By Popular Demand

Posted on February 9, 2014 by Luana

HeliBearCub1

Due to popular demand, we now have 3 weekly newsletters.
You can opt in or opt out of any, at any time.

I mention this because I have had so many queries about opting IN for our Midweek Creative Nudge, and our new Free Pattern newsletter which comes out on Friday mornings.

This week we had over 300 new fabrics showcased in our weekender newsletter. It is kind of like the quilters' version of the Sunday Paper.

Last week's midweek Creative Nudge featured a closeup of a Log-Cabin Hexagon in Taupe Dobby Linen from a Handbag at the Tokyo Quilt Festival.

Friday's free pattern newsletter had a Winter Olympic Commemorative quilt pattern, and as you may know, you can customize your quilt pattern with Paul's brilliant pattern designer (i.e. add in Alpine Skiers and Snowboarders, or maybe some Russian Matryoshka Nesting Dolls) – and then email your design to your friends!

If that is not enough creative inspiration, you can always check out my 6500 travel and quilt show photos…or watch our 122 quilt videos. *wink*

We hope you are enjoying all of the eye candy and creative ideas from eQuilter. If you are a social media fan, you can always find our links to the eQuilter Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram accounts on our home page – just look for the cute little hexagon icons. Have fun!

We have sent out information and links to everyone who expressed interest in the Polar Bear Tour. Space is very limited for this exclusive adventure, so if you'd like to receive this info please email Dana in Customer Service at [email protected]

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eQuilter Free Pattern – Winter Olympics

Posted on February 7, 2014 by Luana

As the world comes together in peaceful competition at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia…eQuilter brings you this Olympic Commemorative Quilt Pattern, featuring the "Winter Olympics" collection from Quilting Treasures.

Our latest free pattern features the main design "Tribute 1924 – 2014" celebrating the 90th anniversary of the games. This blue and white landscape print names the sites of the Winter Olympics, including Torino, St Moritz, Sarajevo, Salt Lake, Nagano (where I photographed the Snow Monkeys a couple weeks ago), and of course Sochi.

SochiQuilt

Over the past several months, here at eQuilter we've been preparing for the Sochi games, stocking up on our fabrics featuring Winter Sports, Olympic Sports, Winter & Snow themes, and Russian themes.

This striking quilt design shows off the main print like a travelogue through the history of the Winter Games.

You may order the pattern as configured, (click through here to see the specifics!) or customize it to make your own version of this Winter Olympic Commemorative Quilt!

Just place your desired fabrics in your Wish List, and these fabrics will appear in the Fabric Selector below the 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 – The Power of Hex

Posted on February 5, 2014 by Luana

HexLogCabin_550

They say that good things come in small packages, and the quilted handbag display at the Tokyo Quilt Festival is a great example of this homily. This section of the quilt show is always packed, because everyone wants to see how much minute detail and "Wow Factor" can be put into each piece of Wearable Arm-Art.

Many of the ladies who make these handbags, live in such tiny spaces, that making a big quilt is just out of the question. Hence the popularity of the handbag and miniature framed art quilts at the show. They are all little jewels – little treasures that can be worked on and worn in the crowded Tokyo environment.

Here is a closeup detail of one of the handbags. As you can see, she is combining 4 important design trends:

Hexagons blocks
Log Cabin piecing
Yarn-Dyed Linen-Weight fabrics
Taupe and Gray Neutrals

Who knew so many good things could be packed into such a small package?!

Every year I delight in seeing the cross-cultural exchange of visual ideas, between Japan and the Western quilters. There has been a parallel growth in the hexagon and log cabin revivals, but the popularity and beauty of Taupe colors and yarn-dyed fabrics has been slow to catch on here in the West. Perhaps we will see more of this, later this year in the US quilt shows?

My Churchill Polar Bear tour group is set for Oct 14-19, and the very limited 14 slots will open up in a couple days. If you wish to receive signup information before it is announced in the newsletter, contact eQuilter Customer Service. For those of you who have signed up for information, watch for it tomorrow.

Upcoming Quilty Travel:
Mar 24 Quilting Arts TV
May 1-4 SAQA Conference Wash DC
Oct 1 Quilt Exhibit, Rome
Oct 14-19 Polar Bear Tour, Churchill

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ABBA, Broncos & Bears

Posted on February 1, 2014 by Luana

TopAwards1

Despite the fact that the Denver Broncos are in the Super Bowl on Sunday, I am still making plans to be creative in the afternoon, then drive to see Mamma Mia in downtown Denver while the streets are empty. A friend's husband is the lighting director and since it is Super Bowl Sunday, I got excellent seats for the last night of the show. Sophie is my partner in Abba-ness, and it will be hard for us not to join the cast in singing our favorite tunes. Several years ago we went to a Mamma Mia SingAlong showing of the film here, and it was all women of course. At the end everyone got on stage and danced to the final party scene…some in Abba costumes. Ha!

Anyway – Go Broncos! – hopefully when we emerge from the theater there will be
a spontaneous victory celebration on the streets of Downtown Denver. If
not…we'll drink a cup of coffee to honor the Seattle Seahawks.

Superbowl Sunday is known for being one of the most productive days for
quilters who are not football fans. However I must admit, instead of the
Pregame Show, we'll be watching the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet…while doing hand-applique on our Hawaiian quilting projects.
It's a good time to shop online too! (*Bwa-ha-haaa!*)

I continue to post more photos from the Tokyo Quilt Festival, as I add the artists' names to the
images. I am posting photos of the quilts that I think are most unique, most
inspiring, and of course most GORGEOUS! I hope you enjoy the selection of
amazing quilts that I am sharing with you. If you know someone else who is
posting Tokyo Quilt images, please urge them to include the names of the
quilters in their postings. We hope to see more of these quilts in person here
in the US, but we want them to know how much we value the
efforts of all the individual artists. Thanks – pass it on!

I have signed a contract to lead a group on a Polar
Bear tour to Churchill Canada, Oct 14-19 this year. We are in the process
of putting the details on a webpage, but since space is very limited, please
contact Customer Service to be emailed right away when details are set. We've
had a lot of interest so please let us know if you just can't wait for the next
newsletter!

We also wanted to let you know that Mission of Love just returned from another successful Cleft Lip/Palate surgery trip to Guatemala. If you follow them on Facebook, I am sure you've seen the beautiful photos. Mission of Love is one of the main recipients of the eQuilter Charity program, and a year ago I joined the surgeons on this annual trip to Guatemala. If any of you are health professionals who would like to volunteer for this amazing trip, contact Kathy Price at Mission of Love!

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

Upcoming Quilty Travel:

Mar 24 Quilting Arts TV

May 1-4 SAQA Conference Wash DC

Oct 1 Quilt Exhibit, Rome

Oct 14-19 Polar
Bear Tour, Churchill

Check out our eQuilter Facebook page!
(Sneak peeks of new collections throughout the week)

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Creative Nudge – Indigo Aesthetic

Posted on January 29, 2014 by Luana

BlueWa_550

One of the great pleasures of immersing oneself
in the Tokyo Quilt Festival, is to dive into the inky blue depths of the "Wa" exhibit, filled with
intricate quilts hand-pieced and hand-quilted, many constructed from vintage indigo fabrics.

Yes, there are shimmering brilliant silk quilts, made from a
grandmother's antique kimono, and there are excursions that range from the
subtle whisper of taupe, to the luxe of beading and gold metallic, but it is the quiet dignity of these indigo quilts that draws me back again and again.

There are many things at this show that express the Japanese aesthetic …as my
translator says… things that are "very Japanese" in their precision, their visual harmony, their discreet formality. They are a quiet statement about another time when indigo dyeing was a seasonal event, and every mark or woven design in an indigo cloth was carefully
considered and meticulously executed.

The brilliant colors of Japanese pop culture and contemporary design seemed more prevalent at this show, and I felt somehow (without counting) that there were less of the traditional taupe and indigo quilts, compared to previous years.

Japanese quilters and visiting textile collectors go to flea markets and
antique fairs throughout the year, looking for precious vintage cuttings of old
kimonos. Older traditional quilters mix and match these collector items into
new quilts, middle-age quilters might mix them with newer Asian prints, and younger
contemporary quilters often forgo the traditional Asian designs altogether…preferring retro and vintage looks from the 20th century.

In other words, there is something for everyone!

I am posting photos one batch at a time, because I want to make sure that the
quiltmaker's name is included with each image. Every year I see more and more
westerners going to this show and posting photos, but many or most do not make
any note of the artist's name.

You will find either the quiltmaker's name in kanji characters in the corner of the image, or the image will be saved with their name. I encourage anyone who posts photos from this show to include the name of the artist. Hopefully next year they will have more of the names translated into the transliteration of the romaji spelling of the name.

Please enjoy this photo tour of the show, and check back as I add more images over
the next week. In case you missed it, I also have photos of the Snow Monkeys of Nagano.

My Churchill Polar Bear tour group is set for Oct 13-19, (yes, this year!) and the very
limited 14 slots will open up in a couple days when I get the contract signed.
If you wish to receive signup information before it is announced in the newsletter, contact eQuilter Customer Service.

sharing your Passion for Fabric…

Luana

Upcoming Quilty Travel:

Mar 24 Quilting Arts TV

May 1-4 SAQA Conference Wash DC

Oct 1 Quilt Exhibit, Rome

Oct 14-19 Polar Bear Tour, Churchill

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Romaji & Tove

Posted on January 25, 2014 by Luana

DSC_3946

It is Saturday at home, and Sunday here in Japan
as I write to you from my hotel in Narita. I've just spent 3 days in Tokyo at
the Quilt Festival, and now I'm chillin' at an airport hotel, waiting for my
flight tomorrow night.

One of the things I am doing is editing my photos so they include the name of
the quilter one way or the other. Some of the Japanese quilters' names have
been given a transliteration from a Kanji character to Roman letters (known as Romaji) …and
some have not. For the quilts whose makers names cannot be spelled out, I am
using Photoshop to copy and paste the names/characters on the namecards, into
the quilt photos. Whew!

I've been coming to this show for many years now, and I do see more Westerners
here every year. I also see more blogs with photos from the show but no artist
names. I am hoping that the Tokyo Quilt Festival organizers will put the
transliteration of all the quiltmakers' names on the name cards next year, but
in the meantime everyone who goes to the show needs to think twice about
posting photos without names.

Anyway, the first batch of quilt images is up, along with the photos I took on my daytrip to Nagano to see the Snow Monkeys.

I am still going over all the photos from the Tokyo show, but one of my first
impressions is that there are less taupe and indigo quilts this year. The only
piece I noticed with blatant machine quilting (instead of the usual Japanese
hand-quilting) was a handbag. The only reason I noticed was because there was a
group of ladies standing over this handbag in animated discussion, and the only
two words I understood were "machine quilting".

This year I was deeply honored to receive a ticket to the opening ceremonies.
Security is very high because the Emperor's daughter-in-law (Kiko-San)
presides, plus the Finnish ambassador and his wife attended, and the cultural
attach? from the US Embassy was among the speakers and honored guests. It was
VERY formal, and "very Japanese" according to my translator.

The big special exhibit this year was a large group of pictorial quilts, based
on the illustrations of Finnish illustrator/artist Tove Jansson. I had never
heard of her, but her characters and books are wildly popular here. The exhibit
curated by Yoko Saito was mobbed while I was there. The artists who created
special quilts for this event were wildly creative, and it makes me want to go
out and get one of Tove's books!

I'll be sharing detail shots from this show for several weeks, so be sure and
watch for my midweek Creative Nudge newsletters!

We are finalizing details for me to lead a group on a Polar
Bear tour to Churchill Canada, Oct 14-19 this year. I will post more info
in a newsletter next week, but you can also contact Customer Service to be
emailed right away when details are set.

****************

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

********

Upcoming Quilty Travel:

Mar 24 Quilting Arts TV

May 1-4 SAQA Conference Wash DC

Oct 1 Quilt Exhibit, Rome

Oct 14-19 Polar
Bear Tour, Churchill

Check out our eQuilter Facebook page!

(Sneak peeks of new collections throughout the week)

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Serendipity

Posted on January 19, 2014 by Luana

RMPBS

One of the things that inspires and amuses me
most about Life, is how sometimes things just magically come together, and
something wondrous happens. I ask a question and the answer appears a week
later. Put out a request to the Universe and it comes to me in a totally
unexpected way. State a goal and then see the bricks being laid down one at a
time on the intended pathway. Wonder about what happened to an old friend?. and
run into that person in an out-of-context situation. Does that happen to you
too?

Last weekend I got the urge to go to a local coffee shop, and was delighted to
hear some live music (2 acoustic guitars) playing there. I got my soy latte and
sat down with Sophie, then noticed out of the side of my eye that there was a
knitting group in the corner. Well of course I had to go see what they were
doing! As I approached I recognized an old friend from my oil painting days. I
hadn't seen her for years and had been recently wondered what happened to her.
We used to go out in the summer and do plein air painting in the Boulder Iris Gardens, and up in the mountains. We were together in a weekly figure painting group for 15 years.

As we chatted, one thing led to another, and it turned out we will both be in
Hawaii at the same time, and my friend Bonnie is staying with an artist who I
idolized when I first moved to Boulder from New York in the 90's. I never got
to know Sandy, but I admired her work in galleries and went to a couple
lectures that she gave. She was at the peak of her career, and one of the most
famous artists in Boulder. Now 20 years later, through a serendipitous meeting
at a coffee-shop knitting group, I'll be visiting her studio and having lunch
on the beach in a couple weeks. Who'da thunk?

I had another fun connection yesterday, when I visited Rocky Mountain PBS to pick up donated comfort quilts for Colorado Flood victims. The quilts were sent by Nancy Zieman, donated by viewers of her Sewing With Nancy show on PBS. They asked me to be the middleperson – to pick up the quilts and distribute them to those in need.

Many thanks to all the "Sewing with Nancy" quilters who sent their
colorful quilts to us in Colorado! It was part of a huge on-air fundraiser
event put on by Rocky Mountain PBS recently.
We are thrilled that they thought of us, when deciding where to donate these
lovely quilts!

I had a delightful visit with Elizabeth at PBS, and told her about our charity
program and our comfort quilt projects. As we came to the end of our coffee
chat, she revealed that she grew up in the family business in the garment
district of New York. Her dad (and her grandpa) have run a business selling
embellished fabrics to the trade, which includes not only fashion houses, but
also costumers for Broadway musicals, Operas and Ballet. I went home and looked
through my business cards and yep, sure enough, I've shopped at her dad's store
recently, and also when I worked on 7th Avenue as an import fashion designer. I
love when that happens!

In case you missed Ditch New Years Resolutions Day on Friday, or Thesaurus Day
on Saturday, we will observe Martin Luther King Jr's birthday Monday, and go directly to National Hugging Day on Tuesday. Our son Sam turns 17 on National Pie Day this week, and we wish him a Sweet Seventeen!

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Creative Nudge – Marigold, Berry & Crystal White

Posted on January 14, 2014 by Luana

TajOrangePurple_550

When I travel, I take at least 500 photos a day. Every night I edit down to about 300, and try to pick out the Photo of the Day.

As you may know, I went to India for 2 weeks in September, with my quilter friend Pam Holland who is from Australia. (and her sister who lives in Dubai) We are all 3 photographers so we had a great time totally indulging our love of capturing colors and images.

I took hundreds, no actually thousands of photos of Indian women and their colorful saris. This one was taken the day that we went to the Taj Majal in Agra. It is just one day out of my entire life, but I will never forget that day. I took close to 1000 photos that day.

Many of those photos were very simple:
Capturing the multicolor saris worn by the women walking in and out of the crystalline white marble temple. The white-on-white of the carved designs covering the exterior of the building, were the perfect backdrop for the riot of color that had come from every corner of India.

Now, every day, I look at these photos from my trip. I have a random slide show on my laptop that goes through the thousands of images. It makes me think about color in a different way every single day.

Here is the image that caught my eye today. I just love the deep berry purple, with the hot marigold color. I pulled together a group of fabrics that express this color inspiration, and you can see all these colors if you click here. (If you are inspired to make a project with these colors.)

How do you stay inspired every day?

In one week I will be flying to the Tokyo Quilt Festival, to bring you a whole new group of inspirational images!

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Featured Free Pattern – Downton Abbey “Mary”

Posted on January 10, 2014 by Luana


 DowntonMary2

 

Welcome to the Premier issue of the
eQuilter Free Pattern Newsletter!

Based on the phenomenal popularity of our Free Pattern Designer, we're expanding this feature to bring you free patterns for designer and licensed collections, right to your Inbox.

You may order the pattern as configured, 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. Click Here for a Video Tutorial of the Free Pattern Designer. Download Instructions for the pattern at the bottom of the pattern.

The featured fabrics for the pattern will change based upon current
inventory, so we recommend ordering as soon as possible for best
selections!

As you may have read in the New York Times last weekend, Downton Abbey returned in the US on PBS  for its fourth season Sunday night, setting a record for a season
premiere. Now millions of Americans are discovering they have a thirst
for British historical drama. Who knew?

We're crazy about Downton Abbey too!…and we've stocked this
category with all the graceful prints developed by Andover Fabrics to
represent Downton's time period.

This quilt pattern is inspired by the character Mary. We also have the Downton Abbey Union Jack quilt pattern online.

If you follow our Facebook feed, you may know that we met the DA
costume designer Caroline McCall, and set designer Donal Woods, during
Houston Quilt Market. It was so interesting to hear them talk about the
process of creating and sourcing all the detailed costumes and props for
the production.

Next year watch for quilts, garments and other items on set, that
are made from this fabric collection. Season 5 has already been
commissioned, so we look forward to seeing what Downton Abbey and
Andover will come up with, as the show evolves into the Twenties!

If you haven't tried our Free Pattern Designer,
it is a lot of fun. We have a huge inventory of free patterns from the
last several years, so you can always pull up an existing pattern and
redesign with your own unique choice of fabrics.

When you finish, it puts all the correct yardage in  your shopping
cart. If you wish, you can email your designed pattern to yourself or to
your friends.

Whether you are a professional or amateur quilt designer, the
eQuilter Pattern Designer will take your color ideas and make you look
good!

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Creative Nudge – Dreaming of Asia

Posted on January 7, 2014 by Luana

Maiko1a_550

 

One of my greatest pleasures over the last several years has been my annual trek to the Tokyo Quilt Festival. It is not only the quilts that inspire me, but the textiles, the colors, the crafts, the architecture, and the exquisite details in the most mundane items there.

The more I go, the more I have to go back.

During the year as I preview fabric collections, what I anticipate the most are the new Asian fabric designs. If you have ordered from our beautiful Japanese designer groups, you've had the same reaction that I do, I am sure….running the silky fabric through your fingers, admiring the intricate artwork, and perhaps your eyes glaze over just a little when you see the rich metallic details.

True high quality Asian fabrics and designs are harder to come by these days, and over the years we've recognized that many of these gorgeous prints become collector items as the years pass. Yes they may be hard to cut up, but that's because they bring us so much pleasure just sitting in our stash. We may keep them in a special box, and take them out to admire and show our friends, but in the end we know they are some of the most special fabrics we will ever collect. 

Our company started almost 15 years ago in the basement of our home, and our first groups of fabrics were beautiful Asian prints and colorful Bali batiks. That is the foundation that our little fabric empire was built on, and it is still one of the most important parts of our business.

Here's a photo I took in Kyoto several years ago, in a collage of fabrics in stock now at eQuilter. Do I go out to the warehouse to fondle these fabrics when nobody's looking? You betcha!

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