Back to School with EQ8
Harvest Elegance Panel Quilt Tutorial
After sizing, cropping and positioning the panel in a quilt, I decided the quilt called for a pieced border. But I didn't want to overwhelm the panel with too much piecing in the border. So I elected to include only 10 3 inch leaf blocks and fill the remaining space with spacer borders.
This leaf block is one of my go to blocks for any fall quilt. It is so versatile and is easy to construct using a variety of construction techniques.
Do you have a panel that you are ready to turn into a quilt? Share you panel (and if you have come up with a quilt idea) in the Learning EQ Facebook Group.
Grandma Keller loved to quilt. In fact the first quilt I owned was one that she made for me as a teenager. Her quilts were fairly simple designs. I am guessing that most of them were made between 1950 and 1975. This wasn't a very popular time for quilting and cotton fabrics were not very plentiful. She used a lot of solids in her quilts. And they were all hand quilted.
This week I spent some time photographing a number of her quilts. This quilt measured 79" x 106". Definitely not a small quilt.
In the tutorial this week, I will share how I drafted the block and the quilt in Electric Quilt.
Here is one of the quilts drafted in EQ8. The block is asymmetrical -- which makes it a great candidate for the Symmetry tool in the quilt worktable.
Do you have a favorite quilt from a mother or grandmother that quilted? I would love to see pictures of your quilts -- along with their stories.
Feel free to share a favorite quilt in the related post on the Learning EQ Facebook group.
I have heard from a few people who went through the Summer Games challenge that rather than making the full Summer Games quilt, they would prefer to highlight one of the blocks -- featuring a sport that a family member or friend enjoys.
In this tutorial, I will share with you how I started with the Badminton block (which will be the center of my mini-quilt). Then I will use that block to copy and resize the lines for the shuttlecock (birdie). This provided the guidelines for drafting a complementary block for the corners. I also share my trick for making the racket string lines visible on the quilt (without the other patch lines).
Here is the badminton mini-quilt from the video.
Whether you were in the Summer Games challenge (or not) consider drafting a mini-quilt with a complementary border. I would love to see pictures of your design. Feel free to post pictures on the Learning EQ Facebook Group.
Tech Know Quilters ShowcaseCurrent Tech Know Quilter members have been sharing their class projects along with their original designs in the membership's private Facebook group. Enjoy this show of some of their recent creations. Tech Know Quilters Masters ChallengeAfter 12 months in Tech Know Quilters, members have the options of switching to Masters. In Masters there are fewer lessons each month, but more time (and opportunities to work on your own projects. In June their challenge was to design a new quilt from a collection of personal unused blocks (or a quilt that you never finished because you no longer "love it". Here are the posted blocks and quilts (along with their stories) from the challenge. Kristy Goodin Soard --- My Stay at Home Pandemic quilt that was a sew along with Alex Andersen of The Quilt Show. We started them in the spring of 2020. I used all my "vintage" fabrics from the 80s and 90s thus the blues and pinks. I enjoyed memories from those years as I worked. Hidden meanings can be found throughout the quilt. The back is one huge log cabin block representing where we were spending all of our time during the pandemic. I used EQ8 for the design process as Alex encouraged us to create our own layout or use hers with alterations. Debbi Treusch --- Debbie used use a Care Bears baby quilt my great great grandmother made for my daughter in 1986. I don't remember how it got stained, but I assure you it isn't blood!! This quilt and a similar one for son are the reason I started quilting. My kids had a quilt from my great-great grandmother, my great grandmother, my grandmother and my mother. I wanted to also have a quilt from me for each of them to have 5 generations of quilts. The intention was to just make an simple quilt for each of them. But I was quickly hooked on quilting and haven't stopped since. The quilt on the right was designed using pieces from the quilt on the left. The quilt is very faded and damaged. I chose to use the alphabet blocks in the quilt as a background fabric and then went shopping for some new care bear fabric. All of his kids names were added in a crossword style with bolder colors and finished the quilt with a picture of my 3 favorite grands overlooking their names. Fun to do!!! Kristy Goodin Soard -- I did use actual vintage blocks from my maternal grandma to make the birth quilt for my namesake several years ago. I had 11 Dresden circles never set into blocks. I used 9 to create the birth quilt, 8 on front and one for the label. I created it in EQ8. For you math people, you are asking yourselves, "What did she do with the other 2 circles?" I made each granddaughter a semi-circle shaped pillow, as a keepsake from their great-great grandma and me. Dorothee Ilgner started with some small blocks made from Civil War fabric. They were intended for Jennifer Chiaverinis'"Loyal Union Sampler" which was never made. The quilt on the right was her remade quilt. For the applique she altered a block from the library to fit into the triangular space.
After a years delay, the Summer Olympics is about to happen with opening ceremonies scheduled for July 23 in Japan. (Fingers crossed it will all come together.) Even if you are not a huge sports fan -- there is something about watching the Olympics that encourages patriotism along with healthy competitiveness. It shows us that anyone, anywhere can achieve greatness and truly be a hero worth aspiring too.
Just as we will watch athletes up their game as they compete at a world-wide level, you will also have an opportunity to up your quilting game through honing your Electric Quilt 8 skills. Just think -- you will become a hero to those in your quilting guild after you show them the blocks that you were able to create. In this free Challenge project you will learn how to draft a series of sports themed blocks. Most of the blocks will be paper piecing friendly with some very simple applique. Image the confidence you will gain after a little bit of work in both the EasyDraw and Applique worktables. This free challenge is designed for both beginners to Electric Quilt 8 and those that would like to expand their bock drawing skills to a whole new level. My goal is to encourage you to spend a small amount of time using Electric Quilt each day to allow you to become much more comfortable with the software. Although the challenge is FREE, you must sign up to receive the video tutorials.
What’s Included?
Videos to Set Yourself Up for Success during the Upcoming Challenge
The getting started videos are available to all -- regardless of whether you choose to join the challenge.
I've put together three short videos to give you a head start for the mystery:
Video 1: Setting Up Your Project File and Adding Fabrics
In this tutorial, I will share with you how to set up your project for the Summer Games Mystery. You will also learn how to add fabrics from the library and to organize a large fabric collection in your project to speed up the coloring process. The fabric collection in the video series will be Bella Solids by Moda. I recommend sticking with with fabrics that are either solids or are fairly monochromatic as most of the blocks will be small pictorials which could get lost with busier prints. Many of the collections under the Manufacturer Basics section in the EQ8 fabric library would work very well. You can always chose to add a more interesting print when the block calls for it -- which I did when piecing my blocks. I found it useful to have a number of backgrounds when creating my quilt.
Video 2: Import a Picture for Tracing Plus Practice Rising Sun Block
Video 3: Exporting an EQ Block Image to Facebook
When exporting a block you wish to share on Social Media, the process can be different than sharing a quilt. In this tutorial, learn how to export an image of a block and then add it to a Facebook post. In your emails, you will receive a link to a specific post for each block from the challenge. Please post your images as a comment to the referenced post.
Here is the link the the Learning EQ Facebook post that is referenced in the videos.
If you haven't enrolled in the challenge, now is the time. I look forward to working with you to become more comfortable in drafting your own foundation friendly blocks. The first block will be sent out Friday, July 9th (that is this coming Friday) at 8 am. I've been asked by those that are in one of my classes or receive my weekly newsletter if they are automatically enrolled in the challenge. The answer is NO. So please sign up using the link if you would like to participate in the challenge. For those currently in the Tech Know Quilter group, check your emails for your special bonus option for the challenge. |
Kari SchellElectric Quilt Expert and Educator and Pattern Designer. Categories
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