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Do you work on more than one project at a time?  Do you start a project and get stuck and then move to another project?  Did you know you can save partial projects in EQ to return to later to complete?  EQ makes it easy to start and stop projects and return to them later to complete or edit. If I am not sure what I am going to design and I just want to practice, I create a special project file named ‘Practice”.  Everything that is just a thought I want to try out goes into this file until I have developed my design idea.  I can then go back to the original design and pull it out of the Practice file to create a specific project for it. Open your EQ8  When the splash screen opens, select the ‘new project’ icon and name the project  ‘Practice”.  Click ‘OK’

This month we’re designing a few different variations of tumbler quilts. Tumbler quilts are one type of One Patch quilts. Here is a lesson about One Patch quilts if you’re interested in learning about the other types, as well! Click NEW QUILT > One Patch Click the LAYOUT tab Under Patch Style choose Tumblers You can also adjust the NUMBER OF UNITS and the FINISHED SIZE OF UNITS Click the DESIGN tab > Fabric Tools and color your quilt as desired. Be sure to check out the Paintbrush Subtools. When you are done, click Add to Project Sketchbook  . If the project is unnamed EQ8 will prompt you to do so. (To be saved, your item needs to be in the Sketchbook AND your project needs to be named. Here is more information.) You can make the quilt look different  just by the way you color it. This is the same layout as

This month we’ll be designing some modern quilts. The Modern Quilt Guild says, “Modern quilters work in different styles and define modern quilting in different ways, but several characteristics often appear which may help identify a modern quilt. These include, but are not limited to: the use of bold colors and prints, high contrast and graphic areas of solid color, improvisational piecing, minimalism, expansive negative space, and alternate grid work. ‘Modern traditionalism’ or the updating of classic quilt designs is also often seen in modern quilting.” Keeping that in mind, the first quilt we’ll design is just a modified log cabin. Open EQ8 and click Design a quilt from scratch Click the NEW QUILT tab > Horizontal Click the LAYOUT tab Under NUMBER OF BLOCKS enter… Horizontal: 5 Vertical: 6 Click the DESIGN tab > Block Tools > Open Library Under 01 Classic Pieced > Classics > Log Cabin > Add to

I would prefer not to quilt in the summer months.  I find handling a quilt in summer to be too hot during warm weather.  Instead, I do all my planning and designing during the summer using my EQ8 and then I am ready to go when the cooler weather starts.  I sit outside in the sunshine with my computer and get lost in the design process of creating quilts. Double click on the EQ8 icon to launch the program. On the opening screen, click on the new project icon on the upper left side of the screen. In the project helper box, click on the ‘create a new project tab’ and then type in the name ‘Summertime Quilt Planning’.  Click the OK at the bottom of the box. I used the colors of the clear blue sky and the bright oranges and yellows of the summer sunshine to be my

There are lots of different ways to change the colors or fabrics in your quilts. Let’s start with a Quick Quilt to show some of the options. Click Start with a Quilt Quilt project Click Log Cabin Quilts.PJ8 > OK Scroll to the end or change the size of the quilts with the display buttons to see all five quilts. Click on one of the quilts in the project > Edit Click Fabric Tools > Swap Color Choose a fabric/color and click on any piece in the quilt. The Swap Color tool paints changes patches of the same color in the entire quilt with just one click. Click Add to Project Sketchbook    when you are done. When you start with a Quick Quilt project it is a named however, once you open it, it becomes Untitled. If your project is unnamed EQ8 will prompt you to name it. (To

This year’s QuiltCon 2023 Community Outreach Challenge is to create quilts that show a color shift, or gradient, in the piecing. This is a fun challenge to play with in EQ8 because it’s easy to add gradated colors, and of course, play with lots of different design ideas! Open EQ8 and click Design a quilt from scratch Click the DESIGN tab > Fabric Tools > Colors tab Click the three dots  and choose Add Colors… Click Define Custom Colors >>> The dark-teal RGB value is: R: 24 G: 78 B: 119 Enter those numbers as shown. Click Add to Custom Colors. Click OK Repeat for these other three colors. The lime-green RGB value is: R: 217 G: 237 B: 146 The eggplant-purple RGB value is: R: 70 G: 17 B: 106 The pink RGB value is: R: 234 G: 105 B: 139 Scroll to the end of all your colors

Let’s celebrate Spring!  I am trying to be positive, it is still snowing where I live.  I really want Spring. 1. Double Click on the EQ8 Icon on your desktop and launch the program.  When the program opens, click on the New Project icon  and name the new project ‘Spring Is In The Air’.  Click on the OK at the bottom of the box. 2.  Click on the block worktable icon on the upper right side of the screen.  Click on NEW BLOCK>Pieced and Applique>Easy + Applique at the top of the screen. 3.  At the top of the screen, click on LIBRARIES>Block Library. 4.  In the block library box, click on search>by notecard.  Type in the search word ‘tulips’. Click on the word ‘search’ at the bottom of the box. Click on the OK in the search results box. 5.  Scroll over in the box until you find the