Happy National Dog Day!

Posted on August 26, 2023 by Luana

I’ve just come home from my trip to Alaska, photographing the Brown Bears (Coastal Grizzly Bears) and also visiting with the Homer Quilt Guild. I had a fantastic time in Bear Camp, and besides amazing viewing of the bears, it was the first time in 10 years since I was in a dark sky environment and was able to see the Milky Way in all its majesty. It was a much-needed deep embrace with Nature, and I know it will nurture and inspire me for a long time.

You may not know that there are a lot of serious quilters in Alaska! The Homer Quilt Guild is no exception. They get together and sew once a week! I imagine they don’t get together as often in the winter, but it was fun to learn that Homer is considered the ‘banana belt’ of Alaska because of its warmer coastal temperatures. Homer was our jumping-off point to take a 1953 Beaver prop plane across the bay to the park. Our pilot gave us a swooping close-up tour of an icy volcano on the way to the park, which I only need to do once in life, thank you very much.

Now that I have visited both Katmai and Lake Clark National Parks, I have a greater appreciation for the work that goes into preserving and protecting these priceless pieces of land. We met a park ranger named Diane who comes out for 4 months a year and lives alone on the coastline of the park, with bears wandering past all day and night. She lives here in Colorado the rest of the year.

I will be working on my bear photos to share with you, and I am still catching up on my photos from the Festival of Quilts. (Birmingham UK) Thanks for your patience. There is another reason why it will take me a little while to edit and upload these photos: on the way back home I started feeling funny so I took a Covid test and found out that I finally had succumbed to the virus. Ugh! But I got on Paxlovid immediately and that took the edge off in 4-5 hours. Now I am isolating in my bedroom for a week, and hopefully, due to my vaccinations and the Paxlovid, I’ll be bouncing back soon.

Happy National Dog Day! You may have read that we lost our beloved dog Ruby recently. It didn’t take us long to realize that we (and our remaining dog Leo) need a 2nd dog in the house. So two weeks from today we’ll be welcoming a new puppy into our home. No name yet – we’ll have to meet her first – but we are super excited and that anticipation will get me through the next several days of isolation.

sharing your love for fabric,
Luana and Paul

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.

Travel/Quilt Calendar:
August 18-24 – Bear Camp – Homer Alaska
Sept 28-30 – AQSG Seminar – Louisville, KY

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Free Quilt Pattern – Wild Horses

Posted on August 25, 2023 by Luana

Tonight we are featuring Carol Cavalaris’s stunning piece of artwork as the centerpiece of our exclusive Free Quilt Pattern – with the dramatic imagery of three galloping horses running through the surf, accented by a spirit horse above, and a sunset southwest backdrop.

To make this 58″ x 65″ quilt design, you will start with the finely detailed 36″ x 44″ panel. Use the indigenous geometric stripe, with warm desert sand cloud and wild tossed horse coordinates to create the border. This is a quick and easy project and makes a great gift for someone who will love this powerful ‘Wild and Free’ Southwest themed quilt.

…from the ‘Wild Horses’ collection by Carol Cavalaris 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).

Don’t miss the ‘Shadow & Elegance‘ and ‘Wild Iris‘ quilt patterns!

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.

Luana and Paul Rubin

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Back to Civilization

Posted on August 24, 2023 by Luana

Tonight I am writing to you from Homer Alaska. I have just spent a mind-blowing 4 days at Bear Camp at Lake Clark National Park, among the bears ( and foxes) with no wifi or cell service. I slept in a fancy tent and went out with the NatHab group several times a day to photograph the bears on the homestead property and the adjacent national park land. One of the high points was this morning as we went out for our final bear viewing session. As we tromped single file through the woods behind our guide, I was scanning the forest around us. I saw a dark round shape and immediately called out “Bear on the right in the woods” and at that moment another larger shape stood up and looked us in the eye. It was a huge mama bear who had been nursing her cubs, before we so rudely interrupted. Those moments when you look a wild beast in the eyes, out in the woods, are moments you never forget. She gazed at us for awhile, then laid back down, and we took a hard left on another trail. Phew!

(Natural Habitats is the tour company that has hosted my previous polar bear trips with eQuilter friends and customers.)

We flew back midday in a small prop plane, and when I got back to Homer and turned on my phone, I was inundated with text messages and emails. That is the price you pay for going off the grid for a few days I guess. I have a couple thousand photos and videos to go through, so I can share my favorites with you in the weeks to come. Here is just one that I grabbed off my SD card tonight. It was another younger mama bear running through the river trying to catch a salmon for her yearling cubs.

One of the emails I found this afternoon was a congratulatory notice of an award that I received this week! It was from Vivika Denegre, senior editor at Golden Peak Media.

“Today, Quilting Daily formally announced the Top 20 Award Program and list of the 2023 honorees in our newsletter. Congratulations, once again, for being recognized as an individual who has shaped the quilting industry by your artistry and passion.

As a group, your combined contributions have made an impact that resonates beyond the craft and into the world of design, entrepreneurship, and philanthropy. It is a true pleasure to highlight your accomplishments with this recognition.”

I have posted a link to the article and the awards on our Facebook page. I share this award with my partner and husband Paul, and I am honored to share this award with several other industry luminaries. Congratulations to all of the other winners!

Sharing your love of fabric…
Luana and Paul

Visit eQuilter’s Instagram, Pinterest or TikTok pages for Color and Design ideas.

See Luana’s Flickr Photo Pages for travel images, review our blog, or follow us on Facebook.

Check out our Video pages for interviews and show reviews.

Travel/Quilt Calendar:
August 18-24 – Bear Camp in Alaska (via Homer)
Sept 14 – “Art & Activism” lecture at CU Boulder
Sept 28-30 – AQSG Seminar – Louisville, KY
Oct 27 – Nov 3 – Quilt Market/Festival – Houston TX

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Free Quilt Pattern – Shadow & Elegance

Posted on August 20, 2023 by Luana

Tonight’s Free eQuilter pattern features RJR’s amazing digitally printed collection of peonies, roses, dahlias & poppies. The dramatic lighting creates still life effects that mirror the Romantic art style.

To make this 59″ x 59″ masterpiece, you’ll start with the main 24″ floral vase panel, and accent with coordinating floral blocks & Garden Gems double border print. The solid black background adds to the romantic feel, creating an overall picture of ‘Shadow and Elegance’.

…from the ‘Shadow And Elegance’ collection by Leah McLean for RJR Fabrics.

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).

Don’t miss the ‘Steampunk Stitchery‘ and ‘Wild Iris‘ quilt patterns!

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.

Luana and Paul Rubin

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Luana in Alaska

Posted on August 19, 2023 by Luana

Luana is traveling to Alaska to photograph the Bears! She’ll be flying to Lake Clark National Park tomorrow, and she will report on her epic adventure in our midweek newsletter. Stay tuned!

Don’t forget to check out our Designer Clearance while it is 40% off! Lasts through Tuesday 8/22/23!

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Free Quilt Pattern – Wild Iris

Posted on August 18, 2023 by Luana

If Vincent Van Gogh stayed to watch the sunset after a day of painting in a field of Blue Irises, enjoying the Golden Hour and the purple twilight reflecting on a lake, maybe this is what he would imagine in his mind’s eye…?

To make this 41″ x 59″ quilt design, you will start with the 24″ x 44″ scenic panel, then piece the dynamic border with a Hoffman Hand-Dye, an impressionist watercolor stripe, and Kona Solid Black for added drama. Finish with a Mauve brushstroke print for the binding. This is another exclusive eQuilter quilt pattern, featuring the gorgeous artwork of one of our most popular designers in the industry.

This scene captures a fantasy moment somewhere in the South of France, and we can imagine sitting down next to Vincent and seeing the world through his eyes. We are pretty sure he would have loved the sizzle of complementary colors between the warm sunset hues, and the cool iris and shimmering water. This is a deeply nurturing and calming image that brings inspiration at dawn or dusk.

…from the ‘Wild Iris’ collection by Chong-A Hwang for Timeless Treasures.

Don’t miss the ‘Steampunk Stitchery‘ and ‘Klimt’s Bejeweled Kitty‘ quilt patterns!

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.

Luana and Paul Rubin

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Pop Queen

Posted on August 16, 2023 by Luana

When I travel to quilt festivals and quilt exhibits in other countries, one of my favorite things is to find the quilts that express the maker’s home country and native culture. The Festival of Quilts is the largest quilt festival in the UK/Europe part of the world, and it attracts quilt entries from Sweden to Germany and Italy and everything in between. It is a feast of culture and creativity!

Of course in the past year there were some major events in the UK. The Queen died after over 70 years on the throne, and Prince Charles became King Charles. Whether you love ’em or not, you have to admit it was a historic year for the Brits. Queen Elizabeth II was born in 1926, witnessed WWII, was coronated in 1952 at the tender age of 25, and died in 2022 after 70 years on the throne…the longest of any British monarch and any female head of state in history.

This quilt caught my eye, because it captured the famous coronation portrait of young Elizabeth, documented many historic events during her reign, and still managed to pull off a “Pop” style – reminding me of an Andy Warhol portrait.

In fact Warhol made a portrait of her from a photo taken in 1977 for her Silver Jubilee. I prefer her young coronation portrait.

I’ve included our Queen Elizabeth commemorative tea towel in the fabric collage frame for Fiona Wollaston’s clever art quilt – “70 Years a Queen”. You can see more photos including this quilt, on my photo pages. I’ll be adding more quilt photos this week, before I leave for Bear Camp on Friday.

My latest quilt “Uncompahgre Fritillary” is up in the new exhibit “Little Creatures” about endangered pollinators, at the Boulder Library Canyon Gallery. If you are in town, be sure to check out the exhibit.

Sharing your love of fabric…
Luana and Paul

* Photo of Fiona Wollaston’s quilt “70 Years a Queen” taken by Luana Rubin at the Festival of Quilts, Birmingham UK.

Visit eQuilter’s Instagram, Pinterest or TikTok pages for Color and Design ideas.

See Luana’s Flickr Photo Pages for travel images, review our blog, or follow us on Facebook.

Check out our Video pages for interviews and show reviews.

Travel/Quilt Calendar:
August 18-24 – Bear Camp in Alaska (via Homer)
Sept 14 – “Art & Activism” lecture at CU Boulder
Sept 28-30 – AQSG Seminar – Louisville, KY
Oct 27 – Nov 3 – Quilt Market/Festival – Houston TX

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Free Quilt Pattern – Meow

Posted on August 13, 2023 by Luana

Hmm, which kitty shall I choose today?
The Orange Tiger, the Calico, the Gray Stripe, the Bengal or the mysterious Black Cat?

To make this 52″ x 57″ quilt design, you will start with the 36″ x 44″ Block Panel with Kitty Vignettes. Use the coordinating Cat stripe and blender Bengal Spots to create the engineered border.

You can treat the central section as a mini ‘cheater quilt’ and stitch around the blocks. We like the contrast between the ordered rows of blocks in the panel, vs. the tangle of wild kitties in the border. The smaller stripes of Cat Faces saying “Meow Meow Meow ….” is pretty darn cute also!

…from the ‘Meow’ 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).

Don’t miss the ‘Steampunk Stitchery‘ and ‘Jazz Fusion‘ quilt patterns!

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.

Luana and Paul Rubin

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Random Acts of Kindness & Senseless Beauty

Posted on August 12, 2023 by Luana

Our hearts go out to the community of Lahaina on Maui, where a wind-driven wildfire has taken dozens of lives and over 1000 homes. This is similar to what happened here in Boulder on December 30, 2021, when we lost 1100 homes in a few hours. We know all too well the trauma of that kind of loss, and the long road to recovery. eQuilter.com has made donations to the community-based Maui organization helping locals to deal with trauma and losses.

We are reading today about ‘mountains’ of donations in Honolulu, so for now we are advising all of you to donate any amount of money that you can, and save the quilt donations until the initial crisis passes. We have tried to reach out to a couple of our customers who live in the Lahaina area, and have not heard back. We know that power was out on Kauai due to the same winds from the hurricane passing to the South. As these types of freak weather events happen more often, there is hopefully a new level of urgency to deal with the issue of climate change. These escalating wildfire events are not normal.

Many thanks to Patchwork Professional Magazine (Germany) for making me a Cover Girl in the issue released this weekend. It features my “Stardust Mothers” quilt on the cover, and they have given me a new nickname on the cover. Take a look here.

My latest activist quilt is in a new exhibit raising awareness about endangered pollinators, and the opening reception is Monday at 4 pm at the Boulder Library Canyon Gallery. In collaboration with the Endangered Species Coalition based in Washington DC, they have asked me to speak about ‘Art and Activism’ at CU Boulder on Sept 14 in the evening. (details forthcoming)

This month we have achieved the goal of raising $2 million for non-profits, over the last 24 years, through the eQuilter Charity program. You are all a part of this story, and even now 2% of all sales go to our list of charities and currently to disaster relief for Maui.

When the world is on fire and the news seems to all be bad, the answer is to Be A Force for Good in the World. We can all participate in this effort, as global citizens and compassionate human beings. I have always loved the idea of practicing “Random Acts of Kindness and Senseless Beauty”, and as quilters and makers we are in a unique position to share these gifts of kindness and beauty for those suffering loss. For ourselves, Stitch Therapy is a powerful antidote to the daily news.

sharing your love for fabric,
Luana and Paul

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.

Travel/Quilt Calendar:
August 18-24 – Bear Camp – Homer Alaska
Sept 28-30 – AQSG Seminar – Louisville, KY

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Free Quilt Pattern – Night Owls

Posted on August 11, 2023 by Luana

This one is for all you fellow Night Owls who stay up late shopping and sewing in your jammies. You know who you are!

To make this 62″ x 62″ quilt design, you will star by cutting up the 24″ x 44″ Owl Vignette Block Panel. Set the vignettes in pieced blocks with a Hoffman Gray Hand-Dye, and a Mauve blender. You will finish with the coordinating Owl Stripe to create the border.

This delightful little Owl quilt has Autumn Leaves, Sunflowers, a Full Moon and a little Pumpkin…a perfect project for the Fall season just around the corner.

…from the ‘Night Owls’ collection by Kathleen Francour for Studio E Fabrics.

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).

Don’t miss the ‘Steampunk Stitchery‘ and ‘Jazz Fusion‘ quilt patterns!

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.

Luana and Paul Rubin

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