Behind the Mouse: The Electric Quilt Blog

Have you noticed these black and white crossword looking things showing up lately?

They are called QR (Quick Response) Codes. If you take a picture of the QR Code with your smartphone it will usually take you to a website, but it can also encode other stuff, like your contact information, or any text you’d like. The above QR code links to electricquilt.com. You can make them for free at sites like qrcode.kaywa.com.

Again, you can set it up to link to anything you want. So, link it directly to the sign-up for your newsletter, to friend your shop on Facebook, go directly to your Etsy shop, follow you on Pinterest or Twitter…it’s easier than handing out web addresses and hoping people type it in and find what they are looking for.  I was thinking that they would be a fun addition to quilt labels. So, if someone sees your quilt and they take a picture of the QR code, it links directly to where you are selling the quilt’s kit!

And of course you’ll want to use EQ Printable Fabric to print your QR code labels out on!

(Also—one of our users, Bea Lee, made a whole QR code quilt. Very cool.)

If this inspires you to make something, let us know! Email photos to Heidi@electricquilt.com.

Sue Gruber is a wonderful quiltmaker and photographer from Bowling Green, Ohio. Today she shares with us one of her beautiful bird quilts made using EQ Printables Inkjet Fabric Sheets.

Here’s what Sue says about her quilt:

“The bird is a white ibis. I took the photo in Crystal River, Florida. The picture was edited using Photoshop, then imported into EQ. I set the photo into a one block quilt of the exact size I want to print it. Then I printed the photo from EQ, which lets me set the size of the fabric sheets and landscape or portrait layout. EQ tiles the photo for printing, including stitching lines to sew the fabric sheets together. This was printed on the 13″ x 19″ Regular Cotton Fabric Sheets on my Epson printer. These sheets have a very soft hand after printing, I have used them in many projects with good results.”

If you’re curious about how the printable fabric stitches, check out Sue’s wonderful quilting!

Ready to try EQ Printables Fabric Sheets for yourself? Check out the Inkjet Fabric Sample Pack to try them all!

We’ve got Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks, Volume 2 for you at MyEQBoutique.com. Buy block-by-block, or purchase the full collection for $29.99! Best part is that you can print the patterns at any size. Check out Quiltmaker’s Volume 1 collection too!

This is a special bonus post for the EQ7 Summer Drawing Series Sew Along! If you’d like a little extra practice with the EasyDraw Worktable, here are a few variations to try. I’ll give you some hints on how to draw these blocks, but I won’t be writing out step-by-step instructions because I’d like you to give your new drawing skills a workout.

For each of these blocks, start with the original Lesson 1 Block on the Block Worktable (open the Sketchbook > click Block 1 to select it > click Edit). Simply add or subtract lines to make the variation block. Make sure to Add to Sketchbook  after you’ve completed each variation.

Click here to download the Mini Lesson PDF file.

Use the Line tool  to draw an on-point square.

Use the Pick tool  to delete all the lines inside the on-point square.

Use the Pick tool  to delete all the lines except for the small half-square triangles.

Use the Line tool  to draw a vertical line and a horizontal line at the 6” mark.

Add more half-square triangles to the edges of the block by drawing the lines illustrated below.

Use the Line tool  to draw the horizontal and vertical lines illustrated below.

Draw lines to create the “geese” flying out from the center of the block.

Come back on May 31 for the Block 1 Link Up!

Valerie at re-engineered.blogspot.com made a beautiful quilt with split hexagons. What a great idea!

I made one in EQ7. You can download the file here.

Here is how I did it….

After playing around for a bit I decided just to make a long skinny block. Mine is 2 x 30.

I then started a Vertical Strip Quilt. I popped the blocks in and flipped every other one. Then I started playing around.

For this quilt I right clicked on a color then clicked Add Shades & Tints. It will add darker and lighter variations of the color you picked to the sketchbook.

Then, I clicked the Random Recolor tool.

Here is that same quilt after I clicked  Random Recolor > Map to fabrics.

The first quilt after  Random Recolor Tool > Shift Hue.

The first quilt and  Random Recolor Tool > Randomize.

And of course you could make a Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt BUT without Y-seams

If this inspires you to make something, let us know! Email photos to Heidi@electricquilt.com.

These owls have personality! Each applique owl is set in a pieced block setting. Get the full written pattern for this quilt at MyEQBoutique.com.

There is a great website with all kinds of letters you can use. There are over 1000 letters A’s to choose from but they have at least 300 for each letter. Punctuation too!

Whitney at Shanty-2-chic.com made this adorable wall hanging with the letters.

You could print the letters onto EQ Printable Fabric and incorporate words or letters into a quilt.  You could also do all kinds of cute crafts with these letters and EQ Peel & Stick.

Here is a project I made for Mother’s Day. I imported all the letters as fabric. (Library > Fabric Library > Import button > from Image Files > select your files > Open > Add to Sketchbook > Close.)

Download here.

You could even print it out on paper and turn it into a card!

If this inspires you to make something, let us know! Email photos to Heidi@electricquilt.com.