To make this 60″ x 68″ quilt design, you will start with our exclusive 35″ x 44″ digital printed panel vignette. You will piece the set-in diamond inner border with Steampunk pocket watches and ornate keys, and Kona Solid Black. Use more of our exclusive Steampunk collection to finish the outer border with Steampunk Gears.
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.
As you may know, eQuilter has had an exclusive line of digital printed fabrics for years now, with hundreds of products in our Rubin Design Studio collections. We got another shipment this week, and if you are a Cat Lover I want to make sure you check out the awesome Black Cats, and the absolutely stunning huge Kitty panel with this lush floral hat. Our staff is already going nuts over the panel, so check it out before it blows out of here!
This afternoon I hosted a group of septuagenarian Girl Scouts having a 50th year reunion in Boulder. They chose to come and have a tour of eQuilter and my studio, as part of their reunion. I am so honored! They were in Girl Scouts together in California (earning sewing and craft badges) a few years before I was in Girl Scouts in So Cal. I was informed there was even a Textile badge, where they went to visit a textile factory!
Tonight as this newsletter is going out, I am going to see Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard) speak here at CU Boulder, sponsored by our local bookstore. You may recall that in December 2019 I made a quick trip to London on Election Day (got a half price air ticket) and was able to attend Sir Ian McKellan’s one man show on the West End. He spoke at length about his friendship with Stewart, so I can’t wait to hear the other end of the story! For many years I had a 6-foot cardboard cutout of Captain Picard (Star Trek) in my office. He finally collapsed from all the accessories I looped over his bald cardboard head. Anyway, this Trekkie nerd is super excited!
This breathtaking Autumn scene features the magical light of the Golden Hour, with a luminous glow filtering through red, orange and yellow leaves. A herd of deer pause to survey the viewer (you!) with a harvest scene in the background. This is one of our favorite scenic panels…so atmospheric with shimmering fields and mauve shadows.
To make this 53″ x 53″ quilt design, you will start with the 36″ x 44″ digital-printed panel by the brilliant wildlife artist Abraham Hunter…one of our favorite designers! You will create the pieced border in this eQuilter exclusive design, with 3 Hoffman Hand-Dyes and 2 blender prints.
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.
Tonight I am sharing an image of this stunning paper-pieced quilt made by Helen Creasey – and exhibited at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham UK in August. This large-scale (life size) mermaid portrait was designed, constructed and machine quilted by Helen. It is titled “Reaching” and perhaps is a metaphor that captures the feeling of rising from the depths and stretching towards the light. It is made with solid cottons and beautifully stitched on a sit-down longarm machine.
This weekend I was in Louisville Kentucky for the American Quilt Study Group’s annual seminar. I have generally been more interested in contemporary quilts, rather than vintage or historic quilts, but as time goes by the quilts I admired in the 90s have become part of quilt history. It was fascinating to be immersed in this other world of quilt appreciation. Their studious presentations on textile history, and the evolution of quilt pattern designs reminded me that some day my own quilts will pass into the oeuvre of quilt history. The amount of time and energy invested in identifying and confirming the provenance of these quilts, is a reminder to us all, to label and document our own quilts!
You may recall that M.J. Kinman has taught here in the eQuilter classroom (pre-pandemic) and we have carried her Gemstone patterns, kits, and thread sets. It turns out she lives 10 minutes from where the seminar was held, so I was able to visit her home, meet her husband and dogs, and see her studio. (And – shhh! – a sneak peek at her next big project.) I also had an exciting moment in her back yard – seeing Red Cardinals in person for the first time in my life. We have carried so many Red Cardinal fabrics over the last 24 years, but we never see them here in Colorado. I was thrilled!
On Saturday I attended a luncheon and heard Shelley Zegart talk about her years promoting Kentucky quilt history. You may be familiar with her 9-part PBS documentary “Why Quilts Matter”. I grabbed a seat at a table and found myself next to quilt historian and author Barbara Brackman, who pulled out a small metal lunchbox of sewing supplies, and proceeded to hand-stitch an applique block. We engaged in some quilty gossip (as one does) before I had to dash out and make my way to the airport. It is hard to leave home for more than a couple days, with a new puppy at home!
Sharing your love of fabric… Luana and Paul
* The photo above was taken by Luana Rubin at the Festival of Quilts in the Uk, in August 2023. It is framed by a selection of fabrics now in stock at eQuilter.com
Fall is gently blowing through the trees and into our neighborhoods, which means the Holiday season cannot be too far behind. Perhaps you are already dreaming of that first snowfall, and those winter months stitching by a crackling fire with a mug of hot cocoa. Maybe with a festive dollop of whipped cream on top?
This magical Free Quilt Pattern captures the breathless excitement of that most wonderful time of year, with a sparkling Christmas tree on the edge of a forest, and dancing Northern Lights filling the sky. This quilt design has been created to give the illusion of looking out of a window at night, to the illuminated landscape beyond.
To make this 63″ x 67″ exclusive quilt design, you will start with the Christmas tree panel, then add Black and Lavender Hoffman Hand-Dyes with the Glowing Forest print, to construct the dramatic borders. Finish the binding with a Northern Lights print.
Our Holiday Categories are fully stocked now but remember these are seasonal prints, which means they will come and go as we get closer to Christmas. If you see collectible holiday-themed panels or coordinates that you love, don’t wait or they may be gone for good! We try to keep your favorites restocked but when the manufacturer reaches the end of the print run, that’s it folks.
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 I am writing to you from Louisville Kentucky, where I’ve been attend the AQSG annual seminar (American Quilt Study Group). I am pleasantly surprised at how many people I know at this event! My focus tends to be more on contemporary quilts, and this group has historically focused more on antique/vintage/historic quilts. However as I get older and this group is studying quilts overlapping with my own story, it has become more relevant to me. For instance today I attended a presentation about a quilt that was made in the Seventies – each block made by a different woman – addressing a variety of women’s issues of the day. As you can imagine, many of those issues are still with us today. I graduated from high school in 1976 so this quilt made by a group of unidentified women, really spoke to me.
I was delighted to visit with museum directors, quilt collectors, quilt historians, magazine publishers and authors at this event. Tonight I sat next to Teresa Duryea Wong, author of one of our most popular books this summer – “Sewing & Survival: Native American Quilts 1880-2022“. I do appreciate those who put in the time to study a topic, and put it all down in a book or magazine, to share with the rest of us. Perhaps you are like me – I am just a sponge for learning new things – especially about quilts! So it is quite delicious to take a deep dive into another tributary of this constantly flowing art and craft that we love so dearly. In the Show-and-Tell tonight, we all marveled at the vintage quilt next to the beautiful reproduction quilt that had an extra flourish of appliqued flowers and leaves around the border. (You can see these 2 Carolina Lily quilts, and others from this event, on my personal Facebook page.)
After I shared my quilt “Stardust Mothers” on the cover of the German magazine ‘Patchwork Professional’, we received requests to stock the magazine. That shipment of limited copies from Germany just arrived yesterday, and if you snap up a copy, be sure to check out the lovely article about my artwork and our company. Don’t read German? You can use Google Translate on your smartphone to translate! This is the magazine that refers to me as “Powerfrau” on the cover, which tickles me pink. I have formally studied 6 languages in my lifetime, and German was the first one. I was a summer exchange student to Germany when I was 15. In Hong Kong (when I studied Cantonese) my room-mate was a German-speaking Austrian couture patternmaker, who was the NYC patternmaker for Halston, the Hong Kong head patternmaker for Oscar de la Renta, and other big name designers in the 70s and 80s. She had a Bernina but wouldn’t let me touch it – ha! Took me 25 years to get my first Bernina but it was worth the wait. I hope you also have a machine that you love, and I hope you have time to sew this weekend!
Tonight’s Free eQuilter Pattern features the man, the myth, the legend … Bigfoot! He has been sighted in Yosemite National Park in illustrative detail on this mysterious quilt pattern.
To make this magical 55″ x 63″ wall hanging, you’ll start with the 36″ x 44″ ‘Bigfoot in Yosemite’ panel. Then add borders using the coordinating allover Legends posters and woodland creature footprint tonal.
Don’t miss the opportunity to make this mystifying quilt, displaying these elusive National Park creatures. Fans of Sasquatch will love it!
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 know many of you are fans of Australian pattern designer Kim McLean, who uses Kaffe Fassett Collective fabric to create her colorful contemporary “Album” applique quilts. I was delighted to see an interpretation of her quilt design “Roseville Album” at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham UK last month. This quilt was made by Megan Gibson, and quilted by Janette Chilver. It is all needle-turned applique using 80 weight thread. It is definitely a labor of love!
We are fans of Kim’s patterns and Kaffe Fassett’s Collective fabrics, so I am tickled to share this interpretation with you. It certainly attracted a lot of attention at the quilt festival. It is very effective because Megan used a lot of busy hot brights in the applique album motifs, against a muted cool solid background. The contrast of hot vs cool, and busy vs solid, effective makes this into an eye-popping quilt!
One way to quickly expand your Kaffe stash for a project like this, is to pick up a couple 10″ square Kaffe Precuts. They are fun to pet and spread out in your workspace while you audition them for your next colorful project. You’ll find a huge selection of Solids and Blenders on this page, for potential background fabrics. Plump up your colorful thread stash with some wild hues, and scoop up some fresh sharp needles for those Fall sewing projects.
I am continuing to upload more photos from the Festival of Quilts on my photo pages. If you’d like to be notified when I upload the next batch, be sure to hit the “Follow” button on my Flickr page. The next album uploaded after the Birmingham quilts, will be my photos from Bear Camp in Alaska.
If you missed my lecture on ‘Art and Activism’ last week, the recording is now online. It is one hour long, so grab a cup of tea or glass of wine along with a notepad because there are lots of ideas for those who want to use their art to make the world a better place.
I am attending the AQSG seminar (American Quilt Study Group) for the first time this week. eQuilter is a sponsor for the event, and I look forward to learning more about the history of quilting at this gathering in Louisville Kentucky. I hope to share some stories and nuggets of inspiration with you next week, after I get back home.
Sharing your love of fabric… Luana and Paul
* The quilt photo above was taken by Luana Rubin at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham UK in August 2023. It is framed in a collage of Kaffe Fassett fabrics currently in stock.
The intense gaze of a Bald Eagle emerges from the misty forest on a rocky peak, in today’s Free Quilt Pattern. This week we had a Bald Eagle circling and swooping a few blocks from the eQuilter warehouse, so we wanted to share the thrill of this majestic national bird, a previously-endangered raptor that made a comeback due to the protection of the Endangered Species Act. Bald Eagles were removed from the list of threatened species on June 28 2007.
To make this 59″ x 73″ quilt design, you will start with the 30″ x 44″ digital-printed Hoffman scenic panel. Piece the Feather corner blocks, and construct the rest of the border with an atmospheric Cloud print, and 4 colors of Hoffman Hand-Dyes.
Our Founding Fathers chose the bald eagle as the emblem of the nation because of the fierce beauty and proud independence of this great bird, symbolizing the strength and freedom of America. Eagles are considered sacred by Native Americans. They are honored with the deepest respect… representing courage, wisdom, honesty, majesty and strength. The gift of an Eagle feather is worn with pride and dignity.
Fun Fact: The Bald Eagle was chosen as the US National Symbol by the 2nd Continental Congress on June 20, 1782.
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 is the Fall Equinox, when the length of the day and night are equal, before the days grow shorter and the nights are longer. Today is when the Sun crosses the celestial equator. As the Northern Hemisphere enters the Autumn season, the Southern Hemisphere is entering the Spring season. Both are my favorite seasons.
You may have heard about Boulder recently. Our CU football team is in the National News. Our team mascot is the Buffalo (Bison) so we are featuring that icon at the top of this newsletter, to honor the CU Buffs.
Our puppy Rosie has been with us 2 weeks now. House-training is going well, but we had a gnarly week, with our refrigerator dying last weekend (just got a new one yesterday) and internet issues at home. 6 days without a fridge, lots of food thrown out, but now we are back in the groove.
My butterfly quilt is at the Boulder Library’s Canyon Gallery in the Little Creatures exhibit for one more week. The recording of my talk on Art & Activism, sponsored by Endangered Species Coalition, Sierra Club and Cool Boulder, is available online now. It is one hour long, and I’ve had a big response to my presentation!
Next week I am going to the AQSG Seminar in Louisville KY. (American Quilt Study Group) We are a sponsor for the event. I have focused mostly on contemporary/art/modern quilting, but since I’ve been quilting for over 30 years, I am increasingly crossing paths with quilt historians. The quilters I studied and admired in the 90s are increasingly becoming part of Quilt History. I am involved with an exhibit at the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) Museum next year, with a module on Craftivism. More about that later….
We are also an ongoing sponsor of the FREE Textile Talks, and recently they featured the work of Annamaria Brenti, whose gorgeous intricate silk quilts are now on display at the International Quilt Museum in Lincoln Nebraska. The work of this genius Italian quilter is just beyond words. I hope you can watch the recording of her talk, and then go see the exhibit at IQM – of which we are also a sponsor!
I am busy editing and uploading a big batch of photos from the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham. If you follow my photo pages, you know that I take my documentation of quilt exhibits very seriously. I edit the photos in Photoshop, and make sure the name of the maker is included in all the photos I upload. My hope is that these photos are a source of inspiration for you, and all our eQuilter fans.
We thank you for supporting our family-owned business, so we are able to sponsor these exhibits and online resources for your inspiration and edu-tainment!
