Creative Nudge – Island Fantasy

Posted on January 31, 2015 by Luana

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Aloha!

Here's a bright fun little Mid-Winter break from all the snow and ice and generally lousy weather that many of you are dealing with. It got up to 76 degrees in Boulder yesterday – wish I could send you some of our weather! *smile*

A week ago I was in Hawaii visiting family on the way back from the New Zealand quilt convention, and the last morning before my flight I just walked along the beach and took a bunch of photos.

This was one of my favorites – a Japanese boy who was so excited about the surfers coming ashore!

I just love fabrics with themes of the ocean, the tropics, sealife and seashells, island flowers and ukuleles. We go out of our way to stock special fabrics with surfers and hula girls, views of Diamondhead and other Hawaiiana. If you've been there, you know what I mean. Ahhh, I can smell the coconut oil already!

This is a collage with my beach photo in the center, surrounded by Island and Ocean themed fabrics that are now in stock. Perhaps you have a special island or beach holiday that you'd like to remember in a quilt?

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Getting Organized for 2015

Posted on January 24, 2015 by Luana

Welcome to all of our new Kiwi subscribers! We're happy to have you!

Oh gosh, it is so hard to be missing the Tokyo Quilt Festival this weekend, but that was a conscious decision to go to the quilt convention in New Zealand this year. I have a friend who is going to share some photos with me so I will share them with you in the near future!

Watch for more photos from New Zealand in our Midweek Creative Nudge newsletter.

Now that the holidays are behind us and I am looking for the color and fabric trends of 2015, guess how I started out the year? Placing orders for Christmas/Winter collections for 2015! Yes this week I sat down with sales reps and ordered lots of holiday fabrics that will arrive this spring and summer. It is always so surreal to be buying next Christmas' designs a few weeks after putting away all the holiday decorations. Just one of the funny things about this business!

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Just a Heads-Up – this week I have a Bernina tech guy coming to my studio to do a tuneup on my Artista 200 so I can offer it for sale with a warranty and free classes at my local Bernina shop. This is the machine on which I made my 2nd and 3rd Bernina Fashion Show ensembles, so there is some history on this great machine! If you want information on this machine before I offer it for sale publicly, drop us an email and we'll give you first dibs.

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Help Wanted – Full or Part Time Assistant Buyer position at eQuilter.
Please read all the details carefully here and apply online as described if your qualifications match and your passion for quilting is irresistible! Growth opportunity for someone with EQ/quilt design experience.

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Our middle child Sam just turned 18 which just seems impossible! He will be graduating in May, and Sophie turns 13 in June. Our puppy Alfie is growing up too fast too!

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Free Quilt Pattern – Jewel of the Garden

Posted on January 22, 2015 by Luana

This week's exclusive eQuilter Free Pattern is an exquisitely rendered panel, featuring a graceful Peacock perched on a wrought-iron gate, with a lovely garden in the background.

The carefully selected coordinates include peacock feathers, and a champagne-colored version of Fairy Frost with a gleaming iridescent texture.

…featuring the 'Jewel of the Garden' collection by Dona Gelsinger for Timeless Treasures.

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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 Jeweled 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 – Little Treasures

Posted on January 22, 2015 by Luana

CatherineCroucher

After spending a delightful 11 days in New Zealand, including 3 days in Palmerston North at the quilt convention, I'd like to share this whimsical scrappy quilt with all of you. I can't help but smile when I look at this quilt, because this is the main reason most of us got involved in quilting: Fabric!

When I spoke to the 400 quilters who showed up for my presentation last Friday, I started off with "Hello my name is Luana and I'm a Fabriholic". Fortunately I've found a way to make a living from my fabric habit. I buy buy buy lots of gorgeous fabric, and then I share it with my new and old quilter friends around the world. Aren't I lucky?

Yesterday I took Paul's mom to the Punchbowl military cemetery, so she could lay a bouquet of red roses on the grave of her husband of 67 years. We should all be so lucky to have so many years with a beloved partner. It was a very poignant moment, and a reminder that truly, every day is a gift with our loved ones.

This morning I woke up with a view of Waikiki Beach, and tonight I'll be on a Red-eye (overnight) flight back to wintry Colorado. My puppy has grown from 28 lbs to 37 lbs since I've been gone on this trip! Sam has sent in his application for college during my trip, and we are planning his graduation party for May.

My heart is full from my visit to New Zealand. Moving across the landscapes of Lord of the Rings movies wa s an amazing experience. The people I met there (especially the quilters) were so sweet, generous and patient. They were not all walking around with their faces in their devices, which was refreshing. They had time to sit and chat. I like that.

This morning I had my last Hawaii breakfast at Duke's on the beach, and I got to chatting with my server, a tall handsome young man. We talked about Hawaiian music, he mentioned his grandpa was a local musician, I mentioned my son is going to music school, and all of the sudden we were having this intimate conversation about how it was to grow up as Don Ho's grandson! There are little treasures, little precious moments waiting for us everywhere, when we take the time to connect with those around us.

This photo is from the Manawatu Quilt Convention in Palmerston North in New Zealand, and the quilt was made by Catherine Croucher. Thanks for sharing your sense of humor with us Catherine!

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Kiwi Hospitality

Posted on January 18, 2015 by Luana

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Oh my goodness what a crazy busy trip I've had in New Zealand! I am writing to you on Saturday night, and a taxi will pick me up at 5:45 am to go to the airport. Every day has been filled from top to bottom. I will leave New Zealand Sunday, fly all day and cross the International Date Line, and arrive in Honolulu Saturday night. It's just like time-travel! (Stopping to see Paul's mom on Oahu on the way back home.)

I toured the South Island for one week, traveling many hours and hundreds of kilometers each day, by bus, train and ferry, to see the amazing landscapes of this land that hosted Peter Jackson's filming of his Tolkien trilogies.

The last few days I have been in Palmerston North at the Manawatu Quilt Convention, which is a totally volunteer-produced event. I have seen many old friends from around the world, (quilt teachers who travel and teach) and have made many new friends. Kiwi hospitality is genuine and very sweet. I kind of feel like I time-traveled back to the Fifties, but in a *good* way.

I was told that 400 people came to my presentation, and half of them raised their hands when asked if they were eQuilter customers. So, THANK YOU to all our Kiwi customers who came out to hear me speak! I hope it was inspiring, and I hope you got a Creative Buzz from all the images of quilts from around the world!

For those friends and business associates who are wondering why the heck I have not answered my emails, I will arrive back in Colorado this Wednesday morning. Give me a day or so to catch my breath.

I'll work on editing and posting photos from the trip, after I get home. (Quilts, epic landscapes, and more…)

Help Wanted – Full or Part Time Assistant Buyer position at eQuilter.
Please read all the details carefully here and apply online as described if your qualifications match and your passion for quilting is irresistible!

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eQuilter Free Quilt Pattern – Florentine Mosaic

Posted on January 16, 2015 by Luana

Florentine

This fabulously opulent quilt design is inspired by Pietra Dura – the Florentine mosaics made from inlaid semi-precious stones. It also brings to mind the floral 'Parchin kari' inlay work at the Taj Mahal.

If you are inspired by Italian Renaissance art, you will love working with these luscious fabrics from the 'La Scala 6' collection by 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 Toby Lischko for this Mosaic 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 – Out of the Comfort Zone

Posted on January 15, 2015 by Luana

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Greetings from Christchurch in New Zealand!

I've made a big loop of the South Island in the last 6 days, and on Thursday I will travel to Palmerston North for the Manawatu Quilt Convention. I know I will see many of our customers at the show, and hopefully at my power point presentation on "International Quilt Trends" Friday afternoon.

One of the reasons I love to travel is because it pulls me out of my comfort zone and pushes me to think about things in a different way. You can't travel to another country and expect everything to be the same! As I discover new artforms, new cultural norms, new creative mediums, and new color combinations, it gets my creative juices running and I start to see things from a new perspective. I also love seeing the history of artistic influences that have traveled around the world – especi ally in quilt exhibits!

I have some friends who have visited New Zealand many times, and they have shared their American perspective of what they find special and unique about this remote landscape and people. I have definitely discovered many of the things they warned me about – sand flies and rubber-eating Kea birds, to name a couple! The phenomenon of summertime backpackers has impressed me. So many young people are hauling these gigantic backpacks, trekking all over the mountainous landscape with these huge packs and bedrolls strapped to their backs!

I have delighted in so many other aspects of New Zealand – the beehives that seem to be tucked away on every farm, the wild purple lupines that were strewn by a flower-loving lady 100 years ago, and the giant ferns that unfurl under the canopy in the rainforest. I see shades of turquoise and aqua everywhere – in the deep cold mountain lakes and rivers, in the Paua shells, and hidden in the ancient glaciers.

This photo collage started with an image I snapped at the Botanic Gardens here in Christchurch, then I added some of our new batiks to give you some color and design ideas.

Jan 16 2015 – Presenter at Quilt Symposium in Manawatu, New Zealand

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Burning NZ Questions

Posted on January 11, 2015 by Luana

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This week I am writing to you from Queenstown on the South Island of New Zealand. I am touring here for a week, before I go to the quilt festival next week on the North Island. New Zealand has been on my bucket list for a long time, and now I am finally getting some answers to all those burning questions I've had about New Zealand. Next week I can answer burning questions about New Zealand quilters! *smile*

There is no doubt that Peter Jackson's movies (Lord of the Rings, Hobbit, etc.) being filmed here has helped the local economy. Today I visited a wilderness area where scenes from these films were made, plus others like Narnia and The Wolverine. For awhile the photo of mountains on Coors Light Beer was from this area… not the Colorado Rockies where Coors is made! Funny!

I also toured the earthquake damage in Christchurch, and photographed the Botanic Gardens the day before. It is summer here, so the air was perfumed with blooming fl owers when I arrived at the airport Thursday.

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On my second day here I visited a stunning mountain view that included the tallest peak in New Zealand – Mount Cook. Sir Edmund Hillary got his mountain-climbing boots broken in on Mt Cook, before climbing Mt Everest

One of the things that people wonder about when they visit New Zealand, is where are the animals? The only native land mammals in NZ are bats! Other land mammals such as sheep and possums were brought by the Europeans. The possum population has exploded because they have no predators in NZ. There are over 30 million sheep here in NZ, compared to 4 million people. I've been learning about various breeds of sheep here, and what type of wool they put out. The Merino Sheep are highly prized because of the high quality and fine fibers in their wool.

I can't help but compare the landscape to other places I have visited. I've been reminded often here of the Highlands in Scotland. New Zealand is 2 main islands, and the total size is roughly between the size of Japan and the size of Great Britain. Even though it is summer here, it is chilly on the South Island because we are closer to the Antarctic.

Tomorrow I will tour Milford Sound, which is actually a fjord.

For those of you going to the quilt festival in Palmerston North, be sure to get tickets to my presentation Friday Jan 16 at 2:30 pm – "International Quilt Trends".

(I'll be giving the same presentation in Mexico City in March.)

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Free Quilt Pattern – Merry Maypoles

Posted on January 11, 2015 by Luana

MerryMaypole

Celebrate life with this exuberant new quilt pattern featuring dancing maypoles in brilliant, luminous hues.

The ombre shading of Kaufman's Pointillist Palette give a 3-dimensional effect, and the colors really pop with the black poles and white backdrop!

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 exclusive 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 – Unexpected Inspirations

Posted on January 11, 2015 by Luana

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from Jan 7 eQuilter newsletter:

Luana is en route to New Zealand and is contemplating unexpected creative inspiration. The inspiration for this collage is a photo of a metal hinge on a temple door in Narita, Japan. We would like to share this creative quote on creativity by Alan Alda:

"The creative is the place where no one else has ever been.

You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition.

What you'll discover will be wonderful.

What you'll discover is yourself."

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