Free Pattern – Craftsman

It’s time to get to work, on this beautifully detailed Tool-themed quilt;
our exclusive Free Quilt Pattern of the week.

Measuring Tapes, Hammers, Paintbrushes, Saws, Wrenches, Chisels, Screwdrivers and Drills are all part of the story here, and we bet you know someone who cherishes their tool set, and would absolutely adore this Ode to a Toolbox.

This quilt pattern finishes up approximately 66″ x 66″, for a great coverlet, lap quilt or wall hanging. As always, we just can’t say enough good things about Dan’s beautiful illustrations. The fabric is so fantastic it will be hard to cut it up, so you might want to let your Craftsman or Craftswoman admire the fabric designs before you get to work.

… from the ‘Craftsman’ 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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Creative Nudge – Love Your Mother

Sometimes our art is more powerful than words. Often Artist-Activists can say things visually, that cannot be said in print or in speech. My experience making Rocky Mountain Poison for the Water is Life exhibit (premiered at the United Nations in Feb 2016) has been a great inspiration, and I wish to share an artist-activist opportunity for those of you who have a message to share about Mother Earth.

eQuilter is sponsoring a quilt challenge (and future exhibits) featuring a 43″ x 44″ digital printed panel with an image of the Earth surrounded by a Rainbow Mandala.

There are featured coordinates which may be used but the required fabric for the challenge is the large Earth/Mandala panel.

We ask you to do more than just embellish the panel. We encourage you to cut up, manipulate, appliqué, embroider, paint, re-piece, and/or expand on this panel to express your feelings about Mother Earth.

We encourage you to put your heart and soul into this project, and share your thoughts and feelings about what is happening to our beloved planet. For our part, we will sponsor and organize the project and exhibit(s).

As you know, eQuilter donates 2% of sales to a list of 7 charities, which includes environmental organizations. We have raised over $1.4 million for these charities, and when I travel to Washington DC or New York City, I always meet with representatives from one or more of these organizations.

We hope that this project and the ensuing exhibit will raise awareness and inspire others to take action to protect our planet and its inhabitants. The subject is not just environmental, but also you may consider specific topics such as clean vs. toxic waters, wildlife habitats (land and sea), indigenous peoples, rainforests, pollinators, Arctic/Antarctic, and other matters closely tied with the theme of Mother Earth.

Your quilt must use the main challenge panel (#RUMDL2BK) but may also use other prints, batiks, or other fabrics/materials that will express your message for your quilt.

We are finalizing the details for the deadline, exhibit date(s), sponsors and prizes. This page will be updated shortly as these details fall into place. We are posting this information now so you can purchase a panel and think about your quilt design. We are projecting a deadline for online jurying in Spring 2018. Our first shipment of the panel is in stock now, and we have reprints in the works.

Yes we will take entries from countries outside of the US. Send us your questions and suggestions and we will take these into account as we hammer out the details.

Please consider this a collective effort to raise awareness and inspire others to Love Mother Earth. This fabric design comes from that intention, and now we hope for it to be a vehicle to share ideas on this topic.

Quilts should be suitable for all ages of viewers, including children. We encourage you to express your views clearly, but use common sense for what is appropriate for a wider viewing audience. We hope to inspire the next generation who will be the next caretakers of our planet.

Lets see what we can do together!

Thank you for considering joining us in this effort… to Love Your Mother.

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 9-14 – 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 – Laurel Burch Mythical Jungle

Laurel Burch may no longer be with us, but her Spirit is still alive and vibrant, expressed through her joyful artwork and brilliant palette of colors. She is still one of our most popular designers, and we are delighted that her portfolio continues to produce collections and inspire her fans.

This week’s Free Quilt Pattern uses a Central Panel, jewel tone coordinate blenders, and her whimsical animals embellished with gold metallic.

You can make this 46″ x 48″ quilt design as a lap quilt, crib quilt, or wallhanging.

…from the ‘Mythical Jungle’ collection by Laurel Burch for Clothworks.

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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Love Your Mother

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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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