Behind the Mouse: The Electric Quilt Blog

Welcome to the Block 2 post for the EQ7 Summer Drawing Series! We’ll start each month with a drawing lesson that focuses on one of the drawing styles available on the Block Worktable. Then, at the end of the month, we’ll have a link up post where everyone can show off a photo of their sewn block. That’s right, we’re not just drawing in this series, we’re SEWING too! Block 2 is drawn on the PatchDraw Block Worktable. The PatchDraw Block Worktable has both Pieced and Appliqué tabs at the bottom of the screen. We’ll only use the Pieced tab for this lesson. We’ll tackle that Appliqué tab next month! PatchDraw is aptly named because you construct the block by drawing closed patches (unlike EasyDraw where you drew straight or curved lines and the software created the patches for you). The best part of Pieced PatchDraw is the specialized click-and-snap

I’m so excited to see everyone’s blocks! Here’s my block: I hope this drawing lesson has given you the confidence to try drawing some of your own blocks on the EasyDraw Worktable. In case you missed it, check out the mini lesson for drawing a few variations of Block 1. To Link Up Your Photo Scroll down to the comment form at the end of this post. Fill in your info and make sure you select an image for your comment (this will be the photo of your block). If you have a blog, make sure to add your site too. If you wrote a post for this block, please link directly to that post. Let’s visit each others’ blogs and all get to know each other! You can link up your Block 1 photo at any time. But for those who link up by Wednesday, June 5, 2013, 9

Judy Momenzadeh and Michaele Shapiro (also known as Mo and Mike) are award winning art quilters who like to use digital images in their art. Of course they use EQ Printables.  They have a great Etsy shop where they sell kits to make photo quilts. Check it out here!

Enjoy this free block for Memorial Day! The Electric Quilt Company will be closed today, May 27th. Have a fun and safe holiday!

Stop by MyEQBoutique.com to save 20% on this adorable A Day at the Beach applique block collection, or any other patterns available from MyEQBoutique.com! This Memorial Day savings ends on Tuesday, May 28. Spend $20 to get 20% your order! You can’t beat that!

One of our users, Claire Haillot, has been using EQ7 to make panel quilts. She even gives seminars on the subject! Claire points out that one key to designing panel quilts with EQ7 is using the photo library to keep big fabric to size. Claire says… “Trick to design with panels : Use JPEG format of the panel and import the file as a photo. Using the Set Photo tool, you will be able to set the photo onto layer 2 (I always keep the layer 1 for fabric only but if you just want to see the design, and not calculate yardage, you can set on layer 1) FOR RUNNING BORDERS This portion needs to be done through a photo software (I use Picasa3) Rotate the picture so that you have it as it would be in your border (horizontal straight, horizontal upside down, vertical to the left, vertical to

Have you noticed these black and white crossword looking things showing up lately? They are called QR (Quick Response) Codes. If you take a picture of the QR Code with your smartphone it will usually take you to a website, but it can also encode other stuff, like your contact information, or any text you’d like. The above QR code links to electricquilt.com. You can make them for free at sites like qrcode.kaywa.com. Again, you can set it up to link to anything you want. So, link it directly to the sign-up for your newsletter, to friend your shop on Facebook, go directly to your Etsy shop, follow you on Pinterest or Twitter…it’s easier than handing out web addresses and hoping people type it in and find what they are looking for.  I was thinking that they would be a fun addition to quilt labels. So, if someone sees your