Welcome to our blog series, Do You EQ Too? Each month, we will spotlight a different EQ user and their quilts! If you haven’t already, you can read our introduction post here.
This month we are spotlighting Heleen Pinkster! Heleen is a long-time EQ user who currently lives in the Netherlands, and actually translated the EQ8 Lessons for the Beginners book into Dutch!
Heleen Pinkster
“I always introduce myself with the following words,” says Heleen. “I’m a daughter of an architectural draftsman and a needlework teacher. I studied for and worked as a primary school teacher. This all together makes me: Heleen. I have very good spatial awareness, I can ‘see’ my quilts before they are sewn.
I still use my mom’s old iron, because it has no holes in the bottom. This is important for how I sew my patterns. I developed my own detailed way of sewing foundation piecing patterns. For templates I use freezerpaper and iron them at the back side of the fabric. My templates can be very tiny, even up to an 16th of an inch (or 2 millimeters). Steam irons have little holes, they will miss these tiny pieces while attaching them to the fabric. I use teabag paper as foundation, a very thin and washable.”
Tweet
“In 1995 I started quilting. In 1996-1997 we lived in the USA because the company my husband worked for asked him to do so. I joined him with our kids and this really was a great time. In Grand Rapids, MI my addiction for quilting started. I attended a beginner class where I was asked to take over just one lesson because the teacher was at a quilt show. Back in the Netherlands, I started teaching quilt lessons at home. After a while a nearby quilt shop asked me to teach classes. There I learned about EQ4! I loved it right away and started designing my own patterns. I still use this fabulous software to design. I love to make patterns, consisting of straight lines, though picturing realistic objects. In 2006 I started my own business, I’m self-employed and teach patchwork, foundation-paper-piecing, appliqué and EQ8 in Dutch. I translated the books from EQ6-8 in Dutch and was beta-tester too.
My most sold pattern is called TWEET. I sell this cute pattern on paper or as pdf, in centimeters and also in inches. I like this pattern especially because it can be changed into your own kind of birds (change tails) and the number of birds. My goal is to inspire people to be creative themselves. After Tweet I designed: Tree-Tweet, Home-Tweet-Home and Love-Birds in addition to Tweet. The size of the birds is the same so they can be combined. At my Facebook group Quilt Along With Heleen Pinkster there is a free pattern, also related to Tweet. For Valentine’s Day I designed Tweet-Valentine.”
Tree-Tweet, Home-Tweet-Home, Love Birds, and Tweet-Valentine.
“Besides Tweet I have many other quilts which are available as patterns or books. The books all started as a block of the month in the nearby quilt shop where I still teach many lessons. Because of the consistency of measurement, all patterns from my books can be combined. Tuin (Garden) is the one I designed sitting behind our window and watching our garden. I love this one. Another one is called Bloemenwinkel (Flowershop). My daughter, who is a florist, helped me with the flowers. She advised me how to choose the best flower for that particular month. When designing this quilt, I had translated my first lesson books of EQ, so I knew how to use a picture behind a block at the block-worktable. And then my addiction was complete. I still love the sewing, but even more the designing.
My latest projects are optical illusion. The Quilters Guild in the Netherlands asked me to teach at their members-day last September. It was such a success, they decided to plan an extra day in October. You can find pictures of that day on my Facebook page.”
Tuin (Garden)
“During the past two years, during Covid lockdown, I learned how to convert my patterns into English pdf patterns in inches and at letter format. In the Netherlands, we are used to centimeters and A4 paper size. This was a fun new experience and now many of my patterns are available worldwide. I also experienced how to teach by Microsoft Teams, so I can stay home and still teach EQ classes. This is so much fun, helping others to work with EQ.
Visit my website, Facebook, or Instagram where you can see a lot of my quilts and designs, all patterns are designed in EQ. Thank you Electric Quilt for giving us this wonderful software.”
Thank you Heleen for sharing your wonderful quilts and story with us! You can find Heleen at:
Email: info@heleenpinkster.nl
Tell us your story!
To be considered for our next spotlight, write a brief comment below and attach an image of an EQ-designed quilt or project you’re proud of! You can also tag us @theelectricquiltcompany on Instagram or @ElectricQuilt on Facebook, or use our hashtags #EQ8 and #DoYouEQ.
Each month we will select a quilter from all the submissions we’ve received. So if you weren’t picked this month, you can still be featured in future months!
Join us next month as we spotlight another quilter! View all Do You EQ Too? posts >>
How to submit an image of your quilt:
- In the comment form below, tell us a little bit about your quilt or story. Then click Browse to include the image of your quilt.
- Select your quilt, then click Submit Comment.
