Free Quilt Pattern – Floral Kitty Portrait

Our Fabulous Floral Kitty panel displays charm and elegance, dressed in a classic Victorian hat. This week’s exclusive Free Quilt Design is full of gorgeous details and a captivating kitty surrounded by graceful, painterly flowers.

To make this 58″ x 64″ quilt design, you will start with our ever-popular 43″ x 44″ digital panel. The central masterpiece is framed by mitering our detailed wood grain print, and then bordered with a deep Amethyst Hoffman Hand Dye.

…from the ‘Adorable Pets’ collection by the Rubin Design Studio, designed exclusively for eQuilter.

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.

Click Here for a Video Tutorial of the Free Pattern Designer.
Download Instructions for the pattern at the bottom of the pattern designer page.

Sharing your passion for fabric and color,
Luana and Paul Rubin

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I’m in a SemiQuincentennial Mood

When you receive this email, I’ll be flying back from Washington DC, where I attended the opening reception for ‘Sewn in America – Making-Meaning-Memory’ at the DAR Museum. My quilt ‘Stardust Mothers’ is hanging in this exhibit, next to a quilt made by fellow artist Dr Carolyn Mazloomi. The exhibit will be open through December 31st. I hope you can see this beautiful exhibit if you are visiting DC, which has both historic quilts and contemporary quilts illustrating ‘craftivism’.

You may have heard that we got about a foot of heavy wet snow on Thursday. I was supposed to fly to DC Thursday morning, but was able to switch my flight to Wednesday to get out of town ahead of the storm. Here in Washington, the magnolia trees and daffodils are in full blossom, and the cherry blossoms are just starting to open. DC is about one week from ‘peak blossom’. Of course with the cherry blossoms come the huge crowds. They seem to get bigger every year. I am getting out of town just in time.

I also learned this week that my ‘Uncompahgre Fritillary’ quilt has been accepted into the SAQA ‘Camouflage’exhibit, which will open at the Intl Quilt Festival in Houston this Fall. Also just finished an article on color trends, that will be in the July/Aug issue of Quiltmaker, which we will of course have in stock in a a few months.

Do you remember the Bicentennial celebrations in 1976? That is the year that I graduated from high school. It was also the Centennial year for our state of Colorado. When I went to the AQSG seminar last year, I heard a lecture by a historian studying a Bicentennial quilt from 1976. Well guess what? We have the semiquincentennial coming up: 2026 will be the 250th anniversary of the American experiment. Start working on your semiquincentennial quilt now, and maybe in 2076 somebody will give a lecture on the history of YOUR quilt! If you have a centennial or bicentennial quilt in your family, send us a picture and I might know a historian or curator who would like to know more about your historic quilt.

The quilts we make today will potentially become part of history some day. Be sure to label your quilts today, for those who are curious tomorrow. Always put a label on the back of your quilt, with your name, date, town, and any other pertinent information. Was the quilt made to celebrate a wedding or a baby? Was it for a kid going off to college, or graduating? Is it a friendship quilt, a memorial quilt, or to document another important event in your life? Some day, that information will fascinate someone admiring your quilt. For myself, I am starting to plan a semiquincentennial quilt!

sharing your love for fabric,
Luana and Paul

Travel/Quilt Dates:
April 7-12 Allegre Retreat
May 1-7 – England

Visit eQuilter’s Instagram, Pinterest or TikTok pages for Color and Design ideas.

See Luana’s Flickr Photo Pages for travel images, comment on our blog, or follow us on Facebook.

Check out our Video pages for interviews and show reviews.

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Free Quilt Pattern – Shaman

Tonight’s Exclusive Free eQuilter pattern features our exclusive Native American Shaman Digital panel that is sure to bring a sense of awe and wonder.

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.

…from the ‘Inspiration’ collection by the Rubin Design Studio, designed exclusively for eQuilter.

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.

Click Here for a Video Tutorial of the Free Pattern Designer.
Download Instructions for the pattern at the bottom of the pattern designer page.

Sharing your passion for fabric and color,
Luana and Paul Rubin

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This Land

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.

Sharing your love of fabric…
Luana and Paul

Visit eQuilter’s Instagram, Pinterest or TikTok pages for Color and Design ideas.

Follow Luana’s Flickr Photo Pages for quilt & travel images, review our blog, or follow us on Facebook.

Check out our Video pages for interviews and show reviews.

Subscribe to Luana’s Artist Website blog for more creative inspiration.

Travel/Quilt Dates:
March 13-16 – Washington DC
April 7-12 – Allegre Retreat
May 1-7 – London UK

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Free Quilt Pattern – Ginkgo Garden

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.

You will use 5 different fabrics from the Ginkgo Garden collection including a vivid ombre print, in shades of Bamboo, Peacock Blue and Celadon Green. This 60″ x 79″ quilt makes a small bed quilt or a soothing wall hanging or room divider, perhaps for a meditation or sleeping space.

…from the ‘Shimmer Ginkgo Garden’ collection by Deborah Edwards for Northcott Fabrics.

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. Click Here for a Video Tutorial of the Free Pattern Designer. Download Instructions for the pattern at the bottom of the pattern designer page. Sharing your passion for fabric and color, Luana and Paul Rubin

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Daylight Savings & 25 Year Anniversary

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

Visit eQuilter’s Instagram, Pinterest or TikTok pages for Color and Design ideas.

See Luana’s Flickr Photo Pages for travel images, comment on our blog, or follow us on Facebook.

Check out our Video pages for interviews and show reviews.

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Free Quilt Pattern – Klimt’s Wings of Gold

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.

…from the ‘Wings Of Gold’ collection by Chong-A Hwang for Timeless Treasures.

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.

Click Here for a Video Tutorial of the Free Pattern Designer.
Download Instructions for the pattern at the bottom of the pattern designer page.

Sharing your passion for fabric and color,
Luana and Paul Rubin

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The Power of Purple

Thank you for supporting our family-owned business.
Together, with your help, we have raised over $2 million to help those in need.

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?

Sharing your love of fabric…
Luana and Paul

* The collage image above is made with eQuilter fabrics, and Aynex Mercado’s quilt “American Gradation”, photographed by Luana Rubin at QuiltCon 2024.

Visit eQuilter’s Instagram, Pinterest or TikTok pages for Color and Design ideas.

Follow Luana’s Flickr Photo Pages for quilt & travel images, review our blog, or follow us on Facebook.

Check out our Video pages for interviews and show reviews.

Subscribe to Luana’s Artist Website blog for more creative inspiration.

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

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Free Quilt Pattern – Mystic Kitty Library

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!

…from the ‘Kitty’ collection by the Rubin Design Studio, designed exclusively for eQuilter.

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.

Click Here for a Video Tutorial of the Free Pattern Designer.
Download Instructions for the pattern at the bottom of the pattern designer page.

Sharing your passion for fabric and color,
Luana and Paul Rubin

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March is Here and Springtime is Just Around the Corner

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

Visit eQuilter’s Instagram, Pinterest or TikTok pages for Color and Design ideas.

See Luana’s Flickr Photo Pages for travel images, comment on our blog, or follow us on Facebook.

Check out our Video pages for interviews and show reviews.

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