We just received several hundred copies of the Schmetz “ABC Pocket Guide – Home Sewing Machine Needles” booklet, a 30-page 5″x7″ publication that helps you to match the right needle with your thread size and sewing task. With every purchase of an Aurifil Large Cone, Collection or Set (All 20% off through the end of the month) we will include a free Schmetz Needle Guide. (One per customer please.) You can see our current stock of Schmetz Needles here.
I have just returned from Boston, where I visited the John Singer Sargent exhibits at the MFA, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Isabella (1840–1924) was the daughter of a man who made his initial fortune importing Irish linen. She grew up in New York, was ‘finished’ in Paris. After she and her husband lost their only child, they traveled throughout Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Later she studied with the Harvard’s first art history professor. She began a lifelong obsession with collecting….rare books & manuscripts, and eventually her grand obsession of collecting fine artwork.
After she lost her husband, she built a Venetian-inspired palatial museum with a music hall and interior courtyard garden. She lived on the top floor and was known as a ‘Millionaire Bohemienne’. Her relationship with Sargent as patron and friend, led to several portraits. The concurrent exhibit at her museum features her full length portrait by Sargent. To see the rest of his stunning life-size portraits of other personalities who inspired “The Gilded Age“, just walk a few blocks to the Museum of Fine Art to see the John Singer Sargent once-in-a-lifetime exhibit, closing January 15, 2024.
Women have struggled to be recognized as artists and patrons, and Mary Cassatt was one of the first painters to break through into a male-dominated art world. Above, you see Cassatt’s painting “The Tea” (photographed at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston) in her signature style, depicting intimate moments of domestic life.
The National Museum of Women in the Arts has just reopened in Washington DC after a long renovation. The NMWA is the first museum in the world solely dedicated to championing women through the arts.
On this theme, I am featuring 3 female artists in the 3 fabric categories shown above. (See original e-newsletter for links.) Of course in the quilting world women are ubiquitous, and men are most welcome, but it is not that long ago that women were barred from participating in the art professions. Now we work for diversity in the textile arts, and for art quilts to be accepted as Fine Art. There is always another barrier to break down in the world of art.
Thank you for supporting our family-owned business in 2023 – the year we topped $2 million raised for charity – with YOUR help.
Sharing your love of fabric…
Luana and Paul
Now through December 31 – special pricing on Aurifil Threads.
Time to add to your palette of thread colors!
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.
Luana’s Art & Activism lecture is now online.
Travel/Quilt Dates:
Feb 21-24, 2024 – QuiltCon in Raleigh, NC – eQuilter is a GOLD Sponsor.
March 6 – Canadian Quilters Association – Zoom Lecture “Intl Quilt Trends”
