Creative Nudge – Canada, Trends, Tornadoes & Graduation

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Luana

BridgetteVilleneuve_550

There are so many things to write about – I don't know where to begin!

First let me tell you that this is a scene from Quilt BC in Penticton
Canada from last week.
An hour before the exhibit opened, several classes of schoolchildren
were brought to have a preview of the quilt show.
The kids were so interested in the quilts, and the white-gloved docent
had a story to go with each quilt, to keep the kids interested.
At the end of the exhibit tour, their teachers gave them paper and
markers, and invited them to design their own quilt blocks.
Brilliant!

Next I went to Quilt Market in Portland, and the trade show was full of
young people with new ideas.
Several fabric manufacturers previewed digitally printed fabric
collections, and we'll see those starting to show up at eQuilter in the
near future.
The price is a little higher, but the artwork quality looks like a
screen print with 30 or 40 screens! (Normally they are around 15
screens) We are excited to see this huge and very important trend take
hold in the next year.

I can say that the flat color trend with simple artwork that is filled
in with a Photoshop paintbrush, is being replaced by lush intricate
artwork with a handpainted look.
It is more sophisticated and it looks fresh after all the simple flat
artwork we've seen on fabric the last several years.

Our hearts go out to the residents of Moore Oklahoma, and Tuesday I was on the phone with Mission of Love director Kathy Price.
We agreed to start a new quilt relief effort for the tornado victims, and you can read the press release from Mission of Love on this information page.

Quilts can be dropped off IN PERSON at eQuilter, or shipped directly to Mission of Love in Ohio.

DO NOT SHIP QUILTS TO EQUILTER, as this will delay and perhaps prevent distribution to Oklahoma tornado survivors.

The deadline for receiving quilts is June 20.

Kathy and I will go to Moore June 27-28 to distribute disaster relief supplies and comfort quilts.

If you have questions, please call or email Dana at eQuilter Customer Service:
[email protected]

(Please do NOT try to call Kathy at MOL because she is simultaneously
coordinating several different urgent relief projects right now – with
no paid receptionist to answer calls or emails)

If you don't have time to make a quilt, please consider donating directly to Mission of Love via PayPal, so they can purchase relief supplies in bulk and load up a truck bound for Oklahoma.
Mission of Love has no overhead, so everything you give will go straight to purchasing supplies in bulk
at the best price.
Kathy and her team of volunteers are masters at this, so we will also
send them money to help fund the purchase of relief supplies.
You may recall that I went to Guatemala in December, on a Mission of Love Cleft Lip/Palate Surgery trip.

Lastly, our daughter Sophie graduated from elementary school Tuesday night, and we are so proud of her.
I have posted some photos of her from graduation night.
I will also post photos from Quilt BC (Canada) on my photo page.

Thursday night I fly to Columbus Ohio for a very quick 2 day visit to Quilt National in Athens.

 

* The quilt shown above is "French Garden" by Brigitte Villeneuve of Jonquiere QC, at Quilt BC 2013 in Canada last week.

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The News from Lake Okanagan

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Luana

ShippingTrek

Paul and I just celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary yesterday, before I
hopped on a plane to Penticton, BC in Canada. You never heard of Penticton?
Neither did the United rep at the Vancouver airport. That made me just a little
bit nervous, as I anticipated flying on a tiny prop plane over the sharp snowy
peaks.

It turned out to be a gorgeous one hour flight, over lush green
pine forests, huge blue
lakes in deep gorges, and wide rivers running through fields dotted with
livestock. As we flew over yet another lake to land in Penticton, I checked out
my "beach" hotel from my little round window, and plotted my sunset walk along
the water's edge.

Anyway, we are SO excited that the arrival of our Star
Trek fabric is actually corresponding with the premier of the new Star
Trek movie! I mean, this NEVER happens! Usually the fabric arrives 6 months
before, or 6 months after the movie comes out. So for us Trekkie fans it is
rather thrilling that we can buy the fabric, whip up a quick lap quilt, and wrap
ourselves in it by the 3rd time we see it in the theater.

Sadly, I will
not be able to participate in opening night fervor at the new movie. Usually I
am there at the midnight show with all the other diehard nutcases, and then I go
see it again a day or two later, and then again a week later, etc. I've been
begging our suppliers to get the license for Star
Trek for YEARS, and I assume there are a good number of Sci-Fi / Trekkie
groupies out there in our customer base, to keep us busy cutting yards of Kirk
and Spock (Original Series, of course!) for months.

Our 2nd year of
business was partially funded by Harry Potter fabric. The trucks would roll up
to our back door, and disgorge dozens of cartons of HP fabric. (when we were
still in the 4300 sq ft warehouse that was previously occupied by Celestial
Seasonings….and everything smelled like mint tea) As fast as it came in, we
shipped it out. It was like a miracle. No, it was like MAGIC! Yeah, that's it! I
believe in magic!

The view as we flew into Vancouver today was
spectacular, especially when we turned and I could see the Northern Passage
between the islands and the coast, where the cruise ships sail up to Alaska.
Maybe some day I'll make that trip, to see the whales and other wildlife in this
wild coastal region. For those of you who live here, I can see why you would
never want to leave.

For those of you in this area of BC who are coming
to the show, I will be at the award ceremony on Wednesday night, and I hope to
meet some of you there! Please do come and say hello if you see me there. I will
be walking the show Thursday morning, and then I have to figure out how to get to
Kelowna for my flight to Portland. Quilt Market starts Friday morning in
Portland
Oregon.

Live Long and Prosper.

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Teaching from the other side of the table…

Posted on May 11, 2013 by Luana

Mothers Day is very special to quilters, because often it is our mothers or
grandmothers who taught us to sew and quilt. As we become mothers and
grandmothers ourselves, we get to experience the teaching process from the other
side of the table.

Often time shared together at a sewing lesson, is
special simply because it is precious one-on-one time spent with someone you
love. Whether we are baking cookies, planting flower seeds, drawing a picture or
stitching by hand… those hours spent together are the stuff of long-lived
memories.

The last few weeks I spent with Sophie's 5th grade class,
coming twice a week and slowly working through the process of designing,
cutting, and sewing quilt blocks. On the last class this week, at the end of our
time together, the kids proudly stacked up their finished blocks in a
substantial pile of red, cream and blue. They've been studying the Civil War, so
we talked about community quilting, fabric scraps, and precious needles, as we
slowly pieced together our group quilt.

As with any kind of teaching, I
found that I learned as much as the students. The things I take for granted as
an experienced quilter, suddenly revealed a deeper joy in simple tasks like
threading a needle. As with any creative endeavor, you have to let go of the
past and the future, and just be in the moment, to be immersed in the creative
process.

It was the kids who made mistakes and had to rip out seams, who
had the biggest smiles as they turned in their finished blocks.

It was
the kids who finished first, who discovered the joy of teaching what they had
learned, to the kids who had fallen behind.

One kid was nearly in tears
last week, unable to thread a needle. This week after his buddies finished their
own blocks, they all pitched in to help him finish his stitching in record time.

The little girl who asked more questions than all the other kids
combined, was the first to finish, and then went on to answer the other kids'
questions.

We find some of our greatest joys in sharing what we know with
others, and that is a gift we learned from our moms and grandmas.

Here's
to all the moms who take the time to pass on their knowledge and creative
passion to their kids. It's the gift that keeps giving down through the
generations and across the years.

Hey, did you hear about Meg Cox'
article in Friday's Wall Street Journal, about the Modern Quilt Guild and
QuiltCon? I was just tickled to be interviewed for the piece, and I also
contributed photos from QuiltCon. Woo hoo! Photo credits in the WSJ! Thanks
Meg!

For our friends in Europe, I hope to see you at the Birmingham UK Festival of Quilts
in August. I'll be there with Bonnie McCaffery shooting videos, and perhaps I'll
see you at the fashion show, or on the Shakespeare evening outing?

This
Tuesday I'll be flying up to Penticton
BC for the Canada Quilt Festival, and I'll send my Creative Nudge once I get
there. I won't get to spend time with Libby there as I had hoped, but we'll
continue to send her prayers for healing.

from Ricky Tims:

"Libby Update for Saturday –
During Lester's visit this morning Libby was
awake and a bit more responsive than yesterday. She is unable to speak right
now, but she communicated by blinking her eyes in order to answer questions. She
also smiled at Lester a few times. She is moving her head left to right a bit
and she squeezed Lester's hand several times – once was a strong squeeze. She
remains in critical condition, but we can celebrate another baby step in the
right direction this morning."

 

Upcoming Travel and Shows:

May 15 – Canada Quilt Fest in Penticton
BC
May 17-19 – Quilt Market in Portland OR
May 20 – CostumeCon in Denver CO
May 24 – Quilt National in Athens OH
May 30
– Deadline SAQA
Andover Design Contest
July 20 – Not
Fade Away – Quilt Alliance
– in conjunction with Sacred Threads
Aug 8-10 – Birmingham UK Festival of
Quilts

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Creative Nudge – Lucky Me!

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Luana

QuiltClass1_550

This week is my "week off"
before I fly out to the quilt festival in Canada, and Quilt Market in
Portland.
Sophie is graduating from 5th grade and elementary school a couple days
after that trip, so I am trying to get everything done before then.
One of those projects is the quilt that her class is making, in
conjunction with their study of the Civil War.

After all my talk about supporting young people who want to sew, I
thought I better put my money where my mouth is, and share the joy of
quilting with some kids!

So I've been going in on Tuesday and Thursday for a few weeks, spending
over an hour each time, teaching them the basics of sewing as we cut out
and sew quilt blocks.

Today as several of them finished their blocks, and many more could see
their blocks taking shape, there was a definite excitement in the
classroom.
Several kids said they wanted to take them home to sew, before I come
back on Thursday for our last class.
They all have a needle and spool of thread, and several of them have been hoarding scraps.
They have the makings of a serious bunch of quilters!

One of the boys was so excited he was practically hyperventilating.
"I finally know how to sew and repair my stuffed animals!"

A few of the girls came to me at the end of class and asked, "Can I keep
my scraps?" I leave a pile of scraps on the table when I leave…

Sophie is very happy to be able to share her knowledge of sewing, so she's been my assistant teacher in all of these classes.

I can see how a Sewing Club in Middle School could be a real hit,
especially if we could do some cool projects that the *KIDS* choose.
Simple stuffed animals made from colorful prints would be a smash hit, I am sure.
Maybe a few stuffed robots and monsters for the Sci-Fi fans?

I told the kids that when I was their age, I took Home-Ec in school and sewed every day for a semester.
"Lucky you!" they declared, hands on hips and stomping their feet.

What a gift to be able to share my passion with an enthusiastic bunch like these students!

Lucky me!

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

Our beloved friend and teacher Libby Lehman is still in serious condition in a Houston hospital.
I am posting updates on my personal Facebook page, and will post today's update on my blog:


This is latest report from Ricky Tims….

Libby is about the same, not much change and still in critical condition. She is
in sedated sleep and has not been allowed to wake up. This allows her body to
heal, but more importantly it should help with the vascular spasms that continue
to occur in her brain at the location of the stroke. It still may be a while
before the attempt to slowly wake her.

The best news is that this morning
there was significant response from her left leg and arm. The doctor was
elated.

There are other minor issues but the family has been assured
there is no worry for those and that the main focus is still on letting her heal
so she can eventually wake up. She is breathing on her own for the most part
(still on a breathing machine at low setting) and her vital signs are all
good.

I know many quilters want to DO SOMETHING. The family has asked for
cards or quilted cards. It is important that any organized efforts to make
quilts or blocks be less urgent. I am aware of several efforts in place to make
Libby a quilt.

Please consider the ramifications of this effort. Libby
does not generally use quilts – so they will most likely be stored. Libby makes
art quilts, not functional quilts. She doesn't have display space for wall
quilts. She will not want to give them away to charity because they will be very
meaningful, but storing these items will be challenging.

I know Libby
well enough to know that being inundated with quilts, regardless of how
thoughtful it is meant to be, will be challenging for her. She will find a
graceful way to deal with it, but just having to deal with it is not necessarily
the best thing for her during a recovery period of what could be one to two
years.

I maintain that doing something significant down the road is the
better option. I'm not trying to be squelch a desire to help – I'm thinking from
a different perspective. Sometimes pulling back on the reigns is the most
helpful thing to do.

Send your cards and quilted cards to:

Libby
Lehman
617 Caroline
Houston, TX 77002.

 

Ricky

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Prayers for Libby

Posted on May 5, 2013 by Luana

LibbyLuana_W

Many of you have already heard that one of the icons and founding mothers of our
industry – Libby Lehman – is in the
hospital after having an aneurysm last week. She was feeling ill in Paducah, and
this occurred just after she had returned to Houston. She has had 2 surgeries
and a stroke since then, so we are just asking everyone to take a moment and
send prayers to Libby in the hospital, and also to her husband Lester, and her
family.

I had planned to see Libby at Quilt Canada
in Penticton BC in about 2 weeks, and was really looking forward to seeing
her again. Anyone who knows Libby knows that she is a generous, positive force
full of passion for her work, and she has a deep love for sharing with others. I
came to know her over the years, at Art Quilt Tahoe, and later in
the Bernina Artisans group reunions in Illinois
and Switzerland.

While we send our prayers and wait for the outcome, I am reminded that
this is a good time to hug your kids, kiss your sweetie, tell your friends how
much you love them, practice random acts of kindness, and above all be kind to
yourself. Every day is a gift, especially when we find the kind of joy and
healing that comes with our beloved art and craft.

Sunday/Tomorrow I am giving a
presentation to raise funds for a Victorian estate in Longmont, Colorado –
the
Hover Home which is owned by the Longmont Historical Society. I will be
showing quilts and textiles I've collected around the world, and telling stories
to go with the show-and-tell. Costumed docents will give a tea reception
afterward. I am going to tell some juicy stories about my years of living and
traveling abroad! There are still some tickets available
if you can join us. Every year Mom and Sophie and I go there for their Mothers
Day Tea, and I thought it was about time we helped out with their rather
precarious financial situation.

My 5th grade quilting class is now busy
sewing blocks, and they are supposed to finish their blocks by their last class
next Tuesday. Then Sophie and I will press, square up, and sew together all
those lovely handmade blocks into a quilt which they intend to present to a
veteran.

I gave each of the kids a needle
last week, and told them that even today in some communities, a needle
is so precious that several families will share one needle.
(This was a recent story from one of the Guatemalan villages that Mission of Love is helping.) They are
recreating a Civil War era quilt, and we imagined that needles
were probably scarce in many of those wartime communities. A spool of thread,
a needle,
a sharp pair of scissors
and a few scraps of cloth…that's all a frugal quilter needed back
then.

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Creative Nudge – Just Add Sprinkles

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Luana

Doorway_W

Happy May Day!
It is snowing again in Colorado.

As I mentioned in my Saturday newsletter, I had to leave Santa Fe on
Friday, to go home for an emergency root canal…so I can't report to
you on the SAQA conference there.
Darn!

However I had 24 hours to kill, and I kept busy taking photos to keep my mind busy.
This is one of my favorite images.
It is the entrance to a little gift shop in a hidden courtyard near The Shed restaurant.

If you look close you will see not only the typical Southwest items such as sombreros and serapes, but also red poinsettia flowers, and frosted donuts with sprinkles.
By this time I was on major pain meds so I am very sorry my photo of the
shop name did not turn out, but perhaps one our our New Mexico natives
will let me know the name of the shop.

Anyway, I just thought creativity like this just has to be shared.
Personally I can't eat donuts with sprinkles, but they still make me smile.
Especially when they are used in an artistic garland over a painted blue door.

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

Today was my 2nd quilt class in Sophie's 5th grade class.
Today we pinned the templates to the various fabrics, and cut out the pieces.
Thursday everybody is going to get a needle and thread, and we are going to sew the pieces into blocks.

One of my favorite moments today was when the kids were measuring and
marking the extra 1/4" seam allowance around the templates.
One girl had a really slippery ruler and was having trouble.
However she is a sharp kid, and she picked up on one of my favorite
terms from last week's lesson.

"Should I just eyeball it?" she asked, in a conspiratorial whisper.

I looked around, hunched over and said – "Go for it!"

"YES!" she exhaled, and in 5 minutes went from slowest in the class, to completion.

Sometimes you just have to eyeball it in the home stretch.

And then add sprinkles.

* Tickets for Longmont Hover Home Fundraiser * –
Secrets & Storytelling by Luana to support a Victorian estate
…THIS WEEKEND ON MAY 6th!

* SAQA & Andover Fabrics Call for Entries *

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Best Laid Plans

Posted on April 27, 2013 by Luana

DSCN8350
I'm sorry I can't report to you on the SAQA annual conference in Santa Fe,
because I had to fly home yesterday so I could have an emergency root canal
today! However I did manage to spend 24 hours in Santa Fe, and as I walked
around town taking
photos, I realized that I need to go back there
soon.

The night I arrived in Santa Fe, I had a big clue that things
wouldn't go as planned. Hertz lost my reservation, and didn't have a single car
for me. Even though I had my reservation in hand, they just kind of shrugged and
blew me off. The Avis rep happily told me he had just one car left that he could
rent to me…at double the Hertz price. Instead I called a taxi, and enjoyed the
sunset while waiting in front of the rustic adobe airport terminal.

That
night I wandered into town, found a
restaurant with some vegetarian options and lots of local color, and found a
seat at the community table. As I sat there chatting with others at the big
table, I realized I had eaten there the other time I visited Santa Fe…25 years
ago!

When I came out of the restaurant, a colorful shop window caught my
eye. I crossed the street with camera in hand, and took a photo of…one of my
Guadalupe
fabric designs! So there is an example of a design process going full circle:
from my design inspiration in Santa Fe 25 years ago in the cathedral there, to
my return, and my fabric design being used by another artisan to create a final
product. I just love when that happens!

My next trip is in a couple weeks
– I'll be in Penticton, Canada for the Quilt BC
award ceremony on May 15, then headed straight for Quilt Market in Portland
Oregon that weekend.

A week later (!) I will be at Quilt National in Athens Ohio on May
24-25.

Quilt Alliance has just announced their event Not
Fade Away to be held July 20 in conjunction with Sacred Threads. I was very
honored that they asked me to interview Jinny Beyer for the Q.S.O.S. project,
during the demonstration portion of the event. I'll also be on a panel with Pat
Sloan addressing the topic of "Social Media for Quilters".

So I hope to
meet many of you at these events. If you are there and you see me, please don't
be shy! Come up and say hello – I'd love to meet you!

* Tickets for Hover Home
Fundraiser * –
Sunday May 5, 2 pm in Longmont, Colorado
Storytelling
by Luana to support a Victorian estate.

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Creative Nudge – Joy of Making

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Luana

RobotWoman1_550

Over the last few days I've been out doing creative fieldwork…observing the
joy that comes from making one's own design.

Over the weekend Denver had
our own StarFest, which is the galactic Sci-Fi version of ComicCon. For 3 days
the convention was overrun with geeks…er… people in Star Trek and Star
Wars costumes, DIY Klingon and Dr Who Costumes, and other character costumes
ranging from Captain
Jack Sparrow…to Wonder
Woman. The vast majority of the costumes worn were obviously made by the
wearer, who clearly spent hundreds of hours bringing their ideas to
manifestation.

It was good to go and see all that raw, crazy,
over-the-top creativity and ingenuity. Sometimes we crafters think we have the
corner on the DIY market, but there were some serious costume designers who have
regular dayjobs but spend their nights and weekends dreaming up highly detailed
costumes and accessories. Whoa, some of those big guys who not only dress as
Klingons, but also speak the Klingon language, wax poetic when they talk about
how they sourced their Klingon "uniform" details.

On the other end of
that scale, today I taught my first 5th grade quilting class. We spent our first
session designing quilt blocks, cutting out templates, choosing fabrics, and
pinning paper templates to the fabric. The kids were TOTALLY into it – both boys
and girls. We are creating a Civil
War inspired quilt, and our goal is to present it to a veteran before the
end of the school year.

What really struck me is how the pure joy of
making something, was just as strong with both the Klingons and the 5th graders.

If you follow me on Facebook, you
already saw that I was posting from Klingon and Steampunk
costume seminars. Mason's comment about StarFest was "I've never seen so many corsets
in one place in my life!" Yes how true. Our mothers burned their bras and
girdles in the 60's and 70's, so our daughters could wear laced corsets
in the new millennium.

Tomorrow I am flying down to Santa Fe to attend
the SAQA annual conference. Hope to see some
of you there!

The image above is the winner of the SciFi category of the
costume contest. Check out my other
photos from Starfest!

* Tickets for Hover Home
Fundraiser * –
Storytelling by Luana to support a Victorian
estate.

* SAQA & Andover
Fabrics Call for Entries *

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Finding Your Tribe

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Luana

As the world just seems to get crazier by the day, one way we can find comfort
is with our tribe. These days we don't necessarily stay in the tribe of our
birth, but rather, we go out and find those of like mind, who share our heart's
desire and our passion. We bond with others over similar interests at work, at
play, in worship and in our travels. We bond with groups through pop culture,
crafting, dietary preferences, and sport. We even find our tribe through
academia, and our studies of history and science.

Obviously, Quilters
and Fiber Artists are such a tribe! We have annual and seasonal gatherings. We
form clans based on aesthetic preferences, seeking a kindred spirit of our
preferred medium and technique. Garment sewers and costumers are a parallel clan
with a lot of crossover to the crafting and quilting clans. When we travel
abroad and meet other quilters and crafters, we are immediately accepted as part
of the worldwide tribe.

This weekend I am at a regional gathering of
another such tribe. I am at Starfest in Denver which is a costumer's dream. So
many of the attendees are wearing elaborate and artistic costumes, which are a
combination of purchased items and garments or accessories which they have made
or embellished themselves. I just attended a session on Klingon Kostuming (yes,
with a "K") and then another one on Klingon Kustoms. These people have found
their tribe, and theirs is such a pure joy as they share and partake of their
costuming rituals. Even though I was not in Klingon costume… er…
Kostume….. it so much fun to sit in on a couple hours of Klingfest.

On
a larger scale, we've watched the Boston Tribe go through an attack, a battle,
and a joyous celebration in the streets. It just got me thinking about how we
bond with larger groups of people, and how we can become a brother or sister to
a total stranger when we are taking part in a tribal event. The pure joy and
brotherhood we feel when we are part of a larger group of like heart and mind,
is a euphoria that erases stress, and can actually be a healing
experience.

So this weekend, whether you are with a group of quilters,
costumed sci-fi
characters, or Bostonians… I hope you can partake in the joy of tribal
living with your fellow humans. We are all still trying to comprehend what
happened in Boston, and in our hearts, we are all part of the Boston tribe this
weekend.

The ultimate tribe of course is Humankind, and as we Earthlings
prepare for Earth Day on Monday, I invite
you to review
our charity recipients such as Rainforest
Action Network, and Ocean
Conservancy, who are working to preserve the environment and the creatures
that inhabit this planet, as we travel through our solar system together on
Spaceship Earth.

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Creative Nudge – Ten Thousand Daffodils

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Luana

Doves1_550

*
April 15.

Across the years, a date full of profound events that have shaped the future.

The birth of Leonardo da Vinci.
The death of Lincoln.
The sinking of the Titanic.
The start of the Tiananmen Square demonstration.
Black Friday.

The bombing of the Boston Marathon.

It is also the day that William Wordsworth took a stroll through a lakeside bed of daffodils, inspiring this poem:

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
and twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
in such a jocund company:
I gazed?and gazed?but little thought
what wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

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

While I watched the events in Boston unfold in the news, these 2 doves
perched in a tree outside my window, resting from the snowstorm.

I share this image of peace with you, as we are all trying to understand what happened in Boston.

It is a good time to pull out our fabric, needle and thread, and make
something with our hands.
When the world has gone crazy, we find our peace in our handwork.
Each stitch is a prayer for peace, a question asked, an affirmation of
the thread that runs through all of Life and connects us all.

Wishing Peace and Healing to the people of Boston, and to those who have suffered a loss.

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