Behind the Mouse: The Electric Quilt Blog

COMFORT FOODS Comfort Food is the theme for this year’s BOM on Dream Castle Quilts website. Each month they qill post a block, based on some of my favorite foods, along with a recipe! There will also be directions for turning this block into a table runner….by the end of the year you will have 12 beautiful new runners. Join the fun and go check out their first block, Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup. Yum!

This is really pretty clever. Hilde Ozwirk sent us these images of her quilts for the Quilt Gallery but we thought it was so smart we wanted to show it here too. She used an “S” block and colored it in such a way to create this design for pillows to match the quilt for her son. Then she repeated 9 blocks to make pillows. Hilde says, “The blanket is a gift for our son. I used Northcott fabrics (papermoon) and I draw an easy block (S-block – inspired by Kaffe Fasset). I would give away (maybe) some of my fabrics……..but I´d never give away EQ 7 – it is really fascinating.” Thanks for sharing with us, Hilde!

Long time EQ user and friend, RaNae Merrill is currently on The Quilt Show! If you’re not a member at The Quilt Show, but would like a link to view the show for free (and receive a coupon for a 20% discount on membership), visit RaNae’s site and sign up for her newsletter at www.ranaemerrillquilts.com/join, and the link will be sent to you automatically. RaNae is a quilt designer, teacher, and author of the popular books Magnificent Spiral Mandala Quilts (Get a sneak peek on the Spiromandalas Blog at http://spiromandalas.wordpress.com) and Simply Amazing Spiral Quilts (Visit the Spiromaniacs Blog at http://spiromaniacs.wordpress.com). RaNae is known for her beautifully crafted style and technique in creating Mandala quilts. Read more about RaNae on her website or as our Do You EQ Artist!

Judy of Patchwork Times blog posts her EQ7 designs often and they are always awesome. In a recent post she shows her design process and how she challenges herself to explore many design ideas. She creates some really cool visual effects! In her recent post “Getting There in EQ” she shows you images of her process and talks about how she makes those design choices. Go check it out!

Remember these women? The Missoula Electric Quilters consist of Loinda Lie, Michelle Baker, Debbie Gross, Sue Wehmeyer, Kathy Stenger, Chris Milodragovich, and Calli Baker. They get together with the goal of increasing their EQ7 skills by working on projects together. Then one day, their community called for a contest to find art to cover the large traffic boxes that were causing an eye soar. They used their EQ7 skills to design beautiful quilts that were selected as the winners! Their work is seen by everyone in the community and now across the nation. If you open the March issue of American Quilter you will find a three page spread on their stunning EQ7 designs. They talk about their design process as a group, how they encourage and teach each other, and how their community art came to be. It’s such a fun example of what EQ7 can do beyond designing

One of our extremely talented EQers, Jenny Novinsky, designed this adorable Robot stuffie in EQ7 and the pattern and instructions are in Fat Quarterly now! He’s a paper pieced masterpiece She used new tool in EQ7 called the Swath tool to create his cool arms and legs. Be sure grab some Foundation paper or Quilter’s Newsprint for paper piecing. Get the free EQ7 file too! Or go check out the issue of Fat Quarterly and print the instructions and templates right there. Watch for a matching Robot Quilt in The Quilter Magazine later this year!

Pick up a copy of the March 2012 American Quilter, flip to page 28 and there you will find a wonderfully written bio on our very own Penny McMorris by Marjorie L. Russell. You’ll read about Penny’s beginnings in quilting, her time as an art curator for Owens Corning Corporation, and how The Electric Quilt Company came to be. Not to mention all the really fun details in between. It’s a great, read.