Creative Nudge – Go To Your Happy Place

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Luana

GrandCentralStnChryslerBldg550


Mother Nature apparently didn't get Punxsutawney Phil's message that Spring has arrived.
The day before my trip we had 9" of snow in Boulder, and the two days I spent in Ohio with Sophie (filming 4 segments for Quilting Arts TV with Pokey Bolton) were also filled with lots of snowflakes.

Sunday night I had dinner with Kathy and Bob Price, and I got an update
on what our eQuilter donations are doing to fund further relief efforts
in the US and Guatemala.
Mission of Love continues to ship medical supplies for the Guatemala City hospital, and building supplies for the children's hospice in TecPan.

Today my friend Mark Lipinski finally got his kidney transplant, donated by his friend and neighbor Mary Eichler.
They both seem to have come through the surgery with flying colors, and are resting and recovering at the hospital tonight.
What a miracle…and what a relief!

I have a stepbrother whose life was saved with a kidney transplant (good
thing since he is the father of twin boys!) and another friend who is a
long-time heart transplant recipient.
Another friend's wife received a liver transplant and miraculously has
her life back.
So tonight I am just remembering and thanking those who have donated
(including Mary!) so that others might live.

We had some sad news in the quilting world today: Pat Campbell (known
for her Jacobean Applique) has left this world for the big quilting
hoop, after being cared for by her husband John for many years.
Pat was a well-loved quilt artist, teacher, fabric designer, and author;
and she will be missed.

Sophie and I decided to stay on the East Coast the rest of this Spring Break week, after leaving our Quilting Arts and Mission of Love friends in Ohio.
I lived in NYC for 6 years, and it has a special place in my heart.
It is much more pleasant to be here now, compared to the 80's when I lived in the East Village.

There are still many business closed and many residents displaced because of Hurricane Sandy – even more so outside of the city. If you have a quilt you'd like to donate to someone in need,
we'll make sure it is put into the hands of a hurricane victim very
quickly.
The quilt donations have slowed down but we are receiving more and more
urgent requests from groups for comfort quilts.
Many sincere thanks to all of you who have already sent in beautiful
quilts for this hurricane relief effort, and many thanks to Timeless Treasures for their distribution work.

As Sophie and I walked the Avenues of New York today, the skyscrapers lit up from the Golden Hour at the end of the day.
I saw many people on the street stop to admire the light on the skyline,
and many who took a photo of the dramatic colors reflecting off glass
and stone.
It could have been a sunset on Maui, the way the people on the street
responded.
It was a reminder that we all find Beauty, no matter where we are,
because Beauty feeds the Soul, and is stored in an inner archive of
creative inspiration.

To recharge my creativity batteries, I "go to my happy place", one of which happens to be Manhattan!

** This photo was taken in front of Grand Central Station, with the Chrysler Building in the background.

* SAQA & Andover Fabrics Call for Entries *

* Hurricane Sandy Quilt Relief Info *

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A Full Plate of Blossoms!

Posted on March 23, 2013 by Luana

 

Do you ever have weeks where
everything just seems to hit all at once? That's the kind of week I
had…starting with euthanising our beloved doggie Sunday, flying to a
trade show Monday, helping Sam to catch up after being home sick for 3
weeks, getting ready for Quilting Arts TV,
and now 9" of snow! There were 600 flights cancelled in Denver today,
but I'll be driving to the airport at 6 am Sunday morning.

In the meantime we are trying to get used to a household without a doggie.

Sophie and I are on the road all next week – starting with filming at Quilting Arts TV studios in the Cleveland area.
(You can see clips of our previous appearances on the show, on our eQuilter video page.) We'll have dinner with Kathy Price from Mission of Love, and hear about the ongoing relief work in Guatemala, and elsewhere.

If any of you Canadian quilters are planning to come to the Penticton show in May, I will be at the award ceremony the evening of Weds May 15.
I signed up for a tour that day, and if any of you would like to join me, you can sign up online.
I'd love to hang out with some local quilters on the vineyard tour May 15! Also, I have to figure out how to get from Penticton, to a 3 pm flight in Kelowna on the 16th.
Suggestions are welcome!

A week from now Sophie and I will be at the Kite Festival on the Mall in Washington DC, and hopefully the cherry blossoms will be in abundant bloom.
I've got my camera charged up, loaded with an empty memory card, and I
am anxious to take some Springtime photos! By this time next week I hope
to be in a shower of cherry blossom petals, instead of a shower of white snowflakes.

The Tokyo Quilt Festival always has plenty of Sakura (cherry blossom) themed quilts, so I was inspired to search for more photos to remind me of these lovely quilts.
I am also just crazy about cherry blossom fabrics, so when you see those designs on the eQuilter site, you'll know I had a special hand in picking out those lovely Asian fabrics.
Yummy!

Are you taking a Spring Break this week?
Will you be taking photos of spring flowers, to inspire a future quilt project?

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Creative Nudge – Springboard for Creativity

Posted on March 20, 2013 by Luana

LifeYoshikoKatagiriDtl_550

Tonight I am writing to you
from my hotel in Las Vegas! I am here for 2 days at a textile show, and I
just finished up ordering lots of bodacious fabrics that are shipping
this summer.

After immersing myself in the spare design aesthetics of the Modern
Quilt movement at QuiltCon a couple weeks ago, I found myself still very
eager to dive into several very opulent gilded fabric collections that
are inspired by textile designs of the 18th and 19th centuries.

The more I look at fabric, the more I learn about color theory and
design.
You can look at surface design every day of your life and still learn
more by going to museums, looking at design and history books, and just
walking though a fabric or department store to take in all the varieties
of design interpretations.
I just never get tired of looking at color and design!

What is most exciting to me is how we can still come up with new and
interesting textile designs, simply by re-combining old motifs in new
colors, re-scaling (making larger or smaller), and especially by
juxtaposing with other textiles.

I am eager to share with you the many new versions of yarn-dyes,
including multi-color chambrays.
(also known as shot cottons) There is also a whole new crop of classic
plaids that have been re- imagined, re-colored, re-scaled and then
combined in quilts in imaginative ways.
I am also loving fine quality prints that mimic ikat plaids with
bi-color twist yarns.
You have to be a pretty serious fabric head to realise the enormity of
these re-imagined classics….
they are like a visual punch line…and they make me giggle.

As new technical innovations begin to trickle into the overseas
factories, and designers learn how to exploit these new design
opportunities, we will see more fabrics that catch our eye and look
"different" …
but we can't quite explain why.

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

We had a very sad weekend.
Our beloved sheltie had a health emergency over the weekend, and I had
to make the painful decision to euthanise on Sunday morning before I
left on this trip Monday morning.
We are in the habit of letting her out first thing in the morning, and
it will take awhile to let go of all our doggie habits.
Cherry was born on Valentines, and left us on St Patrick's Day.

Tuesday morning at 7:02 am EDT (4:02 PDT) is the exact moment of the
Vernal Equinox – when the sun passes over the Equator and Spring begins
in the Northern Hemisphere.
(…and Fall begins in the Southern Hemisphere) I am more likely to make
and keep Spring Equinox resolutions, than New Year resolutions, so I am
using the impetus of Spring for a Creative "To Do" list that will keep
me focused for the rest of the year.

How does Springtime inspire your creative process?


** This image above is a detail of the quilt "Life" by Yoshiko Katagiri from the Tokyo Quilt Festival in January 2013.

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Supporting the Richness of our Quilting Organizations

Posted on March 16, 2013 by Luana

Happy Quilting Day, Happy Pi Day,
and Happy Saint Patrick's
Day!

Lately I've been working with board members of various
organizations, brainstorming how to raise funds so they can upgrade equipment,
attract new members, and thrive without constant financial stress.

As I
mentioned last week, I am working with SAQA
and Andover Fabrics on a fundraising design project.

I accepted an
invitation a few months ago to sit on the development committee of the Boulder Philharmonic, and it has been
interesting to look at the fundraising topic from another angle.

Recently
crowdfunding has been a popular and usually successful way to raise funds for
projects, such as the recent (successful!) fundraiser for the Tentmakers
of Cairo documentary.

Yesterday Karey Bresenhan posted a very humble
plea for support to raise $ on Indiegogo
for the Texas Quilt Museum to buy
a new projector system so they can host programs at the Museum. (see my blog for this post) A smart
investment for TQM!

Just this morning I received a enewsletter from the
San Jose Museum of Quilts and
Textiles, that they are in need of emergency funds. I hope they will get a
crowdfunding page up soon so we can all pitch in whatever amount is
possible!

I really respect and admire those who sit on these boards, and
who try to figure out how the heck to raise money to keep these organizations
afloat. Raising membership fees or ticket prices is not always the answer – if
you lose members because of the higher fees, then you are right back in the same
hole.

So I just wanted to salute those who are working so hard behind
the scenes, (as volunteers mostly!) to keep all the museums, non-profits, quilt
exhibits, conferences, and other events in the black – i.e. with balanced
budgets. It is not only our lawmakers who struggle with this issue!

Our
Wonderful World of Quilting is a microcosm, and our leaders are privately
wrestling with the same budget issues that the politicians are wrestling with
publicly in the Macrocosm.

If you have a moment to visit one of those
crowdfunding pages, remember that even $5 helps, if 1000 people each give $5 or
whatever they can afford. These organizations are incredibly rich sources of
creative inspiration and technical design information for all of us, so your $5,
$10, $50 or more will give you a rich return on your investment. I am going to
go make a donation right now!

Tuesday night I will be writing to you from
a textile show in Las Vegas.

* Hurricane Sandy
Quilt Relief Info *

* Sandyhook Elementary Memorial
Quilt Project *

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A Message from Karey Bresenhan:

Posted on March 15, 2013 by Luana

(Posted on the Quiltart List this morning)

Folks, I hate to ask for money worse than I hate snakes. (And I
really,
really don't like snakes!) But sometimes the cause is just so good
that you
have to overcome your hesitation and just ask. And so I am asking.
The Texas
Quilt Museum, a cause near and dear to my heart, needs to get
a
state-of-the-art digital projector and large retractable screen so we
can
use Gallery II as the lecture, film, seminar setting it's turned out to
be
perfect for. But since we have no way to project anything in this
gallery,
or to show a teacher's slides, etc., we can't make the best use of
the space
and we end up turning away educational opportunities that lots of
quilters
would enjoy.

We're trying the new "crowdfunding" method where you go
online
and ask for a little bit of help from a lot of people. We're using
Indiegogo
and trying to raise $7000 by midnight April 9. We've raised  $4125
as of
today, but that last $2875 is going to be tough.  Lots of people you
know
from QuiltArt-like Frances Alford and Leslie Jenisen-have made
donations
(God bless them!) and I'm hoping that you will want to help
too.

Now I really do know this list. I may not post all the
time, but I read.and
I know that money is not just burning a hole in most of
your pockets! But I
also know you have generous hearts and you love to help
people. So I am
asking for your generosity and your help. You don't have to
give $100 (o be
still my heart!) to be part of this project. You can give
$10…$25.$50 or
any amount you want. And any amount will help.  Just go to
the link below
and take it from there. We even have neat little thank you
gifts for
donations of $25 and more!

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/texas-quilt-museum/x/2371122

I'm
not in the habit of asking for help. Most of you know that about me. I'd
much
rather offer it.in the form of great shows, special exhibits you can be
part
of (remember the Journal Quilt Project, she says modestly), etc. But
this
time I can't do it all myself! So please help.  Thanks!

Karey
Bresenhan

Co-founder, Texas Quilt Museum

Director Emeritus,
International Quilt Festival-Houston, Cincinnati, Long
Beach, Chicago

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Why do we make quilts?

Posted on March 13, 2013 by Luana

Imagine1_550

Why do we make quilts?

The
reason has evolved as women have evolved in society. This practical craft of
recycling clothing scraps to make warm blankets, has a history around the world
from America to Japan
and beyond, because fabric is precious and we hate to throw away something
that can be reworked into something useful or beautiful.

Most women have
forgotten what the Suffragettes went through to
win the right for women to vote. That was one stepping stone as women began to
dream about having their own careers, and throughout the Twentieth Century we
remade the idea of what it means to be a woman in the world.

Today our
daughters grow up in a world where equality is often taken for granted, even
though there are plenty
of women around the world who still don't have the rights that our girls and
young women assume are here for the taking.

I've been thinking about how
quilting has evolved along with feminism. It has changed along with us – from a
necessity to something that could be perceived as a luxury. (Buying fabrics and
collecting a stash, making creative and artistic quilts, instead of using scraps
for a patchwork blanket to keep out the cold.)

Sheryl Sandberg is on the
cover of Time
Magazine this week, and her
book excerpt discusses how success can equal unlikability for women, and
also how many women are still trying to achieve the impossible goal of " having it
all". No matter how hard we try, we often will feel like we are missing out
on something. It is difficult to feel completely content with our lives, no
matter how much we accomplish, and no matter how much we try to let go and just
BE.

Quilting helps us with this conundrum. When a sister has breast
cancer and we feel helpless, we make her a beautiful healing quilt. When friends
suffer a terrible loss, we make comfort quilts to remind them of our love and
support. When a community suffers a trauma
such as Hurricane Sandy, the larger community comes together to send quilt
relief… the equivalent of a group hug.

Life is messy, and much of it is
out of our control, but when you make a quilt you have time to sort it all out
in your head, and by the time your healing quilt is finished, you've received a
healing in the process of making the quilt. As women's confidence and freedom
has progressed, we have given ourselves permission to use quilting and sewing as
Art Therapy. Instead of feeling guilty about making art, we embrace the process
as a journey of self discovery.

Many years ago I heard a statistic about
how many corporate women were turning to crafts for stress relief. Quilting,
sewing, painting, knitting, crocheting and other arts and crafts have been
embraced by a new generation of working women, as they discover what so many
mature quilters knew already.

When you make something for someone who is
hurting, it heals your own heart.

When you make something beautiful, it
reveals the beauty of your own soul.

**
This image above is a detail of the quilt "Imagine" from the Tokyo
Quilt Festival in January 2013.

* SAQA & Andover Fabrics Call for Entries *

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Posted on March 9, 2013 by Luana

14 years ago, on March 10th
1999, Paul and I looked around my basement studio at our house, with a
few hundred bolts of fabric, and decided to send out our first
newsletter announcing that we were open for business.

By the end of the year we had moved to a 4400 sq ft warehouse, a year
and half later we moved to 11,000 sq ft, and another year and a half
later we expanded to our current 15,000 sq ft warehouse in Northeast Boulder.

Today we employ 37 employees, have 22,000 products in stock, and over 1000 new products each month.
We've raised over $1 million for charities in the US and abroad, and we support many quilt shows and contests with sponsorships and prize money.

In the last several years I've traveled to quilt shows and creative events in Japan, Australia, England, Ireland, Scotland, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Russia, Bali, Spain, France, Thailand and China.
You've followed my travels on my video page and my photo pages, and have supported us on Facebook, Pinterest, and other social media.
We've shared video interviews with artists, photo reviews of international shows, and generally had a good time connecting quilters from all over the world.


Luana

Time has a funny way of warping when you are busy.
In one way, it seems like I've been doing this forever…
at least 20 years! On the other time, time flies when you are having fun, and I can't believe it's been 14 years already.

With your quilt donations, we've distributed 10,000 quilts over 13 years
to people affected by 9/11 and the Katrina hurricane, the Haiti
earthquake, an orphanage in Pine Ridge SD, the tsunami in Japan, Colorado Fires, and most recently our continuing efforts for those still struggling with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

We've partnered with rocket scientists from NASA to help an orphanage in Rwanda, and I've traveled to support a surgery team in Guatemala doing cleft lip/palate repairs for Mission of Love.
We've paid for a heart surgery for a child in China, and we've rebuilt houses with MOL on the coast of Louisiana after hurricanes wiped a small fishing town off the map.

We've adopted a child from China,
raised our 3 children, and recently watched our eldest graduate from
college – all shared with our eQuilter friends and customers.
Some of you who followed our adoption trip in 2003, are still following
Sophie's story as she grows up and expresses her own love of sewing.

The quilting community stretches around the globe, and wherever I go, I find quilters.
We are all part of an international community that feels like family,
and we all have a love of fabric and color that transcends any other
differences.

I am truly grateful for the friendship and support that you have shared with our family and our wonderful eQuilter staff, and we look forward to serving you again in the coming year!

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

* Hurricane Sandy Quilt Relief Info *

* Sandyhook Elementary Memorial Quilt Project *

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SAQA Fundraiser

Posted on March 6, 2013 by Luana

NeutralNeonLatifahSaafir_1BB_550

One of the best things about my "job"
is that I have the opportunity to help others. In addition to our fundraising
through our charity program (2% of sales go to charity – over $1 million raised
so far!) we also support several quilt shows through sponsorship and prize
money.

Over the years I've enjoyed supporting SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) by sponsoring
their shows, and doing video reviews of
many of their exhibits in the US, UK and Australia.

Last year I was
very honored to be asked to join their President's Advisory Committee, which
means I've had several brainstorming sessions on how to help the organization
grow.

Awhile ago I was approached by SAQA board members about doing a
fundraiser fabric collection. After much brainstorming, we came up with the idea
that I would curate and merchandise a line based on the winning artwork
submitted by SAQA artists.

So I am happy to announce that SAQA is
partnering with Andover Fabrics,
and we have put out a Call for
Entries. The winning artists will have their name on the selvedge and of
course in the collection's marketing, and will be participating in what is
hopefully a longterm source of income for SAQA – and then all of the members
will benefit! (The copyright will belong to SAQA, and the royalties will also go
directly to SAQA.)

For an artist who wants to get their foot in the door
of the world of commercial textile production, this could be a great
opportunity. For SAQA, it is a chance to promote their organization and the
winning artists, and hopefully attract new members.

In case you are
wondering, no I am not making a penny from this effort. I am excited about
working with a group of aspiring designers, and taking them through the process
of making a collection.

I have watched SAQA grow and spread around the
world, and I hope that we'll see entries from several countries. My sincere
thanks to Andover Fabrics, and all
the artists and designers who will join me in donating their time and talent to
this project, to support SAQA in their 25th Anniversary Year!

* Detail photo above from
Latifah Saafir's quilt "Neutral and Neon" at QuiltCon in Austin Texas.

Guild:
Los Angeles Modern Quilt Guild.
Clamshell pattern made with neutral linens
and cotton fabrics.

* Hurricane Sandy
Quilt Relief Info *
(YES! – We are still accepting donated
quilts!)
Many thanks to Timeless Treasures for their
ongoing dedication to this urgently needed relief project.

* Sandyhook Elementary Memorial
Quilt Project *

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Fabric Design Contest with SAQA and Andover Fabrics

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Luana

I am very happy to announce a fundraising fabric project with SAQA and Andover Fabrics – and a call for entries for all you aspiring fabric designers!

http://saqacallforentries.com/

Full details and instructions can be found on SAQA's website.

 
Martha Sielman head shot

From Martha Sielman, Executive Director:

  
SOMETHING TO
CELEBRATE!
I am very pleased to announce that in celebration
of SAQA's 25th Anniversary in 2014, Luana Rubin of eQuilter.com has arranged for
Andover Fabrics to print a SAQA Urban Textures fabric
collection. This collection will be based on designs by SAQA members, and
Andover will donate a percentage of the collection's sales to SAQA.

Luana
Rubin will be the juror for the fabric collection designs. She will also write a
brief article on how to design a fabric collection, which I'll send out by email
soon.

The SAQA Urban Textures fabric collection will
consist of six to eight designs printed in multiple colorways. The goal for this
project is to create designs that will become contemporary classics and be
stocked by quilt shops and fabric stores around the world. The name of the
selected designer(s) will appear on the selvedge of the fabrics. 
 

 

For SAQA Urban Textures,
find your inspiration in the textures of city streets, the graphics of signs and
maps, or distressed surfaces and lights reflecting off asphalt. Deconstructed
screen prints, splattered and layered paint, and digital manipulated images are
all possible techniques. Use any artistic medium that expresses this
theme.

Full details and instructions can be found on SAQA's website.

 

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Empty Time

Posted on March 2, 2013 by Luana

DSCN2171

It's March, and in my book that means it's (almost!) Spring. Even though we have
several inches of crusty snow covering our yard, I am already in that
I-survived-another-winter mindset, and I'm thinking about planting flowers,
giving away the kids' outgrown clothes, and CLEANING MY STUDIO!

My
problem – and I know many of you have the same problem – is that there is too
much of everything in my house, my car, and my studio. I am not a compulsive
purger, and I am not a hoarder. Ok I admit I am a collector but in the way most
creative people are collectors. I like to have lots of pretty things to inspire
me. I need all of my art and sewing supplies where I can see them. I really need
to go through that stack of magazines before I give them away. I have old
fabrics I want to donate but I need time to go through them and keep a few for
sentimental reasons. Sigh…

Last weekend I really got a kick out of Amy
Butler's presentation at QuiltCon. She also collects colorful interesting things
wherever she goes, and then arranges them into themed groupings of eye candy,
but she makes it look like a photo spread in a home dec magazine. Of course with
some primping and selective editing with photography, one can make almost any
room look like a scene from a glossy magazine… if you can get your kids to
stay out of the room for a day.

These days, there really is too much of
EVERYTHING. Too many emails, too many TV channels, too much information online
than one could ever hope to process in a lifetime. It is the blessing and the
scourge of the creative soul. We are finding our way in this new reality –
because even "living a simple life" is a relative term. I never feel that I have
mastered this balancing act, but I feel that I've learned how to have reasonably
good boundaries so I can be fairly productive and efficient.

My trick –
is to have a chunk of time every day when I pretend I have nothing else to do.
This is my Empty Time. I meditate, I draw, I sit in a garden and write in a
journal, I take a long bath listening to classical or jazz music. If I didn't do
this, I would literally go nuts.

Cleaning my studio a couple times a
year is also Empty Time. I am creating a blank space upon which to project my
next set of ideas. It can be a very spiritual experience for me, because when I
make the space, the ideas and inspiration come. Sometimes it just takes my
breath away.

I'll be in my studio this week!

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