Behind the Mouse: The Electric Quilt Blog

This month we are playing with the backs of quilts! Follow along with the lesson and create a quilt to submit right on our blog. If you have a blog, make sure to add your site too. Let’s visit each others’ blogs and all get to know each other! Let’s get started! This one is fun. I recommend trying out a Horizontal Strip or Vertical Strip Quilt for this. We’ll start off with a quilt from the Quick Quilts. (Did you know about these? They are great for inspiration and a starting off point for labels, Storm at Sea Quilts, T-shirt Quilts, and lots more!) Click Start with a Quick Quilt project Choose the Medallion Quilts project and click OK. Scroll through the Sketchbook until you get to the 5th quilt, as shown below. Click Edit. Recolor the quilt or change a few blocks, if you’d like. As you can

Welcome back to the EQ8 Update Insider.  As of March, 2019, there is a new free update to EQ8 that is loaded with New Features, Enhancements and Fixes.  If you own EQ8, you can download this update for free! In this EQ8 Update Insider,  we are going to take a look at some of the Quilt Worktable Updates to the program. Solid Seam Allowance Lines You could always print seam allowance lines with dashed lines.  Now you have the option to print seam allowance as a solid line.  For many folks, this solid line is easier to see on their printers.  Since everyone’s printer is different, see what works best for you. You can find this checkbox option in the Print dialog box for Templates And in the print dialogue box for foundation patterns. Thick Seam Allowance Lines You can also now display thicker seam allowance lines on Template and Foundation printouts. 

            Yay! As of March, 2019, there is a new free update to EQ8 that is loaded with New Features, Enhancements and Fixes.  If you own EQ8, you can download this update for free! I will be sharing several posts with an overview of the changes so you can take advantage of these awesome updates. In this EQ8 Update Insider,  we are going to take a look at some of the General Updates to the program. How do you get the EQ8 update? First, check your current version.  If you don’t have Windows 1.1.0.1 or Mac 3.1.0.1 as of this date, then you need the update.  You can check your version by going to the HOME landing page of EQ8,   Look for Product Details under the logo and you can find the version you have. You can find the download on the following link along

Welcome to the EQ8 Block Spotlight series! Each month we highlight a block from the EQ8 Block Library with a few design ideas. Then we want YOU to show us what you can do with the block. Let’s get creative! This month we’re using a motif from the Block Library. Motifs work just a little differently than blocks. Motifs do not have a background patch, so they can’t be set on Layer 1 of a standard quilt layout. Visit our Support site for more info on setting motifs in a quilt layout. This month’s block: Butterfly 17 Where to find it: 06 Motifs > Butterflies A few design ideas to get you started I was thinking of a baby shower gift for this first design. You can never go wrong with a classic Variable Star quilt, and the butterfly motif adds just a touch of whimsy. I love when I

Do you know about EQ Boutique? Or how EQ Boutique works? EQ Boutique products install a variety of designer-created quilt blocks to use in your EQ software. Some products include complete quilt project files, too! Print templates, foundations and/or rotary cutting directions, then start sewing! Boutique add-ons are compatible with Electric Quilt 8, Electric Quilt 7, and EQStitch software. Select Boutique add-ons are also compatible with EQ Mini software. All of our Star Collections are 20% off 4/10/19-4/11/19. Use code STARS20 to receive the discount.   Install these patterns right into your EQ block library.   But, there’s much more than star blocks! You can also search EQ Boutique patterns by designer… Amy Heaton Angie Padilla Annika Kornelis       Christine Wipplinger Denise Russart Erin McMorris   Janeen van Niekerk Jenny Novinsky Judy Martin   Marsha McCloskey Mickey Depre Pearl Pereira   Quiltmaker 100 Blocks Regina Grewe Sindy Rodenmayer

Scroll down for photos! Another EQ Academy in the books… and this one may have been our favorite!  Students learned SO much from the awesome teachers and we loved seeing the quilts they designed! We had about 80 students at this EQ Academy and many were “EQA alum!” Thank you to all the students for coming! We hope to see you all back for our Fall EQ Academy! We’ll have beginner classes as always, and some fun, topical classes too. If you enjoyed your time at EQ Academy, tell us in the comments below! If you’re interested in coming to a future EQ Academy, sign up for our e-mails to be notified of enrollment. Fall EQ Academy is scheduled for September 26-28, 2019 and we hope to open enrollment in July. Watch for details via email and the EQ Classes website. Spread the word to your EQ friends, family, and guild members!

The quilts designed for this challenge were SO beautiful! (See all entries in the original post here.) Thanks to everyone for participating! If you want to jump in on another challenge, we’ve got an April one going here! Winners Two winners were chosen at random and here they are…… Dan Perkins Laura Bailey Both winners will receive a Twilight Chic Stack (10” squares) and a Twilight Chic Strip (2.5” strips) Precuts! Both winners are also eligible for the bonus prize because they identified which of the Studio 180 tools would be used for which units in their design. The additional prize is a $30 gift certificate to be used on Deb Tucker’s Studio 180 Design website: www.Studio180Design.net. Again, you can see all the fabulous entries in the original blog post. Thanks again to all participants! If you’re looking for something else to keep you designing, check out our new design challenge and giveaway featuring Solid-ish by Kimberly Einmo!