Ebony Gaze

Posted on November 20, 2024 by Luana

Today I am featuring another quilt from the Houston Quilt Festival. eQuilter was the sponsor of this gallery “Tales from Africa” featuring the work of Uzoma Anyanwu and his mentor Nike Okundaye.

I am focusing here on a collage quilt by Uzoma, quilted by Kaia Kessler.

This larger-than-life (72″ x 60″) portrait is titled “Ebony Thought” and is made with recycled fabric scraps of African prints.

Kaia is in Houston, and Uzoma resides in Nigeria, so this was truly an international collaboration.

Uzoma’s teacher and mentor Mama Nike is “a charismatic international artist of many parts, a philanthropist, and a Nigerian ambassador extraordinary. She is a great inspiration to everyone, young and old, and one of the greatest contributors to the development of the Nigerian arts in the 20th and 21st centuries” writes Bruce Onobrakpeya.

Kavita Chellaram also writes “Chief Nike has been a pioneer in African art to Nigeria and to the world. Her own achievements both as an artist and in the educational programs she has created, have been immense in championing women artists.”

Nike’s daughter Shayee Oluwaseyi Awoyomi came to the festival and was a colorful happy addition to the event, with her fabulous headdress, brilliant smile, and traditional African dress. She wore a different mind-blowing outfit each day and shared her famous mother’s work.

Many thanks to all the American quilters who collaborated on the quilts in this gallery!

Photos from this gallery, and other inspiring quilts from Houston are now up on my photo pages.

Sharing your love of fabric…
Luana and Paul

*The photo above “Ebony Thought” was taken by Luana Rubin at the International Quilt Festival in Houston. Collage frame features fabrics currently in stock at eQuilter.com

Visit eQuilter’s Instagram, Pinterest or TikTok pages for Color and Design ideas.

Follow Luana’s Flickr Photo Pages for quilt & travel images, review our blog, or follow us on Facebook.

Check out our Video pages for interviews and show reviews.

Subscribe to Luana’s Artist Website blog for more creative inspiration.

Travel/Lecture Dates:
December 3-16 – Italy Textile & Costume Tour – Alpine Xmas Markets.
Jan 9 – Fraser Valley Modern Guild – Art & Activism Zoom Lecture
Jan 21 – Visions Museum Zoom Lecture
Feb 25 – Mar 5 – Kyoto Quilt Festival

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Looking Ahead

Posted on November 16, 2024 by Luana

Our 100 donated comfort quilts from Colorado guilds have arrived in Western North Carolina, and our partners on the ground are so excited to gift these to those who lost everything after Hurricane Helene. They also send their thanks to those of you who have shipped directly to them. They are hoping to reach all of the families in Swannanoa who had devastating losses, sharing your comfort quilts by the holidays. This quilt drive is not over yet. Thank you to the individuals and guilds who dropped off your donated comfort quilts this week!

I have uploaded Houston photos on my photo pages – please enjoy!

In 2 weeks I’ll be headed to Italy to lead my Textile and Costume tour, which I’ve been researching and planning for 10 years. I’ll be sharing photos and design ideas in late December, to provide inspiration for the Winter sewing season.

Some of you with sharp eyes saw that I added Kyoto to my 2025 travel schedule. Yes a very exciting development – I’ve been invited to have a solo gallery at the Kyoto Quilt Festival Feb 28 – March 2. I have not been back to Japan since I attended the very last Tokyo Quilt Festival in Jan 2020 with Sophie Quinn, just as the pandemic was exploding. So I am thrilled to be making plans for this exhibit, but also to see friends in Japan who I have not seen for 5 years…and to photograph the quilts by Japanese makers at the event.

sharing your love for fabric,
Luana and Paul

Travel/Lecture Dates:
December 3-16 – Italy Textile & Costume Tour – Alpine Xmas Markets.
Jan 9 – Fraser Valley Modern Guild – Art & Activism Zoom Lecture
Jan 21 – Visions Museum Zoom Lecture
Feb 25 – Mar 5 – Kyoto Quilt Festival

Visit eQuilter’s Instagram, Pinterest or TikTok pages for Color and Design ideas.

See Luana’s Flickr Photo Pages for travel images, comment on our blog, or follow us on Facebook.

Check out our Video pages for interviews and show reviews.

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Free Quilt Pattern – Dragon Family

Posted on November 14, 2024 by Luana

Tonight’s exclusive Free Quilt Pattern features our new Dragons Family panel, with a mother dragon and her three babies perched together on a rocky peak, as the warm light of sunset reveals a fantasy castle.

To make this magnificent 51″ x 63″ design, you’ll begin with the dramatic 32″ x 44″ panel. Then piece the castle blocks and surrounding borders with four Hoffman Hand-Dyes.

You’ll bring an aura of magic and mystery to any room where this quilt hangs on the wall, or perhaps you’ll make a Nap Quilt that will take you flying on dreams of legend and myth.

…from the ‘Dragons’ collection by the Rubin Design Studio, designed exclusively for eQuilter.

PLUS – you’ll receive Free USA / 50% off INTL shipping
when you order the fabrics for this exquisite quilt pattern
(orders $100 and over, no coupon needed).

Order the pattern as configured, or customize it to your liking with any of our thousands of 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 designer page.

Sharing your passion for fabric and color,
Luana and Paul Rubin

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

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Save the Planet

Posted on November 13, 2024 by Luana

eQuilter.com was the sponsor of prizes and galleries in Houston, and we appreciated Benartex co-sponsoring Paula Nadelstern‘s quilts, and the “Save the Planet” gallery.

This charismatic polar bear was one of the favorite crowd pleasers in the “Save the Planet” exhibit, and you may have seen it right next to our sponsor sign! How perfect…as you probably know I have traveled up to Churchill 6 times to photograph the polar bears.

Ricki Silva is the quilt-maker for this wildlife portrait quilt “Isbjorn”, which I am featuring in the center of this fabric collage. The artist writes about this piece:

“The forever loss of magnificent creatures is a horrific slow-motion tragedy. It will take the passionate actions of the entire world to turn this calamity from the brink…Save our Ice Bears.”

From a photo by Kasey Carrothers.

Quilt images from Houston are now up on my photo pages!

Sharing your love of fabric…and bears.
Luana and Paul

Visit eQuilter’s Instagram, Pinterest or TikTok pages for Color and Design ideas.

Follow Luana’s Flickr Photo Pages for quilt & travel images, review our blog, or follow us on Facebook.

Check out our Video pages for interviews and show reviews.

Subscribe to Luana’s Artist Website blog for more creative inspiration.

Travel/Lecture Dates:
Nov 13 – Canada CQA Zoom Lecture – International Quilt Trends – 5 pm MST
December 3-16 – Italy Textile & Costume Tour – Alpine Xmas Markets.
Jan 9 – Fraser Valley Modern Guild – Art & Activism Zoom Lecture
Jan 21 – Visions Museum Zoom Lecture
Feb 25 – Mar 5 – Kyoto Quilt Festival

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Free Quilt Pattern – American Beauty Rose

Posted on November 10, 2024 by Luana

Tonight’s Free eQuilter Pattern features vivid hues and lush scenery of this dazzling oversized rose panel. The two alternating, spliced floral panels gives this quilt a bold, shimmering effect.

To make this 68″ x 68″ quilt design, you will start with 2 different colors of the 60″ x 60″ American Beauty Rose panel, then sew three jewel-tone Hand-Dye colors to make the border and binding. It looks complicated, but it is easy-peasy, and the results are stunning!

… from the ‘American Beauty’ collection by Oasis Fabrics.

PLUS – you’ll receive Free USA / 50% off INTL shipping
when you order the fabrics for this exquisite quilt pattern
(orders $100 and over, no coupon needed).

Order the pattern as configured, or customize it to your liking with any of our thousands of 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 designer page.

Sharing your passion for fabric and color,
Luana and Paul Rubin

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

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Free Quilt Pattern – Amazing Grace Hymn

Posted on November 10, 2024 by Luana

Tonight’s exclusive Free Quilt Pattern depicts ‘Amazing Grace’ hymn lyrics in a central panel, elegantly bordered by a Northcott Stonehenge tonal and Hoffman hand dye, with ‘God’s Eye’ blocks in the corners.

The 58″ x 64″ quilt design makes up into a lovely wall-hanging, or a wonderful, comforting lap quilt. My grandma would have loved this quilt hanging on the wall over her piano!

…from the ‘Inspiration’ collection by the Rubin Design Studio, designed exclusively for eQuilter.

PLUS – you’ll receive Free USA / 50% off INTL shipping
when you order the fabrics for this exquisite quilt pattern
(orders $100 and over, no coupon needed).

Order the pattern as configured, or customize it to your liking with any of our thousands of 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 designer page.

Sharing your passion for fabric and color,
Luana and Paul Rubin

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Snow in the Mountains….and our Front Yard!

Posted on November 9, 2024 by Luana

Hello from Snowy Colorado, where winter has truly and finally arrived with a blanket of white. This is a quiet weekend and a good time to finish up holiday sewing, and start to make plans for 2025.

Our 100 donated comfort quilts from Colorado guilds have arrived in Western North Carolina, and our partners on the ground are so excited to gift these to those who lost everything after Hurricane Helene. They also send their thanks to those of you who have shipped directly to them. They are hoping to reach all of the families in Swannanoa who had devastating losses, sharing your comfort quilts by the holidays. This quilt drive is not over yet. I’ll be posting photos from the community in the next week.

It is a quiet day for me personally also. Today is one year since I lost my mother. I have spent a lot of years taking care of others and now it is time to take care of myself. I am sure many of you can relate. Years of being in the Sandwich Generation have left me hungry for Creative Time in my studio, which is the best ‘me’ time I can imagine. For those of you also grieving, remember to take care of yourself.

I am still editing and reviewing my Houston photos, preparing for my Zoom power point lecture next week on ‘International Quilt Trends’ for the Canadian Quilt Association.

I will post a link one more time on the eQuilter Facebook page and on our blog in case you wish to attend online with me. It is an interesting time in the quilting world and I enjoy sharing those images and trends with all of you.

sharing your love for fabric,
Luana and Paul

Travel/Lecture Dates:
Nov 13 – Canada CQA Zoom Lecture – International Quilt Trends
December 3-16 – Italy Textile & Costume Tour – Alpine Xmas Markets.
Jan 9 – Fraser Valley Modern Guild – Art & Activism Zoom Lecture
Jan 21 – Visions Museum Zoom Lecture
Feb 25 – Mar 5 – Kyoto Quilt Festival

Visit eQuilter’s Instagram, Pinterest or TikTok pages for Color and Design ideas.

See Luana’s Flickr Photo Pages for travel images, comment on our blog, or follow us on Facebook.

Check out our Video pages for interviews and show reviews.

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Free Quilt Pattern – Bear Hugs

Posted on November 7, 2024 by Luana

Everyone can use some ‘bear hugs’, and tonight’s exclusive Free Quilt Pattern features our best-selling, heartwarming Bear Hugs collection. The panel & coordinating stripe display black, brown, & polar bears, and even Pandas walking hand in hand.

To make this 59″ x 59″ quilt, you will start with the adorable 36″ x 44″ panel, then add a textured paw print, filial stripe, and then a Hoffman Hand-Dye for the outer border. This uplifting quilt design makes a great baby quilt, or even a wall-hanging for nature lovers.

…from the ‘Bear Hugs’ collection by Dan Morris for Quilting Treasures.

PLUS – you’ll receive Free USA / 50% off INTL shipping
when you order the fabrics for this exquisite quilt pattern
(orders $100 and over, no coupon needed).\

Order the pattern as configured, or customize it to your liking with any of our thousands of 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 designer page.

Sharing your passion for fabric and color,
Luana and Paul Rubin

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Happy Kids & Dogs

Posted on November 6, 2024 by Luana

Having just returned from the 50th Anniversary of the International Quilt Festival in Houston, of course I have to share one of my favorite quilts with you!

This exuberant image is “Joyful Spring” by Hiroko and Masanobu Miyama, of Nagano Japan.

This happy quilt uses machine piecing, applique, fusing, embroidery, and hand-dyeing.

The artist statement reads:
“I wanted to make a fun quilt, so I made all the characters jump for joy. Mount Jonen is our town’s symbol. These are reverse appliqued with over 4000 pieces, 1900 leaves, and 300 flowers of apple trees.”

This quilt reminds me of how our daughter Sophie Quinn used to play with our golden retrievers when she was little. She still loves our Goldens!

More quilts to come soon on my photo pages!

Sharing your love of fabric…
Luana and Paul

Visit eQuilter’s Instagram, Pinterest or TikTok pages for Color and Design ideas.

Follow Luana’s Flickr Photo Pages for quilt & travel images, review our blog, or follow us on Facebook.

Check out our Video pages for interviews and show reviews.

Subscribe to Luana’s Artist Website blog for more creative inspiration.

Travel/Quilt Dates:
Nov 13 – Canada (CQA) Zoom Lecture
December 5-13 – Textile & Costume Italy Tour. Alpine Xmas Market Extension Dec 13-15.
Jan 21 – Visions Museum Zoom Lecture

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Free Quilt Pattern – Sundance

Posted on November 3, 2024 by Luana

Tonight’s Free eQuilter Pattern invites you to enjoy a gorgeous Sunflower garden. These large golden flowers are illustrated in a painted watercolor style with splashes and drips of multi-color paint.

To make this 52″ x 70″ wall-hanging or lap quilt, start with the 24″ x 44″ rainbow sunflower panel. Then piece the borders with the coordinating allover and striped engineered border print. The bright sunflowers really pop against the solid black background.

Imagine walking through a sea of sunflowers, carrying that sunshine into the winter months with this beautiful quilt!

…from the ‘Sundance’ collection by Chong-a Hwang for Timeless Treasures.

Order the pattern as configured, or customize it to your liking with any of our thousands of 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 designer page.

Sharing your passion for fabric and color,
Luana and Paul Rubin

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

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