EQ Blog

We recently talked with Lacey Hill of Golden Thyme Designs about how she uses EQ6 to design her quilts and we had to share it with you!

My name is Lacey Hill and I am an author & pattern designer.  I am currently doing freelance designs for Northcott Silk and I have used EQ6 to create the appliqués for center medallions of 3 quilt designs coming out for Spring Market 2010 in MSP.

Below are 3 quilts I designed in EQ using Ro Gregg’s fabrics from Northcott and 1 that is in Asian Fabrics Magazine this issue. All my quilt patterns at www.QuiltWoman.com were created with EQ along the 7 patterns, includes the 3 appliqué I sent will be available after Market.

My mantra is: It’s All About the Fabric! I use the large-scale designs in full repeat. Ro & I collaborated on 2 books that are at print using the Leading Ladies & Supporting Cast Fabric Collection for quilts and Home Decorating Fashions coming out this month with QuiltWoman. Since Patti Carey from Northcott provides me with full scale images, I can easily import the fabrics at full scale and as you know…EQ does the rest! No more Photoshop!!!!! Hallelujah! I’m such a very happy girl!

My designs are for “quick quilts” that look like a lot of piecing was involved but actually they take no more than a day or 2 to complete. I use up-sized blocks, usually 12-16 in a quilt and I may add few large complimentary blocks. Then the fabric does the rest.

That’s why I love EQ!
~Lacey Hill
Golden Thyme Designs
www.laceyjhill.com
www.laceyjhill.com/blog

Thanks for chatting with us Lacey and best of luck with the new book coming soon!

This adorable blog header was made in EQ6 by Judy Butcher of Virtual Quilter blog. Oh, the things you can do with EQ6!

Judy is an active blogger and EQ6 user. She posts a new virtual quilt every day! She’s amazing. See a few of her daily quilts below and then go check out her blog.

Another cute project kit from Sue Spargo using Sue Spargo: Folk Art Dreams CD. This on is called Wild Tulip Sac and it’s a great little zippered sewing sac made from hand dyed wool and fun cotton fabrics. Includes a flower appliqué and finished with a colorful lining, rick rack, button embellishment, dog zipper pull and hand inked label. Full instructions included as well as a really easy technique to insert a zipper.

Going through some old articles we stumbled across this old article written by our own Penny McMorris back in 1994 (click here to read the full article). Yes, sixteen years ago and just a few years into The Electric Quilt Company’s existence. At that time Penny was a Art Curator for Owens Corning, and was writing a three-part series on quilting past, present, and future.

This particular article we found focuses on what sort of new technologies will affect quilting by the year 2010. Penny could not have been more right on! It’s such a fun read now that 2010 is here. Plus, the floppy disk in the illustrations bring back some memories!

Here is an excerpt from the article:
Imagine the future. Pretend it is the year 2010. You wake to NQC, your clock-television’s 24-hour National Quilting Channel. While you breakfast, a friend appears on your computer monitor, calling from Australia. She is chatting about next week’s International Quilters’ Society show. You will both attend. But you will do it from your own homes, watching it all on your computers.

Fantastic? Yes, but also feasible. New technology will make many new quilting tools, products, and events possible in the coming decades. New sewing machines, new computer software, and new ways of sharing quilting information will all become commonplace.

These innovations, while exciting, will bring change. And change can sometimes seem unsettling. So before we jump ahead, let’s consider how far we’ve come already. Think of once-high-tech wonders that are taken for granted by quiltmakers today: sewing machines, electricity, photographs, telephones, airplanes, photocopy machines. Today’s quilting industry couldn’t exist without them. Yet, these marvels were all intimidating at first. The sewing machine, for example, so frightened one 19th-century quiltmaker that she declared it “the work of the devil.” But this new invention actually gave fresh life to quilting. It didn’t replace hand sewing. It simply gave women time to do hand work when they chose to.

Today’s computer technology will also benefit quilting. By encouraging the development of innovative quilting products and tools and by attracting younger generations to quiltmaking, it will add another chapter to quilting’s history.

Click here to read the full article.

We’ve made three NEW blog badges for you. (We also take suggestions for new ones.)

Display one on your blog and then let us know by writing to Sarah Shriver at sarahshriver@electricquilt.com. We may choose your blog to receive a free prize to give-a-way on your blog!

This is an official WELCOME TO EQ for Kelly Jackson! Kelly, like others, wasn’t sure she could learn EQ6. She let it sit in the box for some time before a friends, SewCalGal, helped her muster up the courage to dive in! With the help of EQ6 Simplified, Kelly spent just 15 minutes each day working through a step-by-step lesson. In no time Kelly was nearly a pro.

Kelly documented her “journey through EQ6 SImplified” on her blog, I Have a Notion. It’s a fantastic ode to how great of a tool EQ6 Simplified can be for helping weary EQ6ers get started. If you are considering EQ6 Simplified but still aren’t sure if it’s the right book for you make sure that you read Kelly’s blog. She does a great job of illustrating how the book is supposed to work.Kelly says, ” I’m hooked. I know I will continue with my lessons because I want to be able to build on my skills.”

Try out our other EQ6 companion books when you are ready for more!

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts, Kelly and keep up the great work! Make sure you show us your creations sometime.

We found this fun idea on Sew4Home’s project blog that we wanted to share with you. It’s a really cute fabric and paper envelope project that’s perfect for Valentine’s Day cards. Follow Sew4Home’s instructions to make this cute envelope.
You could even use EQ Printable Fabrics to print your own custom fabric for the envelope!

Diane Tomball has been designing desktop calendars and quilt block gift tags with EQ and sharing them with you on her blog, Cabin Quilters for years!

To get her January 2010 calendar, click on the image to expand the image to full size, right-click and choose Set as Wallpaper or Background. To really jazz up your desktop, right-click on your background and choose a color that coordinates with the calendar - you’ll love it!

Have you ever heard of Sew, Mama, Sew? They are a really great group of talented women who have joined together to bring sewing projects, patterns, ideas, and tons of other creative ideas to sewers, crafters, and quilters a like. They have just announced their latest True Love Contest where you could win an Amy Butler Softwares! To enter the contest, visit their blog to get instructions on how to make their Basic Card and Envelope project. Then embellish the projects in your own unique way. Post a photo of your finished card and envelope to their forum by February 12th to enter the contest. Winners will be announced at a later date.Also, keep an eye on their blog as they will be giving away another Amy Butler Softwares as a weekly give-a-way!

Give a homemade gift of love this Valentine’s Day! Download the EQ6 quilt project “Happy Valentine’s Day” and Printable Quilt Label and you’ll be ready to sew for someone special! The EQ6 project includes fabrics form various fabric manufacturers and a Valentine quilt label in the Photos section of your sketchbook. Apply your own personal text to the image and then print on to EQ Printables Fabric Sheets for an instant quilt label! Share the free project with your customers and sell some Printable Fabric Sheets in the process!

Click here to download the Quilt Design Wizard version of Happy Valentine’s Day!

The March/April 2010 issue of McCall’s Quilting contained an EQ6 designed quilt by Pat Bravo, of Art Gallery Fabrics, entitled Mosaic Garden Path.  It’s just gorgeous and fresh! We asked Pat to tell us a little about her quilt and designing habits:

“Basically, I am in love with diamonds and curves, and many of my quilts are designed around them. I look for blocks on EQ6 and BLOCKBASE. This time I didn’t use “on point” setting; I made it horizontal.

I always use EQ6 for all my quilts; it’s so easy to make a design with it. I regularly use 2 simple blocks that I alternate in most of my quilts; for me, this layout give them more impact in the design and the colors but at the same time is very simple to piece. You can also modify the blocks that come in the software and use them in the way you want!”

See the EQ6 virtual quilt and blocks below. It’s it amazing to see how the quilt goes from the EQ6 virtual image to actual fabric!? We have spent much time ensuring that that fabrics scales correctly in EQ6 so that you get the most accurate vision of the quilt you are about to sew.

Thanks for sharing your quilt with us, Pat! To see more of Pat’s work visit her Art Gallery Fabrics website. Then visit her Free Patterns section of the website or her blog to get some of her FREE PROJECTS!

Ever wonder how to design an irregular quilt like Barb has done here? Here’s your chance to see for yourself. Download this EQ6 project, get this quilt on your worktable, click Layer 2 and use the Adjust tool to start dragging blocks away from the center. You’ll see how Barb built her beautiful design on top of a standard layout. Edit the quilt again from the Sketchbook and try out your own blocks to see what masterpiece you can create.

Sue Spargo recently started a Kit of the Month using her Sue Spargo: Folk-Art Dreams CD. Each kit will contain a projects that uses elements printed from the Folk-Art Dreams CD! Each kit is available on Sue’s website and will range from $25-$35 a month.

This Hana ‘Flower’ Purse (Size 14” x 12”) is available on Sue’s website now. The appliqué flower pattern was printed from Sue Spargo: Folk-Art Dreams CD.

If you live in the Towson, Maryland area and are looking for a fun EQ Club you should check out Bear’s Paw Fabrics. They are starting up a brand new EQ Club beginning March 1, 6:30pm-8:30pm and March 8, 10am-12pm. For more details email bearspaw1@aol.com.

Quiltmaker and Electric Quilt sponsored a design contest in the fall of 2009. People were asked to submit an original quilt designed in EQ with a creative interpretation of quilting using any of the EQ/QM Quilting Design software series. Contestant identities were not revealed during judging.

Grand Prize winners were announced a few weeks ago but now the Viewers Choice Winner has been chosen:
Bear’s Paw in the Cabin by Susan Wood.

Congratulations, Susan!