travel interesting. Yesterday as we traveled from the Serengeti to the Crater, we were slipping and sliding on rutted muddy roads, and fell into an Aardvark hole on the side of the dirt road in the middle of nowhere. Fortunately the driver and guide were very experienced and managed to get the vehicle out after an hour, with some very creative solutions.

Yesterday I visited a Maasai village, met a chief with 5 wives, and sat in a mud hut where they sleep with the calves at night to keep them safe from the lions. Tonight we are tallying up the total number of animals we’ve seen in the last 8 days – about 56 lions, 75 elephants, 40 giraffes, 6 cheetahs, plus lots of hyenas, ostriches, warthogs, and a handful of rhinos and leopards. Not to mention hundreds of thousands of wildebeests and zebras, in the Great Migration.

We have always scooped up fabrics that feature African wildlife and people, but now these images have so much more meaning to me. When I look at the fabric, I am thinking about the behavior and the ecosystem where the animals live. I stopped in a market and purchased many traditional African prints & batiks which I will hand-carry back to the US tomorrow. (for you!) When I look at these bold beautiful designs, I think of the ladies who wear these prints on the streets of the cities and villages here.

I’ll arrive home Monday night, and I’ll share more in the Midweek Creative Nudge.

sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul

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Free Pattern – Native Horse Spirits

Posted on January 8, 2018 by Luana

Your exclusive eQuilter Free Pattern takes us on a journey to the Great Southwest, through graphic artwork depicting the dignified native peoples and their natural landscapes.

Two spectacularly detailed panels feature noble spirits amidst majestic horses, eagles, and magnificent mountains, and are set within sashing of graceful Southwest design motifs.

This 48″ x 57″ quilt design makes a lovely wall-hanging for a rustic setting, or a comfy lap quilt. And you can customize the pattern using our three different native spirit panels.

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

And don’t miss our popular ‘Mystic Flowers‘ and ‘Mustang Sunset‘ 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 New Year from the Serengeti

Posted on January 3, 2018 by Luana

I am writing to you on New Years Day from the Serengeti Plains of Tanzania Africa, because when this email goes out Wednesday, I will be totally off the grid for a few days.

This trip has been a great way to set the Reset button for the New Year, and I am taking lots of photos that will bring inspiration for the rest of 2018. I am traveling with Natural Habitats, who also organize our Polar Bear tours. (If you call them for info, be sure to ask for our eQuilter specialist, Aly) I am writing this on the 3rd day of our photo safari, and every day our expectations have been exceeded. May all of your travels bring you such joy.

So far we’ve seen 3 leopards, 22 lions, 6 cheetahs, 18 elephants, 6 giraffes, and a long list of other species like ostriches and warthogs. The herds of wildebeests, zebras, and a huge variety of gazelles and antelope are making the Great Migration. The plains are vast and the skies are incomprehensibly huge being off-grid in such a wild and wide open space shifts something in one’s psyche. The migrating herds follow the dark rainstorms because that is where the grass will grow tomorrow. Many animals are heavily pregnant and so Nature has shown us her fertility in this endless cycle of renewal.

As a creative person, I am tapping into this limitless fertile potential to brainstorm on my own potential for 2018 and I am reminded that Nature follows her own cycles that I can ignore, or surf. The raw power of the changing seasons and the wisdom of animal instinct is a reminder that Nature in her infinite splendor has a divine perfection that plays out in an intricate detail, whether or not we are paying attention.

When I return home I will be sharing my photos and inspiration with you in many ways. My fellow travelers here (including eQuilter customers) share their daily illuminations over dinner each night, and that is part of this experience as well.

I wish you creativity in 2018, and a source of inspiration that grows as it is used. The source of creativity is limitless, if we open our heart and soul to the beauty around us every day.

sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana

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Event & Travel Calendar:
Dec 29 2017 – Jan 5 2018 – Tanzania Africa Wildlife Migration Tour
Feb 22-25, 2018 – QuiltCon – Pasadena, California
Feb 26 – Marty Ornish CQC workshop @ eQuilter Classroom
Mar 1 – May 15 – Registration for ‘Love Your Mother‘ Quilt Challenge
April 5-7 – SAQA Conference San Antonio TX
April 14-15 – Lisa Walton workshop @ eQuilter Classroom
May 11 – eQuilter Chromazone – Color Marketing Group
Nov 14-20, 2018 – POLAR BEAR Tour – Join me in Churchill!

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Free Pattern – Mustang Sunset

Posted on January 2, 2018 by Luana

Take a trip to the wide open spaces of the wild west, with this gorgeous Horse-themed Free Quilt Pattern. We wish you a Happy New Year with these iconic images of a ‘Mustang Sunset’, celebrating the wide open spaces of America’s western lands.

Dan’s combination of illustrations and textured silhouettes gives this a lovely weathered look, with a vintage color palette and prairie styling.

This 65″ x 77″ quilt is perfect for those twin bunk-beds for your little buckaroos, or a comforting nap quilt on the couch in your cabin.

… from the ‘Mustang Sunset’ collection by Dan Morris for Quilting Treasures.

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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Gratitude and Dreaming

Posted on January 2, 2018 by Luana

Happy New Year from the Serengeti!

Tonight I am writing to you from Tanzania, where I am spending New Years on a photo safari at the Great Migration of the Serengeti.

Yesterday I went to a market and cherry-picked a group of African fabrics which I will hand-carry home on January 8th. Watch the newsletter for when these will be available online.

I am traveling with Natural Habitats (the same company that organizes my Polar Bear tours to Churchill) and we have a famous wildlife expert as our guide. He has worked as a safari guide for 29 years, and has worked on National Geographic specials about Cheetahs and other African animals. He also has worked on several BBC wildlife shows, and has worked with Richard Attenborough. We’ve been discussing our mutual admiration for Attenborough’s lifelong work.

Last night he was telling a great story about the animals that wander through the tented camps at night. One time a lioness brought her cubs and left them between two tents, while she went out hunting. She knew it was safe to leave the cubs there! Once he saved a cheetah cub from being eaten by a lion, and a year later he ran into the same mother cheetah with her 3 cubs. The young adult cub jumped up onto the hood of the car and hung out with this guide, who is convinced the cub came to thank him for saving his life.

People who love wildlife are very passionate about wildlife conservation, and we know many of you feel this way because of the wildlife fabrics that you purchase from us. I’m taking lots of wildlife photos on this trip, so I can share with all of you. I’ll be off the grid for a week, but will be excited to share my experiences with you at the end of the safari.

As one year ends and another begins, we know that many of you are gearing up for the big quilt making time of the year, to stay home over the winter months and sew like crazy! We thank you for supporting our charity program and our business, and we look forward to serving your quilting needs again in 2018.

Wishing you a creative and joyful New Year!

sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul

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Free Pattern – Mystic Flowers

Posted on December 29, 2017 by Luana

This is one of the most gorgeous quilts we’ve offered in our exclusive Free Pattern program. If you’ve been holding out for a larger quilt pattern that can be used for a bed, this 64″ x 81″ pattern might be just for you.

Mystic Flowers features our seven-petal, large-scale blossoms, which seem to shimmer and shine with light and spinning ombre color.

Three panels (in 3 color combinations) of Mystic Flowers are set in moonlit Starry Sky and Pleiades Star Cluster hexagons, triangles and borders, for a new bed quilt that will give you the most amazing celestial dreams!

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

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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