I am enjoying some time with my sewing machine and a great group of quilters at my guild's quilt retreat.  I will be back to work on Monday.  So there is an abbreviated post today.

Recently I was interviewed on the It's a Tribe Thing podcast about my story behind the creation of Tech Know Quilters.

​Would you like to listen in?

Although the Tech Know Quilter's membership is currently closed, I have created a wait list, so that you can be the first to know when I reopen the membership.

Many of those in the United States celebrated Independence Day this past week.  In honor of those who have served our country in military service, I designed a Quilt of Valor quilt that can be made from a panel.

Quilts of Valor are made to cover service members and veterans touched by war with comforting and healing.  You can read more about Quilts of Valor here.

Northcott Fabrics has designed fabric collections specifically focused on Quilts of Valor.  Their most recent collection is Stars and Stripes VII - Stonehenge,  You can access images of the collection here.  This fabric collection has a nice assortment of patriotic fabrics plus a couple of large panels. that would be perfect for a Quilt of Valor.

I created a new quilt using Electric Quilt 8 that was designed to complement one of these panels. 

Regardless of the panel chosen (or the fabric collection), this video tutorial will assist you in design your next panel quilt.

In the free video tutorial learn how to:

1. Save Quilt of Valor fabric images from the Northcott website.
2. Import, crop and resize fabric in Electric Quilt 8.
3. Add the panel to a quilt using the Photo tools.
4. Create unique border blocks that complement any size panel.
5. Set the border blocks in a quilt.
6. Color the quilt including rotate and fussy cut fabric options.

Here is the quilt from the video.

If you are ready to learn more about working with panels, there is a chapter in EQ8 Designing More Quilts book which includes much more information on working with quilt panels. 

​Follow the step-by-step lessons to create eight extraordinary quilts. You will be drawing blocks based on photos, designing a quilt with digital fabric panels, using a mathematical formula and special layouts to create amazing optical illusions, and so much more! Use the knowledge from the techniques you learn and make each quilt your own. After going through these lessons, you’ll feel like a quilt-designing genius!

The book is on sales for $27.95 through July 15, 2019.

Each month I give members in the Tech Know Quilters Membership Studio a challenge to apply the skills they learned during the last month in a quilt.  And then to share their design and what they learned.  Here are their submissions for their May classes.

After pulling the submissions for the challenge, I enjoy going through the other posts from the last month in the TKQ private Facebook group.  This is an incredibly talented group of quilters and here are a few of my favorite pictures shared last month.  

Would you like to join the community?  Tech Know Quilters membership is currently closed -- however there is a wait list so that you can be notified the next time it opens up.  

I hope you enjoyed the show!

I was excited to be able to take a class at the Minnesota Quilt show from Carole Lyles Shaw.  She is an expert on modern quilts.   She is also an Electric Quilt 8 user and Tech Know Quilter member.   I recommend her blog and any of her classes.  

I will be sharing one of her designs and many of Carole's tips in Modern Quilts 2.  Tech Know Quilters should watch for this class.

The class I took from Carole was Mid Century Modern Curves.  She created a spectacular black and white version of her concept.  The quilt won a prize at MidAtlantic Quilt Festival Competition for "Best Use of Negative Space in the MidCentury Modern Category".   

(Click on the photo of her quilt to link to her blog post.  You can also see her award- winning quilt.) 

I joined Carole's class with a stack of ombre fat quarters and a background fabric.  I used her sew, slice, re-position method to create three full blocks.  As an added bonus I created 2 partial blocks from the left-over pieces.

This was definitely outside of my comfort zone -- but I am pretty happy with my blocks.

I am much more comfortable with a bit of structure.   I decided to use EQ to audition my blocks in a quilt layout
 
I had two options.  Option 1:  Redraft the blocks using EasyDraw.   However, I realized it wasn't necessary.  Option 2:  Take a perfect square photos of each of the blocks.  Then import into Electric Quilt. 

I needed to do a bit of cropping and distorting in PhotoShop.  Then I saved the  images in My EQ8>Images folder.   Check on my tutorial on using PhotoShop here.
​
In the free video I include:

• Importing the photos of my Mid Century Modern Quilt Curves blocks into Electric Quilt
• Modifying some photos to create fabric.
• Using the photos and fabrics in a quilt layout.

I wanted to label the photo below -- "Is it live, or is it Memorex?"  Does the fact that I remember the old commercial date me?

Note -- The above photo is actually my Electric Quilt 8 rendition of my quilt center.

Next I need to find some time to work on the borders.

Follow the step-by-step lessons to create eight extraordinary quilts. You will be drawing blocks based on photos, designing a quilt with digital fabric panels, using a mathematical formula and special layouts to create amazing optical illusions, and so much more! Use the knowledge from the techniques you learn and make each quilt your own. After going through these lessons, you’ll feel like a quilt-designing genius! ​

Regular $29.95.  On sale through July 1, 2019 for $27.95.

This will be a short post -- as today I will be teaching Introduction to EQ8 at the MN Quilt Show in Rochester.  I will be touring the exhibits during my lunch break.  If you see me, please stop and say "hi".

Last week I shared how to draft three original nine patch blocks using EasyDraw.  These blocks have a lot of movement as the designs spin around the center of the nine patch.

​I also shared my favorite tools for piecing each of those blocks.  I am a real fan of Deb Tucker's Studio 180 Design tools.  If you love her tools as well, you will want to check out that post.

This week, I designed a quilt utilizing the three nine patch spin blocks,  I knew I wanted an on point layout and will share my favorite way of incorporating all three blocks in a quilt.

If you like to replicate my tutorials, feel free to try some different setting options incorporating three different 9 patch blocks.

I would love to see your design.  Feel free to share on the On Point Quilter page or in the Learning EQ Facebook group.  

Are you just getting started with Electric Quilt 8 and need some help? 

Shoot for the Stars is designed to get you started with Electric Quilt 8 through training delivered straight to your inbox.  This series includes 14 short (ie. 5-10 minute) videos delivered over the course of a month allowing you to learn the basics of this complex program in bite size increments.

​The class is currently on sale for $35 (regular $50).  Join now.