Royal Wedding

Posted on August 16, 2011 by Luana

VACeramics10A550 

I am writing to you tonight from London, as I watch the ongoing news reports about the riots here over the last few days. It is extremely surreal. Today I had a lovely day in Hyde Park, Kensington Palace, the Victoria & Albert Museum, and Harrod's. Tomorrow I'll be traveling to Birmingham for the Quilt Festival there. (and giving an award on Thursday at 4 pm)

I tried to go see Kate Middleton's wedding dress which is on display at Buckingham Palace, but the tickets were booked and the lines were just obscene. So I went to see the " Enchanted Castle" exhibit at Kensington, and then spent time in the Ceramics floor of the V&A.

Amidst the reports of chaos here, I found I was drawn to images of pastoral tranquility. This delightful "soft-paste" porcelain piece (above) is titled "The Music Lesson" – made in London about 1765. The description card said it has "a distinctive charm and character", and "the densely applied flower decoration here is characteristic of English taste." Made at the Chelsea porcelain factory, painted in enamels and gilded.

After seeing all the green hills dotted with sheep in the Scottish Highlands, and strolling through the Queen's rose garden today in Hyde Park, this charming pair with the dog and sheep were just what I had in mind to share with you all.

I've uploaded several PLAID photos from the Edinburgh Tattoo, and more photos from London, on my photo page and my Facebook page.

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Paul’s New Pattern Designer

Posted on August 6, 2011 by Luana

The MOST exciting thing we have to share with you
(besides over 300 new products!) is ….

(drum roll please)…

Paul’s new eQuilter Exclusive Pattern Designer!

Paul has been working on designing this new tool… or should I say addictive TOY…for months now. We predict this will be even more popular than his amazing Color Finder tool!

You can find this tool any time by clicking the PATTERN category on the home page, or the PATTERN button at the top right of any category or product store page.

Paul insisted on having a PILE of patterns to kick off this new tool, so we have to thank Kaufman, VIP/Cranston, Hoffman and Michael Miller for contributing pattern designs to our new pattern page.

Customize your pattern by dragging thumbnail images from the fabric selector below the pattern. Your Wish List items will also appear in the fabric selector. Click on ‘Add to Order’ and “Download Instructions” when your pattern is ready.

Ok, go throw some of this week’s new fabrics in your Wish List, and have fun designing YOUR OWN QUILT!

(My favorite part – you can email your design and custom fabrics to your quilty friends!)

*****************
Crazy for Plaid
*
It was very quickly brought to my attention by our Piece O’Cake fans Wednesday that the red applique quilt I photographed at the Long Beach Quilt Festival was actually designed by Becky Goldsmith and Linda Jenkins, in a book we carried 3 years ago! So we restocked the book and want to make sure credit goes where it is due…and if you wish to make this beautiful quilt we have the book and also a companion DVD in stock.

This weekend I am in Edinburgh Scotland, before going to London for 2 days, and then the Birmingham Quilt Festival on Thursday. (to give an award at 4 pm – hope to see some of you there?)

As you may already have guessed, this country is CRAZY FOR PLAID, and it seems that the whole city is swathed in bright Tartans for the Tattoo and the arts festival. My favorite so far was an elderly Japanese man in full dress kilt attire. It is kind of like Saint Patricks Day – everyone wants to be Scottish and wear a kilt during the festival here. There are some interesting and unique interpretations, but for the most part there are lots of handsome lads and bonnie lasses dashing all over town in their full kilt costume. Because it is a Military Tattoo, there are also many older gentlemen in their dress kilt attire, with their medals and military uniform kilts. Also, gotta love all the bright big Tartan plaids worn in the mens’ trousers!

I am featuring several Scottish and Tartan Plaid products this week, just to get you ready for the photos I will be posting soon! I was informed by my tour guide that the world “Quilt” originated from the patchwork-like pattern of the kilts. Who knew?

You Harry Potter fans probably know this already, but J.K. Rowling has a house in Edinburgh, and you can actually visit the little coffee shop where she wrote the first couple HP books. There is rampant speculation about all the graveyards, the private school, the bridge, etc. that inspired her writing here. It is a lot of fun to hear all of this recounted in a rip-snorting Scottish brogue!

The Scots also love to share the long list of famous and brilliant people who were born here or educated here – from Alexander Graham Bell and Robert Burns, to Sean Connery and Ian Fleming. We also visited the village Dunkeld where MacBeth’s castle supposedly stood, and where Beatrix Potter used to vacation. Robert Louis Stevenson was born here, and today I visited the Fife coastal village where the real Robinson Crusoe once lived. I also visited St Andrews today, where the rules of golf were invented, and where Prince William found his Kate.

I was incredibly lucky to have a clear evening last night when I went to the Tattoo, in fact I was lucky to get a ticket at all. It was such an incredible visual feast of fabrics, color, costume and PLAID that I was gasping with delight every few minutes! Long swathes of tartan draped around the bagpipers and thrown across their shoulder, trailing behind them as they marched to the beat….what a sight! I have added to my book collection on Clan Tartans and will be visiting a tartan weaving mill tomorrow. It is interesting to hear the Scot version of various stories such as Mary Queen of Scots, the Stone of Destiny, etc. They say they are hoping to become a sovereign nation again in 5 years or so, and there is an immense amount of national pride here in this gorgeous and friendly country. Can you tell I am having a great time? *smile*

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Grin and Bear It

Posted on July 27, 2011 by Luana

BearSmile_W 

I think if my day job doesn't pan out, I may become a portrait photographer. Here is one of my latest subjects. He was kind enough not only to pose, but to give me a smile. A friend of mine had a bear in her back yard last week, and I've been thinking about how creative and sensitive people are so open to the messages that animals and Nature bring to us. When a wild animal crosses my path and looks me in the eye, I feel like it is there to give me a message or an inspiration. In the wintertime bears hibernate – so a bear can bring a message of introspection, intuition and dreams – but in the summertime they are foraging and filling up on all the nutrition they can find – in preparation for the winter. I feel like I've been a Summertime Bear for the last couple years – out there traveling and meeting people and taking lots of beautiful photos – in preparation for my Winter Bear mode which is settling into my studio to clear my head and my creative space – and see what comes. This photo was taken last week, when I had an hour to kill before the Denver Capital Quilt Show. (see last week's Creative Nudge newsletter) I popped over to the zoo which is about 5 minutes from the Capitol, and snapped away. Because it was so hot, most the animals were hiding. I didn't get this shot until the very end of my short visit, and as I pushed the button I knew this would be my " catch of the day". Before I head into my studio, I have two more trips over the next couple weeks. This coming Saturday I'll be at the Long Beach Quilt Festival, and on August 11 I will be at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, UK. I'll be filming the show so I can bring back some of the fun for you late August. Aug 5-6 I'll be in Edinburgh, Scotland at the Edinburgh Summer Arts Festival and Tattoo – checking out the kilts and art and woolens and bagpipes! (and my own Scottish heritage) I hope my bear brings a smile to your face, and perhaps inspires you to forage for some creative nuts and berries!

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Hope for the Future

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Luana

This week everyone at eQuilter is so excited about the arrival of our first "eQuilter Baby" – our buyer Dijana gave birth to baby boy Parker on Thursday night. In all our 12 years, this is the first time anyone on our staff has gone through a pregnancy and delivered while working at eQuilter, so we're all as proud as if we were Parker's aunts and uncles!

This morning I took Sam and Sophie to the hospital to see Dijana and Baby Parker. New Daddy Michael was just glowing, and it was so wonderful to see Dijana so happy. She graciously offered to let me hold Parker, and I think it is the first time I've held a newborn since I had my own babies. You forget how tiny a newborn is…but of course I had to smell his downy soft little head. Sweet!

Sam and Sophie were just entranced, and Sam was honored to hold Parker for a little while. Sophie is planning on babysitting Parker when they are both a little older, so she was anxious to meet him for the first time.

Today was also full of sad news about Norway, and we send our prayers to our friends in the Oslo area. However, despite this sometimes crazy world, every day babies are born around the planet, and those of us lucky enough to have those babies in our life, can hope anew for a peaceful future. Today as we walked through the maternity ward, and saw several parents with their newborns, I had a feeling of optimism…that those young families who express faith in the future by having a baby…will somehow help to change the world for their children's future.

eQuilter continues to express our faith in a better future by donating 2% of sales to charity.

As of this month – July 2011 – eQuilter has raised a total of $900,000 for our various charity recipients.

With your help, for those in need here and around the world, and for the oceans, rainforests, wildlife and environment in general, we raise about $100,000 each year.

So we dedicate this month's landmark of $900K to Baby Parker, and wish him a beautiful future on this big-blue-marble-of-a-spaceship called Earth.

As Carl Sandburg wrote:
"A baby is God's opinion that the world should go on."

You can see photos of Parker on my Facebook page or my photo page. (Yes – with Dijana and Michael's permission of course!)

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Creative Nudge – A Group Effort

Posted on July 21, 2011 by Luana

Capitol2011A_W 

Quilters are an eclectic bunch. They are fiercely independent, and can spend hours alone with needle and thread, creating their own personal vision expressed in color and fabric.

On the other hand we quilters are incredibly social animals! Our quilt festivals bring thousands of patchwork-freaks to gatherings that are a lovefest of people who are cut from the same cloth so to speak. Just about any quilter can walk into a room full of quilters and immediately strike up a conversation and a friendship.

Today I went to a quilt show that was a marvelous expression of both the individual quilter, and the group quilter. The Capitol Quilt Show is a showcase for the talents of Colorado quilters, and is hosted and organized by the Colorado Quilting Council. (CQC) The show runs through August 19, and has 270 beautiful quilts hanging throughout the Colorado Capital Building in downtown Denver.

As I walked through the building, marveling at the way the quilts were hung on 3 levels, I couldn't help but gasp at what a massive group effort this represents….and yet in the end each quilt is a poignant expression of one quilter stitching their own unique ideas. Strong willed individuals with a vision, working together to create something greater than the sum of its parts. We quilters could teach those DC politicians a lesson or two about working together for the greater good!

One of the great things about participating in a group effort like this, is the inspiration of the looming DEADLINE. I know I find it hard to get motivated on a project unless there is a deadline. I mean, really, these days there are always a million other projects and emergencies that can shove a project aside, without the virtual cattle-prod of an exhibit deadline. One reason I like to read quilt magazines is so I can keep up-to-date on show deadlines. There are so many exhibitions going on all around our country, all year long, and indeed all around the world.

International exhibits are drawing more and more entries from overseas, and it just shows how much smaller our world has become. It is very exciting to see quilts from around the world, when I go to the quilt show in Houston in October each year. American quilts are shown enthusiastically at the Tokyo Quilt Festival, just as we love to see the Japanese quilts in Houston.

Urban quilters, rural quilters, fiber artists, traditional patchwork practitioners, machine quilters and hand-quilters…we come together to admire each others' work and dream of our next big project. Then we join with others and put on a group show. It is Utopia! Fortunately today there is more acceptance of the infinite variety of techniques, than there was 20 years ago. Today the "Quilt Police" have less sway over the amount of joy we experience when making a beautiful quilt. Some of the biggest prize-winning quilts have done so because…they broke the rules and created a whole new category of quilts in the process.

It is just a few weeks until I travel to the quilt festival in Birmingham UK. This is the largest quilt festival in Europe, and I am looking forward to viewing and reviewing a smorgasbord of international quilts at the show.

A year from now I'll be leading a tour of quilters to Ireland, and we'll spend a few days at the first Irish Quilt Festival! (in between our tour of the Irish countryside and its history)

Whether quilters gather to view each others' work in the US, Japan, Australia, Europe or South America, we all speak the same language….and we all wish we could peek at the back of the quilts when the white-gloved lady is looking the other way!

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Red Badge of Quilting Courage

Posted on July 9, 2011 by Luana

MMPARDSO 

The buzz from the Red & White Quilt Show at New York's Park Avenue Armory in March has not died down. Instead, the show has sparked a wave of inspiration among quilters on the East Coast, and around the country.

Those who attended will breathlessly recount the beauty and drama of the 650 quilts on loan from the collection of Joanna Rose… and those same quilters forlornly complain about the brevity of the exhibit. (6 Days) The American Folk Art Museum and curator Elizabeth Warren put together this exhibit, which seems to have had as much coverage here and abroad, as the Victoria & Albert Quilt exhibit had last year.

Why are quilters so excited about Red and White quilts….several months after the show closed? Well besides the obvious graphic visual impact of this gorgeously curated show, innovatively hung in an iconic space (I used to go to the used book shows there and score antique art and poetry books!) every true quilter gets a little shiver of deliciously dangerous pleasure when they look at a red and white quilt.

Why? Well if you have to ask, you've never thrown a quilt with adjacent red and white patches in the washing machine. Red is infamous for its bleeding (no pun intended!) and fugitive color. For all of you who are dedicated Pre-Washers, who have run red prints and batiks through the washer with Retayne (color fixative) multiple times, only to have them fail the bleeding test (can you spell P-I-N-K- S-O-C-K-S?)….we can only view this exhibit with a mix of dread and voyeuristic pleasure.

Me – I hate to pre-wash. I haven't mixed red and white in a quilt since a washing disaster back in 1991. But I might just have to break down and throw some reds in the washer with a splash of Retayne or a color magnet product. (available at your local grocery store's laundry detergent aisle)

Those Red and White Quilts are just too irresistible.

In the mean time I put together a Red and White print category, and I've added links in this newsletter to our red blenders and red batiks.

You know you want them.
(me too)

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Sacred Threads

Posted on July 8, 2011 by Luana

PassedThisWay550 

On Sunday I was at the Sacred Threads quilt exhibit in Herndon, VA, near the Washington DC Dulles Airport. eQuilter has sponsored this quilt show for many years, but this was the first time I was able to see it in person.

Sacred Threads features quilts that are about Joy, Inspiration, Spirituality, Healing, Grief, Brotherhood and Peace. The quilts express so much emotion and deep thought that it takes 2 hours to get through the 160+ pieces, which were arranged in groups by theme.

The juried show really ran the gamut – from traditional patchwork to experimental fiber art – and from realistic portraits to abstract textural pieces. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was really pleased to see that all points of view were included.

This show – this project – was introduced to me by Vikki Pignatelli many years ago. Vikki described the show to me, and when she asked me to consider being a sponsor, I had to say yes!

It is obvious that the show is about more than just making pretty quilts. It was an opportunity for the quiltmakers to process and express very intense feelings, and then the viewer was also able to have an experiential interaction with the artist's emotions as the viewer stood in front of each piece.

I spent several hours there Sunday, and enjoyed watching the viewers' reactions, as much as seeing the show!

At the closing of the show, I spoke at their sponsor reception. Quite a few people showed up, including many eQuilter customers! It was great to visit with all of you who came to the show! Jinny Beyer was supposed to speak at the reception as well, but she begged off because of the birth of a grandchild. Well I guess we'll let her off this time… *smile*

July 4th was the final day of the show, but you can experience this show again in two years. If you'd like to send an entry to be considered for the next exhibition, watch the website for a Call for Entries about a year from now!

Here is a quilt from the show (above) called "Passed This Way" – which is inspired by the flowers and colors of the Day of the Dead, and the personal roadside memorials that commemorate someone who has passed away at that place. It is by Candyce Grisham of Washington, MO…in the "Healing" category.

Speaking of Loss and Healing, our 2155 quilts in Japan are going through the final process of clearing the customs paperwork, and our contacts are working to distribute all or most of the quilts at a special event on July 13. We will follow these events closely as they unfold, and report back to you as soon as possible, hopefully with some photos from the distribution.

Our contacts are working with a Buddhist monk who has already been presented with a quilt, and his response was that he couldn't believe the beauty and the quality of the quilts. This has been the response of everyone who has seen these quilts – that the quilts donated were of a very high quality and are obviously a very deep and sincere expression of caring and comfort from the 2000+ quilters who sent their handiwork to strangers on the other side of the world. Bless you!

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NASA Connection – Our Astronaut Friend from EWB

Posted on July 8, 2011 by Luana

Just thought I’d share this NASA moment with you all –

As Atlantis lifted off for the last time, I watched it live, then sent a
congratulatory text to Dr Jack Bacon at NASA (an Intl Space Station
manager – NASA Engineers Without Borders contact for us).

He just replied to me that there is a packet of dried pineapple going up on
the shuttle to EWB astronaut Ron Garan who is now on the space station – the pineapple was dried in the EWB village-sized food dryer that eQuilter
funded – it was built and tested in Houston/Johnson Space Center NASA –
being constructed at an orphanage in Rwanda later this month with eQuilter
financial support. (We’ve also helped to fund a clean water system in Rwanda previous to this)

So there’s a little connection from eQuilter on the way to space at this
moment!

Jack and his wife witnessed the launch at NASA and are teary-eyed… me too!

When I go to Houston for the big quilt festival in late October, I have dinner with Jack and Kathy. Last time I got the VIP tour of the Johnson Space Center, then had dinner with all the self-described rocket scientists
of their EWB chapter, and sat next to Ron who will be eating that dried
pineapple later today perhaps! When Jack calls up to Ron on the station, he tells him about our quilt drive for Japan, etc….. so very cool that
eQuilter and my name is mentioned up on the Space Station.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/07/08/space.shuttle/index.html?hpt=hp_c1

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Filling the Reservoir

Posted on June 29, 2011 by Luana

Live Music, Art Galleries, Poetry Readings, Dance and Theater… these are some of the Here and Now creative experiences that can rev up our own creativity and charge up our positive-energy batteries.

Hiking in Nature, watching a sunset, spending time next to the ocean or a lake, visiting a botanical garden, traveling cross country, seeing the Grand Canyon at sunrise or sunset, or watching a hawk soar overhead…these are some of the things that free our spirit so we can put colors and ideas on paper, or express our feelings through fabric and design.

Some artists will talk about "feeding the muse", and you don't have to be an 'artiste' to nourish your creative reservoir. Your inner creative source is like a flowering tree that grows and changes over time as your fertilize it with visual ideas, emotional passions, ideals and goals. There may be times when it is dormant, like an oak in the winter, but you have the ability to bring Springtime and melt the ice on the surface of your creative pool.

Modern life can be hard on our creative wellspring. We all know that cold hard fact. So taking the time to regularly remove yourself from the siren song of the computer, the TV, the cell phone and daily obligations is the only way to build a clear and safe space to explore your Creative Self. It is great to research "eye candy" online, but set a timer, and go to your studio or sewing machine when the buzzer rings!

Our Creative Self is simply one aspect of an energy that flows through us all the time. Call it Positive Thinking, Creating Your Own Reality, Passion or Obsession… it all flows from the same source.

If you feed this source with disturbing images, negative ideas, and pessimistic thoughts ("I have no talent" – "Other people are so creative" – etc) then that is what you will create. If you feed this source with music, art, beauty, joy, and positive goals…you will create beautiful art, gorgeous quilts, or other creative expressions that are an extension of that inner fire.

For myself, I have an inner image of my creative self as constantly erupting molten glowing lava that explodes, drips, glows and flows in a fiery river through everything I do. It can't be controlled, but it is always there. I even do a visualization of walking across an expanse of black volcanic rock to access a liquid red-orange-gold flow of creative fire. I feed the heart of the volcano lots of beautiful images, live arts, poetry and music…and then wait for the magic to happen.

How do you see your own inspirational reservoir? A crystalline mountain pool? A blooming rosebush? A dewdrop in the morning sun? A lion that wakes, stretches, and roars? Perhaps a multi-faceted diamond that flashes a rainbow of colors within?

How do you feed your muse, and express your own creative genius? All you have to do is open the door so the child can come out and play.

Last night I went to hear Eileen Ivers play her Celtic fiddle at Chautauqua here in Boulder, and it got me so excited about my Ireland Tour next year. They brought in 4 young ladies in gorgeous Irish step-dancing costumes, (velvet, satin, beads and sequins) and they did their Celtic version of tap-dancing with linked elbows and bouncing curls, up on stage next to Eileen's backup band. By the end of the evening we were all on our feet singing, tapping, clapping to the beat, and dancing….and this is a small historic auditorium! Eileen and her Celtic band "Immigrant Soul" shared the gift of their creative passion, and we all took a big glowing chunk home at the end. Also…I think I need to learn how to play the accordion! Ha!

Macaws4A_W 

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A Visual Feast

Posted on June 25, 2011 by Luana

MauiSophie1_W 
Can you believe – our daughter Sophie just turned 9 yesterday?! In case you have not read our online adoption story yet – she was born in China and was adopted by us when she was 8 months old. Now she makes quilts for orphans and advocates for children still without families, who are still living in institutions around the world.

Sophie has a birthday request – if you've considered making a donation to an organization funding Chinese orphanages – would you consider making a donation this week for her birthday? That's what she really would like for her birthday. If you'd like to send her a message, we'll make sure it is passed on to her.
[email protected]

Here are 4 organizations that do great work in China:

Altrusa International
(part of eQuilter's Charity program)

Half the Sky Foundation
(eQuilter recently was a sponsor of their Denver fundraiser)

Chinese Children Adoption International
(this is the adoption agency we used)

Love Without Boundaries

This week I am thinking about the power of the Image in our brain. I am a very visual person and I remember images, designs and colors for years and even decades. I don't know if it is a photographic memory, but it is something like that.

So as a result, I have to be careful about the images I put in my brain. Occasionally in my life I have accidentally put in destructive or haunting images that are still with me. For instance, once my roommate in New York took me to see "Blue Velvet" ( I thought to myself – hey that is a nice sounding name for a movie!) and those disturbing images are still stuck in my brain.

On the other hand I have found that collecting, viewing, and seeking out beautiful images can overwrite any disturbing images, and they are there for me to draw upon at any time in the future. My head is full of so many beautiful images – from museums to gardens – from nature to architecture – that I can draw upon an almost limitless library of personal visual inspiration at any time.

How do you load up your own personal image repertoire? Have you done this in the last week? I know that so many of you write to say that Sunday mornings are your weekly viewing of "Eye Candy" that inspires you for the week, and I am so delighted that eQuilter can help you in that creative process!

I'll be writing about this again on Tuesday night, so watch for my midweek Creative Nudge. If you'd like to review last week's essay on Nerds, or if you'd like to comment on your Visual Database, head on over to my blog.

I'll be at the closing of the Sacred Threads exhibit July 3 from 1-4 pm, at the Long Beach Quilt Festival on Sat July 30, and I'll be giving an award at the Quilt Festival in Birmingham UK on August 11. Hope to see some of you at one of these shows!

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

The Emerald Isle Tour – June 5 – 15, 2012
Travel with Luana Rubin on this 11-day tour of Ireland visiting Galway, Dublin, Cobh, Killarney, the Dingle Peninsula, Adare, and we will be spending 3-days in the Galway area for the festivities that surround the very first International Quilt Festival of Ireland!

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