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: Reeze Hanson!

Tell us a bit about yourself Reeze!

My name is Reeze Hanson of Morning Glory Designs from Ottawa, KS. I am a quilter, designer, and teacher for the past 15 years. Before that I was a costume designer in the educational theatre and did custom bridal and formal design and construction. Six years ago I retired from my career as a college professor and turned my side business into a full time job.

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

I started using EQ4 years ago to draw and design blocks and quilt settings while I was learning to quilt. A member of several online quilt swap groups, I found EQ as a way to come up with settings for all the swap blocks I was making. It was an amazing apprenticeship in quilt design, and today I use EQ8 in designing patterns for fabric companies as well as my own pattern lines, and annual popular Block of the Month.

Southwest Sunrise BOM designed by Reeze in EQ

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

My Pearl of Wisdom is a tip for designing and drawing a memory quilt using Custom Set. I start by placing blank blocks around the background where I want them to be until I am pleased with relative size and arrangement. It is easy to size each block using the arrow keys to adjust the vertical and horizontal dimensions for each block. Then I move the blocks around using the arrow keys for the X and Y grid placement. Next I take photos of the T-shirts or other items which will make up the memory blocks. I import those photos to EQ8 and drop the photos into my blank memory blocks.

To fill in around my memory blocks I place plain blocks between each block or sometimes draw large frames around blocks. They can overlap and be layered to create shadows, frames, or other interesting looks. Be sure to send them to the back so the memory block remains visible. Once I have “visualized” the look of the quilt I replace the larger frames with individual block/patches which I will piece around and between the memory blocks. This method allows the memory blocks to take center stage and the background and filler blocks complement the overall design. I can use these filler blocks to print templates or rotary cutting directions for the entire quilt.

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

I continue to design and teach after a year of quarantine, and present programs and workshops to guilds. What fun!

You can follow me on my website, Morning Glory Designs, or email me.

Giveaway

This contest is closed. Winner: Sharon Treece!

I will be giving away my Beach Dreams BOM pattern, which was designed with EQ8 and is now running on my website. I will give away a print edition of the pattern to who ever can tell me the number of Block of the Month quilts I have posted on my website. All of them were designed with EQ! I will select one winner randomly from those who answered correctly.

Question to enter:  How many Block of the Month quilts are posted on my website? 

Comment below to enter. One entry per person. Contest closes Sunday, November 28 at 11:59pm ET. Winner will be chosen at random and contacted via email.

Beach Dreams BOM designed by Reeze in EQ

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 >>

We are nearing the end of our 30th anniversary year. We’re going to celebrate with a special slideshow of 30 EQ user-designed quilts! Want your quilt to be considered for the show? Add photos of your EQ design and finished quilt to the gallery by December 15th! View the Quilt Gallery >>