Free Quilt Pattern – Turtle Odyssey

Today’s Free eQuilter pattern features the underwater world of the Sea Turtle. Sea turtles symbolize good luck and longevity, and are often thought of as guardian spirits.

This pattern features Quilting Treasures’ beautifully illustrated Sea Turtle fabric.
To make the 56″ x 64″ quilt design, you will start with the central 36″ x 44″ scenic turtle digitally printed panel, and then use a Hoffman Hand-Dye and 4 Kona Solids to create the border and pieced corners. This quilt will delight anyone who loves and protects these endangered creatures.

…from the ‘Turtle Odyssey’ collection by Carol Cavalaris for Quilting Treasures.

Don’t miss the ‘Art Journal‘ and ‘Family of Retrievers‘ 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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Ten Inch Square Pre-Cuts: Prints & Blenders SALE

Don’t miss out on this One Day Only sale of Ten Inch Square Pre-Cuts in our Prints & Color Palette categories. This sale ends at 12:59 PM Mountain Daylight Time on Thursday, April 20th.

Sharing your love of fabric…and color….
Luana and Paul

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Singing in the Streets

I am writing to you tonight from Nantes in France, after a long day of travel.
Tomorrow morning I am going to take the tram across town early in the morning, to help jury the contest and photograph the exhibits at the Pour l’Amour du Fils quilt festival, which is organized by QuiltMania Magazine. I’ll be seeing so many friends from France, Netherlands, and other countries in Europe. The anticipation of these reunions is wonderful! The last time I was here was April 2019, right after Notre Dame burned. I stopped in Paris for a couple days on the way home, to see the fire damage for myself. However the good news is that the planned 5 year restoration is on track, and this historic building will return to its former glory. I have been visiting the cathedral since the late 80s, so the fire and the collapse was very shocking to me.

Over the last week I finished 3 magazine articles for publications in 3 countries, and also spent a lot of time with my mom who is in further decline at a local nursing home. Needless to say I am starting this trip with exhaustion, but I’ll take it easy and try to get lots of sleep tonight. I had a very interesting seatmate on Lufthansa – an American businessman and young father who was on his way to India for a construction trade show. He is starting a new job after this trip – as a church deacon. We had an interesting discussion about politics and religion. The two forbidden subjects! I got to tell him some stories about taking Pan Am from New York to Asia…back in the Old Days. Ha.
We agreed that young people need to take the lead on bringing people together and healing the planet. His point of view was very refreshing and gave me hope.

Speaking of which, the subject of my power point talk here on Thursday is “Art and Activism”. I will be giving this same presentation at Quilt National (Dairy Barn in Athens Ohio) the end of May. It is such a huge trend in the arts today. Once you start paying attention to this trend, you will see people expressing their opinions and concerns everywhere in the arts…not just the visual or textile arts, but also music, dance, poetry, plays and new operas. When I express my concerns about climate change, toxic pollution, children’s issues, and human rights…I hope that my visual message gently invites my viewers to give some thought to the topic. (And perhaps take action.)

When I got here, I took a shower and then took a sunset walk around the Chateau next door. They are still protesting in the streets in France, about raising the retirement age from 62 to 64. It was a peaceful protest but there were lots of police. There were about 700-800 people singing, marching down the street, carrying flags. People were sitting in the outdoor cafes having a glass of wine and watching the protesters march past. An interesting way to start my trip!

Sharing your love of fabric…and color….
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:
April 18-26 – Pour l’Amour du Fil – Nantes, France (Apr 20 – Art & Activism Lecture)
April 27-30 – Amsterdam, Netherlands
May 27 – Dairy Barn, Athens OH – Quilt National – Art & Activism Lecture
June 8-10 – Quilt Canada – Halifax, Nova Scotia
August 18-24 – Bear Camp in Alaska

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Free Quilt Pattern – Halloween Haunting

A mysterious Black Cat is reflected in an ornate Victorian mirror, with a pair of Ravens on night watch, and a bed of faded roses at her feet….a perfect scenario for your new favorite Halloween Free Quilt Pattern!

To make this 62″ x 80″ quilt, you will start with the central stylized 24″ x 44″ panel. We’ve combined our favorite Halloween-themed prints from several different designers, for this exclusive quilt design…including more black cats, ravens, embellished pumpkins, and a spooky graveyard scene. Fussy cut diamonds and set on point for the inner border. Use the stripe to create the outer engineered border.

This quilt will be the life of your Halloween party, and you know there is a special someone who will especially appreciate the Black Cat theme!

…from the ‘Wicked’ collection by Timeless Treasures
and the ‘Candelabra’ collection by Cerrito Creek Studio 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 ‘Art Journal‘ and ‘Family of Retrievers‘ 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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Free Quilt Pattern – Water Lilies

Capture the fresh colors of Springtime with this delightful Free Quilt Pattern, featuring a lush scenic view of a Water Lily pond and dragonflies in flight. We love the pieced flower blocks in the corners of the quilt, echoing the colors and shapes of the central panel of this design.

To make this 49″ x 66″ exclusive eQuilter quilt design, you will start with the scenic yardage depicting large scale blossoms and lily pads. You will use 6 Hoffman Hand-Dyes and the charming Lily Stripe, to piece the floral corner blocks and engineered border. These uplifting colors will bring smiles and joy into any room. Makes a sweet Lap/Nap quilt, or a cheerful wall hanging.

These colors are good enough to eat with a spoon! Yum!

…from the ‘Water Lilies’ collection by Michel Design Works 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 ‘Art Journal‘ and ‘Family of Retrievers‘ 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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An Interview with Industry Icon and Designer…..

This week we are delighted to share this intimate online interview with textile artist and designer, Paula Nadelstern. We are huge fans of Paula and her gorgeous fabrics from Benartex, but I also appreciate Paula on a personal level. I’ve known Paula for such a long time, and I’ve run into her at quilting events around the world over the decades. We share many things in common, including living in New York, but Paula has lived there all her life. She is one of the industry matriarchs who helped to lay a foundation for textile artists who followed.

I’ve visited the International Quilt Museum in Lincoln NE recently, and her Patternista exhibit just closed there. I saw this exhibit last year at Visions in San Diego, and again at IQM. Honestly I never get tired of studying and admiring her amazing kaleidoscope quilts. How lucky for us that she translated her kaleidoscopic visions into quilts, fabrics and patterns. Some of you may be lucky enough to have taken a class from Paula. One year in Winnipeg I sat with her classroom for a morning (the day before I left for a polar bear trip) while her delayed flight was en route. (As I recall, I gave a little lecture about fabric design and production, as we waited for her to show up from the airport.)

In this Part 1 of our long interview, Paula talks about her design process. We currently have over 60 of her products in stock, so you can click through here to see examples of her fabric designs. We have always been committed to stocking as many of Paula’s fabrics, as humanly possible…because we know you guys LOVE her fabrics! As fellow fabriholics, we have a shared love of William Morris fabrics which is part of our discussion.

Monday I fly to France, and I’ll be at the Nantes quilt festival on Wednesday. If you are coming to the show on Thursday, please come to my power point lecture on “Art and Activism” at 3 pm in the main exhibit hall. I have some exciting things happening on this long 2 week trip to France and Amsterdam – stay tuned for my updates in the Weds and Sat e-newsletters. I’ll be taking photos of the quilt exhibits, and other eye candy on the trip, which I will share with you.

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:
April 18-26 – Pour l’Amour du Fil – Nantes, France (Apr 20 – Art & Activism Lecture)
April 27-30 – Amsterdam, Netherlands
May 27 – Dairy Barn, Athens OH – Quilt National – Art & Activism Lecture
June 8-10 – Quilt Canada – Halifax, Nova Scotia
August 18-24 – Bear Camp in Alaska

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Free Quilt Pattern – Solar System Adventure

Space may seem like a great black void, but the Solar System is a colorful place! This detailed eQuilter exclusive quilt design has so many interesting details, it will keep your astronomer busy for hours, not to mention the possibility of astronaut or sci-fi dreams if used as a bed quilt!

To make this 75″ x 67″ quilt design, you will start with the 36″ x 44″ Solar System Panel. Then use a gradient Starry Sky/Aurora Borealis print, plus Kona Solid Black and the coordinating Planetary Stripe, to create the border.

The central panel has so much educational material, this could also be used as a wall hanging and irresistible classroom tool, to illustrate the concepts of orbiting planets and moons to curious students.

…from the ‘Unicorns & Space’ collection by Four Seasons for David Textiles.

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 ‘Art Journal‘ and ‘Klimt’s Cleo the Cat‘ 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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Once-A-Year CHOCOLATE Blowout Sale

We’ve had record-setting heat this week, so we are sadly saying good-bye to our Chocolate Category for another year.

Last year it all sold out in a couple days once we put it on sale, so if you want to snap up a selection of these Artisan chocolates, do it now!

We are putting a couple categories of Pre-Cut Fat Quarter collections on sale just to sweeten the pot.
The chocolates are 30% off until they are out of stock.

Please do NOT order if you live in a climate that is already hot, or will be hot over the next week. These products can only be shipped to cool or mild temperature locales or they will melt. We do not accept returns for melted chocolate on our closeout sale, sorry!

The next 2 days are cool here in Boulder so it is the perfect time to get these shipped out to you!

The Two Pre-Cut fabric sales are just for 24 hours – until 11:59 pm Mountain Daylight Time on Thursday April 13.

Sharing your love of fabric…and CHOCOLATE….

Luana and Paul

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The Magical Land of Hot Pink

Hot Pink Dahlia Collage

If it was up to me, this juicy Hot Pink would be the Color of the Year. (My Dahlia photo above.)

It is not Millennial Pink, whose time has passed. It is not the Pepto Bismol Pink that was part of a color psychology experiment in a prison. It is the color that an LA artist used to paint three houses that were due to be torn down. Hordes of people showed up to take selfies at this temporary ‘art installation’.

But it is also the color of Valentino’s entire fashion show last year. It is a hue that makes us think of Frida Kahlo. It is the Pink Ribbon we wear for Breast Cancer Awareness. It is the name of a Doja Cat album. It is the color of modern feminism and a women’s grassroots peace movement. It is a sassy, powerful color. And…we can grow it in our flower gardens this summer!

Pink was not always a feminine or girly color. That came after the Victorian era, just like white wedding dresses. In the early 20th century, pink was for boys and pastel blue was for girls. That changed in the 1940s with the Baby Boomers. However, the Pastel Pink Girly Era is grinding to a sparkly halt. Yes there are a few who think of fairies and unicorns and pastels when they hear the word Pink, but the modern version of Pink is emerging as a Power Color, worn by women and men, and everyone in-between.

My husband Paul (the Oz behind the eQuilter curtain) just got new Hot Pink running shoes and people stop him on the street when he is walking our dogs, asking him where he got his shoes. They are kind of a Hot Orchid (Pink-Purple) color. Fabulous.

If you are wanting to venture into the Land of Hot Pinkness, I’ve given you some ideas about a potential color palette, above.

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:
April 18-26 – Pour l’Amour du Fil – Nantes, France (Apr 20 – Art & Activism Lecture)
April 27-30 – Amsterdam, Netherlands
May 27 – Dairy Barn, Athens OH – Quilt National – Art & Activism Lecture
June 8-10 – Quilt Canada – Halifax, Nova Scotia
August 18-24 – Bear Camp in Alaska

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Free Quilt Pattern – Klimt’s Cleo the Cat

What happens when you combine 2 of your favorite things into one deliciously perfect creation? No, it is not S’mores. (Actually that would be 3 things) But in this case we’re featuring the delightful hybrid of Klimt and Cats. (Gustav Klimt, not the cat cartoonist Kliban.) Gustav was a brilliant artist who lived in Vienna 1862-1918. His artworks reproduced on fabric panels, have been some of our most popular products over the years.

To make this gorgeous 45″ x 59″ quilt design, you will start the central Klimt Kitty 24″ x 44″ panel. (Please note these are all screen prints with GOLD metallic details.) This exclusive eQuilter quilt design combines the Klimt fabrics from 2 different manufacturers, so you will use the Klimt blenders and the Klimt allover cats to create that absolutely perfect frame!

If you want to get super fancy, stitch the border with Gold Metallic Thread. Don’t forget to pick up Metallica Needles and Sewer’s Aid (thread lubricant) to pamper that beautiful thread as it moves through your machine. Is Super Fancy your vibe? Try some of these beautiful beads. (Yes we do have beading thread and beading needles for your embellishment adventures.) This whimsical quilt design is the ultimate conversation-starter with your friends obsessed with art history and cats….that includes just about all quilters….right??

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

Don’t miss the ‘Art Journal‘ and ‘Kitty Rescue‘ 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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