Sometimes the simplest designs have the highest impact on a quilt.  Consider the modern quilt movement.  Very little print on the fabric and very few design elements on the quilt allow the quilter to showcase the stitches themselves.  Why not make a simple applique a focal point on a rather plain quilt and highlight that applique with some embroidery stitches.  Applying the applique to a whole cloth background as an embroidery element can bring the quilt to life.

Click on your EQStitch icon on the desktop to launch the program.

Click on the stitch worktable icon.

Click on STITCHING>New Design>Machine Applique.

Click on the drawing board options icon on the project bar at the top of the screen.

In the options box, click on the machine applique setting and select and ‘E’ stitch with the following properties.  Be sure to click on the ‘OK’ in the bottom of the box to set the properties you have selected.

These settings will be applied to the applique shape when fabric is applied.

Click on the ellipse tool and click and drag a circle onto the artwork tab.

Click and hold the oval tool to get the fly out menu.  Select the shape that looks roughly like a diamond.

Move the cursor over to the drawing board and click/hold/drag to create two shapes, horizontal and vertical inside the circle.

Select the two inner shapes with the pick tool.

Once both elements are selected, click on the wreathmaker tool on the properties bar and set the properties to be five elements.

With the pick tool, click/hold/drag a corner node so the design is resized to fit into the center of the circle element.

Click on the fabric tab and choose a fabric for the circle area only. Click once inside the circle to apply the fabric choice.

Click on the stitch tab and the edge stitches of the design will automatically be added according to the settings on the drawing board.

Click on the set edge stitches icon and select the bean stitch from the properties bar.

Click on the center elements to apply the bean stitches.

Click on the set thread icon and choose a color thread for your designs.  Click on each of the elements to set the thread color.

 Add the design to the sketchbook

Use this design to create a modern style quilt on a whole cloth background.  The applique circles themselves applied on top of the quilt sandwich helps to quilt the layers of the quilt together while creating the applique/embroidery design.