Behind the Mouse: The Electric Quilt Blog

This month we are exploring the possibilities with the Baby Block layout in EQ8! 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! When you come across the Baby Block layout you may just imagine that you can use that for making Tumbling Blocks style quilts. Which, of course you can! But, you can do a lot more too! Click NEW QUILT > LAYOUT > Baby Blocks Make your quilt 6 x 6 with a finished size of 9 inches. To color the quilt click the DESIGN tab > Fabric Tools > Paintbrush and color the quilt as you desire. With the same layout, just colored differently, you can have 6 pointed stars! But, you can also

Here we go again, another EQ design challenge! This one features a fabulous collection called Solid-ish by our friend, Kimberly Einmo for Timeless Treasures Fabrics. You may have heard of this collection in the past, but Kimberly has just added 30 new colors to it! Here’s a peek at the full collection: EQ Design Challenge & Giveaway Design a quilt in EQ using fabrics from Kimberly’s Solid-ish collection. You could be a lucky winner of the fabric! To Enter Design a quilt in EQ using Solid-ish fabrics and submit an image of it by April 30, 2019. (Instructions for how to submit an image are at the bottom of this post.) Download the free Solid-ish fabrics for EQ here Rules Your EQ quilt must use fabrics from the Solid-ish collection. One entry per person. (If a second entry is submitted within 24 hours of the original entry, we will accept the more recent

Spring is coming up fast.  It makes me think of new beginnings with new fresh flowers and the leaves budding on the trees.  This inspires me to start a new quilt celebrating the flowers sprouting up from the cold winter ground. Open your EQ8 program and click on the ‘design a block from scratch’ heading on the opening page. On the block worktable, click on the new block tab>applique>motif. On the block properties bar at the top of the worktable, set the block size to 8 x 8 inches. In the drawing tools box at the left click on the shapes icon and then click on the stencil maker icon. In the dialogue box, use the slider bars to change the shape of the elements to create a flower like design then click OK to place it onto the worktable. Once the design is on the worktable and still selected,

Have you heard about EQ Academy? EQ Academy is a 4-day workshop, hosted by The Electric Quilt Company, dedicated to learning the ins and outs of Electric Quilt 8 (EQ8) software. This fun and educational event will give you the tools you need to get the most out of your EQ8, while building lasting friendships! EQ Academy takes place in Perrysburg Ohio, just south of Toledo. Here are some FAQ (including information on location and where to stay). Classes are offered April 4-7th as full-day (6 hours) and half-day (3 hours) options. Take one, or take a lot! Here are the classes available. Some are already sold out so if you are interested you better get moving! Here is the recap from last September. Be sure to read the comments/reviews at the end! Here are some more reviews. Jean B. says… “My first time at EQA and I loved every

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’s block: Double Windmill Where to find it: 01 Classic Pieced > Old Favorites A few design ideas to get you started I wanted to use the light blue triangles at the top and bottom center of this block as “connectors” to surrounding blocks. So I drew a couple of blocks with rectangles the same width as the triangles and created a winding path across the quilt. Reminds of that old computer game Pipe Dream! If you set these blocks in an on-point layout, those triangles make a subtle diagonal stripe across the layout. Fun! What would you design with the Double Windmill block? Post a quilt or two

It was so fun watching the colorful entries come in for this challenge! (See all entries on the original post here.) Thanks to everyone for participating! We’ve already got another design challenge started here. If you like batiks, you’ll want to get in on this one!  Winners Two winners were chosen at random and here they are…… Amanda Barbara Both winners will receive a fat quarter bundle of the Benartex fabric! Here are Christa’s quilts she designed in EQ and made using the Abstract Garden fabrics: See more on her website, ChristaQuilts.com. Again, you can see all the 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 batiks! 

Do you know the differences between all the layers on a quilt layout? 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! Here is a brief summary of the layers in EQ8… Layer 1 Made up of pieced or applique blocks sewn together to make the quilt top. Blocks are set onto the quilt by clicking into a predefined block space. (Unless you are using a Custom Set Layout. See more about that here.) Layer 2 For blocks, motifs and text that are sewn onto the quilt top. Blocks and motifs are set by dragging from the palette and dropping them onto the quilt. The Adjust tool is used to move, resize, rotate and skew these designs