Free Pattern – Pansy Passion

Posted on April 17, 2015 by Luana

Pansy_Passion

Celebrate Spring with this week’s exclusive eQuilter Free Pattern – a delightful Garden Trellis set with gorgeous detailed Pansies.

The artwork in the large Pansy panel, and the smaller allover Pansy floral, are so brilliant and detailed that they look like a photograph. Hang this on your wall and you’ll feel like you have another window with a view of a vibrant flower garden!

…Featuring the ‘Lovely Pansies‘ collection by Elizabeth’s Studio.

You may order the pattern as configured, (click through here to see the specifics!) or customize it to your liking with any of our over 20,000 fabrics. Just place your desired fabrics in your Wish List, and these fabrics will appear in the Fabric Selector below the pattern.

This pattern was designed in EQ7, which is available here at eQuilter.

Many thanks to Jude Spero for this fabulous pansy quilt 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 – Doggie Dreams

Posted on April 15, 2015 by Luana

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One of the categories which is most popular (besides Cats) is the department full of Puppies and Dogs. We just can’t get enough fabrics depicting our canine companions.

Cat prints tend to be more general, but dog fabrics are very specific. As our suppliers have sent French Bulldogs, Pugs and Yorkies, those of you who love these breeds have been snapping up the yardage. Then there is the Rescue Me design which gives a portion of sales to the ASPCA.

The image above is a collage of photos I took at a dog show last year, with some of our more popular dog designs.

Our 7 month old puppy Alfie has just surpassed our 2 year old Ruby in height, and is almost equal her weight. They have brought so much joy to our family in the last 2 years. Ruby is more rambunctious, and she “talks” to us with grumbly noises. Alfie is super mellow and I’ve been told he would make a great therapy dog in a nursing home or school.

When I work on my laptop at night, Ruby sleeps under my chair, wrapped around my feet. Alfie sleeps next to my chair, twitching and squeaking in his puppy dreams. If any of us sit on the floor, we immediately have two 70 pound lapdogs jostling for a seat!

Our rescue kitty sleeps with Sophie at night, and is slowly getting used to sharing the house with 140 pounds of playful dogs. (2 x 70#) There is lots of puppy therapy going on at our house every day!

I know many of you have beloved pets who keep you company when you are working on your sewing machine, or browsing eQuilter on your computer.

In addition to dog- themed quilts, I know there are a lot of dog beds, dog jackets, and puppy accessories being made from our dog-themed and pawprint fabrics. Send us your photos! We love to see your creative pet projects!

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Proud Mama!

Posted on April 13, 2015 by Luana

I have to brag a little bit about our middle child Sam, who is 18 yrs old and graduating from high school next month. He plays saxophone in the jazz band at Boulder High, and applied to go to Music School at CU here in Boulder next year.

He auditioned for the CU Honor Band and got first chair. Then he auditioned for All State Band on a day he was sick with stomach flu, and got first chair, first alto sax.

Then he decided to audition for a merit scholarship to CU Music School, practiced 3 hours a day for months, and he just got the official letter offering him a full ride merit scholarship! Woo hoo! We are so proud of him!

Music runs in our family. Sophie plays violin, Mason plays sax too, Paul plays flute, and I am a cellist. Music scholarships run in the family too. I got a scholarship to CU Music School in the late 70s, before I went to Design School. (FIDM) Paul’s dad got a music scholarship with his trumpet, after his service in Europe during WWII. My mom plays piano, and her dad played saxophone in California dance bands during the 20s. (His mom was a California impressionist painter.) Our house is always full of music, and we look forward to even more music in the family now!

I don’t play professionally anymore, but I am on the Development Committee for the Boulder Philharmonic. (Fundraising group) Attending live music performances is one of the ways I keep the creative juices flowing, and another way to support the Arts in our community. I get some of my best ideas while listening to symphony concerts!

You may ask, how did I end up having a career as a musician, then an artist and designer? Nobody ever told me I couldn’t make a living as a creative person. Nobody told me to choose a more “practical” major in college. I am very lucky that I grew up in a creative family, and I pass on that same advice to my kids: Do what you love and see where it takes you. Paul’s mom was an expressionist painter, so he also grew up surrounded by color and creativity. We have fun sharing our mutual appreciation of art and design!

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Free Pattern – Wilderness Stars

Posted on April 10, 2015 by Luana

Wilderness_Stars

You’ll hear the whispering of the wind, the bubbling flow of the stream, and the hooting of the owl when you hang up this week’s exclusive eQuilter Free Pattern.

Each block captures a stunningly detailed vignette of a woodland animal – including Deer, Bear, Moose, Elk, Owl, Fox, Wolf, and Eagle.

…featuring the ‘Bringing Nature Home‘ collection by Al Agnew for Robert Kaufman Fabrics.

You may order the pattern as configured, (click through here to see the specifics!) or customize it to your liking with any of our over 20,000 fabrics. Just place your desired fabrics in your Wish List, and these fabrics will appear in the Fabric Selector below the pattern.

This pattern was designed in EQ7, which is available here at eQuilter.

Many thanks to Sue Harvey for this Northwood quilt 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 – Blossom Bliss

Posted on April 8, 2015 by Luana

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A dozen crab apple trees have burst into deep pink blooms in front of the eQuilter warehouse, and our parking lot is now bordered by a frothy wave of delicate blossoms. For two weeks out of every year, we enjoy these clouds of pink flowers as we come and go, and it reignites our passion for Everything Floral.

What is it about Quilters and Florals? Does it remind us of our childhood gardens, of visits to Grandma’s house, or of summer vacations?

Do you have favorite flower prints? I have a special appreciation for detailed lilac florals because I grew up with a fragrant lilac bush outside my bedroom window, which I’ve tried to recreate in our home of 20 years (where eQuilter was born) by planting lilacs all around our property. This time of year is just heavenly! The lilacs in the full sun bloom first along with our crab apple trees and redbuds, then a couple weeks later the lilacs in the back blossom slowly in partial shade.

Because we live next to the Celestial Tea Factory, and it smells like the Tea of the Day outside, this time of year is a potpourri delight! Today it was a combination of Lemon Zinger drifting in the back door, and the scent of lilacs lingering on the front porch. That is a good thing because lately our house has been smelling more like dogs, than flowers. Ha!

These are the things that inspire us to collect a pile of fabrics, and work them into a quilt project. Grandma’s flower garden, our beloved dogs, a pie in the oven, Beethoven playing on the radio, birds fluttering around our bird feeder, and plans for a summer vegetable garden… these are all things that feed our creative energies directly or indirectly. The colors, the smells, the sounds, all swirl around in our brains and then pop out as an exciting idea for our next project.

How has the changing of the seasons inspired your creative process? What are the swirling ingredients of *your* creative potpourri?

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Feeling Crabby?

Posted on April 6, 2015 by Luana

The bright pink crab apple trees in front of our eQuilter offices are just starting to open up, so if you live in the Boulder area I suggest you place an order this weekend, and pick it up next week so you can enjoy a whole block of shimmering apple blossoms when you visit! Maybe bring a picnic for our front lawn too? It is the next best thing to a Sakura Cherry Blossom Festival if you don’t live in Japan or Washington DC.

My next trip is the SAQA conference “Fiberlandia” in Portland Oregon, the end of this month. I will also slip out to visit family in Portland, and of course will enjoy the incredible blossoms of Oregon this time of year. eQuilter is a proud sponsor of this event, and I am always excited to reconnect with so many talented quilt artists.

At last year’s SAQA conference I gave a presentation on the Andover fundraiser collection “Urban Textures” which we are still selling at eQuilter. It features the artwork of 6 talented artists in 3 distinct color stories, and all royalties from this group go to support SAQA.

This organization puts on some of the most amazing art quilt exhibits around the world, so we are delighted to support their efforts!

My next lecture and power point presentation on “International Quilt Trends” is on Saturday August 8th at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham UK. Hope to see our European friends and customers at this show!

Travel Calendar:
Apr 30 – May 3 – SAQA Conference in Portland OR
May 15-17 – Quilt Market
Aug 8 – “International Quilt Trends” Lecture at Birmingham UK Festival of Quilts

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Free Pattern – Life’s Little Pleasures

Posted on April 3, 2015 by Luana

life

Skulls and Roses are the theme of this week’s exclusive eQuilter Free Pattern, for those of you with a more Gothic design aesthetic…

Whether you collect Day of the Dead, Halloween, Steampunk or Grateful Dead fabrics, this black and red checkerboard quilt design lends itself to many different possibilities.

Skeletal soul mates (on a black or white background) spend a leisurely day in the rose garden painting, playing the violin, writing poems and conversing. …featuring ‘Life’s Little Pleasures‘ by Nicole’s Prints for Alexander Henry Fabrics.

You may order the pattern as configured, (click through here to see the specifics!) or customize it to your liking with any of our over 20,000 fabrics. Just place your desired fabrics in your Wish List, and these fabrics will appear in the Fabric Selector below the pattern.

This pattern was designed in EQ7, which is available here at eQuilter.

Many thanks to Larene Smith for this exquisite quilt 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 – Island Paradise

Posted on April 1, 2015 by Luana

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I am just finishing up a trip to Hawaii to visit Paul’s 91 year old mother, and we stopped in Maui for a couple of days to see the whales, and go to a luau. This time while on Oahu, we did the Pearl Harbor tour which is very sobering. My dad and uncle were stationed in Hawaii after WWII, and my name was inspired by Hawaii. I have so many connections to Hawaii, it is a pleasure to visit family here whenever possible.

Sophie and I always love to see a luau when we can fit it in, and I love to photograph the dancers and their colorful costumes. Here is a photo of the young ladies in their pink dresses and white floral leis. (in a photo collage with some eQuilter Island/Floral/Batik fabrics.)

We’ve been to Maui several times over the last 20 years, but somehow I’ve never made it Upcountry. We finally made it yesterday, and our destination was the Ali’i Kula Lavender Farm. It is a purple oasis in a sea of green hills, halfway up Haleakala Mountain. When you arrive, you are immersed in the view and the fragrance of Lavender! Heavenly! Then you can have a Lavender Scone with your Lavender Tea or Lavender Coffee, maybe with a little Lavender Honey or Lavender Chocolate.

There is something about standing in a field of blooming flowers, that stays with you the rest of your life. I’ve been in fields of lavender and sunflowers in Provence, more lavender in the Cotswolds (UK), fields of Iris in our own town of Boulder, and some day I’d like to experience fields of tulips. People may wonder why one would go out of their way to have this experience – and I would say – because it stays with you the rest of your life! It is like a waking dream, where the color and fragrance stretches as far as the eye can see, and it washes over you as you walk through the fields of blooms. You can have some of this experience in a Botanic Garden, but standing in a field of one type of blooming flower is a peak experience. Try it this Spring, and see!

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Family Matters

Posted on March 30, 2015 by Luana

It’s Spring Break, and Sophie and I are in Hawaii visiting Paul’s 91 year old mother. We lost Paul’s dad in December, and we’re trying to help out his mom who is now living alone after 68 years of marriage. She was an expressionist painter and has a great home filled with art, but we are so worried about her being there alone now.

Yesterday she brought out her collection of insanely complex origami creations, made by her, Paul and another brother over the years. Today she and Sophie made beautiful pieces of art that look like tie-dyed fabrics, by folding rice paper and then dipping in food coloring. I feel so lucky to be married to a man who grew up in such a creative household!

Tomorrow we are finally going on a tour of Pearl Harbor. Over the years we have not gone because our kids were under the age limit, then because the tickets were booked up in advance. I finally figured out you can now go online at 7 am, the day before you want to take the tour, and book it from a limited amount of tickets available 24 hrs ahead of time. I’ve been coming to Honolulu for 20 years and I finally figured this out!

One thing I still haven’t done is visit Doris Duke’s Shangri-La residence/museum. I always forget and then by the time I arrive here, the tickets are booked up the whole week. Maybe next time I will finally remember to get the tickets early! Hope this tip helps some of you plan ahead if you are coming to Oahu this year.

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Free Pattern – Kimmidoll

Posted on March 27, 2015 by Luana

Kimmidoll

This week’s exclusive eQuilter Free Pattern was inspired by the popularity of the Nobuko collection, and interlocking Japanese puzzle boxes.

We’ve combined the adorable Kokeshi Doll figures with with graphic florals and elegant Asian blenders, using rich black and red lacquer tones.

…featuring the ‘Nobuko-Believe’ collection by The Aird Group for Quilting Treasures.

You may order the pattern as configured, (click through here to see the specifics!) or customize it to your liking with any of our over 20,000 fabrics. Just place your desired fabrics in your Wish List, and these fabrics will appear in the Fabric Selector below the pattern.

This pattern was designed in EQ7, which is available here at eQuilter.

Many thanks to Larene Smith for this exquisite quilt 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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