This month we are designing this patriotic placemat!  The Americana Placemat is just a small quilt and you can make as many as you want for your holiday celebrations.  The dramatic star is just the traditional Ohio Star block pattern and we added some strips to finish the design.  Using EQ Mini, you don’t have to have intricate patterns or difficult designs to create an heirloom worthy quilt!

Let’s start designing!

Americana Placemat

Skillset: Beginner

Size: 14″ x 17″

Skill Builders:

  • Working with Vertical layout
  • Working with pieced block strip styles
  • Adding blocks

Lets Design!

  1. Open EQ Mini.
  2. If it asks you to take a quick tour, click Close.
  3. Read the tip of the day and click Close.
  4. Let’s start by naming the Project.  The project name will appear at the very top of the EQ Mini Window.  Right now the project says Untitled.  On the top toolbar click the Save button.    The Save As box will display.
  5.  Save your project file in the default folder which is projects.   Hint: You can then find it under Documents > My EQ Mini > Projects later.  Now in the file name box type Americana Placemat.
  6. Click Save.  The box will close.  Notice the project name Untitled has been replaced with American Placemat.

  7. Select the Quilt Style
  8. On the Blue Start New Quilt Tab, select the Vertical Layout.

  9.  Select the  Eight 8″ Plain Strips Layout.  It should be the first layout on the top left row.  If you move the mouse and hover over the layouts, it will tell you the name of them.

  10.  Select the Orange Adjust Layout tab.  The layout palette will display.
  11. Delete all but two of the strips.
  12. Select the first strip. Select the pieced block strip style.
  13. Change the strip width to 4.5.
  14. Change the strip length to 13.5.
  15. Change the number of blocks across the length to 3.
  16. Select the second strip. Select the pieced block strip style.
  17. Change the strip width to 12.
  18. Change the strip length to 13.5.
  19. Change the number of blocks across the length to 5.
  20. Select the Green Edit Borders Tab.
  21.  Select Border 1 of 1.
  22.  Leave the border style as Long Horizontal.
  23. Change the size to .25″ wide to mimic the binding.
  24. Select the Orange Design Quilt tab.
  25. Under Sketchbook blocks, click to open the library to select more blocks.
  26. Under the block libraries, open 01 Classic Pieced.  Then select Classics.

  27. Select and click add to sketchbook the following block: Ohio Star.
  28. Right click on the Ohio Star block in the sketchbook and select to add a plain block.
  29. Drag the Ohio Star block to the three squares in the first strip.  Click and drag the plain block to each of the remaining blocks.
  30. Close Sketchbook blocks.
  31.  Click the Paintbrush tool    on the right hand toolbar.
  32. The Sketchbook Fabrics and Colors palette will open.  Click to open the Library to get more colors.
  33. Using the fabrics and colors palette, color your quilt design using red, white and blue.  Select the fabric or color and then click on the area you want to color on the quilt.
  34. Once you have the coloring how you like it, save the quilt design to your sketchbook. 

Tips

Now that you have your design, here are  Tips and Help Articles to help you get ready to sew up your lovely design.

How to print the fabric yardage estimates required to piece the top

How to print the cutting instructions

Ready to Quilt?

Now that you have designed this in EQ Mini, why not stitch up this patriotic beauty?  You can find a detailed tutorial for the Americana Placemat on my Lori Miller Designs blog.

Please share your ideas, questions and feedback in the comments. Thanks!

Lori J. Miller lives in Troy, Michigan, where she designs, stitches and sews quilts and quilty things. She loves experimenting with fun colors and designs to make playful and clever products for the modern sewist.  Stitching since age 11, Lori has deep roots in sewing and quilting traditions that add a unique dimension to her designs.  She loves designing using Electric Quilt 7, Electric Quilt Mini and EQ Stitch.  You can follow her quilting adventures on her blog at lorimillerdesigns.com or on instagram @lorimillerdesigns