My Zero Stress Plan for the Holidays

RobinBerries1_W

Every year seems to go by so much faster than the last year, so that finally I have achieved Zero-Stress for the holidays because I just can't believe it is almost the end of the year! How can I get stressed about the holidays when it seems like it should be only October?

However I do make a list of things to do, but because that list is always so ridiculously long, adding a few things like signing Christmas cards or wrapping gifts, doesn't really faze me.

Today I had a rare moment where the house was empty and quiet (the kids were both out with their activities) and I had a chance to just crash in a comfy chair and mindlessly watch the birds at our new birdfeeder outside of our backyard picture window. It was amazingly restful and really cleared my mind. I was thinking "I should be stressed – the holidays are coming up" – and then – "I really deserve to sit and do nothing for awhile!" Creative people don't do well being busy ALL the time.

We do like to keep busy, but it is the times of doing nothing that we get our greatest ideas. When we clear our minds and relax, that's when we get the great genius inspirations. Well yes, cleaning your studio or work space can have a similar effect….but you know what I mean. Also, creative people like to have all their creative stuff out so they can look at it and think about what to do with it…after their head is finished clearing out.

This is very hard to explain to an Organizer type of person. If you have a compulsive organizer in your life or in your house…well you know what I mean. You can have a pile of fabrics or postcards or magazine articles out for months, til the whole thing gels and leaps out at you one day like Sheldon's "Bazinga!"….an Athena springing fully formed from Zeus' head.

It makes no sense but if you are a creative person, no doubt you know exactly what I mean. However my Inner Demented Compulsive Organizer is starting to whisper "It's time!"…and since we are contemplating a tree to hang our collection of eccentric artsy and travel-themed ornaments, something has to get cleaned up in order to make room for the tree.

I just thought I'd share this story, so you'd know you are not alone. *smile*

Have you heard about the new 2012 Pantone Color of the Year? I've posted a link on my brand new Facebook Color and Design fan page, and I'll write about color trends in the upcoming Midweek Creative Nudge newsletter.

If you don't currently get the Creative Nudge, be sure to update your subscription options now!

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Creative Nudge – For the Love of Fabric

WomanFromGranada550
( 'Woman from Granada', by Hermen Anglada Camarasa, Circa 1914. Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona Spain.)

As I write this midweek Creative Nudge, I am appreciating all the great old Broadway shows (whose music I listen to often in my studio), and in particular Ira Gershwin because today was his birthday.

Brothers George and Ira Gershwin bounced off each other to write one of the most creative collections of lyrics and tunes in the history of American music!

As long as there has been fabric, both men and women have been mesmerized by the magic of textiles. Ira got it right, when he wrote this song's lyrics for the show "Nifties Of 1923".

Fabric of Dreams:

Weaving a dress for my lady
Out of the fabric of dreams;
Fashioned of twilight,
Sewn with the shy light
Of stars and the moon's fragile beams;
Clasped with a girdle of dawning,
Rainbows to cover the seams,
Brightened with kisses,
Ladylove, this is
Your gown from my fabric of dreams!

For many of us, our greatest pleasure is to pet our batiks, fondle our fabrics, and stroke our stash. Auditioning colors, rearranging our fat quarters, and actually sewing fabric, can be the highlight of our week.

You probably figured this out long ago, but the quilt industry has evolved a specialty cotton fabric that is silky to the touch, and either visually stimulating or calming. We are drawn to the colors and the sensuous "hand" of these high quality cottons, and the whole act of making a quilt or garment is full of the pleasure of silky fabric fondling. Now don't blush and giggle, you know what I am talking about girls and boys! It's all good clean fun!

I am including this photo of a favorite painting I saw in Barcelona… this woman is obviously enjoying her large swathe of embroidered fabric!

sharing your passion for fabric…
Luana

6 Houston Quilt Festival Videos available now!

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A Song for Early December

*
(Sung to the tune of "Let It Snow")

Oh the shopping outside is frightful
But the fabric is so delightful
And until this Log Cabin is built –
Let me Quilt! Let me Quilt! Let me Quilt!

My frog stitch is loudly ripping
But I've plenty of florals for stripping,
Just don't make me cut up my kilt!
Let me Quilt! Let me Quilt! Let me Quilt!

When I finally bind the edge
How I'll hate going back to my chores,
But if you'll take a cooking pledge
I can embellish some more!

My machine is slowly dying
and my 505 Spray is drying
But my Log Cabin's been rebuilt…
Let me Quilt! Let me Quilt! Let me Quilt!

TourQuilt1

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Creative Nudge – The Gift of Time

ZooQuiltSanFran_550

We now have all 6 of our Houston Quilt Festival videos online (thank you Bonnie McCaffery!) and if you've seen Sophie's quilt review video, you saw this striking pictorial art quilt by Nancy Brown. Sophie and I both picked this out as one of our favorites at the show. Congratulations on this beautiful piece Nancy!

In addition to Sophie's video, we have just posted the SAQA review ( "Masters 2 – Art Quilts") as well. If you enjoyed my photos from the Tokyo show earlier this year, you'll want to check out the Japanese quilt video.

Every year on my birthday, I think about what I want to accomplish in the coming year. By January 1st I come up with a list of goals – both creative and personal. So over the weekend as I contemplated the coming year, I arrived at the same conclusion that I had last year… and the year before. My biggest challenge is finding the TIME to accomplish my creative goals.

Yeah yeah, you all have the same problem and we all have the same list of solutions, but here at the end of the year I find myself wrestling with this nemesis once again. I pack a lot into my schedule as a working mom, but there is always something more that I want to squeeze into my crazy schedule.

When I was a college grad venturing out into the world, I was lucky to have a few wonderful mentors who gave me some jewels of wisdom, that I still refer to today.

The one I like best is this: Whatever it is that you want from life, give that exact thing away to others…without any expectation of return.

So when I was lonely and wanted love, I spent time supporting other lonely people.

When I was yearning for more information and instruction, I found a way to teach what I knew to others.

When I feel that I have absolutely no time at all to take care of all my responsibilities, let alone time for myself, I make a point to make space in my schedule to give the gift of time to someone who needs special attention.

As quilters, we are stitching that most precious of gifts – TIME – into our creations. Time equals Love. Our whole life might be blowing up around us but somehow we find the time to go to our creative space, and stitch the gift of Time and Love into our quilts and crafty gifts, for the ones we treasure.

And you know what? Do you know who receives the greatest gift of all at times like that? We do. The quilter. Because as we stitch, our blood pressure lowers, our heads clear, our hearts heal, and we are filled with joy when we give this precious gift of Time (disguised as a quilt) to those we love.

I've posted some photos from my trip to Vienna a year ago December…the coming snowstorm and the holiday spirit have reminded me of Christmastime in Europe, the holiday markets, Strauss' Blue Danube, Viennese coffee "mit schlag", and dancing white horses.

sharing your passion for fabric…
Luana

6 Houston Quilt Festival Videos available now!

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.

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A World of Beauty

One of the places that we see trends and new techniques popping up first is in the wealth of contemporary and international quilt magazines available to us today. This week we had magazines from 3 other continents, and these imported publications always spark our imagination.

It is so interesting to go to the quilt shows overseas to see what all of you are up to in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Africa and of course all across Europe. In some places quilting is a "new" crafting craze, with brand new guilds and clubs forming in Eastern Europe for instance. In other countries, such as Japan, there is a long tradition of quilting that is soaring to new creative heights with their art quilts.

For those of you in Mexico and South America, we are bringing in Spanish language publications soon. I have met a couple times with the publisher of the quilt magazine from Spain, and we'd like to help her expand her publication to reach all of you in Spanish-speaking countries.

Over the last year I have made a point of traveling to quilt shows around the world, to have a larger perspective of what's happening in our industry. If you've been following my newsletters, you know that in the last 12 months I've been to Prague, Budapest, Vienna, England and Scotland, Bali and Japan. On these trips, if I am not at a quilt show, I am taking photos with lots of color and design inspiration, so I can share with all of you on my photo page. (I was in London and Birmingham during the riots …how much excitement can one girl take?!)

The award that eQuilter sponsors in Houston is called "A World of Beauty" and that is certainly appropriate, don't you think?

We have a couple more Houston videos that we are tweaking, including a review of the SAQA exhibit in Houston. (Online soon, I promise!) I was asked to be on the SAQA President's Advisory Committee in Houston, and was honored to have a chance to contribute to this great organization!

As the year winds down, I can say that the best part was shipping 2155 of your quilts to Japan, (thanks to Mission of Love) and raising about $100K for charity.

We are counting our blessings, and sending a big thank you to all of you who have contributed to our charity and disaster relief efforts in 2011.

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Elements of a Collage

In case you are interested, here are the fabrics that were used in the Thanksgiving collage:

KACOO4LG
RJMKTFET
RJGRE5BL
SSAPD2GL
SSAPD3BM
SSGRE6BM
TTAPPHWA
TTHRV2GR

…. all available at eQuilter.com!

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Happy Thanksgiving!

 

ThanksgivingCollage1_W

Here in the US, we have a holiday that is based on Gratitude. Although Black Friday keeps bumping up against Thanksgiving evening, (some stores are opening at midnight Thursday night – those poor employees!) it is still a day kept sacred for the purpose of appreciating the abundance in our lives… especially the abundance of love with friends and family.

This year my birthday falls on Black Friday. I think we should rename that day. Dishwasher Friday? Leftover Friday? Cyber Friday? How about GOLDEN Friday? Yeah, that's it!

So to celebrate Golden Friday this week, I am going to put Golden Batiks and Golden Cotton Prints on Sale. (15% Off) I can only put them on sale for one day because they are so hard to find, and so difficult to keep in stock. We are also bumping up our Gratitude Sale – now 40% – 70% Off!

When the Impressionists wanted to illuminate a painting, they made the highlights a golden yellow. For contrast they used the complementary color purple in the shadows, to really make the warm yellow highlights pop out.

The most dramatic way to make the golden light stand out is to use the purple shadow colors nearby. And so it is in Life – we appreciate the golden moments of life more when they are contrasted with the shadows and valleys of life. We appreciate more of what we have today, because of what we may have lost or suffered yesterday. We can celebrate something as simple and joyful as being together for one day, because really, that's all we have. This moment. This day.

From the Rubin Family,
and the staff of eQuilter.com
we wish you and your family
a peaceful and abundant holiday.

sharing your passion for fabric…
Luana

eQuilter Thanksgiving Gratitude Sale !
Now 40% to 70% Off!

10 Categories, Over 1800 Products Still on Sale

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A Time for Gratitude

SophiePaula2011
(above – Sophie with Paula Nadelstern)

 

I don't know about you, but I find the term "Black Friday" a little scary. Personally, I stay as far away from the crazy Black Friday crowds as possible. We'd like to spare you the stress of fighting the crowds for a bargain this week, so be sure to watch for our midweek Creative Nudge for a little something special. *wink*

This time of year I spend more time than usual, contemplating our good fortune of being in such a wonderful industry, and feeling immense gratitude for the collective good we accomplish through our charity program. By the end of 2011, we will have raised $950,000 for various charitable organizations, and we have our eye on hitting the amazing number of $1 million by next summer.

All of this happens because of you, because of our wonderful staff, and because of the constant flow of gorgeous fabrics produced by our suppliers, and a constellation of talented designers who have flocked to the quilt industry.

We are all here together in this collective of talented and generous people, and for that I give thanks every single day.

I have now posted 164 photos from the Houston Quilt Festival, on my photo page.

We now have 2 out of 6 videos up from Houston – the first two are of the IQA Award Ceremony, with images of the winning quilts and their makers.

Tomorrow I'll be posting videos #3 and #4, and we'll have more to share in the midweek newsletter.

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Creative Nudge – Never Would Have Guessed

DixieDingoDreamingSusanCarlson_Dtl1_final

My big Creative Nudge for you this week is that I've uploaded a bunch of quilt photos from the Houston Quilt Festival!

Check out my photo page and you'll see over 100 photos uploaded so far – more on the way! (And our first 2 Quilt Festival videos will be up on our video page starting tomorrow.)

This quilt (detail above) was one of my absolute favorite quilts at the show, and judging by the constant crowds inspecting it closely, it was a real hit with the quilters too! (See the whole quilt on my photo page)

"Dixie Dingo Dreaming" is by Susan Carlson. I have 2 of her books, and I just love her techniques. (Serendipity Quilts is still in print, and we have a few copies still in stock) As you may have noticed from my Tokyo Quilt Festival photos, I like taking photos of people as they take a close look at the quilts. There were plenty of people leaning in closely and trying to figure out how the heck Susan created this effect!

It is a carefully assembled collage of dotted fabrics, that gives the effect of a Pointillist painting by Georges Seurat. The original image was essentially posterized, then each segment or value was translated into a different dotted fabric.

And have you guessed yet what fabrics she used? It is all imported Australian fabrics from M&S Fabrics, created by Aboriginal artists Down Under. Absolutely fabulous!

I am including links to Australian fabrics and magazines below, plus a link to our African fabrics. If you like the colors in this art quilt but like to work with something a little larger scale, I think you'll like our beautiful collection of African themed prints, and imported African fabrics. Our African batiks and hand-dyes make a nice complement as well.

Our 14 year old played a solo in a high school jazz concert tonight, and he had kind of a rough night. He's had stomach flu, so he was not real perky to begin with, but somewhere between the band room and the stage his reed split, and he had to go on with the show with a split reed. Needless to say he was not thrilled with his solo, although I suspect few in the audience noticed. We encouraged him to resolve his frustration by thinking about how he could avoid the split reed in the future (carry a spare in his pocket for performances) and he was feeling better by bedtime.

When quilters make a mistake, we use the Frog Stitch (Rippit! Rippit!) and keep sewing til we get it right. We know we have to learn from our mistakes right away or we'll have a bobbly quilt top or a warped border. I think that making quilts is a way for us to work through our problems in life, because as we discover and fix problems in the quilt, we are somehow working through issues in our head. Ripped a hole in the quilt top from too many Frog Stitches? No problem! Just applique a nice big flower on top! Now add a few more for a garland, and suddenly a mistake becomes an award-winning embellishment. I just love how that works.

sharing your passion for fabric…
Luana

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"Emerald Isle" – Tour of Ireland
June 5 – 15, 2012
11 Magical Days with Luana
including the Intl Quilt Festival of Ireland

Try our new eQuilter Exclusive Pattern Designer!

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Is it that time again?

MaryBuviaLoadingDock_SoW

Above: Mary Buvia, winner of the $7500 World of Beauty Awards, sponsored by eQuilter.com

 

This last week one of the icons of the industry passed on – Saul Kaufman of Robert Kaufman Fabrics. I attended the service in Los Angeles and found that even though I never met him (he retired about the time I moved from the garment industry to the quilt industry), I knew him well through the company he built, and the next generation that is running the company now.

Our family and eQuilter staff send our deepest sympathies to the Kaufman family, but we also know that they truly celebrate the legacy he has left behind in this multi-generational company. We wish you peace Saul.

My next trip is not until December 26th, so now I can turn my attention to the next event – OMG Thanksgiving is in 2 weeks?! – and Christmas events starting in a few weeks. I am in serious catchup mode, or as I say around here, ketchup and mustard mode, so I can whip my house into shape for the holidays.

The kids and I have been talking about making this holiday season as simple as possible. I must admit we do love doing some sort of holiday decorating in the house (with our collection of artsy and sentimental ornaments collected from all over the world) – but we are all talking about just one or two special gifts and not accumulating more "stuff". Perhaps you and yours have arrived at a similar conclusion.

We are having a heckuva windstorm here tonight, as I work on a slide show from Quilt Festival. Watch for it on my photo page or my blog…you'll see it pop up on Sunday.

I got the good news that our trip to Ireland is filling up fast, so if you've been mulling over the possibility of dancing an Irish Jig with me next June, please do sign up and ask for the payment plan! We'd love to have you on our Happy Irish Tour Bus and the FIRST EVER Irish Quilt Festival! (Be sure to click on "View the trip itinerary" on this page, for all the FABULOUS details, and the affordable price!) You can see my last tour (to Bali) on my photo page.

_______________


When you think of Batiks and Hand-Dyes, think of eQuilter.com!

Currently we have over 2200 Batik and Hand-Dye products in stock...and more coming every week.

Snap up the latest Dr Seuss, McKenna Ryan Batiks, preview the
newest young Designer Collections, and keep up
with the latest authors & imported magazines…one stop shopping!

We're developing a wide selection of baby products, from snaps & notions for DIY diaper covers, to adorable patterns & baby-friendly fabrics.

Add in Paul's custom tools (toys!) like the pleasantly addictive
Pattern Designer, or the eye-popping Color Picker, and your holiday Wish List will be popping with creative inspiration.

The cherry on top is our cutting-edge buying team, with the most forward color and trend information, so you know you'll always have your finger on the pulse of the latest industry trends.

(*psst!* – your favorite Christmas category is on SALE!)

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