American Quilt Study Group

Posted on September 7, 2024 by Luana

I am writing to you from Tarrytown, New York tonight, while attending the AQSG Seminar (American Quilt Study Group).

This is the group of quilt history nerds who dig into the past with a combination of genealogy and textile sleuthing. My friends from the museum world are here, and I love to be the fly on the wall when they get excited about historic textile minutiae. This is my 2nd time at this event, but I learn something every time I attend. There are also many well-known personalities from the quilting industry here, so it is fun to connect and share quilt and textile information. It is a different end of the quilting spectrum for me, because I am mostly focused on contemporary quilt making, but I love the opportunity to learn new things from a different group of quilters!

Watch for my next email on Wednesday morning, with more details from this event.

sharing your love for fabric,
Luana and Paul

Travel/Quilt Dates:
Sept 4-8 – AQSG Seminar, Tarrytown NY
Sept 15-25 – Painting Retreat
Oct 31 – Nov 3 – Houston Quilt Festival
Nov 13 – Canada Zoom Lecture
December 5-13 – Textile & Costume Tour – Italy. Alpine Xmas Market Extension Dec 13-15.
Jan 21 – Visions Museum Zoom Lecture

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.

Share Post:
Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedin
Posted in Creativity, Design, Travel, Trends | Comments Off on American Quilt Study Group

Free Quilt Pattern – Quilting Santa

Posted on September 5, 2024 by Luana

Did you know that Quilting is Santa’s favorite pastime? We all know that quilting helps us to relax, boosting our creativity and emotional well-being, so it’s no wonder Santa is so patient and generous!

This Week’s Exclusive Free Quilt Pattern features Santa works his magic sewing a Christmas quilt to keep warm through the winter. To make this 60″ x 60″ quilt, you’ll start with our Exclusive Quilting Santa panel, add festive Christmas Stars on point, with wintry blue snowflakes in the corners.

Make this quilt for friends and family, and celebrate both Santa and Quilting for Christmas.

…from the ‘Magical Christmas’ 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

Share Post:
Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedin
Posted in Free Quilt Patterns, Quilt Pattern | Comments Off on Free Quilt Pattern – Quilting Santa

Steampunk Island

Posted on September 4, 2024 by Luana

This week we have a new shipment with lots of Steampunk-themed prints, so I thought it would be fun to showcase these images of the Mechanical Elephant in Nantes France.

Last year in April I went to the quilt festival in Nantes – ‘Pour l’Amour du Fils‘. After the quiltfest, I visited Les Machines de l’Ile, and the mechanical creations who reside on this magical island of misfit steampunk assemblages. The star of the island is the mechanical elephant. It holds up to 50 people, and when everyone is onboard, it will take you for a rambling walk around the park. It is huge!

While at the Nantes quilt festival I met a Ukrainian quilt artist living in France. She was tending the SAQA booth when I met her. One year later, I saw her again in the Birmingham SAQA booth, and her quilt inspired by the mechanical elephant was in the gallery! We now have the companion book for the StitchPunk exhibit – in stock now.

Lena Meszaros made this cutout piece of fiber art named “The Mechanical Elephant”, after seeing the giant mechanized sculpture in Nantes. It was constructed from cotton and synthetic fabrics, leather, plastic, copper wires and metal foil. It was fused, appliqued, pieced, woven, embossed and freemotion quilted.

You can find details of Lena’s quilt, and others from the Birmingham quilt festival, on my photo pages.

Image above, clockwise from top left:
Mechanical Elephant in Nantes, France
Steampunk Elephant Panel – by Desiree’s Designs
Lena Meszaros – “The Mechanical Elephant”
Steampunk Mona Lisa – Rubin Design Studio

More info about Steampunk on this page.

When you read this Wednesday I’ll be on my way to the airport, flying to Charlotte NC, then White Plains NY. I am attending the AQSG Seminar in Tarrytown NY this week. (American Quilt Study Group)

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:
Sept 4-8 – AQSG Seminar, Tarrytown NY
Sept 15-25 – Painting Retreat
Oct 31 – Nov 3 – Houston Quilt Festival
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

Share Post:
Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedin
Posted in Creativity, Design | Comments Off on Steampunk Island

Free Quilt Pattern – Little Wizards

Posted on September 1, 2024 by Luana

Tonight’s Free eQuilter Pattern features adorable baby animals dressed as wizards! These darling critters cast heavenly spells in multi-color frames.

To make this 60″ x 60″ quilt design, you’ll start with the main 36″ x 44″ block panel. Then combine two coordinates, a delicate white-on-white, and amethyst Hoffman hand dye to create the borders, strips & blocks.

Make this precious, wizardly quilt for your little ones, who are sure to have enchanting dreams, sleeping beneath its magical spells.

…from the ‘Lil’ Wizards’ 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

Share Post:
Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedin
Posted in Free Quilt Patterns, Quilt Pattern | Comments Off on Free Quilt Pattern – Little Wizards

Happy Labor Day!

Posted on August 31, 2024 by Luana

We hope you are having restful and creative long weekend, for those of you observing the Labor Day holiday on Monday. Our offices will be closed so our staff can also enjoy the holiday with their families. For many of us, it is an opportunity to catch up on our creative projects at home! I just finished a big quilt, and am writing an article this weekend. Next week I am traveling to Tarrytown in New York, to attend the AQSG Seminar. (American Quilt Study Group)

The latest issues of Quilting Arts and Art Quilting Studio magazines are excellent, and I see a lot of enthusiastic chatter about these new issues on social media this last week. We have them in stock now! If you are just now discovering these titles, we do carry back issues of these and other magazines.

I want to point out a couple special books that arrived this week –
Tiny Pieces Vast Visions
Bearing Witness – SAQA

Also for those of you experimenting with transparency, layers and texture in your quilts…we have restocked tulle, cheesecloth and silk organza for you to play with in your textile art explorations.

For our Modern Quilters, we have just restocked our Kona Solids with a big shipment – and yes we do have the Kona color chart in stock as well.

sharing your love for fabric,
Luana and Paul

Travel/Quilt Dates:
Sept 4-8 – AQSG Seminar, Tarrytown NY
Sept 15-25 – Painting Retreat
Oct 31 – Nov 3 – Houston Quilt Festival
Nov 13 – Canada Zoom Lecture
December 5-13 – Textile & Costume Tour – Italy. Alpine Xmas Market Extension Dec 13-15.
Jan 21 – Visions Museum Zoom Lecture

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.

Share Post:
Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedin
Posted in Creativity, Design, Holidays/Events | Comments Off on Happy Labor Day!

Free Quilt Pattern – Wild Kitty

Posted on August 29, 2024 by Luana

Tonight’s Free eQuilter Pattern features Chong-A Hwang’s magical kitty, with captivating cascades of color and shadow. This adorable feline is embellished with mandalas and scrolls, with multi-color medallions on a black background.

To make this 50″ wide x 68″ high quilt design, you will start with the exquisite 24″ x 44″ digital-printed panel. We have used three coordinates to piece the borders and diamond blocks, combined with a Sea Breeze Hoffman Hand Dye.

As a wall hanging, this is a real conversation piece for the true Cat lover. Or use this as a Nap quilt or small bed coverlet for fantastical feline dreams. This just might be your cat’s favorite new quilt!

…from the ‘Wildcat’ collection by Chong-A Hwang for Timeless 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

Share Post:
Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedin
Posted in Free Quilt Patterns, Quilt Pattern | Comments Off on Free Quilt Pattern – Wild Kitty

Late Summer Glow

Posted on August 28, 2024 by Luana

This week I am sharing a quilt from Quilt Canada, which was held in June, in Edmonton. This quilt captures the feeling of the end of summer vacation…as sunset falls and shimmering colors reflect on the lake, we light a fire and don our jackets. The crackle of the campfire, the lapping of the water on the pebbled shore, and the sounds of the night rising up from the forest. These are my memories growing up in Colorado, and going to music camp in the Rocky Mountains. This time of year when the sun drops behind the horizon up at elevation, you give a little shiver and opt for a cup of hot tea by the dancing flames.

The Labor Day weekend is almost upon us, the college kids have all returned here in Boulder, and mothers are heaving a sign of relief that their children are back in school. The long weekend ahead is one last chance to spend by the lake, in the forest, or on the road, before Autumn begins to creep across the landscape.

Canadian quilter Wanda Lumsden (from Chilliwack, British Columbia) has captured this moment in her quilt “Time for Togetherness”. This art quilt uses machine piecing, machine applique, fused applique, freemotion embroidery and some painted areas, to render this beautiful atmospheric landscape. The silhouette figures against the glowing sky, and the sparks flying up from the fire, are what give this scene special ambiance. And of course, we love the dog chasing the stick!

I’ve added a couple fabrics from our “Northwoods” category, in case you are inspired to make your own End-of-Summer quilt. Now is a good time to review your Thread Stash, and stock up on seasonal colors for your Fall and Winter sewing.

You can find details of this quilt, and others from Quilt Canada, on my photo pages.

I have plans to sew and write over the long weekend. How about you?

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:
Sept 4-8 – AQSG Seminar, Tarrytown NY
Sept 15-25 – Painting Retreat
Oct 31 – Nov 3 – Houston Quilt Festival
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

Share Post:
Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedin
Posted in Color, Creativity, Design | Comments Off on Late Summer Glow

Scheduling Blocks of Creative Time

Posted on August 24, 2024 by Luana

It is always fun to have a group of quilters come and visit us on an eQuilter tour. Yesterday we had 25 visitors from a local guild, and their ‘wait list’ of 20 more is coming next week. We sent them home inspired and excited to get onto their sewing machines! And in the group was a familiar face from Sophie’s past – her kindergarten teacher!

It has been a rough month in the quilting world. This last week we learned we lost 2 more shining lights – Carole Lyles Shaw and Sarah Bond. We honor and remember their generous creativity as artists and teachers.

Are your kids back to school now? When my kids were back into the school year, I had to be very disciplined to not fill up my extra time, with ‘busy’ work. Once the kids were at school, I scheduled in my sewing/creative time, otherwise it wouldn’t happen. Now that my kids are grown and I am no longer caretaking elders, I have chunks of time that are dedicated as studio time. Whether it is kitchen table sewing late at night, or dedicated art-making in a studio, it helps to fill in your calendar with blocks of time – committed as creative time. Kind of like scheduling in gym time. But more colorful.

I use my Google calendar, and have one special color to designate my blocks of creative time. What color would you assign to your Creative Time on your calendar?

sharing your love for fabric,
Luana and Paul

Travel/Quilt Dates:
Sept 4-8 – AQSG Seminar, Tarrytown NY
Sept 15-25 – Painting Retreat
Oct 31 – Nov 3 – Houston Quilt Festival
December 5-13 – Textile & Costume Tour – Italy. Alpine Xmas Market Extension Dec 13-15.

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.

Share Post:
Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedin
Posted in Color, Creativity, Design | Comments Off on Scheduling Blocks of Creative Time

Free Quilt Pattern – Drinkers of the Wind

Posted on August 22, 2024 by Luana

Tonight we are featuring the stunning artwork of Romantz Art as the centerpiece of
our exclusive Free Quilt Pattern – with the dramatic imagery of three galloping horses running through a colorful landscape, accented by dancing manes rushing through the wind.

To make this generous 78″ x 69″ quilt design, you will start with the finely detailed 36″ x 44″ panel. Combine the coordinating horse portrait frames in the corners and the allover prints to create the diamond block borders. This is a quick and easy project and makes a great gift for someone who will love this powerful horse themed quilt.

…from the ‘Drinkers Of The Wind’ collection by Romantz Art for 3 Wishes Fabric.

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

Share Post:
Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedin
Posted in Free Quilt Patterns, Quilt Pattern | Comments Off on Free Quilt Pattern – Drinkers of the Wind

Preserving Traditions & Culture

Posted on August 21, 2024 by Luana

Here is another quilt that I admired from the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham UK. This portrait is based on a historic archival photo of the IS PAN, from a rural area of Poland. A young woman is mending a garment, while wearing an ornately embroidered traditional folk costume. Vintage photos of women sewing seem to capture our imagination and take us time-traveling. This piece invites us to step into this intimate scene with atmospheric natural light, in another place and time.

Artist: Magdalena Gasowska
“Forgotten Stories- Women from Urzecze”

Technique: Raw-edge applique, freemotion embroidery, acrylic & alcohol markers for fabric.

“Urzecze is a suburban micro-region neara Warsaw, whose material culture has almost completely disappeared. My family has lived here for generations. I decided to immortalize on a quilt, a girl in traditional folk costume from this region. I hope this will help preserve the heritage of my ancestors.”

I have uploaded this quilt image, and more quilts from the Birmingham show, on my photo pages. Enjoy!

(Floral border is from the ‘Regalia’ collection by Aaron Martin)

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:
Sept 4-8 – AQSG Seminar, Tarrytown NY
Sept 15-25 – Painting Retreat
Oct 31 – Nov 3 – Houston Quilt Festival
December 5-13 – Textile & Costume Italy Tour. Alpine Xmas Market Extension Dec 13-15.

Share Post:
Facebooktwitterpinterestlinkedin
Posted in Creativity, Design | Comments Off on Preserving Traditions & Culture