New to EQ

These women are all fantastic designers, authors, and quilters we look to for fabulous creations. They are among many pioneers who have shaped the quilting industry into the wonderful world that it is today. We are so honored that these women, among many others, have expressed their shared love for the Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns by Barbara Brackman (speaking of pioneers!). Tula puts it perfectly when she says, “No matter how much we evolve as quilters, our foundation will always remain rooted in the traditional building blocks of patchwork.” Judy says, “Barbara’s research is invaluable, and her system for organizing blocks by their construction basis is genius. It allows you to easily find a pattern and learn its name, based on what it looks like.” Learn how to use the book here. In case you’re not familiar with previous editions of Barbara’s Encyclopedia, take it from Alex Anderson, “When

The new Dear Jane Add-on for EQ was released earlier this month and we’ve offered a great introductory discount all month long! This 35% deal ends Thursday, April 30th! If you haven’t purchased your Dear Jane Add-on for EQ yet, you better act fast! You don’t want to miss these savings. No code required! Get it now! > Undecided? Check out what others are saying! Barb Vlack says… “For anyone seeking a user friendly add-on for EQ8, you’ll be delighted with this one. It’s easy to navigate and offers tips and tricks that will help anyone taking on this project. The design tools in EQ8 make it simple to create your own variation if you desire. The blocks can be used as is or edited to create a variation. Fabrics can be added from the vast EQ8 fabric library, EQ8 Stash add-ons, or scanned fabrics from your own collection. I

Get it now at the special introductory price! We have re-released Brenda Papadakis’ Dear Jane software as a download specifically for EQ8! For the entire month of April, the Dear Jane Add-on for EQ is 35% off the retail price of $49.95. This brings your price to $32.47! No code necessary, just get it before May 1st! Don’t miss out on this special offer! What’s Included? Click the video above to see the inside scoop of what’s included! Requires EQ8 software. Works with EQ8 for Windows or Mac. Quick download from your EQ Account. Installs 5 EQ project files, 5 block libraries, and several PDF resources. Includes updated blocks (from the original version) for better foundation piecing, where applicable. Can print templates, foundation patterns, and rotary cutting charts. Includes 225 quilting designs that mimic Jane A. Stickle’s quilting on her 1863 Civil War quilt. Includes 12 sewing lessons (PDF) from

In late September Al Navas bought EQ7. By the end of the week he was designing his own quilts. In less than a month he was writing his own EQ lesson! We were intrigued and asked him a little about himself, included how he started quilting.     Al said, “This was pure serendipity! My wife Sandy had been working with embroidery designs for several years, using a Husqvarna Viking Designer Diamond machine. I helped her digitize designs using 5D™ Design Creator, a part of the 5D™ Embroidery Extra suite. She also started quilting a few years ago, first using the Desingner Diamond, and also a home sewing machine; she incorporated embroidered blocks in her quilt designs. Meanwhile I kept learning the digitizing process, until I developed a good work flow; I am now confident I can tackle substantial embroidery digitizing projects. A while back Sandy and her sister pooled money and bought

The Electric Quilt Company is a pretty small group and many of us crossover in our job duties. Whenever we would pass around a greeting card for all the employees to sign, Jan would always sign the card as “Jan-In Shipping” as if we could possibly be confused by any other “Jan.” Jan is a chatterbox of energy in our office who keeps us all in stitches (no pun intended) with her quick-witted one-liners or her Pig Latin conversations with Heidi. If you’ve ever called the “sales” line at Electric Quilt, you may have spoken with Jan. Jan lives just around the block from me and her daughters and my sons attended the same elementary school, junior high and high school. We attended school events together, chaperoned proms and so on for years. I think you’re a lucky person if you have friends at work who are also friends outside

If you’ve ever called our customer service line, chances are you’ve heard Linda’s friendly voice on the other end of the line. Linda has worked at EQ for several years, but she just recently designed her first quilt in EQ7! “She’s just now using EQ7?!?” you ask…. Well, Linda has a Mac at home so, along with many other people, she’s been patiently waiting for the Mac release of EQ7. And now that she’s had a chance to work with the software a bit, she has a finished quilt to show off. Linda thought she was just sharing her quilt with those of us in the office, but we all loved it so much I wanted to share it on the blog too! Linda designed the quilt to use with a Block of the Month program she did. She followed this tutorial on the blog to import photos of her

We are starting a new series called, New to EQ. Quilters who have never used EQ before will be blogging about their first experiences. The posts are not edited by The Electric Quilt in any way and we don’t know what they are going to post until it’s already been posted. We HAVE told them to contact techsupport@electricquilt.com if they have any issues…but we tell all of our users that. We are hoping that people see that you shouldn’t be intimidated by EQ7! The first blogger who we are featuring is Sarah Sharp of nohatsinthehouse.com. She is a brand new EQ user. You can read about her first few clicks in EQ7. Her is a bit of what she has to say, “I think my heart skipped a beat the first time I whipped up a layout for my ‘shott{ing} stars design.  Not only is it super easy, but it also