Behind the Mouse: The Electric Quilt Blog

Scroll down for photos! Would you believe we hosted 20 EQ8 classes in just 3 days?! We sure packed a lot of information into a beautiful fall weekend. A special thanks to our amazing teachers who always do such a great job! Thank you to all the students for coming! We hope to see you all back for our Spring EQ Academy starting on Thursday, April 2, 2020! Spring EQ Academy will have beginner classes as always, and intermediate topic-based classes too. We hope to open enrollment in January. Sign up for our e-mails to be notified of enrollment. Spread the word to your EQ friends!! If you’d recommend EQ Academy to other EQ8 users, please leave a review in the comments below so we can share your feedback with others.  A huge thanks to the companies who sent items for the welcome bags and awesome prizes at our Social Night! The

Sometimes it is hard to know if you should import your image as a photo or a fabric. The main difference between the two options is that if you import the image as a fabric, the image will tile. An image imported as a photo will not tile, it will stretch to fit the patch you place it in (on Layer 1).  Here is more information. Here the first patch has an image imported as fabric, and it is tiling. The second patch shows an image imported as a photo and it is stretched. Neither image is the right size for the patch. To fix this you can either change the size of your patch (by clicking the Layout tab), resize the image to fit or crop the image to fit. Here are some more tips and information. In this case I changed the layout to fit the size of

Fall colors are rich and vibrant. Fall to me means colored leaves, pumpkins, and cooler evenings with bright sunny days.  Looking around outside you can see that every color imaginable is represented in nature.  The colors blend, contrast, and define each other.  Therefore, anything goes!!  I design in fabric prints, solids, and a gradient palette of my own making.  All of this is possible to do in EQ8. When I am designing I may not necessarily be making a pattern to follow. Often, my design is simply a source of visible inspiration.  I can ‘see’ how the quilt will look when completed.  EQ8 is often a place for me to just test out ideas. The easiest way to stir creativity is to begin with an idea and build on that.  Often, I am under a time crunch so I will look in the huge EQ8 library first rather than try

Welcome to the EQ8 Block Spotlight series! Each month we highlight a block from the EQ8 Block Library with a few design ideas. Then we want YOU to show us what you can do with the block. Let’s get creative! This month’s block: Diamond Ring Where to find it: 02 Contemporary Pieced > Kaleidoscopes A few design ideas to get you started Fall is in the air! So I used what I like to call a “harvest palette.” The large square in the middle of this block was calling out for something special, so I set flower motifs on Layer 2 in the space. I also added quilting stencils on Layer 3. For my second design, I wanted to accentuate the star created in the corners where these blocks meet. This is an on-point layout (the second style) with the Number of Blocks set to 2 for both Horizontal and

Our Classic Applique add-ons are 20% off today! Use code APPLIQUE20 to receive the discount! There are three products in the Classic Applique series. Each add-on product features a different time period and style and installs a library of applique blocks to your EQ Block Library. The quick download and installation process will let you start using these blocks to design with and print patterns right away. Each requires EQ8, EQ7, EQStitch or EQ Mini software. Available only as downloads. 1920′s & 1930′s – These charming blocks represent not only a popular revival of quilt interest, but the real birth of the quilt industry and quilt guilds. From World War I on, fabric notion companies, newspapers and magazines increasingly published old block patterns and invented new ones to fan the growing flames of quilt fever. This period’s style favored appliqués of clear pastel fruit and flower colors, often set against

It’s been a wonderful summer and I wanted to add a cute throw quilt to compliment the pillow we designed last year.  I came up with this Nautical themed quilt with an interesting inset of scrappy diamonds.  And of course, I needed that cute red anchor to set it off.  Let’s get right into the design! Anchors Away Quilt Skillset: Beginner/ Advanced Beginner Size: 48″ x 60″ Skill Builders: Working with Vertical Strip layout Working with repeating block design Convert an applique block to a motif Let’s take a closer look and analyze this quilt.  I have designed it as a Vertical Strip quilt with applique.  First we are going to focus on the diamond insets. These are 45 degree diamonds that are lined up to form a chevron type pattern.  This is a repeating diamond shape that I designed as an individual block.  The block just had to be square