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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BC / AC / PP?

Posted on August 9, 2023 by Luana

I’ve been home for 24 hours and I am still going through my photos from the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham UK. I have to be careful before sharing photos, because there were many quilts made with someone else’s pattern, but only the quiltmaker’s name was listed on the wall plaque next to the quilt. There are a lot of amazing talented new paper-pieced pattern designers coming up out there, but I’d prefer to see the original quilt made by the pattern designer, in an international show like this. So pardon me while I do my homework and sift through the photos for the next few days or week….

The central image here is a stunning modern figurative quilt made by Wendy Ward of New Zealand. It is called “Friday Drinks BC – Before Covid” which is nostalgic and fresh at the same time. This is the trend of “Black and White and Color” that I’ve been talking about for awhile. Her silhouette figures are very precise and evocative. I see that Wendy won Best of Show at the 2021 Great New Zealand Quilt Show in Rotorua, (Hey! I’ve been there!) with a similar figure quilt called “Belonging”. So I am glad to see this talent from down under, bubbling up in the UK big quilt show. Beautiful work Wendy!

The world seems to have (mostly) moved on from Covid, although it is still out there simmering away with new variants. How do I know? My best friend is studying the latest variants. Anyway, what do we call this period of time? Before Covid is ‘BC’. So is After Covid ‘AC’?…. or maybe ‘PP’ for Post-Pandemic? I am sure in hindsight there will be an established term for this period of time. Like, have you noticed that the first decade of the 21st century is now referred to as the Noughts, or the Noughties? (Nought means nothing, or zero, so the years 2000-2009 have picked up this nickname.) There are Noughties fashions, Noughties hair styles, Noughties music….you get the idea.

So what is a Noughties quilt?
Sorry, I had to ask.

If you are in the Boulder area, you are welcome to come on Monday Aug 14 to the opening reception for “Little Creatures” with my quilt “Uncompahgre Fritillary” at the Boulder Library Gallery on Canyon. The gallery reception starts at 4 pm and a program follows at 5 pm:
Music performance by Melody Blauw and world-renowned Entomologist Dr Sammy Ramsey in the library theater.

I just found out I am a “Cover Girl” – my quilt “Stardust Mothers” is on the cover of the new issue of ‘Patchwork Professional’ Magazine, coming out this Saturday in Germany. It also contains my article on Art & Activism. I am honored, and delighted!

Thank you for the many kind words of condolence for our beloved dog Ruby.

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 – Jazz Fusion

Posted on August 6, 2023 by Luana

Music is a universal language that reaches across all borders.

This Free Quilt Pattern features the jazz themed artwork of Chong-A Hwang, with beautiful layers of texture and color that add to the dimension and romance of this harmonious visual composition..

You will start with a square center section of jazz musicians, then add a white border and Spiral Piano Keyboard curls. The outer border features a coordinating allover instrument print with our dynamic black and white keyboard stripes, which pop against the solid black background.

This 54″ x 54″ quilt design will bring sweet jazz dreams to the lucky music lover who naps beneath it’s cover, or perhaps it will make a fabulous wall hanging for a beloved music teacher or an orchestra’s rehearsal space.

…from the ‘Jazz Fusion’ 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).

Don’t miss the ‘Steampunk Stitchery‘ and ‘Cosmic Butterfly‘ 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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Always Be Yourself

Posted on August 5, 2023 by Luana

Tonight I am writing to you from Birmingham in the UK, where I’ve been attending and photographing the Festival of Quilts. It is the 20th anniversary for this event, so there is a festive air here. The retrospective exhibit is fantastic!

As you may know if you follow my personal Facebook page, we had a family tragedy yesterday while I was gone. Our beloved dog Ruby was rushed to the emergency Vet, and Paul had to make the horrible decision to let her go. As you can imagine, I am just devastated that I was not there to say goodbye. Ruby slept next to me at night, and was at my feet when I was working or eating at home. She was my baby. We are all crushed.

However I managed to go to the show this morning to finish photographing the exhibits, and I’ll be sharing those photos with you soon. There is still a lot of post-pandemic energy being expressed in the quilts, and that’s a good thing! I had a 4-hour dinner with a museum director and magazine editor tonight, and our long conversation was about how the quilting world is changing, and how we can help the quilting world transition to these exciting new modalities. It’s all good, but like everything else in life, the pendulum swings back and forth in long cycles and we are watching the trends closely. I appreciate being able to go to these big international events to share ideas with other talented women in leadership positions. We had a long talk about how quiltmaking is metamorphing, and what this new big trend is, that’s slowly coming into focus. So many influences to consider – cultural, economic, technical, and even global. When we sit in our corner and stare at our own pile of marbles, it doesn’t make much sense. When we gather together and look at all the marbles in one big multicolor pile, there are some pretty cool brainstormed ideas that emerge.

We do see that the judging metrics here seem to be different than any other shows in the world. The Festival of Quilts is not juried – every quilt submitted gets into the show. The biggest issue seems to be the quiltmakers choosing the correct category … or not. If the quilt is put in the wrong category, it will not be eligible for any prize. I see modern quilts from QuiltCon being entered in the contemporary category, and all kinds of other quilts (traditional quilts, contemporary quilts) entered in the Modern category. My friend Linda Seward (one of the judges this year) gave a lecture on how to pick the right category, and it is sorely needed. This is a topic that the quilt world needs to discuss!

Another topic discussed here is giving credit where it is due. If a quilt is from a pattern or book by another quilter, based on a class project from the teacher’s design, or if it is a copy of another quilter’s work, credit must be given! I saw one quilt that used cut-outs of my own fabric designs, used to make a quilt with figures, but no mention of my artwork being used. So these are things we must all discuss and perhaps educate new quilters on the topic. There are still quilters who think it is ok to buy one pattern and make copies for all their friends. This is how our quilt pattern designers go out of business. Always give credit to the original artist, and always respect copyright. We encourage everyone to create their own original designs, if possible. It is absolutely fine to be inspired by others, but don’t copy. Be unique! You can do it! There is so much amazing creativity in our quilting community!

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:
Aug 3-7 – Festival of Quilts, Birmingham UK
August 18-24 – Bear Camp – Homer Alaska
Sept 28-30 – AQSG Seminar – Louisville, KY

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Free Quilt Pattern – Northern Peaks

Posted on August 4, 2023 by Luana

Today’s special Free Quilt Pattern features grizzly bears gathering amongst the tall pines and mountain peaks in a stunning Northwoods landscape, with Melanie’s distinctive alcohol ink painting technique.

To make this 53″ x 66″ scenic quilt, you will start with the atmospheric 32″ x 44″ panel. We’ve combined 5 of the collection’s blender prints, in shades of Misty Green, Indigo and Coffee Brown, to make the pieced border which mimics the mountain peak skyline…for this eQuilter exclusive quilt design.

…from the ‘Northern Peaks’ collection by Deborah Edwards and Melanie Samra for Northcott 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 ‘Cosmic Butterfly‘ 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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Flowers, Fruit & Pollinators

Posted on August 2, 2023 by Luana

Wednesday night I am flying to Birmingham England, for the Festival of Quilts. They are celebrating their 20th anniversary and I am excited to photograph the quilt exhibit this year. This has been the biggest show for Europe for many years, and I always look forward to seeing quilts from not only all over the UK (Ireland, Scotland, Wales & England) but also quilts from all over the continent. My favorites are the quilts that show some of the culture of their home country. From Finland and Netherlands, to Spain and Italy, it is a smorgasbord of color trends, fascinating techniques, and creative brilliance.

The last 2 weeks I’ve been madly working on 2 big projects – a writing project (which I’ll tell you about later this year) and a quilt that will premier at an art exhibit about endangered pollinators, opening August 14 at the Boulder Museum. (“Little Creatures”)

As you may know I’ve been developing a collaboration with the Endangered Species Coalition in Washington DC, and I was invited to make a piece for this project. I chose the Uncompahgre Fritillary – an endangered Colorado butterfly that lives in a small range in our mountains. They have also asked me to speak on “Art & Activism” Sept 14 at CU Boulder. More details to come.

It is one of the biggest quilts I’ve made so far – at 40″ x 60″ it has been a challenge to get it done before this trip! Some of the products I’ve used to get this quilt finished on my Bernina Q20:
Martelli Quilting Hoops, Sewers Aid, Silicone Spray, SoftFuse, Steam-a-Seam 2 Lite, Titanium Non-Stick Needles, Goddess Pressing Sheets, 72″ Wide Wool Felt, Karen Kay Buckley Scissors, and a Lightbox! And lots of beautiful colors of Aurifil Threads. The quilt is made from leftover scraps of eQuilter batiks and hand-dyes. After you guys buy all the yardage, I go ‘dumpster diving’ in our scrap hamper, and pull out batiks for my project. You can find a wide range of batiks and hand-dyes on our site of course, and you get first pick! All of these products – fabric, notions, fusibles, batting, thread – are available at eQuilter.

Contact Customer Service for more information.
These products are all Luana-tested and Luana-approved. *wink*
I will share a photo of the quilt when I get back.

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 2-7 – Festival of Quilts, Birmingham UK
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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