The remarkable panel celebrates a woman with shamanic headdress, while an explosion of color and shadow brings life to the face paint, feathers, and flames. The center panel is framed by a mitered Native American blanket print, and bordered with solid black.
This 65″ x 65″ quilt displays a powerful image wherever it hangs … or make this quilt for someone with connections to Native Tribes or a love of the colorful beauty of the Southwest.
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).
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.
Tonight I’d like to feature an artwork from QuiltCon that was made by a group of students at the Marylhurst School in Portland Oregon. It won a 1st Place ribbon in the Youth category, and their teacher Jessica Bernert deserves recognition as well.
Many years ago when I attended Quilt Canada in Ottawa, I heard a Land Acknowledgement statement for the first time. It was a statement of the indigenous peoples who had lived on that land originally. It was a very powerful experience to hear those words spoken and contemplate what it meant. We have the same issue here in Colorado. You can read about what happened at Sand Creek to learn more. Search for ‘land acknowledgement’ and your state, to learn about the original inhabitants of the place you live.
This 2nd and 3rd grade class (collectively known as the Meadowlarks) studied the indigenous people of North America, and then made this Map Quilt. They committed to give any prize money won, to the Confederated Tribes of Grande Ronde, as it is their land where the school is located. What a powerful lesson for this group of young people.
As you know, quilts can tell powerful stories. Kids are often fearless about telling these stories with their art. (The emperor has no clothes….) But guess what? More and more adults are choosing to tell stories with their quilts. Sometimes the image says what cannot be said with words. I know that this quilt spoke to many of the viewers at QuiltCon, and I thank Ms. Bernert and her class for sharing their message with us.
The title the kids chose: This Land (Is Not) Our Land
You can see this quilt and its artist statement, and other quilts from QuiltCon, on my photo pages.
Enter the Zen Garden of this Asian-themed collection in this week’s free quilt pattern. The leafy branches of a ginkgo tree stand boldly against the moon in the twilight sky in this beautiful view of a Japanese garden.
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).
This weekend we are celebrating our 25th Anniversary since eQuilter.com started in our home here in Boulder. We still live in the same house, and it is just one mile down the road from our 5-year old new warehouse building. We have some very special customers who have been with us since we started with a few hundred bolts in the basement…I thought I was going to have a little part-time business so I could stay home with the kids when they were little. Ha!
Later this year Paul and I are coming up on another big anniversary – 30 years since our first blind date. We both come from entrepreneurial families so we’ve hung on for the rollercoaster ride of running a small business, raising our kids, buying a piece of dirt and building our warehouse, keeping it all running through the pandemic, and raising $2 million for charity. Wow, what a ride!
The thing that Paul and I just LOVE about our business, is our wonderful customers. Paul loves to tell people about the amazing quilting community. When we first met, he had no idea what he was in for! But now as you know, he is an integral part of our business…from handling all the website design and maintenance, to designing quilts for our Free Pattern program, and managing our exclusive line of Rubin digital prints. We are 50/50 partners and co-owners. We are truly grateful for our years together, and our success…and your friendship.
All 3 of our kids have grown up in the business, and all 3 of them have worked for us at some point, before pursuing their own talents and adventures. Right now Mason works for a non-profit solar panel company, Sam is helping us out part time, and Sophie Quinn is finishing her degree in Music Education. We have many employees who have been with us for several years, and we’ve watched their kids grow up too. We have such a great team working together to get your orders out the door, answer your questions, and hopefully make all your quilting dreams come true.
THANK YOU – for giving us 25 years of this creative adventure. We’re so glad you could come along for the ride.
REMINDER: Tonight when you go to bed, most of you in the US will need to set your clocks ahead by one hour, for Daylight Savings.
sharing your love for fabric, Luana and Paul
Travel/Quilt Dates: March 10 – Guatemalan Textile Panel – Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum March 14-16 – Washington DC April 7-12 Allegre Retreat May 1-7 – England
Capture the glittering opulence of Gustav Klimt’s artwork, with today’s exclusive Free Quilt Pattern…featuring a Klimt-inspired kaleidoscope of butterflies in richly saturated hues of Cobalt and Sapphire. Klimt’s highly decorative style was compared to the Art Nouveau design movement, and his use of gold leaf in his paintings relates to his father who was a gold engraver.
To make this 48″ x 66″ quilt design, you will start with the central 24″ x 44″ panel, lavishly embellished with gold metallic. Construct the pieced border with blue mosaic prints, set on point in a field of golden spirals. The pieced border is layered between inner and outer frames of a black confetti print.
Fun Fact: A group of butterflies (like this) is officially called a kaleidoscope. Also known as a swarm, rabble, or flutter of butterflies.
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).
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.
A little less than 20 years ago, on election night, I was at the awards ceremony in Houston. Outside passions were raw and votes were being counted, but inside the auditorium we quilters all sat together under the red and blue streamers, and we laughed and cried and cheered and clapped as one. When it was my turn to get on stage to give a major cash award, I said a few words. Maybe some of you were there that night. I talked about the unity and peace that we find in the presence of the quilting community, when the world outside seems to be impossibly divided. It is still true today.
Tonight I share with you this quilt from the QuiltCon exhibit, that expresses this thought so eloquently without words. On the left is blue, on the right is red, but the intricately pieced Capitol Dome is bathed in shades of purpleand pink. That is the place where we come together. I really admired the skill and patience it took to draft, design, and construct this piece of textile architecture.
The quilt was designed and constructed by Aynex Mercado, and quilted by Julia Triman. I see this quilt as a prayer for unity in this difficult election year. Aynex belongs to the Washington DC Modern Quilt Guild, so she is ‘in the soup’ as my mother would say.
Although the piece speaks for itself, I do want to share these words from the Artist Statement:
“We hope quilting the U.S. Capitol…in these shades of purple, offers a counterpoint to red vs blue portrayals of American politics, culture and society…Our hope is that instead of arming yourself in your team’s color, recognizing connections between our beliefs and values might strengthen the resilience of the American Gradation.”
Well said Aynex. There is so much we all have in common, and it is expressed in our quilts. Love, comfort and healing are all part of the quilting tradition….in America and around the world. There is more that unites us, than divides us.
My quilt “Mothers of the World” has been hanging at the Peace Tech Lab, in the U.S. Peace Institute in Wash DC. It is now traveling with the founder to a new non-profit in Zurich, and I am so honored that he plans to hang it in his new office. We never know how our work will inspire and comfort others.
Every stitch is a prayer, and I pray for Peace every day. Will you join me?
Travel/Quilt Dates: March 6 – Canadian Quilters Association – Zoom Lecture “Intl Quilt Trends” March 10 – Guatemala Panel – Rocky Mtn Quilt Museum March 14-16 – Washington DC April 7-12 – Allegre Retreat May 1-7 – London UK
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 combined our adorable feline scholar kitty panel with Literary fabrics 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!
To make this 71″ x 59″ quilt design, you will start with our ‘Kitty Library’ panel, then add vintage book pages and antique books & potions. Cut up Kaufman’s gorgeously illustrated Library of Rarities Map print to make the corners, add our walnut hued fresco texture, 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 exquisite 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.
It is a warm and windy day here in Boulder, and we have so much to look forward to in the next few weeks! Our 25th anniversary is on March 10, and the first day of Spring is on the horizon. On March 10 I will join a panel at the Rocky Mtn Quilt Museum in Golden, on the topic of Guatemala and its textiles. We’ve carried these hand-loomed treasures since my trip to Guatemala with Mission of Love.
This weekend I am working on editing photos from QuiltCon, so I can add them to my “International Quilt Trends” online lecture for the Canadian Quilters Association on March 6. (yes, this week!) You can click through to the registration page here, and you do not need to be a member to purchase a ticket.
At the moment I am working on the smallest and the biggest pieces I’ve ever made. Today I finished a 6″ x 8″ bear portrait, dedicated to Navalny, that is going to the SAQA Spotlight online auction. (Sign up for my artist blog here.) I am also working on an 8-foot wide piece called “Children of War”. I have found that when I am frustrated with the world, making art is the only thing that calms and centers, especially if I can put my thoughts and feelings into the piece. No matter what your theme, I am sure we can all agree that quilting and sewing is therapeutic. The thing that clears my head and heart the most is STITCHING, whether it is hand-embroidery or freemotion machine stitching. How about you?
However I am still brimming with the joyful creative energy that I soaked up at QuiltCon last weekend, and I’ll start posting the photos very shortly on my photo pages! I hope that you will get some creative juices from the images of these Modern quilts as well.
Be sure to watch for my Wednesday emails for the next few weeks, where I’ll be featuring many of the quilts I admired at the show.
Our puppy Rosie is 8 months old now and about 60 lbs. She sure reminds me of our beloved Ruby who we lost last August. (They are the same breed.) Our big boy Leo is 8 years old, and those 2 just adore each other. They sleep in a yin-yang spiral of cream and golden fur…so sweet.
sharing your love for fabric, Luana and Paul
Travel/Quilt Dates: March 6 – Canadian Quilters Association – Zoom Lecture “Intl Quilt Trends” March 14-16 – Washington DC April 7-12 Allegre Retreat May 1-7 – England
This beautiful scenic quilt is the next best thing to a walk in the woods…featuring a tranquil scene with dense green trees and a tumbling waterfall.
To make this 51″ x 63″ quilt design, you will start with the 29″ x 44″ panel. This lush work of art is created using the alcohol ink medium, and this artist’s work has been wildly popular with eQuilter customers. We’ve combined 5 other Northcott coordinates for the pieced border, alluding to a mountain landscape.
This quilt would make a fine gift for the Nature-Lover in your life…or perhaps in your own private space for some ‘visual forest bathing’. Turn on your ‘forest stream’ sound track (nature-based white noise) in the background for the full experience. Ahhhhh…..
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).
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.
Trends generally come and go, but some are enduring. Some last for a summer…some last for years…and some come back 30 or 50 years later! The TV show “Mad Men” ran from 2007 to 2015, and sparked a retro design trend embracing Mid-Century Modern. It rekindled a desire for clean design aesthetics that flowed into fashion, interior design, architecture, and eventually….quilting. It was the reaction to fussy clutter, and led to the rise of Marie Kondo. It was a revolt against extreme mixed media, that led to geometric quilts made entirely from solid fabrics.
Now what?
11 years have gone by, and Modern Quilting is grown up enough to break its own rules. There was an exhibit on “Maximalism” on the show floor at QuiltCon. My how far we have come…and still at the core of the Modern Quilt Movement, we have this appreciation for a very different type of quilt design that is difficult to describe because it is always morphing into something new. Glorious!
If you follow my personal Facebook page, you saw the many photos I posted from QuiltCon. These are all gallery/overall shots of the show. Please be patient while I go through my photos of individual quilts, which I will start posting on my photo pages this coming weekend. In the meantime you can pick up the QuiltCon magazine, and also my article on Maximalism in the Fall 2023 issue of McCalls.
The Owl trend has been on a similar timeline as Modern Quilting. It started during the years that the Harry Potter movies were being released. (2001-2011) We all fell in love with Hedwig and the other quirky owls at Hogwarts, and a trend was born. It continues today – from Pop Woodland Owls, to Owls with opulent flourishes, and realistic Owls in flight with intricate feathers. We love them all. And you, our customers don’t seem to be slowing down on your Owl collecting. The artwork each year is more fantastic and detailed, thanks to digital printing technology. Today’s stunning Owl panels are tomorrow’s collector items. Outlining each feather with free motion machine stitching is an adventure that makes these mysterious raptors come alive.
Travel/Quilt Dates: March 6 – Canadian Quilters Association – Zoom Lecture “Intl Quilt Trends” March 14-16 – Washington DC April 7-12 – Allegre Retreat
