The Electric Quilt Company is 30!

The Electric Quilt Company’s Story – How It All Began

We’re celebrating 30 years! Since the pearl is the traditional symbol for 30 years, we’re sharing EQ Pearls of Wisdom from our friends! See all Pearls of Wisdom posts. We hope you enjoy the tips and tricks you learn along the way and discover some new quilters or catch up with your favorites! Also, we’d love to hear about YOUR journey with EQ so feel free to tell us your story in the comments on any post! A big THANK YOU to all our customers for your support over the years. We’re looking forward to many more!  :-D

This week’s featured friend: Geraldine Wilkins!

Tell us a bit about yourself!

My sisters Lillian and Roberta introduced me to sewing. They sewed their own garments. However, I gravitated to home décor when I purchased my first home. Quilting entered my life when I joined a quilting group to make friends in a new town. A new friend, Wilda, encouraged me to continue designing when she learned I made quilts without commercial patterns.

When did you start using Electric Quilt and how has it changed your quilting life?

I started using Electric Quilt when I became an Island Batik Fabrics Ambassador in 2018.  I soon fell in love with EQ8. Now, I use it for all my projects. I design quilts, bags, whole cloth quilts, project totes and more. I’ve had opportunities to design for several quilt magazines.

Taffy Candy (shown below) takes advantage of EQ8’s foundation paper piecing print outs. It was designed for an Island Batik Ambassador challenge, Modern Quilts. It is now a featured pattern in The Quilter’s Planner 2021.

You can learn more about the Taffy Candy quilt here:

Taffy Candy – Modern Quilting

Rainbow Taffy Candy – Machine Quilting Thread Texture 

Taffy Candy designed by Geraldine in EQ

Taffy Candy variation

What is your EQ “Pearl of Wisdom” for EQ users?

Don’t let fear of technology prevent you from learning and using a tool that can add value to your personal and professional life. For months, I put off purchasing EQ8 because “I did not want to learn another software program.”  I convinced myself that I did not have the time.

Do what I did. Be kind to yourself and learn at your own pace. Play first. Click, read and experiment for fun. Then, take advantage of the free tutorials, peer help, and value priced educational books.

Designing Color Wave in EQ8 was made easy with the fabric import feature. Importing fabric swatches and placing them in designs is an important part of my process. Color Wave, a beginner-friendly lap quilt was designed to feature an assortment of colors from one fabric collection.

Color Wave – A Quilting Plan 

Color Wave designed by Geraldine in EQ

What are you up to now and what do you have coming up?

I am thrilled to be on the teaching faculty of the Modern Quilt Guild’s annual event, QuiltCon. QuiltCon 2022, an international quilt show and educational event, is February 2022 in Phoenix, AZ. For three ruler quilting classes I designed a quilt design using EQ8 and created pre-printed quilt panels. Quilters have the option to quilt ruler patterns learned in the class on a panel. Quilted panels may be used to sew a pillow, tote bag, project pouch or mini wall quilt. Learn more about the classes on the Living Water Quilter Blog.

Examples of Quilt Con projects

Giveaway

This contest is closed. Winner: Dorothy Holt!

Enter for a chance to win a copy of the printed Living Water Quilter, LLC pattern, Color Wave. It is a beginner friendly pattern designed in EQ8 and features Island Batik fabrics. The pattern giveaway is for US residents only and a winner will be selected at random. The prize will be mailed to the winner.

To enter, answer the question below by leaving your answer in a comment on LWQ’s EQ8 Celebration blog post. Geraldine will randomly select a winner and contact him/her. The winner has one week to respond; after a week a new winner will be selected.

Question to enter:  Do you prefer sewing quilt patterns that are rotary cut, foundation paper-pieced or made with templates?

Contest closes Tuesday, August 31  at 11:59pm ET. Winner will be chosen at random and contacted by Geraldine.

Read Geraldine’s EQ8 Celebration blog post here to enter in the giveaway!

Color Wave pattern

You can follow Geraldine at:

Blog 

Facebook

Instagram

Hope you enjoyed this “pearl” of wisdom. Feel free to share your EQ story or a “pearl” of your own in the comments! Stay tuned for our next post!

View all Pearls of Wisdom posts >>