eQuilter Blog

Melbourne, Moscow and Manawatu

Posted on April 12, 2014 by Luana

Today Pokey Bolton announced that she is stepping down from her position at Quilts Inc, to pursue an Eat Pray Love personal adventure…as a civilian.

Pokey has been a great friend and supporter to eQuilter (on Quilting Arts TV) and the quilting community in general, and we wish her much happiness as she moves on to the next chapter of her creative life.

This week is the Moscow Quilt Festival, and the Australasian Quilt Convention in Melbourne. I wish I could be in both places at once! My Australian friend Lynette Anderson is in Moscow, and is posting on her blog.

I am looking at going to the Quilt Symposium in Manawatu, New Zealand in January 2015. I hope to meet my Kiwi friends and customers there.

POLAR BEAR TOUR:
There are still a few spots open in our group, but it is now open to the public and will fill up fast. If you've been procrastinating – call our adventure agent Aly NOW to snag one of the last spots on this Trip of a Lifetime!

Check out our 120 videos from international quilt festivals, Quilting Arts TV and Quilters Newsletter TV on our eQuilter Video Page.

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2014 Quilty/Design Travel:
May 1-4 SAQA Conference Wash DC
May 16-18 Quilt Market
June 11-14 Quilt Canada, Ontario
July 15 Quilt Colorado
Sept 19-21 Quilters Take Manhattan
Sept 27 Quilt Exhibit, US Embassy, Rome
Oct 13-19 Polar Bear Tour, Churchill
Nov 14-16 Color Marketing Group, Orlando

See my Flickr Photo Pages for travel images, or follow us on Facebook.

Get your Daily Dose of Eye Candy on Pinterest, Instagram or Twitter for more Color and Design ideas.

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eQuilter Free Pattern – Birds of Paradise

Posted on April 12, 2014 by Luana

This week's eQuilter Free Quilt Pattern is inspired by the lush artwork of designer Rennie Marquez, whose "Los Cabos" collection has been selling like hot tortillas!

Rennie spent 22 years at Walt Disney Imagineering as a senior concept designer, creating and visualizing ideas for Disney theme parks around the world. Her career evolved as a painter, and now her work has been shown in galleries, and the Armand Hammer Museum. Her fantastical paintings hang in private art collections in the US, Mexico and abroad.

With this quilt, you can have your own view of Rennie's flowers, birds and Southwest architecture, as seen through this inventive Attic Window pattern!

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.

Many thanks to Larene Smith of The Quilted Button for this 56" x 64" Bird friendly quilt design!

Stock up on THREAD and you are ready to quilt!

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 – Artisan Whispers

Posted on April 8, 2014 by Luana

As you may have guessed, I have not shared ALL of my photos from my trip to India last Fall. Every once in awhile I'll pull out an image that tells a story, and inspires a quilt.

On the 8th day of our 2 week trip, we arrived in a city called Gwalior, which is known for its ancient fort called Man Singh Palace, built around 1500 on the top of a cliff.

Some traces of the blue and yellow tiles remain on the carved stones which represent elephants, peacocks, crocodiles, tigers, lions and yellow ducks. Nearby are ancient ponds filled with lotus flowers. Wild dogs and sacred cows roam the grounds, and at night there is a light show projected onto the palace's outer wall. A sheer 300 foot drop overlooks the lights of the city below.

As I looked at the 500 year old tiles and stone embellishments, I thought about the artisans who created the masterpiece of architecture. Did they bathe and drink from the lotus ponds? Did they ride the elephants through the massive doors built specifically for the pachyderms? Did wild peacocks call from the palace gardens?

I imagine the many bright colors of the saris, worn by the ladies of the palace. The traditional textile arts of woodblock printing, embroidery and beading are with us still today. The fragments of blue and yellow tile, on the carved red rock, still whisper the secrets of the royal artisans who gazed out from the heights of the palace walls. Click here to see the fabrics inspired by the Man Singh Palace of Gwalior.

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Important Dates to Note

Posted on April 5, 2014 by Luana

There are two very important days coming up this week.

The first one is on Monday April 7 –
No Housework Day.

I am not making this up!

All you quilters and sewing fans know what to do now – get ready to stitch like crazy in all your extra free time on Monday!

Monday is also Coffee Cake Day & National Beer Day, just in case you need to think of another way to avoid housework.

The other important day is Tuesday.

It is Paul's mother's 90th birthday.

We want to wish Grandma Frieda a wonderful birthday, and many more!

I want to mention a couple details about upcoming trips – hoping to see some of you in my travels:

If you are going to the SAQA Conference in the DC area May 1-4, I will be giving a presentation on the first evening, about the Urban Textures collection and contest, which was developed with Andover Fabrics. eQuilter is also sponsoring the Artist Speed-Dating event that night!

If you are going to Quilt Canada in St Catherine's near Niagara Falls, I will be at the award ceremony on Tuesday night June 10, and tentatively giving an eye candy power point on international quilt shows, at lunchtime Weds June 11… details to follow!

(If anyone wants to get together on that Mon or Tues to tour the local area, send me an email!)

Check out our 120 videos from international quilt festivals, Quilting Arts TV and Quilters Newsletter TV on our eQuilter Video Page.

See my Flickr Photo Pages for travel images, comment on my blog, or follow us on Facebook.

Get your Daily Dose of Eye Candy on Pinterest, Instagram or Twitter for more Color and Design ideas.

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eQuilter Free Pattern – Cat and Dog Lovers

Posted on April 3, 2014 by Luana

Quilters LOVE their pets, and the quantity of dog and cat fabrics that we ship out the door is evidence of that ongoing Furry Lovefest!

This week's eQuilter Free Pattern is based on either a Dog panel or a Cat panel, set into an easy pieced design which can be used as a 43" x 59" wallhanging or a lap quilt.

We also have a special price on 60" wide organic batting that would work perfectly with this design! (Order 2 yards for this pattern)

Check out our Dog/Puppy and Cat/Kitten fabric categories for some ideas of how you can personalize this pattern with your own fabrics. You can add fancy quilting to the squares on point, or perhaps an applique of a pawprint?

For the cat panel, try adding allover pawprints, a comfy couch, or a few mice.

For the dog panel, add a green park with chipmunks to chase, and shady trees, perhaps some bicycles, or some dogbones.

Stock up on THREAD and you are ready to quilt!

Click Here for a Video Tutorial of the Free Pattern Designer. Download Instructions for the pattern at the bottom of the pattern designer page.

Luana and Paul Rubin

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Creative Nudge – Corsets, Bows and Roses

Posted on April 2, 2014 by Luana

One of the things I love to do when visiting the great museums around the world, is to photograph how painters have indicated the sheen, draping and embellishments of fabric in portraits.

The lavish gowns of the wealthy and powerful women give us clues about the fabrics that were available during a certain time period, and therefore the history of the fabrics we work with today.

During my visit to the Metropolitan Art Museum in NYC last week, I was following Sophie has she followed her interests through the galleries, when a group of portraits caught my eye…and my camera.

This collage is centered around a detail from a painting by Joseph Duplessis. The sitter is wearing a delicate white brocade corset and lace overdress, with a gleaming Blush Pink satin ribbon. You can see the full portrait of Madame de Saint-Maurice here.

Joseph the artist spent some time in Lyon, which was a major center for silk jacquard production in France at that time. If you examine his other works, you will realize they look very familiar… he painted the famous portrait of Benjamin Franklin that we see on the US hundred dollar bill.

Our collage above has a grouping of florals and French-inspired designs, in similar Blush-Pink hues. Click here to see these and other coordinating fabrics.

Social Media Fans:
When you click through to our product detail pages, you will see Facebook and Pinterest buttons on the right…for when you want to share your favorite eQuilter fabrics with your online crafty friends!

Upcoming Quilty Travel:
May 1-4 SAQA Conference Wash DC
May 16-18 Quilt Market
June 11-14 Quilt Canada, Ontario
Sept 19-21 Quilters Take Manhattan
Oct 1 Quilt Exhibit, Rome
Oct 14-19 Polar Bear Tour, Churchill

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Want to know when our HOT fabrics are Back in Stock? Get the inside scoop: Click Here to subscribe to our eQuilter Back in Stock list! (Weekly or Daily)!

See my photo page for travel images, follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram or Twitter for more color and design ideas. Quilt show reviews on the eQuilter Video page.

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Cultural Field Trip

Posted on March 29, 2014 by Luana

Sophie and I have had a marvelous Spring Break week, filming at Quilting Arts TV in Ohio, and then visiting our fabric friends and favorite museums in New York City.

It was great to spend time with Susan Brubaker Knapp on her first day as the new host. We always learn new things watching the other guests in their taping sessions.

If you are in NYC, be sure to stop by the New York Transit Museum in Grand Central Station, to see the quilt exhibit celebrating GC's Centennial. Just in case you can't make it, I stopped by and took photos, which you can see in my New York folder on my photo page.

We also visited the small William Morris exhibit downstairs next to the Textile Department at the Metropolitan Museum. I am posting photos of the WM designs also on my New York photo page.

We also saw After Midnight which is an absolutely fabulous Duke Ellington musical review, currently with Toni Braxton. The reason I went to see it was because Isabel Toledo did the costumes, and Wynton Marsalis is the musical director of the Lincoln Center Jazz ensemble. It was like stepping back in time to the 1920's at the Cotton Club. The costumes, dancing, and music had me grinning the whole time!

Lastly, I have to tell you about our wonderful experience meeting Joshua Bell after his performance with St Martin in the Fields, at Avery Fisher Music Hall. After asking the ushers, we found the Green Room door, and Sophie asked if she could have his autograph. After about 10 minutes, Sophie was invited into the Inner Sanctum of the Avery Fisher backstage area, where Josh and the musicians were having a champagne after-party. Mr Bell put down his glass long enough to speak to Sophie and sign her program. He shook her hand just a little while after performing the Brahms on his 1713 Stradivarius. What a thrill. That girl is so brave!

POLAR BEAR TOUR:
The window of opportunity is closing on the last few spaces with my group. We are trying to hold it open until April 1st for our last few quilters to sign up, but once they open it to the public it will fill up fast. If you've been waiting to register, NOW is the time to call Aly and put down a deposit! Payment plans are welcome. I don't want you to be disappointed and end up with a group of strangers if you call late. We have a nice group already signed up – very exciting!

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2014 Quilty/Design Travel:
May 1-4 SAQA Conference Wash DC
May 16-18 Quilt Market
June 11-14 Quilt Canada, Ontario
July 15 Quilt Colorado
Oct 1 Quilt Exhibit, Rome
Oct 13-19 Polar Bear Tour, Churchill
Nov 14-16 Color Marketing Group, Orlando

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Creative Nudge – New York New York

Posted on March 26, 2014 by Luana

It has been a very exciting week so far!

Monday I taped 2 segments on Quilting Arts TV with Susan Brubaker Knapp – on her very first day as the new host! The first segment was about the process of developing the SAQA fundraiser fabric collection with Andover Fabrics, and everybody there went crazy over the artwork.

If this early enthusiasm is a good indicator, I'd say we have a smash hit! The collection will be unveiled as a sneak preview at the SAQA Conference in DC on May 1st, and will premier to the industry at Quilt Market in mid-May.

This QA TV segment will air in August, and we'll be sure to put a clip on our video page. (where you can see previous QA TV clips now!)

The rest of this week I am in New York with Sophie for Spring Break, doing a combination of business and vacation. Having lived here for 6 years while I worked in the fashion industry (after living in Hong Kong), it is kind of like coming home. I'll be visiting a couple of our suppliers while here – always fun to see what's new in the design studios.

Here's a collage of a Broadway photo, with several of our New York themed fabrics. Can't you just hear Frank Sinatra singing when you look at these fabrics?

It looks like I'll be back in New York in September on the way to Rome, for the Quilters Take Manhattan event with the Quilt Alliance. We are sponsors for the SAQA Conference, Quilt Canada, and Quilters Take Manhattan… hope to see you at one of these events!

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Face to Face Friendships

Posted on March 22, 2014 by Luana

("Make It Sew")

When you get to a certain age, it is far too easy to just hang with your old gang, have a chatfest with your usual BFF girlfriends, and look at life… and quilts… in the same old way.

However one of the pleasures of being part of the great International Quilting Club is that wherever you go, you may find a new best friend. Or a few. Or a bunch! You just have to keep your eyes open for those little telltale signs that you've found a fellow quilter.

I have a new friend who is a professional musician, and a screenplay writer. When she comes into town for work, she stays with a quilter. So today when I dropped her off after lunch, I got to come inside and see the quilts and the studio.

The studio has high ceilings, big picture windows, and a 2nd floor wrap-around porch with a view of the mountains. There was a king-size paper-pieced cat quilt made with a beautiful collection of batiks, laid out on a king-size design wall. There was a landscape quilt with her view of the mountains. There was a Kaffe Fassett quilt that had been made from a kit. I felt she was so gracious to invite me into her space and show me her quilts.

But that's what we do when we meet another quilter, right?

If you have a local or regional guild, don't underestimate the power of a guild meeting with show-and-tell, a guest speaker, coffee and chocolate chip cookies. (Where there are quilters, there is caffeine and chocolate, right?)

If you don't have a local group, make one! Having a monthly meeting with 3 or 6 or 12 like-minded creative friends, will keep you juiced up and on track with your deadlines and design goals.

National conferences (such as the SAQA conference in Wash DC in May) can be the most rewarding, where you can learn new techniques, be inspired by your peers, participate in quiltmaking challenges, and discover your own creative style in the context of all the other quilts and quilters. There is just nothing like hangin' with your quilter friends to get the ultimate buzz of inspiration. I love the internet and social media, but nothing compares to the up-close-and-personal experience of a quilt exhibit with your fellow fabriholics.

This weekend I am flying to Ohio, and will film a couple more segments for Quilting Arts TV with the new host, Susan Brubaker Knapp. (You can see previous QA TV segments on our video page.)

Then Sophie and I will go to NYC to spend the rest of our spring break at museums and art exhibits. We're going to check out the quilt exhibit at Grand Central Station, so watch for those photos.

It is snowing again here in Colorado today, but Spring's first few buds are slowly emerging. The crocuses bloomed this week, just in time for the Spring Equinox.

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Creative Nudge – Passion for Taupe

Posted on March 18, 2014 by Luana

I am a color person. I like bright colors, and lots of 'em.

However through my career as a fabric purveyor, I've been reminded over and over that there are many of you who love neutrals.

When we first started our business in the basement of our home, my shelves were filled with lots of boisterous juicy bold color.

A quilter friend came over to see our new business. She quietly walked through and looked at every single bolt. Then she said good-bye, and said there was nothing that she wanted. I was shocked! How was that possible?

"You don't have any neutrals."
"You want…. beige and gray?"
"Yes. Those colors are soothing to me."
"Okay, come back in two weeks and I'll have what you need."

Two weeks later she came back, and I had a whole selection of beautiful earthtones and neutrals. She bought an armful.

The first time I went to the Tokyo Quilt Festival, I had another Neutral Epiphany. I had seen Yoko Saito's taupe quilt while visiting a quilt shop in Florence Italy, and although that was a revelation, it was only one quilt.

In Tokyo, there was a huge quilt exhibit with LOTS of taupe quilts. The excitement was not in the color, but in the exquisitely detailed handwork of these quilts.

The Taupe Movement is slowly but surely seeping into our color context here in the US. Life is so crazy and complicated, that we are drawn to the soothing qualities of these lovely understated fabrics.

Handwork is also growing in popularity, as many quilters seek out the meditative and mind-emptying therapeutic qualities of making something beautiful with one's own hands.

Here is a tessellated quilt from the Tokyo Quilt Festival (background), with a collage of our Taupe cotton prints (Gentle Flowers) mixed with Natural-colored linens.

POLAR BEAR TOUR:
If you'd like to travel with me to see the greatest gathering of these iconic bears, a once-in-a-lifetime experience…please call and register today to reserve your space!

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Melbourne, Moscow and Manawatu

eQuilter Free Pattern – Birds of Paradise

Creative Nudge – Artisan Whispers

Important Dates to Note

eQuilter Free Pattern – Cat and Dog Lovers

Creative Nudge – Corsets, Bows and Roses

Cultural Field Trip

Creative Nudge – New York New York

Face to Face Friendships

Creative Nudge – Passion for Taupe

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