Travel to a pristine mountain wilderness in this week’s Free Quilt Pattern, featuring our exclusive scenic panel, depicting a mighty elk emerging from the forest.
Use the Coupon Code: WILDERNESS on the checkout page to receive $10 off your purchase of $50 or more, through Mar 3rd, 2026 only! (This gift coupon cannot be combined with other Promotions or Gift Certificates.)
To make this 63″ x 63″ quilt design, you will start with the central 43″ x 44″ panel. Add paw-print blocks from our Maple Brown Fur print and borders from solid black and latte brown Hand Dyes.
PLUS – you’ll receive Free USA / 50% off INTL shipping when you order the fabrics for this exquisite quilt pattern (orders $100 and over, no coupon needed).
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.
Having just returned from QuiltCon in Raleigh North Carolina, I’d like to share the winner of the Viewers Choice Award…an absolutely gorgeous portrait.
“Frances” by Jeanne Eileen Garcia Handwork Category Denver Metro Modern Quilt Guild
Artist Statement: “Despite my occasional eye-rolling as a child at comparisons to my mother – in likeness, tone, or attitude – I’ve always valued that connection, like a little echo carried in me. Hand-piecing and quilting this portrait created space to consider her influence and how her traits and choices shape my own. The quilt’s front presents her likeness, the back holds notes and reflections from the process. Together they form both a portrait and a record of thought.”
Congratulations to Jeanne!
I am editing photos and have uploaded this quilt and detail shots in this album – more photos to come soon.
We just sold out of the new QuiltCon Magazine yesterday (!) but more is on the way. You can check back later this week on this page, or contact Customer Service and they will let you know when it is back in stock. Soon!
Just found out my 4th Semi-Quin quilt will be at the Texas Quilt Museum in “My America…What It Means To Me” this summer, and in Houston this Fall. Yay! This is the Wolf quilt with the American Flag that is currently hanging in the Denver Capital Building, in the Speaker of the House’s office.
I hope you are also finishing up at least one quilt to document the Semi-Quincentennial this year. There are many ways to interpret and document what is happening in America, and whatever you make will be studied and appreciated in the future. Be sure to put a descriptive label on the back also!
Travel/Lecture Dates: Apr 26 – May 1 – Alegre Retreat, Gateway CO May 16 – New England Quilt Museum, Soul Stories Artist Reception May 18-26 – Montpellier, France June 4-5 – Featured Speaker – World Environment Day – Houston July 28 – Aug 2 – Festival of Quilts – Birmingham UK Nov 12-15 – Intl Quilt Festival – Houston
Use the Coupon Code: CABIN on the checkout page to receive $10 off your purchase of $50 or more, through Feb 27th, 2026 only! (This gift coupon cannot be combined with other Promotions or Gift Certificates.)
To make this 49″ x 61″ quilt pattern, start with our exclusive Rubin Studios 29″ x 44″ Aurora Cabin print. Then piece the borders with our coordinating allover Aurora Trees fabric and Hoffman Hand Dye. Our rich Aurora Sunrise 108″ wide fabric is the perfect backing for this captivating northern lights quilt.
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.
Today I am writing to you before I get on the plane, having spent 3 days at QuiltCon, and as usual, I am tracking how ‘Modern Quilting’ is changing and growing. I will feature a quilt and write about the show in the Weds morning e-newsletter.
One thing I can say is that there is more overlap with what I consider contemporary or art quilts.
The quilt I wanted to buy did not win an award and was not for sale.
Unfortunately I was given wrong information about the quilt exhibit location(s) so I completely missed seeing and photographing the community quilts, so I hope those of you who did photograph those quilts, will share them online. As we arrived we were told all the quilts were on the lower floor. The community (guild challenge) quilts were evidently on another floor and we did not see signs. So sorry about that. But I will report on the quilts in the main exhibit. I was not the only one who was looking for the community quilts, and did not see them. It was a topic of discussion in my 3 meetings yesterday. If you are at the show Sunday, I hope you see those quilts!
As usual, there were many quilts with a message about current events. I am especially interested in activist quilts, and fiber art with a message. Those quilts often had a crowd clustered around them, with many taking photos and sparking discussion. QuiltCon is known for including these types of quilts, and it is my favorite thing about this show.
Travel/Lecture Dates: Apr 26 – May 1 – Alegre Retreat, Gateway CO May 16 – New England Quilt Museum, Soul Stories Artist Reception May 18-26 – Montpellier, France July 29 – Aug 2 – Birmingham UK – Festival of Quilts
Tonight’s Free eQuilter Pattern features our Best-Selling Library Raven panel, depicting scholarly ravens atop a stack of elegant tomes.
Use the Coupon Code: RAVENS on the checkout page to receive $10 off your purchase of $50 or more, through Feb 24th, 2026 only! (This gift coupon cannot be combined with other Promotions or Gift Certificates.)
To make this 53″ x 68″ quilt design, start with the 29″ x 44″ central panel. Then cut and piece our exclusive Library Books and Storybook Tales prints for the borders.
PLUS – you’ll receive Free USA / 50% off INTL shipping when you order the fabrics for this exquisite quilt pattern (orders $100 and over, no coupon needed).
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.
A few days ago I learned that a dear friend and longtime mentor of mine, has died. My blog today is an appreciation for Connie Amaden-Crawford, who I met in 1980 as a fashion design student at FIDM in Los Angeles. She was my draping and patternmaking teacher. She was tough and exacting and the other students were afraid of her. But…I was her straight A student, and I learned decades later that she was responsible for my full scholarship which was a blessing to me. Honestly, I don’t know where I would be without Connie mentoring me as a young woman. She was a gift bestowed on me by the Universe, and when I asked how I could possibly repay her, she was just tell me….to pass it on.
Her love for teaching extended through the rest of her professional life. I am sure many of you took classes with her. Her specialty was helping women to make patterns and garments that were custom-fit to their bodies, no matter what size or shape. And…she had a Bernina machine which was her pride and joy. She wouldn’t let me touch it though…ha. I finally got my own Bernina 25 years later.
She wrote the textbooks on draping and patternmaking that were used by the fashion design schools. She was a licensed designer for McCall’s Pattern Company for the Butterick Label. She wrote articles for countless sewing magazines, and was a guest speaker on HGTV and the ABC series “Home”.
I wish for every ambitious creative young person to have such a mentor. And for those of you further along in your sewing and quilting careers, I urge you to look for opportunities to mentor those special young people who cross your path.
Our teacher-student relationship extended to a long friendship across the miles and decades, and we had a deep appreciation for each other as creative professional women. Her generosity made all the difference when I was trying to figure out who I would be in the world.
Thank you Connie. I will never forget you.
Sharing your passion for fabric… Luana & Paul
* The 2004 photo above is of Connie and myself, when she came to see my garment in the Bernina Fashion Show in Houston.
Travel/Lecture Dates: Feb 18-21 – QuiltCon – Raleigh NC Apr 26 – May 1 – Alegre Retreat, Gateway CO May 16 – New England Quilt Museum, Soul Stories Artist Reception May 18-26 – Montpellier, France
Tonight’s Exclusive Free Quilt Pattern features our inspiring and tranquil Winter Church fabric. This dynamic panel portrays the church’s light and warmth, in the middle of a snowy forest, with a herd of gathering reindeer.
Use the Coupon Code: CHURCH on the checkout page to receive $10 off your purchase of $50 or more, thru February 20th only! (This gift coupon cannot be combined with other Promotions or Gift Certificates.)
To make this 50″ x 64″ quilt, you’ll begin with the 29″ x 44″ panel. Then piece the borders and corner blocks with two snowflake prints and blue hand dye.
PLUS – you’ll receive Free USA / 50% off INTL shipping when you order the fabrics for this exquisite quilt pattern (orders $100 and over, no coupon needed).
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.
Some of us celebrate Galentine’s Day on February 13. Some of us celebrate Valentine’s Day today on February 14. Some of us get to celebrate both!
But the most important thing is to first love yourself, and yes, sometimes that involves fabric.
We do hope that your last day or two have been full of love and fabric. I feel so fortunate to have so many creative friends in the quilting and textile art world. And my Valentine – my husband Paul – is also my partner both in business and in life. On March 10 we will have been in business for 27 years. What we’ve built together is the greatest Valentine of all, and so today we are celebrating our beautiful partnership…thanking our staff and all our friends and customers who share our passion for textiles.
For many years one of our bylines has been – “eQuilter – better than chocolate – no calories!”
We hope that when you get your wrapped package, prepared with love and tied with a bow, that it is at least as good as a box of Valentine chocolates.
Travel/Lecture Dates: Feb 18-21 – QuiltCon – Raleigh NC Apr 26 – May 1 – Alegre Retreat, Gateway CO May 16 – New England Quilt Museum, Soul Stories Artist Reception May 18-26 – Montpellier, France July 29 – Aug 2 – Birmingham UK – Festival of Quilts
Black cats prowl in a moonlit pumpkin grove in tonight’s Free eQuilter pattern. We love black cats and we celebrate them with these sweet kitties, sitting beneath a Full Moon and festive flying bats.
Use the Coupon Code: PUMPKINS on the checkout page to receive $10 off your purchase of $50 or more, thru February 17th only! (This gift coupon cannot be combined with other Promotions or Gift Certificates.)
To make this 54″ x 60″ Halloween-themed quilt design, you will start with the 29″ x 44″ panel. Assemble the flying bats blocks with Orange Hand Dye & Solid Black. Then add the coordinating Decorative Illuminated Pumpkins print in the corners.
PLUS – you’ll receive Free USA / 50% off INTL shipping when you order the fabrics for this exquisite quilt pattern (orders $100 and over, no coupon needed).
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.
Since last year I’ve been urging our American customers to make quilts to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the United States. There are many possible themes for these quilts, which will pass into history and be studied and appreciated 50 and 100+ years from now. (Don’t forget to put a label on your quilts!)
This quarter millennium celebration (250 years) is known as the Semi-Quincentennial. (Half of 500 …get it?) Our state of Colorado was founded in 1876 on the nation’s 100th year, so we are known as the Centennial State. In 1976, the year I graduated from high school, Colorado celebrated its own 100 year birthday, and the USA celebrated its 200 year birthday. (Oops, that means my 50th high school reunion is coming up!)
In 1986 when I was living in New York City, I participated in the centenary celebrations for the Statue of Liberty. It was a big deal….The display included 22,000 aerial fireworks, launched from 30 barges. The largest flotilla of tall ships to assemble in modern history, traveled down the Hudson River. President Reagan and French President Mitterand gave speeches, and John Williams conducted the premier of the Liberty Orchestra playing his composition Liberty Fanfare. It was a four-day party!
Ted Koppel of ABC News Nightline presented the Medal of Liberty to outstanding naturalized Americans, and Chief Justice Warren Burger swore in immigrants to the United States in a naturalization ceremony on Ellis Island.
As I watch American athletes come together peacefully, to compete with other athletes from around the world this week, I cannot help but have hope for humanity, and for our future. The monks on the Walk for Peace arrived in Washington DC, having deeply touched the hearts of so many people along their trek across our nation.
I have made 3 quilts for the Semi-Quin year. Two will be at the Virginia Quilt Museum, and one will be at the New England Quilt Museum, as celebrations unfold around the Fourth of July. My quilt “250 Years of American Wilderness” is the only contemporary quilt in the latter exhibit, curated by Sandra Sider. She also wrote the companion book (featured below) and my quilt is the final piece in this gorgeous commemorative book. (Commemorative American Quilts: Stitching Our Heritage from 1876 to Today) I am so honored to have pieces in these exhibits.
If you have not made your own Semi-Quin quilt to document this landmark year, and to document what is happening now in American life, I urge you to make such a piece. It will become a treasured piece of history for your descendants. And perhaps some day scholars will study your work in a museum or at a history conference. I’ve been to AQSG seminars where serious study is applied to quilts that are 50, 100 and 200+ years old. It is a selfless act to make one of these historic documenting quilts, and it is our way of reaching into the future and touching those who can only wonder how we lived in 2026.
Travel/Lecture Dates: Feb 18-21 – QuiltCon – Raleigh NC Apr 26 – May 1 – Alegre Retreat, Gateway CO May 16 – New England Quilt Museum, Soul Stories Artist Reception May 18-26 – Montpellier, France
