This evening’s Free Quilt Pattern captures a sweet Christmas scene of a beloved African American Santa sharing joy and cheer among the children.
To make this 60″ x 54″ quilt design, you will start with the exquisitely detailed 36″ x 44″ central panel. The inset starry and snowflake blocks are set on point with a white textured print.
This charming quilt may remind you of Christmas past, but will definitely be an heirloom for future holidays as well!
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.
This time of year many of us are ordering online and receiving packages. I had my own mailorder customer experience this week that drive me bonkers – and it reminded me why we start this business in the first place! Because we own a mailorder business and I have this funny idea that when a package is prepared and shipped it should be done in a way that shows you care about the value of the product and the value of the customer.
I just want to remind all of you that we are a family-run business employing 25 people, many of whom are moms with kids, and we all are very focused on how important each package is for the person who ordered. If you ever have a question about an order, we have real live people who pick up the phone during our Monday-Friday business hours. You can also interact with us on Live Chat, and sometimes your email questions on the weekend might even be picked up by Paul.
This time of year our warehouse is transformed and everyone is wearing an invisible Christmas Elf hat, except for the day when we have our Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest and Party which is later this week. On Thursday many of us will come to work with our Santa hats and reindeer headbands! We’ll be sure to post photos on our eQuilter Facebook page! Our awesome warehouse staff is working overtime to get your packages out, and we hope when you receive the box or envelope, and untie the ribbons, you will gasp with delight because…the fabric always looks even better in person!
This is the time of year to give (and receive!) eQuilter Gift Certificates. If you order now, we will drop them in the mail Monday, or you can have instant gratification with an emailed Gift Certificate. Don’t forget about our other specialty Gift items like Artisan Chocolates, Tea Towels, and the ever-popular Laurel Burch Socks….all in the Christmas Gift page.
If you are on the receiving end of an eQuilter Gift Certificate (because you are an expert at dropping hints), now is the time to start planning your next couple projects for the post-holiday Winter Sewing Season. I have 3 quilt projects dancing like Sugar-Plums in my head, living there rent-free until I can get through the holidays and get back into the studio. With every cookie I bake, and every gift I wrap, I am dreaming of stitching on my beloved Bernina and discovering new heights of creativity in 2024.
sharing your love for fabric, Luana and Paul
Travel/Quilt Dates: Feb 21-24, 2024 – QuiltCon in Raleigh, NC – eQuilter is a GOLD Sponsor. March 6 – Canadian Quilters Association – Zoom Lecture “Intl Quilt Trends”
This adorable Baby Animal collection continues to sell out, and we managed to find the very last remaining yardage from the manufacturer. So don’t miss out!
“Sweet” – is the word that comes to mind with this Baby Animal artwork by South African designer Clint Eagar. This exclusive Free Quilt Pattern uses 7 fabrics from his “Baby Safari Animals” collection, to create this 56″ x 67″ quilt design.
We love the soft colors of sand, sky and water….but the expressions on the young animals’ faces are just precious. Gently wrap your favorite little person in this charming wildlife quilt for sweet dreams and quiet playtime.
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.
“The Tea” by Mary Cassatt – Boston Museum of Fine Arts
We just received several hundred copies of the Schmetz “ABC Pocket Guide – Home Sewing Machine Needles” booklet, a 30-page 5″x7″ publication that helps you to match the right needle with your thread size and sewing task. With every purchase of an Aurifil Large Cone, Collection or Set (All 20% off through the end of the month) we will include a free Schmetz Needle Guide. (One per customer please.) You can see our current stock of Schmetz Needles here.
I have just returned from Boston, where I visited the John Singer Sargent exhibits at the MFA, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Isabella (1840–1924) was the daughter of a man who made his initial fortune importing Irish linen. She grew up in New York, was ‘finished’ in Paris. After she and her husband lost their only child, they traveled throughout Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Later she studied with the Harvard’s first art history professor. She began a lifelong obsession with collecting….rare books & manuscripts, and eventually her grand obsession of collecting fine artwork.
After she lost her husband, she built a Venetian-inspired palatial museum with a music hall and interior courtyard garden. She lived on the top floor and was known as a ‘Millionaire Bohemienne’. Her relationship with Sargent as patron and friend, led to several portraits. The concurrent exhibit at her museum features her full length portrait by Sargent. To see the rest of his stunning life-size portraits of other personalities who inspired “The Gilded Age“, just walk a few blocks to the Museum of Fine Art to see the John Singer Sargent once-in-a-lifetime exhibit, closing January 15, 2024.
Women have struggled to be recognized as artists and patrons, and Mary Cassatt was one of the first painters to break through into a male-dominated art world. Above, you see Cassatt’s painting “The Tea” (photographed at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston) in her signature style, depicting intimate moments of domestic life.
The National Museum of Women in the Arts has just reopened in Washington DC after a long renovation. The NMWA is the first museum in the world solely dedicated to championing women through the arts.
On this theme, I am featuring 3 female artists in the 3 fabric categories shown above. (See original e-newsletter for links.) Of course in the quilting world women are ubiquitous, and men are most welcome, but it is not that long ago that women were barred from participating in the art professions. Now we work for diversity in the textile arts, and for art quilts to be accepted as Fine Art. There is always another barrier to break down in the world of art.
Thank you for supporting our family-owned business in 2023 – the year we topped $2 million raised for charity – with YOUR help.
Travel/Quilt Dates: Feb 21-24, 2024 – QuiltCon in Raleigh, NC – eQuilter is a GOLD Sponsor. March 6 – Canadian Quilters Association – Zoom Lecture “Intl Quilt Trends”
Share Post:
Posted inArt, Museum, Travel|Comments Off on Women and The Arts
Tonight’s Free eQuilter Pattern features celebrated artist David Galchutt’s ‘Rooster Meadow’ collection displaying bright sunny colors adorned with floral mandalas.
To make this 49″ x 64″ quilt pattern, you’ll start with the 24″ x 44″ framed panel, and add coordinating rooster stripe, rooster allover and blue vine tonal. This easy to make quilt can be quickly sewn and displayed as a fun, countryside farm scene in your home.
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.
This week we are introducing a new line of DecoBob thread – the 80 weight cottonized poly thread from Wonderfil. This very fine but strong thread disappears into your quilt or applique – the right balance of delicacy and strength. I have been looking at this line at the last 3 quilt festivals I attended, in France, Canada and Houston…and I was very impressed. Be sure you have the right needle for your machine to go with this fine thread. (as noted on the product description page) Toss a spool in your shopping cart and try out this new line! We are stocking the 2187 yard Mini-Cones all 60 colors for your machine stitching and hand applique projects.
Tonight I am writing to you from Boston, where I’ve been taking an Art Break to see the John Singer Sargent exhibit at the MFA, and also enjoying the fabulous Isabella Stewart Gardner museum. If you are a fan of the costume drama “The Gilded Age” then you would love this MFA show featuring the fashions and fabric used by Sargent. One of his lush paintings is of a socialite from that era, wearing a dress that was reproduced for one of the main characters of Gilded Age – Bertha Russell. The Gardner museum has a concurrent special exhibit focusing on Gardner’s portrait by Sargent. These shows are all about luxe draped shimmering textiles – silks, velvets, lustrous satins and beading. I bet you are familiar with Sargent’s famous painting ‘Madame X’ which normally lives in his gallery at the Met in New York, but she has traveled here to Boston to be part of the figurative fireworks at the Museum of Fine Arts…closing January 15.
This is the time of year to give (and receive!) eQuilter Gift Certificates. If you order now, we will drop them in the mail Monday, or you can have instant gratification with an emailed Gift Certificate. Don’t forget about our other specialty Gift items like Artisan Chocolates, Tea Towels, and the ever-popular Laurel Burch Socks….all in the Christmas Gift page.
sharing your love for fabric, Luana and Paul
Travel/Quilt Dates: Dec 8-9 – Boston MA Feb 21-24, 2024 – QuiltCon in Raleigh, NC – eQuilter is a GOLD Sponsor. March 6 – Canadian Quilters Association – Zoom Lecture “Intl Quilt Trends”
Tonight’s Free Quilt Pattern features a graceful peacock and cascading feathers, illustrated with Melanie Samra’s distinctive alcohol ink painting technique.
To make this 59″ x 64″ distinctive quilt, you will start with the atmospheric 24″ x 44″ panel. We’ve combined four of the collection’s blender prints, in shades of Seafoam Green, Nautical Blue and Azure, to make the pieced border for this dynamic eQuilter exclusive quilt design.
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.
Today we received this delightful letter from longtime customer Jean, and I just had to share with you:
“I am a senior citizen (I’m now 100) and live alone so like to keep myself busy so my brain will keep properly going. Serious sewing is my way of doing it as you have to use that brain when you assemble a jacket or two! I like your variety, your color sense and the quality of the fabric. With my 2.25 yards plus some knits for my jackets’ sleeves and collars I manage to keep going….so again, thank you, thank you! And, have a Happy Holiday and a Happy New Year!”
Wow, I think Jean has discovered the secret to a long happy life!
Today Kaufman announced their 2024 Kona Color of the Year. It is a soothing cool pastel green named “Julep”. It reminds me of Daiquiri Ice. Remember that Baskin Robbins flavor? It has been around since 1962. Yummy. If you’d like to be notified as soon as the Kona Color of the Year arrives in our warehouse, give us a call (or email) and we’ll put you on The List. We order yardage and precuts way in advance, sight unseen, because we know you are going to want it the minute it is available. In the meantime you can review the Kaufman Kona Solids in stock now.
On Thursday Pantone will announce their 2024 Color of the Year. One thing to remember about these colors – they are trending colors that will be in stores in early 2024. The products are literally ‘on the water’ – i.e. being shipped from factories to warehouse and then retail shops in the next month or so. They are not necessarily predictions of color trends far in the future, but snapshots of emerging color trends for the coming season and coming year. However we do expect these colors to be HOT throughout 2024 and undoubtedly we’ll be seeing lots of eye candy coming out on social media to celebrate and illustrate how to use/sew and live with these hues.
Both Kaufman and Pantone chose these colors awhile ago, and for months have been developing products with these hues. In the case of Pantone, they work with fashion designers and other color trend experts to choose the color in advance, and then work with more brand names to develop more product lines that will hit the stores in 2024. You will see branded product lines immediately following, in cosmetics, home dec, etc. It is fun to see what all the designers have been up to the last 6 months!
For future color forecasting, the colors are already bubbling up in the studios of artists and ateliers of designers around the world. In the coming year, as we see these new color combinations in galleries, art festivals, on fashion runways and in street fashion, we recognize them as something new and fresh, and….a color trend is born.
These days, because every color has been done, the freshness comes with how colors are combined. Even in our industry, every few years we start to see these innovative color combinations bubbling up in quilt festival exhibits, textile art galleries, and then a brave textile designer will put it in a new collection, and if the time is right it will catch our eye and a new color story is launched!
Travel/Quilt Dates: Dec 8-9 – Boston Mass Feb 21-24, 2024 – QuiltCon in Raleigh, NC – eQuilter is a GOLD Sponsor. March 6 – Canadian Quilters Association – Zoom Lecture “Intl Quilt Trends”
This remarkable panel which overlooks Utah’s Monument Valley is framed by two rows from renowned artist Daniel Ramirez’s ‘Pride Dancers Stripe’, and is finished with a mitered Native American blanket print.
This 63″ x 72″ quilt will bring the majesty of Sky and Earth to any room where it hangs … or make this quilt for someone with connections to Native Tribes or a love of the colorful beauty of the Southwest.
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.
Quilters throw the best parties, in my opinion, and today I finally got in the holiday spirit after spending time with the Wa Shonaji Quilt Guild in Denver. Those ladies know how to have a good time! They put on a fabulous luncheon, we played a gift-sharing game, sang all 12 verses of The 12 Days of Christmas (hilarious) and there was a delightful display of holiday-themed quilts. When the new guild officers were sworn in for 2024, there was much giggling when they swore an oath to uphold guild tenets including setting a good example by being good “finishers”. Haha we all know what that means.
Tonight I am driving back to Denver, dodging traffic for the Parade of Lights, to see Sophie Quinn perform in the opera Hansel and Gretel, with the MSU orchestra. This semester she is principal 2nd violin. We are so proud of her. Her part time job is in Patron Services for the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. If you go to a concert at Boettcher Hall you just might see her at the ticket counter.
This is the time of year to give (and receive!) eQuilter Gift Certificates. If you order now, we will drop them in the mail Monday, or you can have instant gratification with an emailed Gift Certificate. Don’t forget about our other specialty Gift items like Artisan Chocolates, Tea Towels, and the ever-popular Laurel Burch Socks….all in the Christmas Gift page.
In case you missed my e-newsletter on Wednesday, we have a special price on all Aurifil products through the end of the year. We will not be restocking until after Jan 1st, so if there is a group of colors you need for a 2024 project, NOW is the time to snap it up!
sharing your love for fabric, Luana and Paul
Travel/Quilt Dates: Dec 8-9 – Boston MA Feb 21-24, 2024 – QuiltCon in Raleigh, NC – eQuilter is a GOLD Sponsor.
