We’re making a quilt! EQ has added some new employees recently, and we wanted to make sure everyone knows how to sew and quilt.  We decided to do a Sew-Along so you can see our blocks and get to know us all better. Each month, we’re featuring one staff member and their block in the quilt. (Perfect since 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 Jenny!

Jenny started at EQ as a graphic design intern in the Fall of 2001. She’s been at EQ through all the phases of growing up—from college student to newlywed to having a family. EQ actually didn’t have a maternity leave policy until Jenny was pregnant with her son, and now he’s off to college!

Jenny says, “Since I’ve been here forever , and we’re a small company where everyone pitches in when needed, I’ve done a lot of different things here at EQ. Currently, I’m the Director of Education and it’s been my favorite role so far! I teach the EQ At Home online classes and some of the in-person classes at our EQ Academy workshops. I love helping our customers learn how to use EQ to bring their quilt designs to life! I also help coordinate EQ education at major quilt shows, and support independent teachers who teach at your local quilt shops.

Beyond my education role, I’m also part of the marketing and customer service teams. I help with tech support, post here on the blog, and write the EQ Monthly Newsletter (among other things!). I love hosting sew alongs and inspiring quilters to make the most of their EQ software. Below is the quilt I made for the BlockBase+ Sew Along.

I learned to sew as a child through 4-H projects, but I didn’t get into quilting until after I started working at EQ. I learned how to design a quilt on the screen before I knew how to actually sew a quilt block. If you’ve ever been in one of my classes, I always joke that you can only design pretty quilts on the screen for so long before you want to make one yourself! Now, foundation paper piecing is my absolute favorite! I love the precision you can get using FPP. I like perfect points, but not perfect cutting. Here are a few of my favorite FPP blocks I’ve drawn in EQ8.

Since I love FPP, I decided to add a few seams to my sew along block to make it more foundation-friendly. On the Block Worktable, I added the seams shown in green below.

Then I could foundation piece the block in eight sections (and avoid those pesky y-seams!).”

Look at those points! Jenny’s block looks great!

Every month we’re also asking a random icebreaker question, just for fun. Jenny’s question was, If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Cereal! Maybe that’s cheating a bit because it’s not one specific food, but I love a good bowl of cereal. I envy Seinfeld’s cereal shelf.

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

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