Behind the Mouse: The Electric Quilt Blog

My name is Sandi Walton of Piecemeal Quilts.  I am from Wisconsin, and I’ve been quilting since 2003. I’ve been using EQ for a while now and I’m a DoYouEQ Artist. Check out my blog to learn more about me. Have you seen some of the quilting books and magazines available now that feature individual blocks? Books like “Modern Blocks: 99 Quilt Blocks from Your Favorite Designers” or “The Quilter’s Album of Patchwork Patterns: 4050 Pieced Blocks for Quilters” and magazines like Quiltmaker’s “100 Blocks. They’re wonderful resources for quilters, but they can become even better resources when you use EQ7 to see how the block would look repeated, recolored, twisted or with different layouts. Check out this modern block I created in EQ7. I’m calling it Packer Tracker because it looks a bit like train tracks and it’s in Green Bay Packer colors (hey, I’m from Wisconsin). It’s a relatively

Karen K. Stone More Quilts installs right into your Electric Quilt 7 software. Instantly add 11 whimsical quilts and 1,675 fabrics to your library. You’ll also get a complete help section and Karen’s original sewing instructions. Print the patterns as Karen designed them and start sewing. Or make each quilt your own by changing fabrics in EQ7. Design. Print. Sew. Print rotary cutting, foundation patterns, templates, yardage estimates, and color pictures of the blocks and quilts. Plus, sewing instructions for every quilt! Karen K. Stone, MORE Quilts requires EQ7 software. Quilt patterns included on this CD: • Indigo A-Go-Go • New York Beauty • U.L.S.2 • McCommas Beauty • Enticement • Spinning Stars • Summer Stars • Vicious Circles • Delirious • Untitled BONUS QUILT: Karen shares a never before published, Wild Women Don’t Get the Blues. Karen K. Stone is known world-wide for her stunning award-winning quilts. Perhaps her best-loved design is the dazzling New York Beauty, included on

Long time EQ user and published designer, Bea Lee (see Bea in our EQ Users Spotlight) has started EQ Tutorial Tuesdays on her blog! This is such a treat and we should all be thrilled that Bea would share her knowledge with us. Thanks, Bea! She takes you through this lesson using her own published work, “It’s a Hootie” owl quilt from McCall’s Sept/Oct 2012 issue on page 40. MORE TO DO: – Her first tutorial is on how to modify a layout from a magazine. – You can check out Bea’s blog at Beaquilter.com. (Don’t forget to leave her a comment!) – Get a web bonus for It’s a Hootie pot holders from McCall’s online! 

Have you seen people sticking fabric to walls? Looks fun! Here are some quick instructions on how to do it from Jessica Jones at How About Orange. Now for some ideas and inspiration: Patchwork wallpaper! Who doesn’t have scrap laying around that they’d love to see displayed everyday (or until they are in the mood for a change)? You could use EQ7 to design a scrappy wall. You could put in the wall’s dimensions. Be sure to include windows, doorways, trim and anything else you want to plan around. Also, search Pinterest for “patchwork wall” for all kinds of cuteness. You can use EQ7 to figure out yardage for an oddly shaped wall. It would be especially helpful if you scan your fabric in, then you can use the Fussy Cut tool to see how the pattern will match up. And, of course, you can use all of the designs

I loved seeing everyone’s #1336 blocks! Such great fabric choices! I hope everyone’s ready for block 2…. Block #2741 If you’re keeping all your sew along blocks in a project, open up your project in BlockBase so we can add this new block. Now let’s find Block #2741. You can use the Search by Number tool like we did for the first block, but let’s explore the BlockBase screen. Take a look at the left side of the screen. This is called the Bookshelf and it’s where the Pattern Categories are displayed. Find Maltese Cross in the list and click on it to open the book, then click the Like Spider Web page. Now look at the Pattern Page part of the screen and find Block #2741. Click on the block to select it. Click the Print Block tool and choose Templates from the drop-down menu. Now type in your

Is everyone ready to show off their first block from the sew along? I’m so excited to see everyone’s fabric choices! Here’s mine: Fabrics used: Yellow Floral: Peacock Lane by Violet Craft for Michael Miller Fabrics LLC.; Yellow Stripe: Taza by Dena Designs for FreeSpirit Fabrics; Blue: Lark by Amy Butler for Westminster Fibers Inc.; Green: Girls World Vibe by Jennifer Paganelli for FreeSpirit Fabrics; White: Calypso by Maywood Studio I hope we see lots of variation among the finished blocks. It’s a fairly simple block, but there are lots of possibilities for different looks, just by changing the fabric placement. I worked up a few other versions of this block in EQ7, using the same fabrics: 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

Make music with these Musical Medley blocks! Compliments of EQ’s own, Heidi Kory. DOWNLOAD THE .BLK FILE TO ADD THESE BLOCKS TO  MY LIBRARY Download the .blk file and put the file in My Documents > My EQ7 > Users folder. Then open EQ7, go to Libraries > Block Library > My Library. You will see the Funky Foliage library there. Download the .blk file  DOWNLOAD THE .PJ7 FILE TO GET THE QUILT DESIGN Download and save the .PJ7 file to your computer. Double click the file to open it in EQ7. Print and sew the quilt the way Heidi designed it OR make it your own! Download the .pj7 file