It Has Been an EQ Week

I decided to prepare this EQ tutorial to make a custom quilt. I originally designed this quilt back in 2007. I had this Laurel Birch fabric for a couple of years and I just didn’t want to cut the fabric into small pieces. So I did some designing in EQ and this is the results. Unfortunately with one of my computer crashes these files were lost and I decided to re-create it and make a tutorial out of the quilt.

When working on a custom quilt and all the blocks are just plain blocks, I like to set my coloring block preference to one. From File menu go to Preference > Project Properties > General > Block Coloring. I also like to do this if I have multiple colors of any one block. This will make finding the different colorings of the same block a lot easier. I always vote for easy.

 

The next step is to determine the size of your custom quilt.  I strongly suggest that while on the Quilt Worktable you go to the Quilt Menu to Quilt Worktable Options to Layout Options and check the box, “Don’t resize content of layers when resizing quilt”.  This is so if you want to maintain the block size, like 6” square but you have to resize the size of the quilt your blocks will remain 6” square.  Ask me how I know this little step is a great time saver. 

 

 The custom size of this quilt is 46” x 69”.

Another setting that will make your life a lot easier when working on a Custom Quilt is to check these two boxes on the Quilt Worktable Options under snap settings.  It sure makes lining up boxes on the custom quilt a lot easier.  The blocks almost fall or snap right into place. 

Now you have to make some plain blocks in your sketchbook.  Plain just means not pieced.  There are two ways to do this.  The first way is to go the block work table and color the blank block there and then add it to the Sketchbook.    Each time you save it to the Sketchbook you will receive an alert.  Keep blank block in Sketchbook? OK, just click on Yes.

You can also open your Sketchbook and right click in the empty area and add a plain block but then you have to edit it to color it. 

So now all you have to do is add your blocks to your custom quilt layout.

I use the adjust tool and precision bar to help resize and position the blocks.  The Adjust Tool changes the size and postion on the quilt of each block. It activates the blocks so it can be manupulated.

                                                                                             

Precision Bar:  When you read this, it means the top left cornor of the quilt is the zero and zero location.  My highlighted block is at 21” from the top left corner and it is 20” long by 6” high.

As you move across your quilt the location increases by the size of the previous block.  So my highlighted block is 21” from the top left corner and zero inches from the top.  The same math applies as you move down the side of the quilt.  Just keep adding blocks until your top is complete.

This is my original layout but since I had more fabric left over I added another row.  This quilt was made with fat quarters and maybe had a half yard of some of the fabrics.  It came about because I didn’t want to cut the large prints into small pieces.  I tried to enter this design in an EQ Club challenge but my file was too big because of all the scanned fabric.  Here the fabric scanned and saved pretty much to scale.

 

I added borders, since I couldn’t decide which fabric I liked better I used two colors and made 9 Patch blocks for the corner with the colors swapping out locations to give the quilt a little more interest. 

I had a hard with the name of this quilt I started with Mystic Horse, a Tile Quilt, some where along the wa I changed it to Mystical Horses. 

Here is the final quilt!

I hope you try to design a custom set quilt.

Have lot of EQ fun!

Do you every change your mind?

Well that is the question of the day. I have been dreading making this class sample for a Beginner's Paper Piecing class. The shop wanted me to use certain patterns and I'm not against that but I just couldn't come up with a plan. Well I finally came up with a plan and I really like it but it has problems. Here is my plan I really like.

Now to list the problems with this little quilt. The light house is not from the pattern set, I drew it in EQ6 from the book Paper Pieced Little Landscapes by Shirley Liby. Of Course we all know how students are they have to make just what the teacher makes, the same colors, same design and all. Well I can't copy the pattern as it is copy righted. I could change it but it is a little complicated for students that have never paper pieced before. Then I looked at those boats with the water around them, which in reality wouldn't have water around the sails. I'm sure in the world of quilt art it would be OK. Then I decided both boat in the background that are far away needed to be 3 inches instead of 4.5 inches. I had already made a 4.5 sail boat with sky around the sails. Do you see how complicated this is getting?



So here is what the class sample will really look like. Than I think self, isn't it always better to keep it simple!! Of course I have to go to work now and who knows what I'll come up with by the time I get home. This is also enough blocks that some students can make it in a three hour class and maybe even maybe join them together, so they could have an almost finished product, which makes students happy! The best part is it saves me time and I can get it done and down to the shop by Saturday. Since my class is on January 30th. I need that sample down there.

Sunday Quilting Upate

Well it has been a nice evening. Kierra stopped by to pick up her wedding gift from us. Money, a very practical gift. I showed her the quilts I'm making her, since they are not a surprise but something she picked out and she is pleased with how they are turning out. That is a good thing. I have the binding half down on the black one.

Krystal's horse has the borders on, and it is hidden away until after I finish the DJ Halloween Swap quilt. I sure like how the horse has turned out. I'm going to wait to sandwich it and quilt it. I added on the borders when I need something easy to do this week in between the angles of the DJ Halloween quilt.


It is official the Halloween top is now completed! YES!! Is is a good feeling. Getting that last piece on was a little tricky, but I got it down or is It on! It's very different working on a free style quilt like this. I will do another one some day but not this year. It has challenged me and did a lot of playing with fabric and changing things as I went. I'm pleased with how it turned out. I did have to rip that last piece out, the lower left corner because it didn't lay flat. It does now.
Well it's time to go to bed, tomorrow is Monday, back to work in the AM.

Sunday Quilting Upate

Today was a lazy day after a busy Saturday. I designed this little Monthly Mini to go with the other minis I have made. The designer from Patch Abilities made some really cute monthly designs, but she had pumpkins for September and they just don't work for me. I made that design last year and made it for November. This is from her series #1. So I had this bright idea last night just before going to bed and I finished designing it this morning. I have printed all my applique pieces and found the fabric for the applique pieces. I really want a bright border in a school theme or primary colors. Nothing like that in my stash. Or darn I have to go find some fabric.
I spent the rest of the day doing the binding by hand on one of my panels for the French doors. I have one long side done, two short sides and a half of the second long side. I was doing the binding while watching the PBS Sense and Sensibility DVD. Just too engrossing to sew fast.
This week I also joined all four flying geese borders. The are not attached to my Washington Medallion yet but hopefully this week. I just felt like hand sewing today. I'll have to take a picture in the morning. I'm off to bed now, I am beat. I stayed up too late last night (12:15 AM) and I have been up since 5:20 this morning. That's a short night for me and it is my fault. Some nights I just don't know when to quit.

An EQ6 Moment

As you might know I like EQ6, I have used it to design and make a few quilts I submitted one of them to Electric Quilt Company and it was posted on their User Gallery. Here is the link EQ6 User Gallery. My quilt is number 26, Witches Undies. I scanned my fabric into EQ6 so it it hard to tell the difference between the two but the quilt is the one on the right.

Here is the original quilt I designed, but it still needs borders and to be quilted. I just couldn't cut up the Mystical Horse fabric by Laurel Burch. I only had fat quarters of all the fabrics. I only bought yardage of the black with the gold dots for the resting border and some of a purple and pink both with gold dots for the outside borders, also Laurel Burch fabric. I'm thinking I'm going to make each border a different color. The first picture is from EQ6 the second is the quilt center.
You might notice in the actual quilt I added another row of blocks, I wanted it longer. I hope to some day publish this quilt as a pattern. This darn full time job just keeps me too busy.

Now I'm remembered there is another quilt I designed but it was designed in EQ5. I was teaching a class on curved paper piecing. I was using the book by Jodie Davis on Curved Paper Piecing. She didn't have a sample of all the different blocks and I wanted a sampler for my class sample. So I designed one.
I designed this one and purchased the fabric I needed afterwards. Using the Fabric Yardage feature to decide how much fabric to buy.

You will notice that my design has an extra block in it. When I made the block it was a mess. I emailed Jodie about it and she replied that the Gizzards and Heart block did not loan itself to being reduced. So I have it in my copy of Jodie's book of learning examples of what not to do. Even after designing the quilt in EQ6 I do a lot of design wall work.

As I look at this picture of my quilt, I noticed it is upside down from how I would hang it. On the large block the light color travels down to the darker color. Not that it matters too much.