Valentines is a favorite holiday for quilters and fabric lovers. Why? Because we love to make things, for the people we love. Our creativity is inspired by love throughout the year though, because we love to put all of our good wishes into our stitches, and then share that gift of love with another.

I am very lucky that I get to see my Valentine every day when I go to work. We are also very lucky that we were able to lure Paul away from the other company he was running, to design our website and manage eQuilter as it grew and evolved over the years. If you've enjoyed the photos I've shared from my travels, you can thank Paul for taking care of the house, kids, pets and eQuilter while I have been traveling over the years.

You might be interested to know that Paul and I met through the personal ads in the Boulder Daily Camera (before online dating sites!) and within 2 weeks we knew we were going to get married and have a family. We both had 50 responses to our ads, but when we met, it was all over.

Paul is happy to stay out of the public spotlight, but he is the Big Brain behind our super-fast website, exclusive eQuilter techie-toys like the Color Finder, and our custom-designed software.

He never complains or gets jealous when I travel, he supports me being an artist and designer, and he fixes my computer glitches in the blink of an eye. What more could a creative gal ask for?

So Happy Valentines to my sweetie, and I hope all of you have or find a Valentine just as wonderful!

This week I am popping over to Las Vegas for one day at a big fashion trade show, to check out trends in textiles, colors and cotton sourcing. Then I am going to sneak out for a "Rat Pack" dinner show so I can listen to those great old Sinatra and Dean Martin songs…

If you haven't yet visited my Facebook page or my photo page

http://www.flickr.com/photos/luanarubin/

http://www.facebook.com/luana.rubin

this week, you might want to have a quick peek at the first batch of photos posted from the Tokyo quilt fest. It is a continuation of what I wrote about Tuesday in my Creative Nudge – seeing the show through the Japanese quilters' eyes.