Creative Nudge – Yellow Rose Garden

Posted on April 5, 2017 by Luana

The row of pink crab apples are blooming in front of eQuilter this week…and tonight they are covered with snow!

That doesn’t stop us from dreaming of lush flower gardens, buzzing with honeybees, and fluttering with delicate butterflies.

We’ve seen an uptick in the popularity of fabrics with bees and butterflies, especially honeybees. As bee colonies have been crashing, more quilters are thinking about planting gardens for pollinators. The bees used to come to our gardens to help us, but now it is our turn to research plants that are not pre-soaked with pesticides, to fill our gardens with welcoming blossoms.

I have been seeing more quilts with bees too, and here is a detail from a lovely garden quilt from the Tokyo Quilt Festival, with yellow roses, butterflies and bees. It is by Keiko Miyauchi, and is titled “Yellow Roses”. It is hand-appliqued, and the blue background is hand-quilted.

I have added some of our rose, butterfly and bee fabrics in a collage at the top and bottom. There is something so comforting about floral fabrics, particularly rose prints, perhaps because we learned about quilting and sewing from our grandmothers who also tended summer rose gardens. Anyway, that’s my family story about sewing and flowers….they always seemed to go together.

If you live in the Boulder area and would like to enjoy our abundant pink crab-apple trees, you can place an order for “Retail Pickup” and then come pick it up in a couple days. By then the snow will be melted and you can have a picnic on our front lawn under the fluttering pink petals. It is going to be 68 degrees on Friday!

sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana

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2017 Travel Calendar:
May 18 – 24 – Saint Louis & NYC
Dec 29 2017 – Jan 5 2018 – Tanzania Great Migration – New Years in Africa – Taking Reservations NOW!

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Free Pattern – Open Road

Posted on April 4, 2017 by Luana

This week’s Free Quilt Pattern is for a very special group of people – (You know who you are!) – featuring vintage motorcycles and the love of the open road.

We’ve loaded this awesome quilt with fabrics that will make your Inner Biker Babe giggle, with Route 66 and Hot Rods, Tattoos and brilliant Flames. Maybe your Biker sidekick will get a kick out of this too!

The 59″ x 73″ quilt pattern makes a great lap quilt, wall hanging, small coverlet for a bed, or maybe a picnic blanket when you are out… on the Open Road. There’s still plenty of time to make this for the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in August.

… from the ‘Open Road Vintage Motorcycles’ collection by Exclusively Quilters.

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.

EQ7 is the leading quilt design software, which is available here at eQuilter.

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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Spring Break

Posted on April 3, 2017 by Luana

Sophie and I managed to salvage the last few days of our Spring Break plans, so I am writing to you from New York today. The wind and rain was so extreme Friday that it ripped our umbrella to shreds and then whipped it out of our hands. The rain soaked clear through our coats. We kept our sense of humor because the same thing was happening to people all around us, and there were piles of shredded and twisted umbrellas littering the sidewalks.

You may recall that I am involved in another SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) fundraiser project with Andover Fabrics, so I dropped by their office on Friday to see how things are progressing. “The Golden Hour” artwork has been developed into repeats for fabric, and there are some truly stunning designs there, so we will be thrilled to carry this line later this year!

Sophie and I love opera and classical music (we play violin and cello) so we met our Australian quilter friend Pam Holland to go to Carnegie Hall Thursday night. We heard Mitsuko Uchida give a beautiful piano concert there. Earlier in the day the 3 of us enjoyed the new Chinese exhibit “Age of Empires” at the Metropolitan Art Museum, which was fascinating to Sophie of course!

Yesterday we saw the most awesome costume extravaganza at the Metropolitan Opera House in the Lincoln Center. We just could not believe the huge cast, the amazing sets, and even live horses on stage for “AIDA”! If you are in the NYC area and can get tickets – go! Plus it is fun to see what everyone in the audience wears to the opera. The young Italian conductor was very energetic so that added to the visual and musical feast. I am doing my best to turn Sophie into an opera nerd….

Our son Sam is still not well but he has stabilized so that is good news. Thanks for your prayers!

sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana

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Free Pattern – Wild Animal Sanctuary

Posted on March 31, 2017 by Luana

Wild animals from around the globe gather together in this week’s Exclusive Free Pattern, inspiring us to care for all creatures of the Earth.

This magnificent 60″ x 41″ quilt glows with vibrant color, accented by the clever border design using Timeless Treasures’ Studio Ombre textured color blend, and can be used equally well as a wall hanging or bed throw.

Order your Wild Animal Sanctuary quilt today; your children and grandchildren will love this enchanting wildlife quilt design.

‘Wild Animal Sanctuary’ is an exceptionally detailed Designer Digital print,
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.

EQ7 is the leading quilt design software, which is available here at eQuilter.

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 – Long Ago and Far Away … in Tokyo

Posted on March 29, 2017 by Luana

For the last few weeks I’ve been showing you Modern Quilts from QuiltCon, so I thought I’d do something completely different this week!

Here is an incredibly detailed applique quilt by a Japanese quilter (her name in Kanji characters in the bottom left corner) which I saw at the Tokyo Quilt Festival in January.

I’ve uploaded several detail shots on my photo page, so you can have a closer look at some of the incredible details.

The quilt artist has illustrated several fairy tales here, including Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, The Pied Piper, Hansel & Gretel, Puss ‘n Boots, and St George and the Dragon. What fun!

When you take a look at the detail shots, you will see that she has not only appliqued teeny tiny pieces of leaves and mice, etc…but has also used embroidery and hand-quilted grids to tell the stories and give this a Medieval feel. There seems to be an indirect reference to the style of the Bayeaux Tapestry here also. I love to think about how the history of textiles continues to feed and inspire us centuries later.

Speaking of the Bayeaux Tapestry…our son Sam is feeling a little better so Sophie and I rescheduled our flight and will take the last half of our spring break in NYC…and guess who happens to be staying in the same hotel there? My buddy Pam Holland!… who is recreating the Bayeaux Tapestry in applique. That is totally serendipitous so I guess the quilting angels are at work again.

Please note that I always include the image of the Japanese quiltmaker’s name in the Kanji characters, if the Romaji spelling of their name is not available during the show. This way every Quiltmaker gets credit where it is due. In these days of wild social media, this is still important when posting another artist’s images.

sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana

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Free Pattern – Where The Buffalo Roam

Posted on March 28, 2017 by Luana

Take a trip to the rugged Western outdoors with this week’s Free Quilt Pattern – featuring a stunning central panel with a herd of Bison in a dramatic wilderness landscape.

If you happen to know a CU Buffs Fan here in Boulder Colorado, they would be thrilled to have this 64″ x 46″ quilt for a wall hanging or maybe even a stadium lap quilt! Because the CU Mascot is a Bison.

If you’ve been to Yellowstone National Park then no doubt you have your own special memories of a Bison encounter. It is estimated that 20 to 30 million Bison roamed North America once, but were reduced to only 1090 animals by 1889. Now about 500,000 Bison live on our continent, with under 30,000 wild Bison in conservation herds…a true vestige of the Wild West when our land was still a wild place.

… from the ‘Where the Buffalo Roam’ collection by Cynthie Fisher 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.

EQ7 is the leading quilt design software, which is available here at eQuilter.

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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Fresh Quilting

Posted on March 27, 2017 by Luana

We are headed into Spring Break here in Boulder Colorado, and the trees are bursting into bloom. We were supposed to have a snow storm last week but it missed Boulder, so maybe our early Spring blossoms will be ok after all!

Sophie and I were supposed to go to Washington DC this week, but our musician son Sam has been ill and I’ve had to cancel our flight. For those of you who believe in the healing power of prayer (I do) would you please send him some prayers? Thank you.

Both of my segments on the new Modern Quilting PBS show ‘Fresh Quilting‘ are now posted on our Video page… on Charity Quilt Projects, and Colors of Cuba. Enjoy!

sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana

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Free Pattern – Peony Passion

Posted on March 24, 2017 by Luana

We love luscious Florals, and we are delighted to offer this exquisite garden of Peonies for this week’s Free Quilt Pattern. This is one of the most beautiful flower collections we have ever had, and we want to share the love with our Floral-Loving quilters!

It starts with a juicy watercolor panel, with several vignettes of huge colorful blossoms. Then add fussy-cut bouquets, Hoffman Hand-Dye sashing and border strips, and a striking Peony border. The watercolor flower illustrations are almost too pretty to cut up, but we know you will enjoy sewing these fabrics into a lovely 66″ x 66″ Garden Trellis quilt design.

… from the ‘Peony Passion’ collection by Lynnea Washburn for Northcott Fabrics.

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.

EQ7 is the leading quilt design software, which is available here at eQuilter.

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 – Shapes Can Be Trends Too!

Posted on March 22, 2017 by Luana

This week I’d like to talk about how Shapes can be a trend, just like a color or a motif can be a trend in fabrics.

The trend this week is… The Blob.

Well seriously it is about organic shapes that are somewhere between a circle and a rounded-off square. (Not the 1958 B-Movie!)

This is a Shape Trend that we see in Modern Quilts and Modern Fabrics, but we also see it in ethnic fabrics and batiks. They are bubbles, emancipated or concentric circles, or perhaps you see blobs of liquid floating in weightless space. (Think of the swimming pool scene in “Passengers”.)

Above I am featuring 2 quilts from QuiltCon, in a collage with fabrics that are also part of this trend.

The top left quilt is by Kathy York (“Boulder Field”) and is a great mix of Modern Colors and Shapes. The Gold, Cool Blues, and textured Grays strike just the right mix of warm and cool, smooth and rough, dark and light.

The bottom right quilt is by Marilyn Farquhar and if you look closely you will see not only giant appliqued amorphous circles, but also little circles of stitching that create another layer of the bubble theme, with a pebble-like texture.

You can see these 2 quilts, and many other Modern Quilts, on my photo page.

The abstract or asymmetrical circle goes as far back in humans’ art history, as any other motif. It shows up in petroglyphs and other indigenous art, but has re-invented itself once again in our Modern designs. You will see in this collage African prints, watery Batiks, and slick Metallic Foil circles, as old and new interpretations of this Universal shape.

To me, these shapes express a fun and free approach to creativity, and they make me smile.

We have a video clip posted from my first segment on the new PBS Modern Quilting TV show – “Fresh Quilting”. This 1st segment is about The Colors of Cuba, and features our exclusive Cuban Cars fabrics which are temporarily out of stock. Let us know if you want to be notified when they are back in the warehouse!

sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana

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Free Pattern – Sports Afield

Posted on March 21, 2017 by Luana

Outdoor enthusiasts will enjoy this week’s Free Quilt Pattern, featuring Trout, Salmon, Ducks, Pheasant, Dogs and beautiful scenic rivers and coastlines.

Wildlife and Landscape vignettes alternate with grassy coordinates, in this easy to make 46″ x 55″ quilt. We used a Hoffman Hand-Dye for the sashing, and there’s a tossed postcard print in the border. Use as a wall-hanging, or sew with a Flannel backing for a cozy cabin lap quilt.

… from the ‘Sports Afield’ 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.

EQ7 is the leading quilt design software, which is available here at eQuilter.

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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