Creative Nudge – A Story to Tell

Posted on August 8, 2013 by Luana

JinnyBeyer_550

Those of you who have older kids have probably
experienced "story fatigue" – when you tell a family legend
and they roll their eyes and start reciting the tale along with you.

But hey, some stories
are worth telling again and again. There are some very special memoirs
that are worth saving – whether it is writing it down, recording the verbal
storytelling, or filming
the storyteller.

A couple weeks ago I had the honor to interview Jinny
Beyer for the Quilters' 'Save Our Stories' project – the quilting world's
version of Story Corps. At the Not Fade Away conference, we recorded an interview
with Jinny that will be archived in the Library of Congress.

She talked about how she got into quilting, how the time she lived in India
had such
a profound effect on her color sense, and then she told the history of the
9/11-inspired quilt which was hanging as our backdrop. (photo above)

The last time I had seen Jinny was at the Australasian
Quilt Convention in Melbourne Australia
last year. I saw her very briefly because she was teaching, and as we parted I
said "We'll talk the next time I see you!" Little did I know that the
next time we spoke, I'd be interviewing her in front of a crowd!
Life as a traveling quilter can be funny like that…

Today was my last day before my big trip to the UK, and Sophie had an
appointment with her orthodontist. She found out today that it is time for her
to get braces,
so next week while I am at the Birmingham Quilt Festival, Paul will take Sophie
for her first prep appointment, and then the braces
go on when I return, 2 days before school
starts. That sounds like a story in the making, doesn't it?

I know many of you will be coming from all over the UK and Europe to the Birmingham
Festival of Quilts this week. I will be at these events, and hope to see
some of you there:

Thursday night – Mary Fisher dinner
Friday night – Fashion Show
Saturday night – Shakespeare in Stratford

Bonnie McCaffery and I will be filming
our videos at the show Friday and Saturday, so perhaps we'll see you on the
show floor? (You can see videos
from our previous years at the Birmingham show, on our video page.)

The first year I went, we photographed
the Tentmakers
of Cairo, and these quilts have gone on to wow quilters at Paducah and
other venues.

Have a great day!

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Creative Nudge – Hearts and Good Wishes

Posted on July 31, 2013 by Luana

SophieQuilts_550

Last week while I was at the Not
Fade Away conference, someone asked me if we had received a 100
Good Wishes Quilt ("Bai-Jia-Bei") while we were waiting for
Sophie's adoption. This is a Northern Chinese
tradition of friends and family contributing 100 squares of special fabric
(each with a prayer attached) to be made into a Welcome Quilt for the baby. The
quilt is meant to bring good luck, health and positive energy to the baby who
will be wrapped in the special quilt, and the quilt becomes a future family heirloom.

Rummaging around in my photo files this week, I came across this photo of
Sophie just a couple days after we came home from China. She has TWO special
quilts in this photo, and I thought you might like to know the story.

I belong to a private small quilt list that formed many years ago because we
were tired of mean nasty people flaming on some other lists. Life is too short
to waste time on people who are bullies or curmudgeons online. I joined this
list 15 years ago, because one of the rules was that nobody was allowed to say
anything mean to another member on the list. That's my kind of quilt list!

Anyway, unbeknownst to me, while we waited for the adoption to go through, my
online friends (who I had never met in person at that time) all contributed a
block and made us their own version of a Good Wishes Quilt. In this photo,
Sophie is sleeping on this quilt, which is so full of love and kindness.

The quilt on top of Sophie was originally given to me at a baby shower when I
was pregnant with Mason. (24 years ago) As soon as we were matched with a baby
in early 2003, and could send a care package to her in China, I wrote her Chinese
name in Sharpie on this Hearts quilt, and shipped
it off to the orphanage in China.

Two
months later when they put Sophie into my arms for the very first time, she
was wrapped in this Hearts quilt. So in this photo she is sandwiched between
these two very special quilts.

I think the Hearts quilt was the first seed that was planted, on my journey to
become a quilter.

So you never know, when you give the gift of a quilt, what might unfold in the
years to come…

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The Good Stuff

Posted on July 27, 2013 by Luana

Wow, I am on quilt overload! (In a GOOD way.) I am still processing all the information – visual and otherwise – that I took in on my trip last weekend.

Between the 19th century quilts in the DAR Museum archives, the labyrinth experience of the Sacred Threads art quilts, the quilt images at Not Fade Away, and the SAQA artwork for the Andover fabric collection… not to mention the Punk Fashion exhibit at the Met's Costume Exhibit, my mind is still boggled!

So what did I come away with, after all of these quilt/textile experiences? That we are in the process of making history with all of our current quiltmaking and textile collecting. As much as we love to look backwards to catalog and contemplate the fabrics and patchwork of the past, we are busy making history right now with everything we sew, photograph, and discuss.

AND…there are more fabrics, quilts and fiber art to discuss now than at any time in history! AND…the exponential amount of images and information available via social media and the internet in general, is more than one person could review and digest in a lifetime!

So when someone admires, studies and creates within a narrow focus, they are likely to be very productive and efficient. I will never forget when I heard Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray, Love) speak here in Boulder. She is one of the most talented and successful women in the world, but she said her success was due to the fact that she is only good at ONE thing: writing. She said if she had multiple talents and interests, she would be distracted and could not have written that book.

So what I got out of this trip is that I need to keep narrowing down and focusing on what I want to accomplish. I bet many of you can relate to this – often I have more on my plate than I can finish. I like to say "yes" which means it is hard to say "no". I mean, sometimes a girl's gotta sleep! So I am reviewing my priorities and trying to get my studio, my To Do List, and my schedule reorganized before my heavy travel schedule starts up this Fall.

What about you? Are you feeling overwhelmed? Are you reorganizing and re-prioritizing?

How do you stay focused on the GOOD stuff?

 

***********

Sacred Threads 2013 Closes Sunday July 28th!

Please help us to help Libby Lehman!

Upcoming Quilty Trips:
Aug 8-10 – Birmingham UK Festival of Quilts
Sept – Textile and Photo Tour of India
Oct 11-13 – CQC Fall Retreat
Oct 26 – Nov 2- Houston Quilt Market & Quilt Festival
Nov – Color Marketing Group Conference and Visions Opening – California

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

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Creative Nudge – Sacred Threads

Posted on July 24, 2013 by Luana

MelissaSobotka_550
My weeklong trip to Washington
DC and New York City is coming to an end, and I am still marveling at the Sacred Threads
exhibit I saw near Dulles Airport. It has been set up, literally as a
labyrinth. When you walk into the large room and begin to wind your way through
the art, with meditative music in the background, you feel like you are
entering an altered state. Congratulations to Lisa Ellis and Christine Adams
for putting together such a high quality show.

If you live in the area, I urge you to get over there this week or by this
weekend, before it is packed up and gone forever.

Here
in New York, I went to see the Punk Fashion exhibit at the Met, and I've
been working on the SAQA fundraiser collection "Urban Textures" at
the Andover offices. We are sending out artwork to the factory and based on the
results, will choose the final artists. So far the collection is coming
together beautifully, and we are excited to see how this collection will raise
money for SAQA.

I also had lunch at a private club with a quilt collector, then walked back
through my old stomping grounds in the garment district, stopping to pick up
some gold clasps in a costume trim shop. Looking at lots of beads, sequins and
embroidery trims got my creative juices running, and I am anxious to get home
to my studio.

Are you keeping cool in this super summer heat?

* This photo is from the Sacred Threads
exhibit in Herndon VA, running through this weekend only! Quilt
"Archangel Haniel" by Melissa Sobotka. (eQuilter is a proud sponsor of Sacred Threads!)

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

Mission of Love and eQuilter are
partnering to build a house for a family who not only lost their home in the
tornado, but also their 9 year old son.

You can help us purchase building supplies by donating funds via PayPal directly
to Mission of Love.

********************
Would you like to share your enthusiasm for eQuilter ?
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us your own Testimonial!

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

Click
Here to See ALL our Newest Products This Week!

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DAR Museum Quilts

Posted on July 20, 2013 by Luana

IMG_8911

What a difference a week makes!

Last week I was distributing quilts to tornado survivors, and visiting
neighborhoods that were wiped off the map by the big twister.

This weekend I am in Washington DC, visiting the DAR Museum, and participating
in the Not
Fade Away conference in Herndon VA. (…and dripping from the heat and
humidity!)

Friday
I had a very special treat. I had an invitation to have a private tour at
the DAR (Daughters of the Revolution)
Museum which is about a block away from the White House. My tour guide was
the curator of the Quilts and Textile department, and I felt very lucky to have
a private session in the archives (temperature and humidity controlled room in
the basement) to view several historic quilts that are being prepared for an
exhibit in 2014.

Alden also took me upstairs to see the beautiful architecture of the huge library,
and the individual state rooms with special state quilts. She also gave me a
lengthy explanation of the process of preparing garments for the current
costume exhibit "Fashioning
the New Woman: 1890 – 1925".

We had lunch next door in the Red Cross building, and talked some more about
how to date garments and textiles. She cut her textile dating chops when she
was an intern at the Smithsonian, and now she can look at a historic quilt or
vintage garment, and guess the year it was made. We discussed how every year or
two there would be a change in the fashions, that would make it easy to date
the garment by the sleeve shape, bustle, draping, etc. What were trends 100-200
years ago, have become history.

I pointed out that the trends we are making today, will also be documented
textile history some day in the future. We talked about how we should be
documenting quilts today, so they will be understood 100 years from now. She
also told me that laser-printed labels and photos in quilts are already
starting to fade, and it is such a shame that information is fast disappearing.
She complained about quilts that had initials instead of full names sewn on the
back. She complained about quilts that said "Aunt Bessie's Quilt"
instead of the full name.

So my message for all of you is – make sure you sign your quilts with permanent
ink or stitching so there will be no doubt as to the quilt's maker, and the
year it was made. Someone in the future will treasure your quilt and be
fascinated with the history of the quilt you've constructed so lovingly and
carefully.

My mom and I hired a genealogy detective to research our distant ancestors, and
she recently informed us that we'd be eligible to join the DAR. So the timing
of this museum visit was just perfect! We have the documentation of a
"patriot" ancestor who was in the army during the Revolution, which
came as a surprise!

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Creative Nudge – Fabric, Fabric Everywhere

Posted on July 16, 2013 by Luana

DragonKite1_550

It is always amazing to me, how many creative things we can do with color and fabric. Just when I think I've seen the boundaries stretched as far as possible on what can be called a quilt, I go to a show and see someone's work that just blows me away.

However, in addition to making quilts from colorful fabric, there are lots of other people who are sewing fashion-forward garments, fantasy and period costumes, creative crafts, curtains, pillows, table-toppings, stuffed toys, textile origami, fiberart postcards, and even glorious kites from fabric!

I was going through my photos from my trip to Washington DC in March, because I am flying there again this Thursday. We were there during the Kite Festival on the National Mall, and of course I had to take photos of the many huge detailed kites that were in the air between the White House and the Capitol Building.

Here was my favorite: a long dragon flanked by a fish and a butterfly.

I'll mention one more time that I am a presenter for 2 sessions this Saturday, at the Not Fade Away quilt conference near Dulles Airport. (If you go, please come up and say hello!) I am doing a Power Point on Social Media for Quilters, and I also get to interview Jinny Beyer!

Then I'll be in NYC early next week, working with Andover on the SAQA fundraiser collection. The semi-finalists have all been notified, and we'll put the designs into a color-coordinated collection over a couple days of work sessions.

I'll be hitting several museums, and seeing a couple Broadway musicals. Can't wait to see the costumes in Kinky Boots! As always, looking at the world from the viewpoint of color and textiles…

Please feel free to share your thoughts on my blog.

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

Shop now for FREE SHIPPING at eQuilter !

Simply order $50 or more of merchandise NOW through July 20th, and when you reach the checkout page, enter this Promotion Code:
SUMMER and your special promotion will be applied.

This promotion cannot be combined with other promotions, discounts or gift certificates. Orders placed before receipt of this email offering are not valid for this promotion. Sale ends at 11:59 pm Mountain Time, July 20th.

This shipping promotion may be used for the following:
Free Shipping to USA Addresses by our most economical shipping method.
50 Percent Off Shipping Internationally by our most economical shipping.
If you choose a more expensive shipping method, your shipping cost
will be reduced by the amount offered in this shipping promotion.

***********

Mission of Love and eQuilter are partnering to build a house for a family who not only lost their home in the tornado, but also their 9 year old son.

You can help us purchase building supplies by donating funds via PayPal directly to Mission of Love.

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Tornado Quilts for Moore Oklahoma

Posted on July 13, 2013 by Luana

I am home from Oklahoma City,
but I definitely brought back the visceral images of the tornado's
destruction.
After spending time in neighborhoods that had been reduced to twisted
piles of rubble, and as I drove home into my own cul-de-sac, I couldn't
help but imagine what it would feel like to walk into one's own
decimated neighborhood.
After spending time outside the memorial at Plaza Tower Elementary where
there is only a foundation with a chainlink fence, it reminded me of
Ground Zero in NYC, of burnt neighborhoods here in Colorado, and other
disaster sites I've visited.

However I am happy to report that together we made a difference for 400
people in Moore, Oklahoma.
We trucked in your 400 donated quilts, and teamed up with the Stitchin'
Post across the street from the Town Hall, and handed out a total of 500
quilts and several hundred pillowcases to many families who had lost
their homes, or worse.
(Stitching' Post brought over the pillowcases, and about 100 additional
donated quilts.)

If you'd like to read more about our work with Mission of Love, you can watch this video or read this article. We were also on Channel 4 News in Oklahoma City but I don't have a link to the video clip yet.

We met with Mayor Glenn Lewis,
to get a big picture perspective on the aftermath of this event.
One thing that is so devastating is the huge amount of money that has
been donated to big name relief organizations, and only a shamefully
small fraction of that money has gone to helping the people who lost
their homes.
12,000 homes were destroyed, and 5700 are too damaged to live in until
they are repaired.

Before donating to a big relief organization, please investigate the
organization (no matter how famous!) to see how much of their donated
funds go to "administrative expenses".
…
yes I am talking about THAT big relief organization.
Actually there are 2 of them that are sitting on funds, not only from
this tornado, but from the previous tornado!

Kathy Price was so moved by our time with Danni and her family,
that she decided to start an effort to rebuild homes in Moore, as
Mission of Love has done after Katrina in Lafitte LA, and also in Pine
Ridge SD.

When you place an order with us, if you choose Mission of Love as your eQuilter Charity, your 2% will go towards the building supplies
for the first house we will rebuild together, for Danni's family, who
lost not only their uninsured home, (read the article) but their 9 year
old son Christopher.

If you wish to lend additional support for rebuilding homes in Moore, you can donate to Mission of Love via PayPal, or volunteer to help build a house with Kathy and Mission of Love.

If you missed out on donating a quilt, you can still send them to the
Stitchin' Post, who will make sure your quilt(s) get into the hands of
those most in need.
(316 N.
Broadway, Moore OK 73160)

Please take a look at my Oklahoma Tornado photo page, to see photos of those who received your quilts.

Many thanks to Patty Reed Designs and EE Schenck for the 400 beautiful "Hope" tote bags that were given to each quilt recipient.
Also thanks to eQuilter customer and Moore tornado survivor Linda Crook who drove us around for 48 hours.

Next weekend I'll be writing to you from the Sacred Threads show and Not Fade Away conference in the Wash DC area.

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Creative Nudge – Tornado Quilts

Posted on July 10, 2013 by Luana

PlazaTowerBear1_550

Today was one of those days that I will remember for the rest of my life.

Today Sam and I flew to Oklahoma City, went to the Town Hall, starting spreading out some of the 400 donated quilts, and then met the people of Moore Oklahoma who lost their homes and loved ones.

Then we went on a tour of the tornado's devastation in the town, including the Plaza Towers Elementary School where 7 children died.

I met 2 mothers who had lost a child, and lost their home.

Then we went to a nearby hotel where so many homeless families are waiting endlessly for a place to call home.

Everywhere we went, we personally gave your handmade donated quilts to those who had suffered a grave loss. We also gave a quilt to a young woman who was a first responder, who is still recovering from what she experienced.

We gave a quilt to the first grade teacher who had her kids put all the desks in the corner, and then they played a game crouching under the desks, singing as loud as they could as the tornado screamed towards their school.

When I hugged the 2 mothers who had lost a child, and let them pick out a quilt, I told them that with these quilts comes the love and comfort of 400 quilters who sent us these quilts as soon as they heard we were doing a quilt relief project for Oklahoma.

One woman repeated over and over again – "You have to tell all these quilters thank you for being so generous – for thinking of us and sending these beautiful quilts!" There were many tears to go along with the hugs.

…and this was only for a few hours this afternoon.

Tomorrow we'll be at the Moore City Hall from 9 am to 5 pm, meeting families and hugging every person who receives a quilt made by all of you wonderful quilters.

The outpouring of love from so many of you, is palpable as we spread out all the colorful quilts. I will do my best to transfer this love and caring to every person I meet tomorrow, who has suffered a great loss.

Many thanks to Kathy Price and her co-pilot Karen who drove the truck full of quilts down from Ohio.

My thanks also to EE Schenck and Patty Reed Designs, for the 400 sturdy pink "Hope" tote bags that are being matched up with each donated quilt.

Most of all, my humble thanks to all of you who rushed to send your comfort quilts for the people of Moore, Oklahoma. Your love and caring is an amazing gift of selfless generosity for these families who have lost so much.

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Creative Nudge – Intuitive Quilting

Posted on July 3, 2013 by Luana

WatermelonKids1

Today I had one of my intuitive moments. I got
the urge to go buy some summer fruit at Whole Foods, which usually means I am
going to bump into someone I know while shopping. I started out with watermelon
and plums, and finished with soy milk on the other end of the store. By the
time I got out to my car to load my groceries into the trunk, I had forgotten
about my intuitive nudge to go there.

But then, I heard someone next to me calling my name. It was my friend who has
an older puppy the same breed as our new puppy Ruby. I was thinking about her
the last few days, and there she was, calling my name!

I know, not everyone believes in intuition, but I feel like I've been a success
partially because I follow my intuition. All along the Path of Life, I've paid
attention to those subtle inner voices, and after choosing The Road Less
Traveled, I always seem to receive a confirmation that my intuition was right.
Who knows, maybe we could say that every choice is right, but I am going to
stick with my intuition.

Creative people are often very intuitive. They follow their nose, their heart,
their intuition…and find themselves in serendipitous situations where
everything seems to drop into place.

That's how I got into quilting.

I had moved back to Colorado after leaving the garment industry in Manhattan. One
day I was in a big grocery store, when I came across several quilt magazines. I
had been wishing to find a way to return to the textile industry, but it seemed
very far away from Colorado. My eye was drawn to Quilters Newsletter, and I saw
that it was published in Colorado.

As I flipped through the pages (this was in 1990!) and looked at the quilts,
the colors and the fabrics, the hair on the back of my neck stood up and I got
this really buzzy feeling. "This is IT!" my inner voice said, and I
snapped up a few quilt magazines. With my design degree and background in
garment design, the quilt classes I took over the next few years were
easy-peasy. (except for the Hawaiian quilting class where the instructor said
she'd kick me out if I used batiks instead of solids – harrumph!)

I began to pursue art quilting, after learning about patchwork, applique, etc.,
and every discovery I made gave me that same buzzy feeling. I knew I had found
where I belonged.

Did Intuition play a part in your becoming a quilter?

Does your intuition guide your creative choices these days?

***********

Mission of Love and eQuilter are
partnering to bring a truckload of disaster relief and your donated quilts to
Oklahoma tornado victims next week.

You can help us purchase disaster relief supplies by donating funds via PayPal directly
to Mission of Love.

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

Would you like to share your enthusiasm for eQuilter ?

Send
us your own Testimonial!

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

Click
Here to See ALL our Newest Products This Week!

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Summer Update

Posted on June 29, 2013 by Luana

Back in March when I was in New York, I mentioned that we saw a Nick Cave costumed performance at Grand Central Station. A few weeks ago I raved about his art and costume exhibit at the Denver Art Museum, as part of a larger textile exhibit this summer called "Spun".

Thursday I took Sophie to see the textile exhibits, and we had tickets for an evening dress rehearsal of Cave's costumes and performance art, and a local community dance company.

As much as I love his work, and as much as I enjoyed the current exhibit, I couldn't sit through the whole rehearsal. There was a DJ and a live band, which I initially thought was going to be great, but they had the volume cranked up so loud that it still hurt our ears, even with earplugs and our hands over our ears. Ouch! It was very disappointing because we definitely would have enjoyed it otherwise. We barely made it to the intermission, and then left with many other people who couldn't take the volume. However I am sure I'll return a 3rd time to admire the exhibit.

For those of you who sent entries to the SAQA/Andover Design Contest (and there were a lot of you!), there are 19 semi-finalists and we are working to come up with the final list of artists in the next few days or week. There were over 200 entries, so it was a lot of fun to see everyone's interpretation of Urban Textures! I did a blind jury of 209 entries, and now Andover is looking at the 19 semi-finalist entries.

Despite the fires all over Colorado in the last few weeks, we've had some big rain/lightning/hail storms here the last couple days. Hopefully the lightning won't ignite any new fires, and the rain will help to dampen any sparks from fireworks. Last night we had the biggest hailstorm my kids have ever experienced, which was scary and exciting at the same time…after I ran out and pulled my car into the garage!

If you would like to help out the flood victims in Calgary, there is a help page up on Facebook, and when they put up a webpage I will share that as well. They have set up the means to ship quilts from the US (Houston) to Canada, so American quilters can contribute as well.

On July 10, I will be in Oklahoma City with Sam, and Kathy Price from Mission of Love. We'll be distributing your 400 *beautiful* donated quilts, packed in the 400 donated tote bags (thank you Patty Reed Designs and EE Schenck!) to tornado victims there.

Have a fun and safe Fourth of July!

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