Now that everyone can purchase EQ add-on downloads, we wanted to highlight two of our European designers!

Annika Kornelis

The first designer is Annika Kornelis from The Netherlands. Annika has a fun blog where she writes about quilting, in general, and her quilt designs created in EQ. The blog is named Stof Genoeg, which is Dutch for “plenty of material,” though I’m guessing she always has room for more! Check out her New Year’s EQ8 quilt design, Fantasy Chinese Dragon, made up of simple quilt blocks.

When asked how and when she got into quilting, here’s Annika’s response. “My mother got into quilting when I was a girl, and she still quilts at 86! Out of her five kids, I am the only one who was interested in learning to piece and quilt. I sewed a log cabin block when I was 10 years old. Even when I was a school kid, my Mom would ask me for advice on fabric choices and to draft blocks and patterns for her. I have always been more of a ‘quilt-idea generator’ than an actual quilter.”

Annika started using EQ5 and was hooked! This is what she discovered. “Before, I had awful paper sketches with added notes, none of which I could decipher after two days. And now I could use EQ to create a very clear visual of the quilts I wanted to see! EQ’s tools give me options and ideas I would never get out of the blue. My favorite tools are the Wreathmaker and the time-saving Serendipity block tools. Frame block enables me to quickly enlarge a block without resizing the center and Merge block allows me to use a fixed-sized base block to quickly achieve a larger block in many different ways.

The EQ add-on that bares Annika’s name is InklingoTM Dresden Plate Pieced Variations. The pieced blocks in this whimsical collection were conceived by Linda Franz of Inklingo. Annika’s part was combining available shapes in possible block variations, designing her own quilt variations, and mainly, drafting the complicated blocks neatly to work in EQ.

Read in Annika’s own words how, with Linda’s blessing and collaboration, she created the add-on that includes these amazing pieced blocks!

“Linda Franz’ Inklingo, with her ever increasing collection of versatile patchwork and applique shapes to print on fabric, are an endless source of design inspiration. I always wanted to see what more I could do with them and that’s how I came up with the add-on collection for EQ. Linda very cleverly designed three downloadable shape collections of Dresden Plate type blocks. One is for applique and two are for pieced blocks. In particular, the pieced block shapes have many optional and interchangeable elements, like the blades and outer rings. Linda provided a wonderful Dresden Plate Design book (free with purchase of shapes), too, but it doesn’t show all possible block variations. I got the (highly ambitious) idea to draft all possible block variations so I could see which ones I liked best, as well as inspiring others.

There were so many possible variations it made my head spin! Drafting, especially the complex blocks with outer rings of triangles, and keeping it all organized was very time consuming. I figured this was simply not feasible for many Inklingo quilters who would like their own EQ mockup to audition settings, block variations and combinations, colors, fabric choices, etc. Linda and Inklingoists, like myself, share EQ project files whenever it is useful or possible, to help fellow EQers plan their quilts for free. I determined this would be such a big project that doing it for myself made no sense, nor did sharing it for free. After consulting with Linda and getting her permission, I contacted EQ to see if they were interested in this idea for an add-on block collection. EQ agreed, but I’d need to significantly narrow the scope to only include between 8 and 24 distinguishable different blocks, make sure they could be made with paper foundation piecing, and write sewing instructions! (You read that correctly, sewing instructions come with the purchase of this collection!) This was no easy task, but I managed to finish it, and the collection can still be purchased and used today!”

Wow, thanks Annika, we’re so happy you had the perseverance to complete this daunting project!!! Look at some of the amazing quilts she designed by simply setting the blocks in the collection in different layouts!

Regina Grewe

The next designer, Regina Grewe, lives in Germany. Although Regina was introduced to quilting on a US campground in the 1970s, she did not have the time, money, or opportunity to take a quilting class in order to complete her first quilt until 1999. Here is the beautiful result!

 

From the start, Regina knew she wanted to make her own quilts. By chance, she came across the FPP technique, which was the first cornerstone. Yet, she needed more assistance and information. There was very little German literature available at the time, though with the growing internet, that became a great resource. It was on the internet where she found the magazine, The Foundation Piecer, edited by Liz Schwartz and Stephen Seifert, and Regina was fascinated! She contacted the editors and they helped her learn a drawing program on the PC. They also ended up publishing her first work in this field in their magazine!

That first class and quilt led to more classes and more quilts. All of that learning led her to start teaching her own classes in 2003. As she says, she does not want all of her accumulated knowledge and skills to pass away with her, so instead, she prefers sharing her quilting expertise. In fact, Regina has free Tips and Tricks on her website to hopefully lead to an “aha-moment!”

Regina discovered EQ5 in 2002, and as she said, “What a new world!!” Since Regina mainly designs paper piecing patterns, EQ gives her the precision she needs for drawing, printing, and exporting. Her favorite part is playing around with the fabric tools, “a block can be given completely new color settings with just a few clicks!” Then all she has to do is pick out the most beautiful fabrics from the huge selection in the fabric libraries. “Magic! Inspiration!”

As for Regina’s adorable block collections, she works in series of small motif blocks from the BOM idea. You can see her elegant Garden Birds (in either pieced or applique), blooming flowers, towering Nutcrackers, and other seasonal and fun collections! Here’s some inspiration using blocks from a few of Regina’s block collections!

At the moment, Regina is putting together a “vegetable box” with goodies for the kitchen: tomatoes, peppers, asparagus, pumpkin, and many more! I don’t know about you, but I’m certainly hungry now!

Take advantage during our sitewide sale, March 14-17, 2024, to save on any of Annika or Regina’s block add-on collections, see what else is available, then have fun designing your own unique quilt!!