Back to Top
Lesson Spotlight

Lesson Spotlight

Tracing Images

Posted 07-19-2017 by | Posted in: EQ Software Tips Lesson Spotlight

Tracing images can be tricky. It’s hard to think ahead and make sure that everything drawn on the screen is piecable at the sewing machine. With some practice, it gets easier to create incredible paper-piecing and applique blocks by tracing images. When I was younger I remember going to sewing events most Saturdays with my grandma. Some weeks it was machine embroidery club, block of the month, or just going to a quilt shop to socialize. One week at embroidery club, they showed how to make fabric post cards. I don’t remember much else about the meeting other than the fact that I liked this idea and wanted to make my own. Several years later, my grandma and I took a class at our local quilt shop that taught us how to take the concepts of art quilting and use that to make cards. I have taken what I learned

Al Navas is an EQ Ace!

Posted 01-07-2015 by | Posted in: Downloads EQ Designers EQ Software Tips From Our Users Lesson Spotlight Look What I Did New to EQ Related Blogs

In late September Al Navas bought EQ7. By the end of the week he was designing his own quilts. In less than a month he was writing his own EQ lesson! We were intrigued and asked him a little about himself, included how he started quilting.     Al said, “This was pure serendipity! My wife Sandy had been working with embroidery designs for several years, using a Husqvarna Viking Designer Diamond machine. I helped her digitize designs using 5D™ Design Creator, a part of the 5D™ Embroidery Extra suite. She also started quilting a few years ago, first using the Desingner Diamond, and also a home sewing machine; she incorporated embroidered blocks in her quilt designs. Meanwhile I kept learning the digitizing process, until I developed a good work flow; I am now confident I can tackle substantial embroidery digitizing projects. A while back Sandy and her sister pooled money and bought

Turkey Talk from Sindy Rodenmayer

Posted 11-22-2013 by | Posted in: Downloads EQ Designers Lesson Spotlight

  Look at this adorable turkey! Sindy Rodenmayer sent him to us for you to enjoy! You can check out more of her patterns on MyEQBoutique.com and even more on her website fatcatpatterns.com. Download available (for EQ7 only) here.

Virtual Quilter Part 3: Playing with Blocks

Posted 06-27-2013 by | Posted in: Lesson Spotlight

Judy Butcher (aka the Virtual Quilter) continues her series on the Do You EQ Blog! Part 1: Click here to see  how I carefully, rather randomly, selected the blocks. Part 2: Click here to see how I selected the fabrics and added them to the blocks. Here, and now, you can see how I start designing quilts with the blocks. I start with a simple, straight setting with minimal spaces for blocks… usually 3 x 3. I add simple, basic borders, just solid strips of fabrics used in the blocks. This is one of the many things I love about Electric Quilt. As soon as I add blocks the design looks finished. I may want to change the blocks, and make the borders much more elaborate, but I start to get a feel for the finished design as soon as the first blocks are added. If it looks like a

Selecting Fabric for Virtual Quilts from Judy Butcher

Posted 01-08-2013 by | Posted in: Lesson Spotlight

In my first blog post as one of the EQ Gurus (The EQ Dozen) I selected some blocks, almost at random, to use in a series of virtual quilt designs. Think they might look a little more unified if I take all the colour away. Without the distraction of the colours from the block library I can see that the blocks don’t need a huge selection of fabrics … probably six will be enough. Next step is to actually choose some fabrics. For this series I feel an urge to use purple as the main colour, yellow as the background, with some green … and maybe a splash of pink or orange. I have never limited my choice of fabrics in real quilts to one range of fabrics. It is fun to see what goes with what. There are often many ranges in the more popular colours of the season, which

Changing the Default Fabric Palette by Angela Pingel of Cut to Pieces

Posted 12-18-2012 by | Posted in: Lesson Spotlight

Hi Everyone!  I’m Angela and I blog over at Cuttopieces.blogspot.com.  I’m here today to share with you a tutorial for Electric Quilt users. I’m an avid EQ user and I’m a “modern” quilter, so I’m always looking for ways to use the software to suit my needs in the best way.  One of the things that I have found about the default settings in EQ is the fabric selections are not to my taste. They are plenty of people’s taste but we all have fabrics we know and love. And I’m going to show you how to take those fabrics and turn them into your default fabric palette, so they are there every time you go to color in a quilt or block. I have favorite fabrics that I use as blenders and basics in my stash. And I would love to design in EQ with them.  Perhaps you have a

Importing and Tracing Images From Sindy Rodenmayer

Posted 12-04-2012 by | Posted in: Lesson Spotlight

My name is Sindy Rodenmayer of FatCatPatterns.com. I’m a long time EQ user and a self proclaimed “chronic EQ doodler”. When I began dreaming up the Funky Chicken collection on MyEQBoutique.com, I was sitting in the high school parking lot waiting on my daughter. Here is the paper I doodled on. The chickens were just rough drafts, but they gave the basic idea of how I wanted them to look. Now I needed to import the doodle into EQ7 and draw them as appliqué. Have you tried that feature yet? It is so cool! Your image goes directly onto the “Tracing Image” tab. You can then view it on the applique tab and trace over it. It is very easy to toggle the image on and off, allowing you to freely work on the design at hand. This is so much more enjoyable than taping my drawings up next to the monitor like

Page 1 »