eQuilter Blog

I hope you had a great St. Patrick's Day, especially if you are of Irish descent. Here in Boulder we had lots of great Irish music and dancing…but I am staying away from Pearl Street tonight when the mobs of college leprechauns with green beer slosh their way through the emerging tulips. I'll be home listening to my Celtic music collection, thank you very much!

St Patrick's Day really got me in the mood for our upcoming tour to Ireland, and especially the first Irish Quilt Festival. A couple nights ago, after I sent out an email, I got a midnight call from Ireland! Jim West, the managing director of the Irish Quilt Fest called to tell me about some exciting developments with the event. Today he sent out a St Paddy's newsletter and I wanted to pass on this message from him:

"…..the early booking discount on all the tours, classes, workshops and day trips will end on April 1st. I highly suggest you go to the festival website and choose the ones you would like to do while you are in Ireland. A few of the workshops and classes are already sold out, and many of them have just a few spots remaining. So while there is still availability and still the early booking prices, visit our website www.IQFOI.com and take a look at all the wonderful things you can do while you are in Ireland!"

So if you've been noodling about whether to jump on and join my tour, be sure to get that early booking discount! I still have just a few seats left on my tour bus…and there is a Land Package price available as well.

Here in Boulder the trees are just barely starting to bud out, but with a week of weather in the 70's, I can see them plumping out more and more every day. There is a lovely horse pasture with a backdrop of the mountains, that I pass every day on the way home, and the field is quickly turning green. My tulips are pushing up and I am watching for those blooms to pop out soon. This time of year is always so exciting … I never get tired of watching Nature waking and exploding with color.

Spring begins in the Northern Hemisphere on March 20, 2012, at 1:14 A.M. (EDT), which means the official Spring Equinox will happen a little before midnight here in Boulder on Monday night. I am flying to Las Vegas Monday night, and will attend the textile trade show there on Tuesday.

This last week I had a wonderful visit from 2 student members of the University of Colorado chapter of Engineers Without Borders. They told me all about their recent trips to Rwanda, and the work they have done at the L?Esperance orphanage and school near Kigali. We are trying to hatch a plan to help another organization in Kigali which is taking street children into a new orphanage and building a school. We are hoping maybe to help with the school, and maybe even have a quilt drive for these kids, as we did for Haiti and Ethiopia in the past.

This year I hope to work with EWB and Mission of Love to do another quilt drive for orphans, which is something I discussed with Kathy while in Ohio last weekend. This week, Kathy's organization loaded a C5 Cargo plane with 85,000 pounds of food, educational, medical and building supplies for our friends in Guatemala. The Mission of Love building team will arrive March 21 to continue building WAY-bi (House of Dreams) for the children who are dying of cancer. If you are interested in making quilts for children who have nothing, or even volunteering on an aid mission, watch this space!

These are just 2 of the charity organizations you can choose when you finalize your eQuilter order. We like to keep you updated on what your charity dollars are doing around the world. Thanks so much!

As I write our Anniversary newsletter on Saturday afternoon, Sophie and I have just flown home from Ohio this morning.

Yesterday we taped 2 segments of Quilting Arts TV with Pokey Bolton which was a lot of fun, but perhaps the best part was seeing what the other artists brought to the studio. I did a segment on Fabric and Color Trends, and Sophie did a segment with a Japanese theme. (These will air on PBS later this year – and we will post clips on the eQuilter video page when available.)

Sophie's favorite part was watching the 2 other artists ( Ana Buzzalino and Marcia Derse) prepare in the Green Room, and then we got to watch their live demos on a TV monitor while they were being taped. Ana's precise freemotion quilting (and lilting Argentinean accent) were mesmerizing, while Marcia's innovative fabric painting made us want to run out and get our rubber gloves! (and paint!)

On the way back on the plane, I was musing over how far this industry has come, and how much incredibly creative and innovative artwork has been generated by this "movement" we call Quilting. There is room for everyone here. I include everyone from patchwork aficionados, to those who splatter paint on PFD greige goods. We are all Fabric Nuts, and the two factions of quilting (traditional vs. contemporary) get along better than the two political parties in the US. Ha! As we move into the thick pea soup of election year, I'll hang with the quilters, thank you very much.

This week we are celebrating our 13th anniversary here at eQuilter, which means if eQuilter were a kid, we'd be entering the teen years. How did that happen?

It is also the year that we reach a long dreamt-of goal…. reaching a total of $1 million raised for charity. We made a commitment, our first year of business, to give a percentage of SALES, not a percentage of profits, and our commitment has racked up $100K a year for the last several years, but has also earned us a fiercely loyal following of like-minded friends and customers who share in our mutual accomplishment. We estimate that we will reach this goal around July 1st, and that will be a celebration in itself!

Last night I had dinner with Kathy and Bob Price, from Mission of Love. Kathy was our partner last year, in shipping and distributing your 2155 donated quilts to a devastated community on the Northeast shore of Japan. The colonel who has worked with us on this project, was sent to Afghanistan, made a captain, and will be returning to the US later this year. Kathy asked Sophie for ideas about our next project together, and we had a lively conversation about sending quilts to orphans in various poverty-bound countries. One thing we can agree upon: this has been a productive partnership over the last 13 years. (quilts gathered and distributed to victims and survivors of 9/11, Katrina and Rita hurricanes, Haiti earthquake, and Japan tsunami.)

I bring this up because tomorrow, March 11, is the one year anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. If you follow my travel newsletters, you know they are still dealing with the devastating consequences of this unfathomably massive disaster. We'd like to send out our thoughts and prayers to those still struggling with the aftermath there in Japan, but also to those who have suffered loss here in the US, and around the world, from natural disasters. The quilting community is incredibly generous and where there's a need, you'll find quilters lining up to help in any way they can. Bless you.

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13 Years ago this weekend, we opened our little online fabric business in the basement of our home.

Today we have 22,000 products online,
in stock and ready to ship all over the world.

With over 1200 new products per month,
we've got our finger on the pulse of the hottest trends in the industry.

In a few months our total raised for charity will hit $1 million – thanks to your support.

It's time for our *famous*
ANNUAL eQUILTER ANNIVERSARY SALE!

1800 products from 40% to 70% Off
– as our "thank you" for your friendship and support.

Today I just want to share a happy moment with you. We had such a gorgeous faux-Spring day yesterday, that I was smiling and pumped all day. I went and hiked up Chautauqua at the base of the Flatirons here in Boulder, and smelled the sun warming the earth. I could practically hear the rustle of seed pods cracking open in the topsoil.

I like to share with others when I feel that primal force of joy – which is really the Lifeforce – and the source of creative energy. I find that the more I share that buoyant enthusiasm with others, the more my own creative buzz grows. You know what they say – whatever it is that you want – give it away freely.

So here's an image that is basically a smile I want to share with you. I like collecting and sharing images that make me smile, which is why I am having so much fun on Pinterest right now. I really didn't want to add another social media task to my plate, but I am finding that it only takes a few seconds more to share an image there, as I am sharing links elsewhere.

I have been ripping pages out of magazines for decades now, and making trend boards, style collages, etc., and as I switch from paper magazines to digital magazines this year, it feels good to have a digital alternative to my image and color-collecting compulsion!

Thursday Sophie and I will be flying to Ohio to shoot a couple segments for Quilting Arts TV, then we'll have dinner with Kathy Price, the director of Mission of Love, who made the delivery of 2155 quilts in Japan a reality. I'll be giving her a firsthand report of what I learned in Japan in January, and personally conveying my thanks from all of you who sent quilts for this incredible relief effort. In case you missed it earlier, I have posted photos from the coastal town where the quilts were distributed July 13.

Hey, it's National Quilting Month! Woo hooo! But for those of you who celebrate quilting every month… I thought you should know it is also Bun Day in Iceland! (tongue firmly planted in cheek) This week is also Michelangelo's birthday (March 6, 1475) and I celebrate his artistic genius, and his obsessive commitment to creative perfection.

(this image was taken overlooking Waikiki Beach, capturing an early morning rainbow over the water.)

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

I'll be at the Melbourne Australasian show April 14-15 (walking the show, and hopefully meeting many of you!), and I will be giving a presentation in the Canberra area on Saturday April 21st at the Jerrabomberra Community Centre in Queanbeyan.

11 Day Tour of Ireland + Quilt Festival
(click "View Trip Itinerary" for details)
June 5-15 with Luana
$3165 Air/Land, $2573 Land Package Only