Behind the Mouse: The Electric Quilt Blog

The Electric Quilt Company will be open Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday, December 21-23rd, 2009. We will be closed on December 24th and December 25th. Web orders placed after 9:01am Eastern on Wednesday December 23rd will not be processed until Monday, December 28th. If you need technical support over the holiday weekend, please check out these pages: EQ6 Frequently Asked Questions EQ5 Frequently Asked Questions EQ Forums – post your question to the community or search for previous questions and answers Error 42 IPM on Vista or Windows 7

Meet Sunbonnet Sue. She is getting ready for the Holidays by decorating her Christmas Tree! As the many traditional celebrations of the season begin for everyone we wish you Happy Holidays from EQ! You can add Sunbonnet Sue to your blog or website! Just right click and save the image then place it in your blog post or web pages.

We are excited to announce that Gloria Hansen’s book, Digital Essentials, was selected as a finalist in USA BOOK NEWS “Best Books 2009″ Awards. See the review here.  Gloria’s book has been called a “must have” for any quiltmaker wanting to work with images of or on his/her quilt. Read more reviews here.          

Quiltmaker and Electric Quilt sponsored a design contest in the fall of 2009. People were asked to submit an original quilt designed in EQ with a creative interpretation of quilting using any of the EQ/QM Quilting Design software series. QM will be making the Grand Prize into a quilt for the designer and patterning it in an upcoming issue. Contestant identities were not revealed during judging. WINNERS Grand Prize Winner: Bull Run Nine Patch by Jo Moury of Haymarket, VA click to see larger image EQ Staff choice: Geese in a Gordian Knot by Barb Vlack of Saint Charles, IL click to see larger image VOTE FOR VIEWER’S CHOICE! Now, the fun continues with the Viewer’s Choice portion of our contest that starts tonight at midnight MST. Actually, it will officially open at 11:59 pm. Both Jo and Barb submitted more than one design, but each person can only win one

Darlene Simmons is SewCalGal of SewCalGal’s Blog. She is hosting a really neat show/give-a-way that we think you all should enter! It’s called the Virtual Christmas Quilt Show. You enter images of your Christmas quilts (finished or unfinished) to be included in the slide show of Christmas quilts on Darlene’s blog. She even encourages you to include little blurbs about your Holiday traditions and celebrations! It’s a really fun way to share your Holiday cheer and maybe get some inspiration for next years Holiday projects. I always think it’s fun to read about how other families celebrate this time of year as well. There are no judges in this give-a-way either. The “winners” are randomly selected to receive door prizes donated by quilting and sewing companies. Check out Darlene’s blog to see the list of prizes! Visit SewCalGal’s blog to submit your quilts to the Virtual Christmas Quilt Show .

If you haven’t placed your orders yet do it now! Free shipping to U.S. locations on orders $50 or more ends Wednesday, December 16th at 9a.m. Eastern. OFFER DETAILS • Free shipping offer valid 12/08/2009 through 12/16/2009 (ends 9am Eastern). • Order must total $50.00 or more before shipping, handling and taxes are added. • Applies to Electric Quilt’s standard ground delivery service in the US only. • UPS 3-day, 2-day and Next Day Air delivery charges will remain unchanged from the usual rates. • Offer is not valid for purchases for International/Canadian delivery. • Offer cannot be used toward previous orders or purchases. Get it by Christmas (US orders): • Regular Ground – Order by 9am Eastern, December 16th • 2nd Day – Order by 9am Eastern, Dec. 21st • Overnight – Order by 9am Eastern, Dec. 22nd

If you are looking for a few last minute home made gift ideas, EQ staffer Heidi has a great one! She is making photo ornaments of her son Derek for her whole family. She used EQ6 to create a star block then put Derek’s photo in the center and then she’ll print his photo onto EQ Printable fabric. She plans to make them all just a little bit different and says that EQ6 makes it so each for her to plan each one. What a fun little stocking stuffer for the family, no?! Now lets just hope none of them see it on the blog first!