Behind the Mouse: The Electric Quilt Blog

Longtime EQ friend Jean Boyd has been published again! The April issue of Quilter’s World magazine has just published Jean’s project called “Words of Wisdom” so look out for that. “This (Words of Wisdon) is a 3-fold fabric booklet that can hold photographs in little picture pockets. The “words of wisdom” are printed on inkjet printable fabric (I used EQ printables) and then added to the project.” As an EQ Printables expert, she of course used EQ’s fabrics in her project. Jean has been a wonderful supporter of the EQ printable fabrics line and uses them in nearly all her photo projects, teaches classes on how to use them, and of course always has great photo project ideas to share with us! We love hearing what she’s up to. See more photos and read more about “Words of Wisdom” and other great photo projects on her blog. Take a minute to check out her website too.

Creative Home Arts hosted a “Sew It” contest for their readers and the winners were just released in the March/April issue. Dr. Micki Wiersma, one of the contest winners, used the EQ software and mentioned it in her entry submission called “Over the Rainbow” Table Runner. How cool is that? We are so honored. Here is what Micki wrote about her entry: “I designed and made this for my daughter, who always looks on the bright side of things. I developed the block and overall design using an application called EQ6. Each of the five spirals has over 200 pieces. I sewed them precisely using foundation piecing techniques. The quilting was done to enhance the spiral design.” Dr. Micki Wiersma from Creative Home Arts Magazine, March/April Issue Here’s the page from the Creative Home Art issue with a photo of Micki’s projects. Beautiful Job, Micki and thank you for the

Sheryl Till wanted to add an EQ widget to her blog. She wrote her own and shared it: http://quiltingtizzy.wordpress.com/2009/02/27/a-new-text-widget/

If you ever want two motifs to touch end to end on a diagonal line, try the following: 1) Draw a diagonal line and convert it to guides. 2) Move your motif close to the guide, then zoom in on the end of your motif that’s supposed to touch it. Change the X & Y settings in the Precision Bar until it does touch the guide. Make note of X and Y. 3) Clone the motif and use either Flip D or Flip O to get the opposite. (I never remember which is which, so I hold up my hands in front of me in the shape of a “V” or bottom of a heart. That tells me that “D” flips on this axis: and “O” flips on this axis: /.) 4) Switch X and Y on this new one. Works every time. (This tip also works when positioning blocks

The next lesson is ready for those of you following along: http://www.electricquilt.com/Users/FunStuff/Kalei/Mar_Poppy.asp -Andrea

Well it was a whirlwind Wednesday for me. I was in Cleveland taping four episodes for Quilting Arts TV. I did segments on 1) Kaleidoscopes, 2) Taking Traditional Patterns and making them Contemporary, 3) Drawing your own Quilting Stencils, 4) Drawing New York Beauties & Compasses. I had a lot of fun with host Patricia (Pokey) Bolton as always. I can’t believe we’ve done 20 episodes together. Backstage is always a fun time to meet other people in the industry. Jamie Fingal and Alisa Burke showed me some of their techniques… (I need to work on my embellishing and painting capabilities.) Jay McCarroll from Project Runway had us in hysterics most of the time and showed off his new fabric line (I liked the “Ivy League Bees” he said they’re smart because they have glasses on). I’ll try to post some pictures of the samples from the episodes I did.

Yesterday was Mardi Gras and at the EQ office that means something special – the UPS truck will arrive with a delivery from Haydel’s Bakery in New Orleans. It’s a King Cake from EQ author and teacher Fran Gonzalez and her husband Larry. We can’t remember exactly when Fran and Larry started sending us this wonderful fun gift on Fat Tuesday, but we really love it. For those of you who don’t know about King Cake, it’s a part of the New Orleans Mardi Gras traditions. The cake is a like a giant cinnamon roll shaped into a large oval. The icing on the top is covered with sugar, sugar that is colored the Mardi Gras colors (purple for justice, green for faith and gold for power). It is pretty bright and garish, but, hey, it’s Mardi Gras! The tradition is that the hostess of a Mardi Gras Party bakes