This year the EQ staff is making a quilt! We’ve added some new employees, so we wanted to make sure everyone knows how to sew and quilt. Each month, we’re featuring one staff member and their block in the quilt. (It just so happens we have 12 staff members!) If you’d like to sew along and get more details about the project, check them out here.

This month we’re featuring Courtney!

Courtney started at EQ with an internship in the beginning of 2020 and was officially hired as a full-time employee shortly after, so she has been at EQ for 4 years. She works as a software developer and is part of the team that develops software for both Windows and Mac platforms, as well as helps to find and fix bugs, and tests software. Courtney says, “I really enjoy being part of a small team working together to produce an amazing software for our users to be able to design and play with their quilts and blocks in.

This was my first time sewing anything aside from patching a hole or two in shirts before. When I was little, my grandma taught me how to crotchet and I (somewhat) helped her make scarves and blankets. Other than that, I have never used a sewing machine and was scared to use it at first hoping to not ruin the patches I was sewing, or the machine, for that matter!“

Courtney has sewn Old Maid’s Puzzle. She used a rotary cutting chart printout from EQ8 to help figure out how many patches she needed from each fabric and used the AccuQuilt GO! Cutter to cut out the patches. The rotary cutting chart helped with selecting which die to use with the AccuQuilt cutter. (Read more about using EQ8 and AccuQuilt together.)

Courtney says, “Initially, I was nervous going into cutting patches and sewing a block for the first time. Using the AccuQuilt cutter and die made the process so easy, as I did not need to cut the patches by hand. The die made it a breeze cutting multiple patches from the fabric at one time. Using the sewing machine was also a lot easier to use than I thought it would be going in. It helps that I had some amazing teachers who taught and helped me set everything up. I was surprised I didn’t waste any fabric throughout the process by messing anything up. It takes some time and patience, but it was so worth it in the end seeing the block come together (despite going cross-eyed a little making sure I was laying out and putting the patches together correctly before sewing)!

Working at EQ has absolutely changed how I viewed quilting. I have always had a fascination for anyone who could sew and be able to design and create quilts. When I started at EQ, that fascination grew upon seeing what our users could do with the EQ software and I love seeing all their quilts they send us pictures of and post on social media.”

Every month we’re also asking a random icebreaker question, just for fun. Courtney’s question was, If you could make an office rule for a day, what would it be?

Courtney said, “If I could make an office rule for a day, I would allow bringing in our own pets from home into the office. This would entirely be dependent on if the office building would allow animals in the first place, and allergies of course. Though, I think it would be really fun getting to meet everyone’s pets that we see pictures of in the office already. Obviously, this would not be a distraction at all and would definitely increase productivity, and it’s only for a day, right??”

Here are Courtney’s adorable pets! Maybe an EQ pet day will be in our future!

So that’s five blocks, five months, and five employees done!

Stay tuned for our next post on June 15th. We’ll feature another staff member and block!