Love Your Mother

Posted on July 3, 2017 by Luana

This week we were mopping up pools of drool around the office, as we passed around the new Limerick Linen from Kaufman. This stuff is so yummy, you won’t even care that you can’t decide what to do with it! I highly recommend getting a couple yards for your Fabric Petting Zoo, if you know what I mean.

Congratulations to Lisa Walton who was just voted the new President of SAQA. I run into Lisa all over the world in my quilt event travels…the last time she allowed me to join her tour group in Tokyo for a day. I am working with Andover Fabrics as curator for a SAQA fundraiser collection called “The Golden Hour” which is going to be introduced at Quilt Market this Fall. SAQA is having a conference here in Boulder in August – we are very excited!

Did you see all the colors and precut options for Caryl Bryer Fallert Gentry’s new collection – “Color Flow”? I think this might be my favorite collection that she has ever done…which is why we picked up all the colors and all the precuts.

Today Sophie and I are attending an Indigo Dyeing Party in Manitou Springs Colorado (near Colorado Springs) with Liz Kettle at their new Textile Studio at the city-funded Arts Center. It is run by volunteers and the city provides the space free of charge. Hey don’t you think more cities should offer Art Spaces like this?

At the top of this newsletter you will see the image of our beautiful Planet Earth surrounded by a Rainbow Mandala. This group of 4 fabrics is going to be part of a quilt challenge called Love Your Mother. I am working on prizes and exhibit venues for 2018, but you can go ahead and nab these from our first printing.

The challenge will require you to use one of the 2 panels that feature the image of the Earth. So many of us are concerned about what is happening to our Mother Earth, and hence the name ‘Love Your Mother’ which will give you an opportunity to express your thoughts and feelings on the topic. More details in the Midweek Creative Nudge in a few days.

sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana

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Free Pattern – Tulip Festival

Posted on June 30, 2017 by Luana

Imagine wading through colorful fields of Tulips, in this week’s exclusive eQuilter Free Quilt Pattern. Whether you fantasize visiting these fields in Washington, Oregon, California or Holland, this quilt invites you to stroll through a rainbow of Floral Bliss.

Elizabeth is one of our favorite designers, and this gorgeous quilt starts with her fabric that imagines endless fields of Tulips, with large detailed blossoms in the foreground, extending to the horizon with smaller and smaller flowers…giving it a sense of depth and space. Absolute genius!

The border features alternating square and diamond shaped blocks, and the brilliant colors really POP on the black background. Keep in mind that you can change the color of this to match the color scheme of the room where you might hang or use this 57″ x 57″ quilt.

Our exclusive online pattern software allows you to use any fabric from your eQuilter Wish List to exchange with ANY fabric in ANY of our huge library of Free Patterns.

…from the ‘Digital Garden’ collection by Elizabeth’s Studio.

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 – La Vie en Rose

Posted on June 28, 2017 by Luana

People often ask me where is my favorite place that I have traveled to in the past. Gosh that is like asking me to pick a favorite child. Impossible! An easy answer would be …the last place I visited. The truth is that often one little thing will make me wax sentimental about one particular place I’ve been.

It could be a song on the radio, the fragrance of a flower, or a particular food that you can only find (in its most authentic form) when you travel to its country of origin…like croissants in Paris.

Recently I took a class on how to make croissants from scratch. I learned 3 things:
1. There is a lot of butter in croissants…even more than I imagined.
2. They take a long time to make and you have to follow the rules. (I hate following rules)
3. I will never be able to eat another sub-standard croissant again. I’ve been ruined.

We had a long serious discussion about who has the best and worst croissants in town…kind of how quilters discuss local and regional quilt shops. My current favorite here is Lucky’s Bakehouse on N. Broadway. I met my Tanzania travel agent there for croissants and cafe au lait, and had a Paris moment…

As a result I’ve had Edith Piaf in my head, singing “La Vie En Rose” for the last few weeks. And of course there are images and fragrances that go with that song, so I thought if I share the image, you might imagine the fragrance of my imaginary garden, and maybe you too will start humming La Vie En Rose the next time you have a particularly fresh croissant…or cut up one of our digital rose prints.

sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana

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Travel Calendar:
July 13-17 – Sacred Threads & Not Fade Away
July 30 – Intl Quilt Trends lecture at San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles
Aug 12 – Festival of Quilts, Birmingham UK
Sept 16 – Quilters Take Manhattan
Oct 1-11 – Intl Quilt Trends lecture at New Zealand Quilt Symposium – Christchurch
Dec 29 2017 – Jan 5 2018 – Tanzania Africa Wildlife Migration Tour – Limited Spaces
Feb 22-25, 2018 – QuiltCon – Pasadena, California

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Free Pattern – Harmony Garden Star

Posted on June 27, 2017 by Luana

Hydrangeas abound in this week’s Free eQuilter pattern. The soft colors of the large scale center panel are echoed in the paisleys and coordinates, along with favorite Viola velvet tonal accents.

The luscious outside border frames the quilt and harmonizes perfectly with the delicate violet and sky blue garden star blocks.

This generous 53″ x 69″ quilt is just right for a twin size bed or generous nap quilt. Get started today and let the soft Hydrangea colors of this quilt design add calm and Harmony to your home.

…from the ‘Harmony’ collection by Chong-A Hwang for Timeless 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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Happy Summertime!

Posted on June 26, 2017 by Luana

Today we are home, sharing a quiet birthday celebration with our daughter Sophie who is turning 15 today. Her birthday request is to go see Wonder Woman!

My summer vegetable garden is in, and the heat is pushing my tomatoes and basil to grow rapidly. We’ll have some fresh basil for Sophie’s other birthday request tomorrow – Mason is coming home to make fresh pasta for her family party.

This is the time of year when so many of the fantastic collections ordered at Spring Quilt Market, are starting to pour into the warehouse. Our cutting team is keeping cool with air conditioning and fans while they process your orders. They get excited too! – when all these beautiful new fabrics start flowing into the cutting department.

We love to keep you up-to-date on the trends, which is why we made a special category for Llamas and Succulents. If you are looking for some patriotic prints for a last minute Fourth of July project, check out our Americana category.

My recent trips to Toronto and Cleveland were truly wonderful, mostly because of the special people who hosted me there. Thank you Elaine and Kathryn! I am looking forward to being home and in my studio for awhile, but next month I’ll be inVirginia and Wash DC for Sacred Threads, and then giving my ‘International Quilting Trends’ power point lecture at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles.

The last time I was in San Jose was in 2012 to sponsor and honor Yvonne Porcella’s retrospective exhibit. I really don’t feel like Yvonne is gone, because her influence on contemporary quilting is still with us…everywhere I go. Bonnie McCaffery and I did a video interview with Yvonne at the 2014 SAQA conference, and when I miss her, I watch this video.

sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana

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Free Pattern – Paris Prism

Posted on June 23, 2017 by Luana

Celebrate the City of Light with this stunning tribute to PARIS:
This week’s exclusive eQuilter FREE Quilt Pattern.

If you’ve been to Paris, you know that the Eiffel Tower and the city itself are sparkling with a magic and sophistication that cannot be matched. We’ve combined our exclusive Eiffel panel with the shimmering fireworks of another one-of-a-kind – Paula Nadelstern’s ‘Kismet’ Mandalas, which glitter in the sky above our Tour Eiffel.

Mandala blocks are set on point, with a starry night background, for an absolutely stunning 63″ x 77″ quilt design. This is one of our favorite quilt designs EVER …what do you think?

‘Kismet Mandalas’ are from the ‘Kismet’ collection by Paula Nadelstern for Benartex,
and the Rainbow Eiffel Tower panel is 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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Creative Nudge – On Pegasus Wings

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Luana

Hello from Cleveland!

Today I was in the studio to film a couple more segments for the PBS show “Fresh Quilting” for Modern Quilters. My first 2 segments on the current season are on our video page here. I watched 3 other quilters taping their segments for the upcoming season, and it is always fun to see what the Modern Quilters are up to!

My “baby” Sophie is turning 15 this weekend – can you believe it? Many of you followed my adoption journey to China 14 years ago, so I know you share my feelings…she is growing up too fast! She is excited to finally be in the high school level orchestra at music camp this week, and she is going to Shakespeare camp later this summer. Sophie just finished her freshman year in high school, and she’s been invited to be part of a peer counseling program to support other students. She’s been going back to her middle school orchestra as a teacher’s assistant, and this summer she is a CIT (counselor in training) at a summer mountain camp. I’m a proud mama!

Please take a look at the batch of photos I’ve posted, from Quilt Canada. I’ve added more since last week. Now we know what those quilters do over the long Canadian winter….

And the fabric collage above? These are mostly eQuilter exclusive digital prints, for those of you who are in an escapist mood. The world may be going crazy outside, but we have our fabrics and our quilting friends to keep us sane and de-stressed. So hop on Pegasus and take a ride into that starry sky with me!

sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul

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

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Travel Calendar:
July 13-17 – Sacred Threads & Not Fade Away
July 30 – Intl Quilt Trends lecture at San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles
Aug 12 – Festival of Quilts, Birmingham UK
Sept 16 – Quilters Take Manhattan
Oct 1-11 – Intl Quilt Trends lecture at New Zealand Quilt Symposium – Christchurch
Dec 29 2017 – Jan 5 2018 – Tanzania Africa Wildlife Migration Tour – Limited Spaces
Feb 22-25, 2018 – QuiltCon – Pasadena, California

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Free Pattern – Woodland Echoes

Posted on June 20, 2017 by Luana

Your Free Quilt Pattern has a dreamy quality, with a cool winter landscape that evokes the silence of the forest after a snowfall. The quilt features a mystic selvedge-to-selvedge tree and leaves ombre panel, while silver metallic dusts the trees and coordinate prints, evoking a walk in the woods at dawn.

This 56″ x 76″ design is perfect for a twin size bed or a generous nap quilt, shimmering with the beauty of the moonlight on a Winter’s Eve…bringing dreams of ice fairies and sparkling snowflakes.

If you are headed into the heat of Summer, you might not need an air conditioner
while you are sewing this cool beauty!

… from the ‘Sound of the Woods 3’ collection by James Wiens for Robert Kaufman Fabrics.

And last week’s top seller ‘Night Owls’ has been restocked, so get yours today!

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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A Star is Born

Posted on June 19, 2017 by Luana

Many thanks to our friends in Toronto who gave me such a warm welcome at the Quilt Canada Festival this week!

My main reasons for attending were to be at the award ceremony (we sponsor the top Modern Quilt prize) and to photograph the quilts.

During the award ceremony, we gasped when we saw the winning quilt for “First Time Entrant” – a large complicated quilt with tons of intricate embroidery and applique by Colette Dumont. “Wow, that’s her first time in this show – amazing!” we whispered to each other.

Then at the end of the awards when the Best of Show was announced – it was Colette Dumont again! I don’t know how the judges chose between her two quilts for the Best of Show. They were both absolutely stunning.

I had lunch with Colette on my last day there, and I told her she better get ready for the quilting world to be knocking at her door. She didn’t exactly come from out of nowhere, although it might seem like it because she and her husband run a dairy farm in the countryside Quebec. (Her first language is French.)

This evening I am posting photos of Colette and her quilts on my photo page, so I want to try to answer the inevitable question: How did she do it?

Colette sews on a BERNINA 830, and she designed her own embroideries with the Bernina Designer Plus Embroidery Software. (Which I am trying to learn right now.) She took the basic class on the embroidery software, and figured out the rest on her own. (Impressive!!!) She has a background in industrial sewing, and grew up in a household where her mom was always sewing, so she was always sewing clothes for her dolls…and the rest is history.

I also fell in love with several other pieces, including “Mother Earth” by Galyna Grotto. This piece reminds me of the Icon paintings in Russian churches, but is dedicated to our planet under siege. I had a delightful coffee chat with Galyna, who is a Russian artist who moved to the Ukraine for more artistic freedom, but then moved to France with her husband because of the unrest in Ukraine. She sent her quilt to Canada, creating quite an international quilting story!

Quilt Canada will be in Vancouver BC next year, and I plan to be there!

sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana

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Free Pattern – Night Owls

Posted on June 16, 2017 by Luana

This very special eQuilter Free Pattern celebrates the beauty and grace of
our wise owl friends and their haunting nighttime calls.

Our exclusive quilt design combines the exquisitely detailed Wise Owls panel by
the Rubin Design Studio with Hoffman’s popular ‘Nocturne’ twilight Owls.

Whether you are a Harry Potter fan, or a serious birder with a love of wizardly owls,
this 62″ x 79″ quilt is sure to be a favorite!

… from the ‘Nocturne’ collection by Hoffman Fabrics, and
from the World Wildlife collection by the Rubin Design Studio.

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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