Contest is closed. Winner: Susan Nunchuck! Congrats, Susan and thank you to all who entered!

EQ Artist, Cheryl Brickey has a brand-new book out called Just Two Charm Pack Quilts which would make a great gift (even for yourself!!). Read all about it below and enter to win a copy!



EQ: We are so excited about your new book! This book is a continuation to one of your previously published books, right?

Cheryl: Yes! Just Two Charm Pack Quilts is a follow-on to my best-selling book Just One Charm Pack Quilts. Each of the quilts in my Just One Charm Pack Quilts book used a single charm pack, an additional fabric, and a background fabric in order to stretch the charm pack into a full quilt. I thought of it as the Hamburger Helper of charm packs. Each of the quilts were smaller in size, perfect for babies, children, and smaller lap quilts.
Quilters loved the designs but wanted larger quilts so Just Two Charm Pack Quilts was born with 16 larger throw sized quilts.  :-)

Gift Box, Photo credit: C&T Publications

EQ: There are so many different looking quilts in the book, all starting with charm squares. Could you take us through your design process?

Cheryl: I love starting with traditional quilt blocks and designing with constraints. For this book, each of the quilt patterns in the book uses two charm packs, an additional fabric, and a background fabric. I played around, modernizing more traditional quilt blocks until I had a design that worked. Many times, I came up with a design but when I calculated the fabric requirements, the quilt needed 90 charm squares (two charm packs usually contain 84 total charm squares) so I had to continue to play and tweak the design to create quilts that I loved and worked within the parameters of the book.

Photo credit: C&T Publications

EQ: Did EQ8 help you with your design process?

Cheryl: Yes! I used EQ8 to design every quilt in the book and I do not think that I would have been able to design the quilts without it. EQ8 makes it so easy to change up the blocks, sizing, layout and see the immediate effect on the quilt.
For Process Flow, I started with the idea of a zipper style design and played with the number of blocks and adding extra columns until I had a design I loved and fit the fabric constraints of the book. I used the Vertical Strip layout for this design.

Process Flow, Photo credit: C&T Publications

Process Flow (Alt), Photo Credit: C&T Publications

For Somerville Circle, I began with a traditional circle block and used the Horizontal layout (I think of it as a grid) along with sashing to create the design.

Somerville Circle, Photo credit: C&T Publications

Somerville Circle (Alt), Photo credit: C&T Publications

EQ: Looking through your book, I love how each pattern was made into two finished quilts with different colorways.

Cheryl: EQ8 was so helpful in planning the colorways for all of the quilts in the book. The book contains 16 patterns and each was made into 2 colorways so there are 32 finished quilts in the book. Due to the timeline for writing the book, I had to select all of the fabrics for all of the quilts at once. Being able to render the designs in different colorways enabled me to select all of the fabrics for the quilts and make sure that I had a good variety of colors and backgrounds for all 32 quilts.
I love seeing quilts with different colors, it helps me visualize how designs might look with a dark background, light background, different colors and more. Below are the two versions of String Lights, you can see how different the quilts look with different background colors.

String Lights, Photo credit: C&T Publications

EQ: Do you have a favorite quilt in the book?

Cheryl: That is a very difficult question, I really love them all. Snapdragon Cove was one of my favorites to make because it is full of Half-Square Triangle blocks which are my favorite quilt block to make.

Snapdragon Cove, Photo credit: C&T Publications

Snapdragon Cove (Alt), Photo credit: C&T Publications

Another favorite quilt would have to be More Fishies. My Just One Charm Pack Quilts book had a pattern called Fishies which was one of the most popular patterns in the book. I had to follow it up with a larger quilt, More Fishies.

Fishies from Just One Charm Pack Quilts, Photo credit: C&T Publications

More Fishies, Photo credit: C&T Publications

EQ: Thank you so much for doing this interview with me, Cheryl! Where can people find more information about you and your book?

Cheryl: I have a page set up on my blog all about my book, you can visit it here. You can purchase the book on Amazon or get a signed copy directly from my in my shop.

GIVEAWAY!

We will give away 1 copy of Cheryl’s new book, “Just Two Charm Pack Quilts.”  :lol:

To enter, leave a comment below and tell us which of Cheryl’s 16 quilts is your favorite! (View all Cheryl’s quilts here - scroll down on the page until you see “PICTURES OF ALL OF THE BOOK QUILTS.”)

Rules: One comment per person. Comment must include the name of one of Cheryl’s quilts. Entries accepted until Sunday, June 4 at 11:59pm EST. Contest open worldwide. Winners in the US will receive a physical copy of the book, winners outside of the US will receive a digital copy of the booki due to shipping costs. Winner will be selected at random and announced Monday, June 5. Good luck!