There are so many different inspirations for quilting. Creating a keepsake for someone special is probably at the top of the list. Last August, my oldest son was getting married and, as a parent, you always want to do something special as a wedding gift – create a keepsake.

Derek & Dena

Since I had worked for Electric Quilt for over 20 years, wasn’t the obvious gift a wedding quilt?  For an avid quilter, the answer would be an easy yes. For me, well, the answer was not so obvious. Yes, I know how to quilt, but I certainly would not call myself an avid quilter.

My inspiration, or should I say, my “feeling of pressure” to make a quilt started in early 2013. I’m in product development here at EQ and was knee-deep in the release of EQStitch in early 2013. All I had time for at that point was to “think” about a possible quilt.

That spring, EQ vended at the International Quilt Festivals in Cincinnati and Chicago and the quilt “Trajectory” by Megan Dye caught my eye. I imagine that many of you have seen this quilt. I just loved this quilt. I kept thinking that this was the type of quilt that I thought “I” could make. It was clean and simple. I could paper piece the blocks. Plus I could machine quilt it myself!

“Trajectory” by Megan Dye

I mocked up the quilt in EQ and was off to the fabric store with yardage requirements. Originally, I thought I would make it in grays and yellows. I thought those colors seems neutral enough so that the quilt would not look too masculine or too feminine. At the quilt shop, I quickly learned how difficult it was going to be for me to select the fabrics. I came across a section of solids and talked myself into making a “Trajectory Look-alike” because then I knew it would turn out beautiful. I started cutting fabric the first week of June and had it completed in six weeks.

Me and my quilt!

Label printed on EQ Printables, of course!

Derek and Dena loved the quilt. And I felt totally proud to have pulled off the task! And talk about inspiration! I made another quilt over the long, cold winter here in Ohio just for myself, and currently I’m putting the finishing touches on converting Derek’s bedroom into my sewing room.

Thank you Megan Dye for your beautifully inspiring quilts.
Thank you EQ7 for your pattern printing and yardage calculations.
Thank you Jenny Novinsky and Margaret Okuley, my fellow EQ “avid quilters” for answering all my questions during the construction phases.
Thank you EQ Company for the best job ever for 22 years!

Another Megan Dye quilt that won First place at QuiltCon for Use of Negative Space


If you’ve been using earlier EQ versions, then you may remember this photo of  Derek, age 3, that was used in EQ5.


Happy One Year Anniversary Derek and Dena!