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 Jutta Hufnagel! Jutta is a quilter and co-owner of Quilt Around the World, a one-stop location for EQ8 for German speaking quilters. She started with EQ4 to assist in designing her own quilts, and by EQ7 Jutta began to help others learn the software by providing a German translation of the user manual.
“I used printouts from EQ for the classes I taught at that time,” says Jutta, “and for a short period in the early 2000s, I even occasionally made a sort of mini quilting magazine for the quilting group I belonged to. Quite a few quilters told me that they found Electric Quilt very tempting, but that they feared their English was not good enough to master a complex design software by themselves. So I contacted Electric Quilt and asked whether it would be possible to provide potential German-speaking EQ users with a German user manual.”
Starting as an independent and international online quilt magazine, Quilt Around the World provided extensive international projects including block swaps, design challenges, Coincidence Quilt projects, and also became an EQ reseller. By translating the EQ7 manual, Jutta also began to find new opportunities for the business.
“This opened and has opened so many possibilities for us,” says Jutta. “We have published a surprising number of other books in the meantime which wouldn’t have been possible without the skills we learnt through the EQ7 translation project. Moreover, publishing quilting books or patterns, even on a mini scale as we do, would simply not be possible without a specialized design tool like EQ8.”
With full-time jobs and an overwhelming schedule, Jutta and her partner decided to take a step back from selling EQ8 in 2020, with the intention of eventually closing Quilt Around the World altogether. However, they found there was still a strong desire for their services as they continued to receive inquires and questions about EQ8 from German speakers. After some convincing, they decided to not to close their shop after all, but instead shifted their focus almost entirely to EQ8.
“We offer EQ8 licenses, a growing number of German online classes covering basic and advanced user levels and a likewise growing number of our own EQ8 block libraries,” says Jutta. “Our class schedule includes a foundation class focusing on EasyDraw blocks and a more advanced class on quilt layouts and quilt borders. For our class schedule for 2023, we have created a new advanced class focusing on PolyDraw and Appliqué blocks. Also new in 2023 are two one-evening “special topic” classes – one doing a very deep dive into the Custom Layout on the Quilt Worktable and the other focusing on Islamic tile patterns and how to recreate them in EQ8 with EasyDraw.”
Through her educational resources, Jutta hopes to help German-speaking quilters embrace the possibility of making their own designs with EQ8.
“Supporting and nurturing individual creativity is probably my major driving force and something that is very close to my heart. It’s great that there are so many fantastic quilting books and patterns out there. At the same time, I strongly believe that the quilting world can only thrive for many years to come, if as many quilters as possible consume fewer patterns from others and create their own designs instead. I would wish for quilters to leave the well-trodden paths of patchwork and quilting and to develop their personal style and creative voice. In our classes, we have seen that people are much more creative than they often think themselves. And Electric Quilt gives them the support they need to put their ideas into fabric.”
Thank you to Jutta and Quilt Around the World for sharing your wonderful quilts and story with us!
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.