We have just restocked the wildly popular “She Who Sews” collection, so we wanted to offer this Free Quilt Pattern before it runs out again! The illustrative style of designer J. Wecker Frisch is so distinctive, and this sewing-themed collection has her fans coming out of the woodwork to celebrate her artistry.
To make this 61″ x 74″ eQuilter exclusive quilt design, you will start with the large 54″ x 44″ Calendar Girl panel. Then use the yellow measuring tape print, the tossed spools, and 2 more blenders, to make the coordinating border.
This quilt is quick and easy because the central panel does not need to be cut up and pieced – it is kind of a ‘cheater panel’ to give you a fast start. You can add a Stitch-in-the-Faux-Ditch quilting to the black lines and – Shhh! – it will look like it is all pieced!
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.
Feel free to donate directly to Mission of Love to help purchase food and supplies that are being airlifted to Ukraine. We are sending extra funds to Mission of Love and other relief organizations on the ground helping refugees now.
We delivered the last batch of #MarshallFire donated comfort quilts to the Wildfire Recovery Center last week. There are so many quilts there, which is wonderful. So many quilters from around the area have donated their time and fabric to make quilts for those who lost a home. We thank all of you who contributed to this effort. It looks like they have plenty of quilts for whoever might come into the center these last few weeks that it is open. So now we will focus on collecting quilts for Ukraine.
Saturday I went to see the “Live at the Met” opera streaming in our local theater. They replayed a performance of the Ukraine National Anthem that was given last week at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house. The Met is presenting a Concert for Ukraine on this Monday at 6 pm EDT. The concert will be streamed in the US on NPR, broadcast internationally via the European Broadcasting Union, and streamed live on the Met Opera website.
Today (Sunday) I am going to hear Sophie play in the orchestra pit in ‘Guys & Dolls’ at our local university auditorium. When I was in high school I was in the pit for Oklahoma and My Fair Lady, and for Don Giovanni in college. I think that is some of the most fun I’ve had in my entire life. (As much fun as a Quilt Festival!) I’ll be smiling for Sophie’s sake in the audience.
I always sit in the front row so I can see the costumes. That is the slippery slope that led me to this industry: admiring the costumes from the pit, getting the fashion design degree, starting in costumes then the garment industry, then the textile industry, and landed in the quilt industry. As my mother-in-law used to say….Life is what happens while you are busy making plans. It all started in the pit.
Quilt/Travel Calendar: Now through Apr 9, 2022 – New England Quilt Museum (NEQM) “For the Love of Gaia” exhibit Sat, April 9, 1 pm – “Intl Quilt Trends” lecture – NEQM Closing Reception, Lowell MA June 15-18 – Quilt Canada, Vancouver BC July 21-15 – Sacred Threads Weekend, Dulles/Wash DC August 4 – Long Beach Quilt Festival October 2022 – Luana’s Polar Bear Tour – Churchill Manitoba Canada
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To make this 64″ x 72″ small bed coverlet quilt, you will start with the central 36″ x 44″ group animal portrait panel. Then cut up a block panel, piece with a coordinate animal stripe and blenders to create the fun engineered border. Your future zoologist, veterinarian or wildlife biologist will have fun sleeping and playing with this engaging quilt design!
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.
Thank you for offering to help with our quilt drive for Ukraine:
If you wish to donate a quilt for these Ukrainian refugee families, you have 2 options:
Drop off in person, at the eQuilter warehouse in Boulder Colorado.
If you need to ship the quilts, send directly to Mission of Love and be sure to get a tracking number if you want a confirmation of receipt. MOL is an all-volunteer organization which means they do not have somebody to send package acknowledgements or thank you notes. We thank you for your understanding.
Ship to: Mission of Love 2054 Hemlock Ct, Youngstown, OH 44515
PLEASE NOTE: Do NOT try to call Mission of Love.
They are crazy busy trying to organize the shipments! If you have questions please call or email eQuilter.
SIZE: Imagine what size quilt you would want if you had no home and were living in close quarters as a refugee. We suggest a large lap quilt, a twin coverlet or full/double size quilt. We are not picky about exact specs or fancy quilting. We just ask that you at least do stitch-in-the-ditch quilting. (Not a ‘tied’ quilt blanket.) This way the quilt will last longer!
Feel free to put a label with your name and a message of encouragement on the back of the quilt. Send it off with a prayer that the recipient will feel your love and support, that is sewn into every stitch.
“YES YES YES – tomorrow morning I will be delivering 23,000 lbs of rice to go to New Jersey and then into Ukraine. Next week I will also be delivering medical and humanitarian aid to them. I will be in touch tomorrow after I deliver the rice.”
Mission of Love is a volunteer non-profit run by Kathy Price. You may recall that I traveled to Guatemala with MOL and a team of surgeons some years ago. Together with Mission of Love we have collected, shipped and distributed over 15,000 donated comfort quilts around the world, over the last 22 years. Through our eQuilter charity program, we have support MOL relief efforts after hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding, fires and earthquakes. We have supported MOL building foster homes, hospices and clinics…for indigenous people, orphans, and those affected by natural disasters.
Mission of Love is the largest single user of the Denton Program, which uses military cargo planes to ship disaster relief, food and medical supplies around the world, without charge. I know these planes were all in use last week, ferrying supplies to Europe. (i.e. not available for Denton shipments) Last week Kathy sent a batch of Ohio quilts along with emergency relief supplies, in a container on a commercial airliner. This kind of shipping is very expensive so we are hoping to use the Denton Program for the larger shipments to Ukraine refugees. I don’t have all the details yet but I’ll share more information in the Saturday night e-newsletter.
So many of you have contributed for our quilt drives over the years: 3500 quilts for 9/11 2500 quilts for Japan after the tsunami 1500 quilts for NY after Hurricane Sandy …and you can see other quilt drives in this photo album.
In the meantime we are making additional donations to Doctors Without Borders, Mission of Love, and other non-profits bringing aid to the border countries. In today’s news it was said that now 2 million refugees have crossed the borders into neighboring countries. This is frankly incomprehensible to us. We can only try to understand what this means.
Thank you for sharing this link with friends who might want to help, or your local guild who are looking for a safe place to donate quilts for refugees in Ukraine.
Tomorrow, March 10, is eQuilter’s 23rd anniversary since we started our business in the basement of our house. It is also my mother’s 85th birthday. We are so blessed to have your support, so we can help others at a time like this. Next month we will reach a total of $1.9 million raised for charity over those 23 years, and we are not done yet.
…sharing your love of fabric, Luana and Paul
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If you have ever witnessed a Southwest Sunset, with hot bright colors bedazzling clouds in a clear blue sky, and golden light streaming over a red-rock desert landscape….well, you know what this is all about.
This week’s exclusive eQuilter Free Quilt Pattern captures that magical moment when the Sun is winking at us before it drops below the horizon. Then the twilight skies turn dark and the stars come out. It’s a breathtaking light show almost every night.
To make this 65″ x 80″ quilt design, you will start with the Sun Valley 28″ x 44″ panel, then create the beautiful border with the Sun Valley Stripe and collection coordinates. We love the eye-popping complementary colors that will ultimately make this a conversation piece on somebody’s bed.
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.
Another heartbreaking week has gone by with the news of bombed cities in Ukraine and the 1.2 million refugees in Poland and other countries. I spent this week researching non-profits already on the ground helping refugees, making phone calls and sending emails to our relief partners, and sending targeted donations to help children and families whose lives have been uprooted overnight. Your support of our business allows us to make these additional donations during this difficult time – our goal is for our service to be a force for good in the world – especially during an acute crisis such as this one. Thank you.
When you check out, if you want your 2% to go to the non-profits on our list who are helping Ukraine, choose Doctors Without Borders or Mission of Love. In addition to our list of 7 charities, we are sending donations to other organizations that are providing relief right now on the ground for the displaced. I have created a page with updated lists of other relief/non-profit organizations so you too can give directly to the cause that speaks most to your heart. Be sure to specify if you want it to be used only for Ukraine relief. So far we are also donating to SumOfUs, International Rescue Committee, Amnesty, KIND (Kids in Need of Defense), SOS Chidren, and IFAW. (Intl Fund for Animal Welfare)
We are also supporting a small group of European journalists (Change Weavers) who are traveling to the refugee entry points to tell the story of what is actually happening in Ukraine and with the escaping refugees….they are there to put the situation into a more human scale because it is so hard to comprehend the enormity of the situation. These are the filmmakers who produced “The Condor & The Eagle” which we hosted for our friends and customers last year. We pray for the safety of all affected.
Today I heard an interview on NPR’s “How I Built This” with Johann Hari, about his new book “Stolen Focus”. If you can find the podcast or the book, I suggest you check it out. I will say that those of us who sew and quilt, paint and make music, and express ourselves in other artist ways….we have found a way to fight the monster of techie distraction, but it can still find an insidious hold on us. After listening to this interview I decided to give special rings to the phone numbers of the important people in my life, and ignore the rest when I am in the Creative Zone. Now more than ever, we need to have extended periods of deep creative focus for our mental and emotional health. Do you know what I mean?
Quilt/Travel Calendar: Now through Apr 9, 2022 – New England Quilt Museum (NEQM) “For the Love of Gaia” exhibit Sat, April 9 – “International Quilt Trends” lecture – NEQM Closing Reception August 4 – Long Beach Quilt Festival October 2022 – Luana’s Polar Bear Tour – Churchill Manitoba Canada
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— Ukraine Crisis Fund. The international humanitarian group is providing food, water and other items to families fleeing violence in Ukraine. Contribute here.
— Doctors without Borders. Staffers with the medical relief organization remain in Ukraine and are “seeking ways to respond to the medical and humanitarian needs as the conflict evolves.” Offer support here.
— ICRC. The Swiss-based organization is supporting the work of the Ukrainian Red Cross in helping those impacted by the war. Donate to the ICRC.
— Keep Ukraine’s Media Going is a GoFundMe campaign for journalists around Ukraine that also aims to help reporters relocate and continue their work from neighboring countries. Donations can be made here.
Razom for Ukraine: Razom, meaning “together” in Ukrainian, is a volunteer charity organization that was originally founded in 2014 to support Ukrainians after Russia annexed Crimea.
Fundraiser for Sunflower of Peace: Sunflower of Peace’s fundraiser aims to provide first-aid backpacks to paramedics and doctors on the front lines. Each backpack contains enough tactical first-aid supplies for five to ten people.
Revived Soldiers Ukraine: This nonprofit provides medical aid to Ukrainian soldiers and provides support to their families.
Medical Teams International: This humanitarian aid agency is deploying a team to Ukraine and working with partners to deliver critical medical supplies to those on the ground.
To help children affected by the war
Voices of Children: This organization helps provide psychological and psychosocial support to Ukrainian children affected by armed conflict.
Save the Children: Based in the U.K., Save the Children has created a Ukraine crisis-relief fund that’s getting food, water, hygiene kits, cash, and psychosocial support to children and families.
ChildFund International: Founded in 1983, ChildFund offers international financial support to children in need. Donate to their German organization, ChildFund Deutschland, which is providing emergency-aid kits to children and families in Ukraine.
Global Empowerment Mission: In conjunction withBStrong, this organization is running a welcome center at the Poland-Ukraine border.They’re using their funds to facilitate the influx of refugees to Poland, paying for flights and trains to relocate anyone who can’t find housing in Poland.
Humanity & Inclusion: This global organization supports individuals and refugees from conflict-stricken areas, especially those with physical injuries and disabilities and the elderly. Their Ukraine appeal fund will help deliver emergency aid to refugees displaced by the conflict.
To support BIPOC and LGBTIQ+ refugees
The Coalition to Support Black People in Ukraine is a fundraiser that aims to help Black people facing racism and being turned back as they try to flee the country. Funds will go toward paying relocation fees and connecting Black refugees with their families, as well as food and other practical supplies.
OutRight International: The nongovernmental organization addresses human-rights violations against the LGBTIQ community. You can donate to their Ukraine fundraiser here.
QUA: QUA-LGBTQ is an organization connecting LGBTQ Ukrainians LGBTQ with allies in the United States. Your donations will go toward emergency support for the Ukrainian LGBTQ community in conflict-stricken areas.
Additional ways to help
• Donate to Nova Ukraine’s Heart2Heart initiative, which assembles care packages for people in Ukraine.
• Donate to CARE’s Ukraine Crisis Fund, which aims to provide food, water, hygiene kits, and more to Ukrainians, especially women and girls.
• Donate to International Medical Corps, which will deploy mobile medical teams to provide emergency and primary health services, including psychosocial services, to conflict-affected Ukrainian communities.
• Donate to GlobalGiving’s Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund, which funnels funds to humanitarian support in Ukraine, including shelter, food, and clean water for refugees.
• Donate to Mercy Corps, a global humanitarian group whose Humanitarian Response Fund is sending emergency cash and supplies to people throughout Ukraine.
• Donate to People in Need, a Czech group that responds to an emergency help line by sending trucks loaded with nonperishable food, hygiene products, sleeping bags, and other items to any location that requests aid. PIN is also setting up sites at the border to help refugees cross safely.
All around the world we have seen an outpouring of support for the people of Ukraine, and quilters are expressing this with the symbolic flower of the country – the yellow Sunflower.
To make this 55″ x 62″ eQuilter exclusive quilt design, you will start with the 24″ x 44″ scenic Sunflower Field panel. Piece the Sunflower Stars in each corner, with Hoffman Hand-Dyes. As an option, you can re-color this this quilt with a Ukrainian Blue solid or hand-dye in the border instead of the solid black.
We are targeting donations this week for relief funds to Ukrainian refugee non-profits on the ground, above and beyond our usual 2% of sales. I am sure you share our desire to help the 1 million women and children who have poured over the borders into neighboring countries, seeking safety from the invasion. Our hearts and prayer and donations go out to the brave Ukrainian people.
Tonight as I write to you, we are all reeling over the news of what is happening in Ukraine. We look at the photos, we try to imagine how it feels, but unless you’ve experienced this in person….well, we can only try to imagine. However we can pray, we can empathize, we can ask questions about how to help. Right now these refugees need financial support in the form of disaster relief, which is why eQuilter has been donating to several organizations who can help the children, the displaced families, and yes the pets. One of the organizations that I give to personally is SOS Children, and I know they are on the ground specifically looking to help displaced Ukrainian children. We don’t know what the next few days or weeks will bring, but we know that these families have the concern from mothers and fathers around the world who are contributing whatever they can, as we feel relatively helpless watching the TV.
700K refugees have fled Ukraine so far, and it is anticipated that 4 million refugees could cross multiple borders. It is reported tonight that a half million people are stuck in traffic, still trying to get out. One of our employees has family in Poland who are receiving refugees into their home. Families are arriving after being out in the freezing temps for several days with their children, with no food or water, and the clothes on their backs. Can you imagine?
We have quilter friends in both Ukraine and Russia, and we know that Russians are protesting in the streets. It is a sad time for both countries, and just pray that this will come to a quick and peaceful resolution to minimize further damage. If you wish to make a flag or quilt to show solidarity for Ukraine, you can see the fabrics with the colors and symbols of the country when you type “Ukraine” in our search box. I have received requests for the colors of the flag (Blue and Yellow) and for the flowers that symbolize Ukraine. (Sunflowers) We are working hard this week to keep these fabrics in stock. We will continue to donate relief funds to multiple non-profits on the ground in and around this tragedy, and we thank you for supporting our efforts.
My laptop blew up tonight – burning and coughing smoke like the self-destructing tape player intro of the old Mission Impossible TV show (do you remember the original theme song written in a 5/4 time signature with the bongo drums?) – so the list of non-profits I had prepared for you is unavailable at the moment. (My laptop’s blistering demise is kind of how I felt after watching the news the last several days.) There are plenty of sites listing ways to donate and help Ukrainians if you are so moved. I will post a list on our blog in a day or two, and will link to it in our Saturday night e-newsletter.
Go ahead and make quilts to express how you are feeling about this moment in history. There will be opportunities for displaying quilts that document our textile testimonials.
Pray for Peace, donate to help refugees, and speak out against violence and hatred every day. Together, we must speak up for Love, for Truth, and for the children of Ukraine.
…sharing your love of fabric, Luana and Paul
Quilt/Travel Calendar: Through Apr 9, 2022 – New England Quilt Museum (NEQM) “For the Love of Gaia” exhibit Sat, April 9 – “International Quilt Trends” lecture – NEQM Closing Reception August 4-6 – Long Beach Quilt Festival October 18-24 – Luana’s Polar Bear Tour – Churchill Manitoba Canada
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For our serious Bibliophiles….this week’s exclusive eQuilter Free Quilt Pattern is the Library of your dreams, filled with beautifully bound vintage books stacked, shelved, tumbling down in an abundance of literary treasures.
To make this 53″ x 53″ quilt design, you will fussy cut a library scene from an allover vintage library print. Then you will again fussy cut the corner blocks from a vintage map print, add parchment scattered pages and stacked books to make the border. Splice with a textured Stonehenge print that represents leather-bound book covers, and finish binding with an exquisite Bookbinders Marble.
There are so many delightful details in all of these literary-themed fabrics….and if you are a vintage book collector or avid bookworm, this will be a thrilling project because it is made just for YOU.
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.
