We’ve gathered up lots of lovely bolt ends, discontinued designs, and overstocks…and we need to MOVE THEM OUT to make room for Summer Collections. Check out Over 2000 quality products at 40% – 70% OFF !
Tonight we are shocked and absolutely heartbroken at what happened at an elementary school in Uvalde Texas. There are just no words. At times like this we have to hug our children, and do some soul-searching about where our society is headed. This is a moral issue, not a political issue.
Over the weekend I was honored to attend the 25th Anniversary celebration at the International Quilt Museum (IQM) in Lincoln Nebraska, celebrating the vision of the founders Ardis and Robert James. Many of the luminaries of the quilting world gathered at the museum to hear stories about the founding of the organization, and I was thrilled to catch up with friends who I have not seen for 2 1/2 years…or more.
A fundraiser event for Ukraine is happening there now, with the submission deadline May 30, and a fundraiser auction on June 8-10. I was delighted to see the blue and yellow sunflower quilts hanging in the hallways and offices.
The Joanna Rose ‘Red & White’ Collection hanging in the back gallery is a luminous experience, and all I can say is, when you enter the gallery with these quilts you enter another dimension.
Our friend MJ Kinman has her stunning gemstone quilts hanging in the entry room of the 2nd floor, and there was a grand piano (and a pianist!) in the center of this room for the anniversary party.
The image above is a detail of a 1918 Red Cross Friendship Quilt, from the Red & White exhibit. Members of the New York chapter of the American Red Cross made this embroidered quilt as a fundraiser to support soldiers fighting in World War I. We are still stitching and quilting to support others today. When the world does not make sense and we want to find a way to help, we pick up needle and thread.
Thoughts and prayers and quilts are not enough for the families who lost children today. I encourage you to speak up and call for action on gun violence in America. Again.
Sharing your love of fabric, Luana and Paul
P.S. The Hoffman Sunflower batiks shown in the collage above, can be found here.
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Your Free Quilt Pattern – Steam in the Spring – Free Shipping
If vintage steam engines are a passion for you or somebody you know, this week’s exclusive eQuilter Free Quilt Pattern is a collector’s dream, featuring some of our favorite artwork for antique train buffs. Set in colorful Springtime landscapes, it is an eye-catching conversation starter!
To make this generous 72″ x 82″ quilt design, you will start with the 36″ x 44″ scenic panel, then cut up a second 36″ x 44″ block panel. Piece together with Solid Black, a Springtime Meadow print, and then use our exclusive Railroad Track Stripe to make the clever border. So much fun!
PLUS – you’ll receive Free USA / 50% off INTL shipping when you order the fabrics for this wonderful 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.
This Week’s Free Quilt Pattern features a misty mountain overlook, filled with a majestic deer, birds and forest trees in rich, cool hues. Hoffman’s Mystic Mountain collection is exquisitely illustrated with an artistic interplay of watercolor mist and shadow.
To make this 63″ x 71″ quilt, you’ll combine a pair of central panels with coordinating triangles of Hilltop Foliage in lavender and emerald green together with a delicate, whisper purple Hoffman hand dye.
PLUS – you’ll receive Free USA / 50% off INTL shipping when you order the fabrics for this wonderful 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.
So many of you were able to go out and visit our glorious National Parks this Summer, and now you are back home dreaming of your days in the forest and mountains and lakes. Perhaps you have a bucket list of more National Parks to visit, and this week’s Free Quilt Pattern will help you to keep track of that list!
To make this 63″ x 80″ quilt design, you will start with the amazing 54″ x 72″ digital-printed panel. (With 62 National Park posters.) This quick and easy quilt design uses 3 colors of Stonehenge textures to create the border. The central panel can be treated like a ‘cheater panel’ – i.e. you can stitch around the park posters as you would stitch around blocks on a cheater quilt panel.
This is a great gift idea for a friend or family member who has a bad case of wanderlust in what are hopefully the waning days of pandemic travel restrictions. Whoever sleeps under this quilt will also be dreaming of sleeping under the stars in the precious wild lands of our National Parks system.
PLUS – you’ll receive Free USA / 50% off INTL shipping when you order the fabrics for this wonderful 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.
Can I tell you a secret? There is no such thing as Creative Block. Somewhere in our journey we are told that this is a ‘thing’ and many of us believe it. But…do you remember the joy you felt in elementary school when it was time for art class? That is our natural state of being. Expressing Joy, Life, and Creativity from our heart and soul. With a giggle and lots of smiles. Think of Finger Painting.
Yes we have times when we are exhausted, when we are sad or stressed, when we are between creative cycles and we might be tempted to call it Creative Block. But don’t let it stop you. The creative cycle is like the Circle of Life. It just keeps flowing, turning, just like rising and setting of the Sun each day. Just take a breath. That next inspiration is always right around the corner.
I have called myself an artist since I was a little kid, and I am so lucky nobody ever tried to talk me out of it as I grew to adulthood. It is never too late to see yourself as a creative person, as an artist, as a maker. Maybe you need to keep a notebook to write down the things that jump-start your creative juices. Maybe you just push those buttons automatically, without even thinking. Either way, it is all valid. We all have a creative Inner Child that wants to come out to play. And you know what? That playful child is also capable of healing us on a very deep level. So I am just reminding you…this is your Truth. Don’t let anybody take that away from you.
One of my sure-fire creative warm-ups is putting on some favorite music. Usually it is music that I have heard while traveling somewhere magical. The Salsa music (Buena Vista Social Club) takes me back to Cuba. The Opera (Puccini) takes me back to Italy. The Spanish guitar – to Andalusia. Ladysmith Black Mombazo and Miriam Makeba – South Africa. The fiddle music takes me back to several countries! (Ireland, Scotland, Sweden, Czech Republic, Cape Breton/Nova Scotia…)
What is your big Creative Button that you can push when you get back into your studio or sewing space?
Speaking of Cuba, that seems to be the theme of the week. I have printed out some of my photos from Cuba on stretched canvas, and added some acrylic paint pen flourishes, for a fundraiser at our local Boulder Philharmonic this week. (See the 3 figure images above.) Then the reprint of my Cuban Cars fabric came back into stock (from photos of Retro Cars that I took in Cuba). And then…it was announced that Americans can start to travel to Cuba again. Yay! (Should I lead one more trip to Cuba?)
This Saturday I am giving a trend presentation for the Colorado Quilt Council. (CQC – our state guild) I’ll be giving that lecture via Zoom from the International Quilt Museum in Lincoln Nebraska. If you are a Colorado quilter, be sure to watch for the Zoom link on the CQC website or newsletter, and join us at 10 am MDT.
If you love Books and Cats (that would be 99% of you, right?) – this is the Free Quilt Pattern you’ve been waiting for. We’ve this new comical Kitty and Literary fabric design and put them into an eQuilter exclusive quilt design that you can hang in your Library, snuggle under while reading, or just fold it up and give it to your cats…ha!
Book titles in the main Kitty print include “The Cat of Monte Cristo,” “A Tale of Two Kitties,” “The Great Catsby,” “Wizard of Paws” and other silly puns for bibliophiles.
To make this 55″ x 60″ quilt design, you will start with our New ‘Cat Tales’ panel, then add vintage book pages and antique book titles. Cut up Benartex‘s gorgeously illustrated cat block panel to make the corners, add 3 Stonehenge textures, and you have a Feline Heirloom that shows your status as a Crazy Cat Lady or Freaky Feline Fellow to all who visit your abode. Meow!
PLUS – you’ll receive Free USA / 50% off INTL shipping when you order the fabrics for this wonderful quilt pattern (orders $100 and over, no coupon needed).
In light of the recent traumatic events that have unfolded at former Residential Schools across Canada and the US, we have designed this quilt ‘Every Child Matters’ out of reverence to those grieving. This painting depicts two siblings who were finally set free after being grimly discovered at a Residential School. The children who are shown holding hands were torn apart from each other, but now reunited as they make their way back home. Canadian artist Karen Erickson included beautiful imagery such as a moon and feathers to represent the First Nations, Inuit, and indigenous people joining together to guide the two siblings home.
Northcott is donating 100% of the net proceeds from the sales to the Indian Residential School Survivors Society and the Orange Shirt Society. When you check out, choose Mission of Love for your 2% eQuilter donation, for their work with the Lakota and other indigenous communities.
In this exclusive eQuilter Free Quilt Pattern, we have combined the central panel with 4 Hoffman Hand-Dyes – and a digital starry sky, pulling out the colors of Teal, Green and Marigold from the main panel.
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.
This year we are laughing over the fact that our wedding anniversary is on Friday the 13th, so to celebrate the day (with tongue firmly planted in cheek) we bring you this spooky Free Quilt Pattern with laughing Jack-o-Lanterns, Black Cats, and Ravens…and don’t forget those stylish striped Witchy Tights!
To make this 54″ x 59″ quilt design, you will start with the central panel, featuring 4 spooky vignettes. You will piece the Black Cat and Pumpkin prints with Kona Solid Black to make the set-in diamonds for the side panels. Then add the hilarious striped sock border.
PLUS – you’ll receive Free USA / 50% off INTL shipping when you order the fabrics for this wonderful 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.
This week’s exclusive eQuilter Free Quilt Pattern is a generous 63″ x 80″, featuring the 54″ x 72″ digital-printed panel with a collection of National Park retro postcard images. We’ve added 4 stone textures to create the Teal border which sets off the warm Earthtones with a complementary color story.
Part of the popularity of this panel is the fact that it is like a cheater quilt – it is easy to sew between the postcards to create the impression that it is pieced. Once you add the border and start quilting, you are off and running on this vintage tour of our nation’s most beautiful wild places!
PLUS – you’ll receive Free USA / 50% off INTL shipping when you order the fabrics for this wonderful 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.