To make this mysterious 55″ x 75″ quilt design, start with the 24″ x 44″ Cosmos Moon panel, then piece the borders with three cool hued coordinates & a scarlet star field print, all set against solid black borders and sashing.
Make this mystical quilt as an inspirational wall hanging or lap quilt for your star gazing friends and family.
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.
Have you ever been to a dyeing party? It is somewhere between a quilting bee and a kindergarten finger-painting session….i.e. it is just about the most fun you can have with a bucket!
This party quilt was made by Taiwanese artist Hsu Hsi-Chen, and was part of the ‘Celebration of Color’ exhibit that eQuilter sponsored at the Houston Quilt Festival. This quilt depicts a “Dyeing Party” which is why you can see everyone in the image is smiling, and it makes me smile too!
It is also a reminder of the enduring popularity of Blue (and Indigo) fabrics. In my first design job, my boss told me “Blue always outsells all the other colors – always include a shade of blue as a color choice.” – and she was right. In my travels around the world, from Europe to Asia and Africa, variations of Blue fabrics are ubiquitous. Blue gives a sense of calm stability, trust, security, and reliability. It is the color of peace and tranquility, and that is what the world needs now more than ever.
We carry specialty products for many teachers – such as PFD fabrics for Cindy Lohbeck’s dyeing classes, Fosshape and Evolon for Betty Busby‘s students, and a special fusible stabilizer for Marianne Williamson. If you are a teacher or student and can’t find a special product for a class, let us know! We want to support your creative explorations!
I have uploaded my first batch of quilt photos from the Houston Quilt Festival, and you can see images from this and other quilt exhibits on my photo pages. If you are a member of SAQA, I uploaded photos of the Friday night reception on the SAQA members’ Facebook page. If you are a member and don’t know about this page – look it up!
After 8 days in Houston at Quilt Market and Quilt Festival, with hundreds of hugs and thousands of smiles, I arrived home Saturday and collapsed in happy exhaustion. There is nothing like hanging out with the Quilting Tribe!
From the very first time we unfolded the sample of our exclusive Steampunk Mona Lisa from our factory, we’ve been absolutely smitten with the charm and perhaps mischievous little smile on her famous lips.
This digital-printed portrait is a wink and a nod to the iconic masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci. These days if you go to the Louvre to see La Gioconda, she is tucked behind bullet-proof glass, a velvet rope, and there might be 500 people between you and the enigmatic smile. The painting is 21″ x 30″, and was oil painted on a poplar wood panel. Painted between 1503 and 1519, it was owned by French royalty for centuries. She lived at Fontainebleau palace, Versailles, then in the boudoir of Napoleon Bonaparte. She is literally priceless, and cannot be bought or sold, belonging now to the public as part of the Louvre collection.
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.
Well that’s a wrap! After 4 years I returned to Houston for Quilt Market and Festival, and hundreds of hugs were given and received. The best part was seeing so many old friends and being back in the heart of the Quilting Tribe. Last night I attended the SAQA reception which was more like a class reunion! I have to thank you again for supporting our family-owned business, which allowed us to sponsor 3 special exhibits. You can feel proud that you are part of bringing these quilt exhibits to be seen by the masses at Quilt Festival! I will be editing photos and uploading on my photo pages over the next couple weeks.
Some things stay the same with quilting, and some things change and grow. Due to popular demand, we are bringing in the 80 weight ‘cottonized poly’ thread that is being discussed on social media lately. It will take a couple weeks for this new DecoBob line from Wonderfil to be shipped from Canada, but I know you are going to love working with this fine thread. It is being used both for fine machine stitching, and fine hand applique. I will be using this thread on my next project.
We are also expanding our line of paper-pieced patterns from Legit Kits. These intricate large-scale patterns are works of art that you can make yourself! So keep an eye out for these and other new products in the coming weeks and months. I am mulling over an essay on trends from the 2 shows, which I will discuss in my Wednesday e-newsletter.
I will say that large reptiles (Dragons & Dinosaurs) are trending, as you can see at the top our newsletter today. Tula Pink’s new collection “Roar” is a pastel dinosaur romp.
As you may know, Kaffe Fassett has come out with his ’85’ collection, to celebrate his 85th birthday. I had a chat with him at Market, and he is truly an amazing inspiration. I asked him – what’s his secret for staying so youthful and sharp? His answer? “Working with Color every day!” So there you have it my friends. Let’s all get back to our studios, to my favorite topic – COLOR!
Today is Veterans Day, and Armistice Day, when we remember those who served their country. Our thanks to all of you who have contributed Quilts of Valor to veterans this weekend. Paul’s father was a WWII veteran so this day has a lot of meaning to us. Tomorrow is Diwali, the Festival of Lights in India, symbolizing the triumph of Light over Darkness. Both of these holidays have deep meaning, given current events in the world.
Many of you met my mother over the years, so I am sad to share with you that we lost my mom Carolye, early on Thursday morning in the middle of the night. I got the news that she had tested positive for Covid last Friday while I was still in Houston. I flew home Saturday and by that afternoon when I saw her, she was already in a steep decline.
She always supported my education and career in the arts, always loving and kind, ready to help anyone in need. Her birthday is the same day as the eQuilter anniversary. On March 10 next year, when we celebrate our 25th anniversary, it would have been her 87th birthday. She was playing her piano up until a couple weeks ago. I will write an appreciation for her in the Wednesday e-newsletter.
The new Quiltmaker Magazine has a special article about the Quilting Daily Top 20 Awards, and I am so honored to be one of the 20 names on this list of illustrious fellow quilters! This is the first year of what will be an annual award list, so I am especially tickled to be in the inaugural Top 20 list. My mom would be proud.
Sprichst du Deutsch? Then pick up a copy of the new (June) Patchwork Professional, with my article on Art & Activism, including photos from many of my favorite quilters. (You can use Google Translate on your phone to read the article too!)
I ordered several new paper-pieced patterns from Legit Kits while I was at Quilt Market, and they are an incredible labor of love if you are up for the challenge. You will notice they come in different sizes – 30″ x 40″ and 60″ x 80″ – and the DAVID is a double-sided large work of paper-piecing art. That paper-pieced bum is pretty cute! I will post the photos of the quilts on our eQuilter Facebook page, including the backside of the Michelangelo masterpiece interpretation. What a conversation piece!
I have uploaded many quilt images on my photo pages from the Houston Quilt Festival. Please enjoy, and feel to share the link.
Tonight’s magical Free eQuilter pattern features African-American Santa lighting the way through a snowy forest, with his bag of presents at his side and a host of small woodland critters keeping him company.
To make this 45″ x 65″ quilt design, you will start with the 24″ x 44″ panel, then piece three snowflake coordinates with a white tonal print and add red & blue hand dye borders.
This enchanted Christmas quilt makes an elegant wall hanging or lap quilt; get yours today and be ready for your Christmas family gathering.
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.
Hello from Houston! I have just finished placing orders at the Quilt Market (trade show), and Wednesday evening the Quilt Festival opens to the public.
Tuesday I took a bus tour to the Texas Quilt Museum in La Grange. They are currently hosting an exhibit inspired by the PBS series ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ based on the stories of Dr. James Herriot, a veterinarian in the 1930s Yorkshire Dales in England. Actually the veterinarian Alf Wight used the pen name of Herriot to write a series of books about his experiences, and the current beloved series is a remake of the original BBC series that ran from 1978 to 1990. The current quilt exhibit covers a wide range of creatures from around the world, and even under the sea. Paul and I just adore this sweet PBS series, as we are animal-lovers ourselves.
This striking quilt caught my eye at the museum today – titled ‘Ruby’ – by Tanya Littman. She was inspired by 3 vintage drawings. It was constructed by fused applique and machine stitching. (The side panels in this image are from a sea turtle panel currently in stock at eQuilter.)
Mary Koval has also curated an exhibit of antique quilts from her own collection, currently at the Texas Quilt Museum. There is something for everyone at this museum.
If you are coming to the Quilt Festival this week, be sure to look for the 3 exhibits sponsored by eQuilter. You will see our rainbow logo on each of these special exhibits. My quilt ‘Women’s Rights are Human Rights’ is part of the ‘Women’s Voices’ gallery. I will be in this exhibit from 11 am to 1 pm on Thursday, to give tours through the gallery and speak about this project. I hope you can join me.
We thank you for supporting our family-owned business, which allows us to sponsor important exhibits such as these. I’ll have photos from Houston next week!
A Royal Kitty is the center of attention for this week’s exclusive Free Quilt Pattern! King Kitty sits in a lavish throne between plush curtains, a scepter and goblet in his paws. And don’t miss the mouse and bird royal courtiers!
To make this 60″ x 64″ quilt design, you will start with this exquisitely detailed 36″ x 44″ central kitty panel. Then piece our exclusive gemstones corner diamonds and ruby red Dream Ombre, all set against a solid black ground.
This quilt will make a delightful lap quilt or wall hanging for your kitty loving friends and family!
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.
I am writing to you from Houston Texas, where the Quilt Market (trade show) has started today. It has been 4 years since I attended this show in person. I am here to preview and order fabrics that will ship to us over the next 3-6 months. It is always exciting to see what new trends and ideas the designers have dreamed up to entice us in the near future. Next week is the International Quilt Festival, and eQuilter is sponsoring 3 special exhibits, as I mentioned in Wednesday’s e-newsletter. However I don’t have much to report, because I am dashing this off before I go to the first day of Market!
In the meantime, our fellow chocoholic-fabriholics will be happy to know that our first chocolate shipment of the cold-weather-season is arriving Monday, so you can start to place your orders for our artisan chocolates (including Vegan chocolates) over the weekend. There has been a recent discovery of some chocolate brands that have higher levels of heavy metals, so I want to assure you that we have reviewed that report and none of those brands are in our selection of high quality imported chocolate products. If you are not familiar with the eQuilter chocolate program – we discovered long ago there is a short list of things that most quilters love besides fabric: Cats, wine, and chocolate! We can’t sell you the wine, but we are heavy on the Cat fabrics (as per last Wednesday’s newsletter), and we know you can’t wait until the cooler weather allows us to stock and ship our chocolates. It is not unusual to receive orders for a spool of thread, and 5 chocolate bars. Shhhh – We won’t tell!
A reminder that I’ll be hosting an informal talk in the ‘Women’s Voices’ exhibit here, on Thursday Nov 2, from 11 am to 1 pm. My quilt “Women’s Rights are Human Rights” is part of this historic exhibit. Please stop by and say hello!
Watch for my e-newsletter on Wednesday morning, with a report on Quilt Market Trends.
This bright and fun Free Quilt Pattern is just perfect for that little one who’s ready to ‘Take a Ride’ in your family…I bet you know just the child who would enjoy these happy zoo animals in their favorite vehicles.
Make this 48″ x 58″ quilt as a Crib Quilt, or for the most fantastic Play Mat! Your favorite little person will find a Red Caboose, a Green sports car & Jeep, a Yellow Bulldozer & School bus, a Turquoise Van, an Orange Submarine, a Blue Rocket ship, a Red Sailboat & a Rainbow Hot Air Balloon to capture their attention on each ‘page’ of this Soft Book which has been cleverly turned into a child’s play quilt!
Start with the traveling animal frames from the main panel, then mix in the fun zoo animal allover coordinate, and finish it off with our exclusive Rainbow Stripes print. We know this will bring a big smile to the lucky kid who receives this animal travel-themed quilt.
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.
