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LESSONS WITH YVONNE-Applique Christmas Block Quilts

Posted 11-18-2018 by | Posted in: EQ8 Lessons with Yvonne Favorite Posts

Christmas evokes all kinds of childhood memories for me.  Some people think of the tree and decorations, some think of presents under the tree, some think of the amazing Christmas meal, but I think of Winter Wonderland.  I love Winter.  I loved being outside in the crisp clear air with the sparkle of snow surrounding me.  I think of ice skating, making snowmen, sledding and tobogganing.  I am 65 years old now and I tried ice skating a little while ago.  It did not go well!  But, I can relive my childhood with a Winter Wonderland quilt theme. Open your EQ8 program.  On the opening page, click either on the ‘design a block from scratch’ or on the ‘block worktable icon’. On the block worktable, under the ‘new block tab’, click on the ‘applique icon’ and then click on the ‘motif icon’. NOTE: A motif is an applique without the

Design & Discover – Tree Skirts (Round or Circular Quilts)

Posted 11-01-2018 by | Posted in: Design & Discover

Welcome to Design & Discover! You can follow along with a lesson and submit your version of the quilt right on the blog with a link up. If you have a blog, make sure to add your site too. Let’s visit each others’ blogs and all get to know each other! Before getting started, keep in mind any of the images can be viewed larger by clicking on them. Also, you don’t have to make the blocks or quilts exactly as shown, have fun and make it your own! You also don’t have to make all the quilts, feel free to just make the one(s) you are interested in! This month we will be learning about different methods to make tree skirts, or round(ish) quilts. The first way is super easy! The First Tree Skirt 1. Click Libraries > Block Library 2. Click Contemporary Pieced > Fans and add a

Design & Discover – Drawing and Tracing Foundation Blocks

Posted 10-01-2018 by | Posted in: Design & Discover

Welcome to Design & Discover! You can follow along with a lesson and submit your version of the quilt right on the blog with a link up. If you have a blog, make sure to add your site too. Let’s visit each others’ blogs and all get to know each other! Before getting started, keep in mind any of the images can be viewed larger by clicking on them. Also, you don’t have to make the blocks or quilts exactly as shown, have fun and make it your own! This month we will be learning about drawing foundation blocks. We’ll draw one from scratch. The other one we’ll import an image to trace to create the foundation block. We won’t literally trace the image but use it as an inspiration to create a foundation block. We’ll start with a pretty simple acorn… …then also create one that is more advanced.

LESSONS WITH YVONNE–Bargello All The Way

Posted 09-16-2018 by | Posted in: EQ8 Lessons with Yvonne Favorite Posts

I absolutely love Bargello Quilts.  I love the colors, the movement, and the ability to create them so very easily in EQ8.  I can choose to use an EQ8 quick quilt layout option or I can design my own strips.  The options to create these are endless.  These designs look complicated but they are so easy to design and stitch that even a beginner can create these beautiful masterpieces. Bargello Quilts are simply, vertical strip quilts.  On each vertical strip, you define the number of blocks and the sizes of the blocks.  You also decide on the number of strips and the width of the strips.  Of course, you can easily insert a strip with no blocks to section off your quilt layout.  The design is entirely up to you. Open your EQ8 program.  On the opening page, click on the Start With A Quick Quilt project icon.  In the Project

Design & Discover – Beginner’s Guide to Using Metafiles and PDFs in Patterns

Posted 09-01-2018 by | Posted in: Design & Discover Favorite Posts

This month we will be taking a EQ project and using Metafiles and Microsoft Word to show how you could make a pattern, or write instructions. The only feature difference between using EQ8 on the Mac versus using EQ8 on a PC is that there is no way to export Metafiles on a Mac. The technology in Windows that build the Windows Metafile format are copyrighted by Microsoft and unfortunately there is no equivalent for OS X for us to keep this feature. Read more about Metafiles here. However, here are Mac and PC instructions for exploding blocks using Adobe Illustrator.  We also have a lesson (with video) for exploding blocks using a free software called Inkscape that can be used on Mac or PC. Lastly, we have an article on our support site about this too. For this example I will be using Microsoft Word and the Outstanding Orchards

Design & Discover – EasyDraw and Borders!

Posted 08-01-2018 by | Posted in: Design & Discover

Welcome to Design & Discover! You can follow along with a lesson and submit your version of the quilt right on the blog with a link up. If you have a blog, make sure to add your site too. Let’s visit each others’ blogs and all get to know each other! Before getting started, keep in mind any of the images can be viewed larger by clicking on them. Also, you don’t have to make the quilts exactly as shown, have fun and make it your own! This month we will be doing some drawing and using borders to create a non-standard layout to make this quilt! (Or your version of it!) (You can download the project HERE.) First let’s draw the blocks! We’ll be using EasyDraw. The most important thing about drawing EasyDraw blocks is that  all segments must be connected to the outside edge of the block or

EQ8 Lessons With Yvonne–Curved Blocks Create Movement

Posted 07-15-2018 by | Posted in: EQ8 Lessons with Yvonne Favorite Posts

Your quilt may have a focal point where the eye rests (like in a medallion quilt) or it may have movement where your eye travels over the entire quilt top to discover many pleasing features built into the design.  Movement can be created with color repeats and with curved elements that cause you to travel over the quilt to take in the entire project.  In this blog we will discuss movement created with curved blocks.  There is more than one way to create the illusion of curves and movement. The easy way to create curves is to make a block with applique on it.  Placing the applique elements in a somewhat random placement that is slightly curved will create an overall curved design when added to the quilt layout. This does not really looked curved.  When placed onto a quilt layout and then having the blocks rotated with the symmetry

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