EQ8

EQ is a quilt design software but we can use it for more than quilt designs.  Have you ever considered making a cloth book for children celebrating different types of playtime?  You can easily accomplish this without sewing a single seam. Open your EQ8 and create a project name ‘Childs Eyeview of Lazy Days of Summer’.  Lazy days would include quiet play, reading, learning while playing, or making up songs and stories around simple images.  For very young children, all life is play! Confirm the name of the project is showing at the top of your screen. Click on the block worktable icon on the upper right corner of the screen. Click on BLOCK>New Block> Easy Draw at the upper left area above the worktable. At the top of the worktable enter a block size of 8 inches with snaps vertical and horizontal set at 32. Click on the line

Did you know that you can print coloring pages from EQ8? It’s a great option for pattern writers who want to include a coloring sheet in their pattern, and for anyone looking for a relaxing activity away from a screen. (We’re a software company and we love what you can accomplish with a computer, but we all need to step away from that screen once in a while! ) Print a Coloring Page for a Quilt Follow the steps below to print a coloring page for a quilt design. Edit the quilt to the Quilt Worktable. The quilt shown below is from the Storm at Sea Quick Quilt Project. If you’d like to learn more about Quick Quilts, click here. Click the PRINT & EXPORT tab. Click Quilt in the palette. In the Print Quilt window, under Printing Style, choose Outline drawing. Click Preview. There’s your coloring page! If you’re

As crafting people, we rarely do only one type of craft.  Sewing, knitting, crocheting, painting, embroidery, photography, quilting, card making, and so much more are creative expressions of ourselves.  Working with fabrics is my first choice of creativity.  I love to work with fabrics, threads, designing, digitizing,  and piecing it all together to create one cohesive design. EQ8 is a quilt design program that uses graphics to help us ‘see’ how our actual project will look finished while still in the ‘virtual world’ of creativity.  As an educator for both machine embroidery and quilting, I can use my EQ8 to merge both of these creative loves of mine.  For those of you who still have EQ7 with the EQStitch add-on program, you can create embroidery directly in your program.  Everyone else uses another software program to create their embroidery.   Have you ever wondered why EQ has an embroidery library?  If

Did you know that EQ8 has placemat options already built into the program ready for us to personalize and use for our favorite festive occasions?  It makes designing and sewing these mini-projects really quick and simple. Launch your EQ8 program from the desktop. Click on the folder on the left side of the screen and name your new project ‘Holiday Placemats’.    Look at the top of your screen and make sure the named project is at the top.  This way, all the work you do on placemats will be in this one project folder. Click on LIBRARIES>Layout Libraries at the top of the screen. In the layout library box, on the left side of the box, navigate to EQ8 Libraries>Layouts by size>Placemats. Select the third layout in the pane by clicking on it.  A blue selection box will appear around it.  Add it to the sketchbook. NOTE: Most of

I use EQ8 for all my quilt block and layout ideas that I want to test out.  There are several tools that I love to play with when designing.  Each of us has our own style when it comes to quilting, but it is so easy to try something new/different when playing with the the EQ8 design tools.  I would like to share a couple of tools I use fairly consistently when working with the program.  I would love to hear what is your favorite tool. One of my favorite tools is on the Quilt Layout Worktable.  Since I live in a very small apartment, I don’t have a design wall available to me to view my blocks in various positions.  With the Symmetry Tool  under the sketchbook block tools, I can rotate my blocks with one click to see various layouts for the blocks.  I can view up to

Welcome everyone to our newest sew along lessons!  We are calling this ‘DESIGN AND SEWING’ .   The lessons are for everyone but can be especially beneficial for the beginner EQ8 user.  Following along with the lessons and creating the pattern will be a great way to learn how to use the tools in the EQ8 program. The lessons begin with this introduction on January 12 and there will be a new lesson posted every 2nd and 4th Sunday of the month for 3 months.  The first designing lesson will be January 26, 2020.  There will be instructions on how to create the blocks and the layout for the quilt below.  This will include all the different block styles, border options, and printing of the patterns for each of the blocks for construction.  You will be able to download and print the lesson from the website to follow along.  You will

Click here to find the updated New to EQ8? post with more information. Did you recently get EQ8? Welcome to the EQ family! Or maybe you just want to dive deeper into your EQ8 skills? You came to the right place! We’ve put together a list of resources to help you get started with your new software. A great place to start is built right into your EQ8 software. When you open EQ8 you’ll see the Home screen. Under the big EQ8 logo on the left, click LEARN. Reference Manual and Quick Start Guide On the Learn screen, you’ll see links to our EQ8 learning resources. The Reference Manual and Quick Start Guide are available as PDFs. You can download them by clicking the appropriate links. These downloads can also be found here: EQ8 Documentation The Quick Start Guide has a beginner lesson starting on page 15. It’s a great