Behind the Mouse: The Electric Quilt Blog

A while back I showed you some projects Margaret was making incorporating the printable fabric photos of leaves. Well I promised I’d show you the finished pieces and she’s finally done! Below are a few photos of the finished quilt. Circling the center diamond, there are four photos of leaves and greenery. By themselves they are just four diagonal blocks made from photos but Margaret has done something really cool to really make them apart of the quilt. Take a look at the finished quilt from far away Now zoomed in on the center photos. Now REALLY close, you can see what Margaret has done. You can see that the photo of the leaf is inside the tiled rectangle but then you can see that the photo of the leaf somehow extends out from the photo as if it’s growing into the quilt! Using each photo as a starting point,

Maureen from New York shared a very special printable fabrics project with us. Her niece was getting married and Maureen made her a VERY special purse to carry on her big day. The purse was made of material from her mother’s wedding dress, material from her mother’s veil, and photos of the dress receipt, wedding photo, and newspaper announcement on EQ printable fabric. The purse turned out beautifully and is such a unique and sentimental gift. “I love your fabric sheets. This is the first time I used them. I was making a purse for my niece, who is getting married, I used the velvet from my mother’s wedding dress and the Madeira lace from her veil. I had her wedding picture, the bill for the wedding dress and the announcement from the newspaper. printed all of these on the fabric and used it as the lining for the purse….

If you’ve ever used Wreathmaker and wanted to do more… here’s a technique I’ve used a lot to redraw the Quiltmaker blocks for the Quilting Designs series. Pages 244-245 in the EQ6 User Manual describe the Ellipse tool a little bit. Add the Ellipse tool to your PatchDraw Appliqué toolbar. Drag out a big ellipse. Ensure its a perfect circle by typing in the size in the Precision Bar. Make the size the same size as your block. Change the ellipse style to “partition evenly into sections.” Set the number of times you want the design to be in the circle. Center the ellipse using the Precision bar button. If you don’t want it perfectly up and down you can rotate it some number of degrees (like 5 or 18.2… whatever you want). Make a second smaller perfect circle and center it. Your block should look something like this now:

I love to play in EQ6. I wanted to share yet another use for “BLOCK > Serendipity > Merge Blocks”. If you start a new block in EasyDraw and draw this: Then you can merge it with any other block in your Sketchbook to create a “Shadowed Block”. Set the new block in a Horizontal quilt with sashing, color it, and you’ll get this: Happy EQ-ing!

In the previous post, I showed you a Mariner’s Compass quilt by Bobbinhead who I now know is Bethany. Bethany sent me a link to another blog she more frequently posts to and where you can see the finished Mariner’s Compass quilt top. But… she still hasn’t tackled the circle in the middle! She’s getting there She’s trying some things to decrease the focus from the large circle center. Bethany, it looks stunning! Great job and let us know how you end up finishing your center!

Looking through some fellow EQ users’ blogs, I came across a beautiful Mariner’s Compass quilt design in EQ6 by Bobbinhead. She’s experimented with several design but began working on a wall hanging and it’s turning out nicely! Mariner’s Compass Quilt from Bobbinhead’s Quilting Hideout. Now she’s down to the center piece and wasn’t sure how she was going to approach it but had a few good ideas. We wanted to pass on some suggestions as well! The center can be pieced or appliquéd as Bobbinhead has mentioned. We recommend an appliqué approach by using a top stitch. If you want to avoid having to deal with a circular center, you can also do a Mariner’s Compass star that simplifies into a 4-Patch where the spikes go all the way to the center (which would also help you when piecing). Congrats on starting with such a complex quilt, Bobbinhead! If you

We got an email from Roberta Campbell from State College who shared with us her creative EQ6 designed projects that are worth sharing! Roberta designed a shower curtain and matching window valence and a fitted bed quilt with matching window valence for her home. She says’, “Just wanted to say how much I have enjoyed EQ. I like the idea that I can plan a quilt and then take the blocks and print out in different sizes for valences, dresser “doilies” etc”. Look at some of her coordinating home fashions Shower Curtain Window Valence Fitted Quilt Window Valence It just goes to show you the versatility of the EQ6 program! It’s not just for making your traditional quilt but also decorating your home. Very cool ideas, Roberta! Thank you for sharing.