EQ Academy

We just got back to Ohio from our EQ Academy in Denver, Colorado. This was our first time hosting an EQ Academy away from home (Perrysburg, Ohio) and was it ever FUN!! …And memorable! Some of my favorite moments include the incredible views of the Rocky Mountains, the awesome computer labs (with comfy chairs!) at the Greenwood Plaza Triad, the yummy snacks in the break room, the creative row quilt Barb’s students designed together, all the blocks Kari’s students were learning to trace, quilt shop hopping, the Broncos kicking off the NFL season with a win, dining out, seeing some firemen in uniform , taking the Light Rail downtown and of course, watching what all our students were designing in EQ7! It was so fun being able to meet so many talented quilters. Our EQ users (and teachers) are awesome!!! Pictures from the 3-day workshop are below. Students: A BIG

76 students… 11 employees… 4 teachers… 3 days… 1 heck of a good time! If you weren’t at this year’s EQ Academy – you should have been!  What a fun 3 days! We kicked it off on Thursday morning with coffee, tea and registration at 8am. (Meeting all the students and welcoming them is my favorite part!) Classes were from 9am-4pm every day with a lunch break at noon when we all enjoyed sandwiches, salads, wraps, snacks and yummy cookies from local restaurants and caterers. Friday night each of the AWESOME teachers gave a lecture while we all snacked on Anniversary cake and took silly pictures in the photobooth. First, Yvonne Menear spoke about some of her jaw-dropping embroidered quilts (and told an incredibly funny story quoting Taylor Swift’s song, “Shake it Off” ). After that, Christa Watson displayed many of her amazing quilts and described her design process. Next,

Today is the first day of our 3-day EQ workshop in Perrysburg, Ohio. We’re so excited to meet all the students! Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to see what’s going on at EQ Academy 2016! See photos from last year’s EQ Academy >> Want to come to our next workshop? EQ Academy will be hosted in Denver, CO too! Read more >>

Today I’d like to introduce you to our last (but definitely not least!) EQ Academy teacher, Barb Vlack! Barb has been a part of the EQ family almost as long as Dean & Penny! If you’ve ever participated in one of our monthly Club EQ challenges, you’ll recognize Barb as the club leader who has inspired EQ users worldwide to learn more about the software for more than 20 years. Barb has been a user of the Electric Quilt software since version 1 was introduced in 1991 and has helped in the development of several versions of EQ as a beta tester and as a “Can-you-do-this?” idea person. She has authored three books published by The Electric Quilt Company: Too Much Fun! (1997), EQ4 Magic (1999), and EQ5 Quilt Design (2003). She also contributed to the EQ with Me: Quilt Design book. For Heroes by Barb Vlack, Designed for ClubEQ challenge,

We’ve been introducing each of our EQ Academy teachers here on the blog in anticipation of our first 2016 workshop coming up in April. You’ve met Christa Watson and Yvonne Menear. Now it’s time to get to know our good friend Mary Ellen Kranz a little better! Mary Ellen has sewn and quilted since childhood. She found her career path in computers but continued to pursue quiltmaking. Twenty years of experience teaching computer technologies provided her with an understanding of how PCs, printers, scanners and digital cameras could blend together in the process of creating fiber art. As a quiltmaker, teacher and author, Mary Ellen Kranz shares her knowledge of how to combine quilting, digital photography, and computer software with quiltmakers across the country. Her quilts appear in shows and galleries and reflect a broad range of quiltmaking skills and techniques. Patten Pond, Quilt: Mary Ellen Kranz, Quilting: Cheryl Hayes

The first of our two 2016 EQ Academy events is coming up in April in Perrysburg, Ohio and we’re introducing each of our teachers here on the blog. A few days ago, we featured Christa Watson. Now it’s time to get to know Yvonne Menear! We’re happy to have Yvonne joining us for the second time as the EQStitch instructor at EQ Academy. She literally wrote the book on EQStitch and was our #1 beta tester during the development of the embroidery plug-in for EQ7! Yvonne is a familiar face here on the blog with her weekly Sunday Stitch posts that share lots of great EQStitch tips and inspiration. She’s also the moderator of the EQStitch Yahoo Group and has a very busy teaching schedule that includes in-person classes and retreats, as well as online classes at EQ University. Yvonne says: “When I was a little girl, my teenage babysitter

The first of our two EQ Academy Workshops is fast approaching and we can’t wait to see you all in person! The April 21-23 workshop will be held in Perrysburg, Ohio and we have four wonderful teachers ready to show you the ins and outs of EQ7 and EQStitch.Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be profiling each of our teachers so you can get to know them better. First up is Christa Watson! This will be Christa’s first time teaching at EQ Academy and we’re so happy to have her join us this year! Christa has been designing original quilts and class samples since the early days of EQ4. We first “met” Christa when she emailed EQ to tell us that she had used EQ7 to design a quilt that would be featured on the cover of the November/December 2013 issue of Quilty. We’re always so excited to see