This block and quilt I am presenting today is an original design -- the result of some playing in Electric Quilt 8 the other day. When playing I will often go through a number of iterations of a block or quilt. It is a design that is scrap friendly and can use a collection of left-over 2" strips.
Tip -- always save multiple times as you draft your blocks and quilt. Sometimes your additional playing does not yield better results and you may want to go back to an earlier version. Designing the Log Cabin Crossing Block
Designing the Quilt
See the full video on creating your own blocks and quilt.
Here is my final quilt. I love how the log cabin units stand out when using a black background.
I am curious what you choose to do with the design. did you make any different design decisions. Whether you did (or did not) I would love to see your final quilt. Please feel free to share in the Learning EQ Facebook group post I have set up.
EasyDraw Class Options in Tech Know Quilters
Did you enjoy learning some new skills in working with EasyDraw? If you are ready to enhance those skills, check out the three EasyDraw class options within the Tech Know Quilter membership.
Not currently a member -- send me a note if you are interested in joining Tech Know Quilters -- and which class you would like to start with. Current members, let me know if you would like any of these classes as an add-on to your current class for the month. We will send you a an add-on coupon for your discounted price.
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Have you gone through the trouble of coloring a block. And then found that when you put it in an On Point layout, the fabric is not positioned correctly. This could also happen if you color the quilt directly in the on point layout.
Electric Quilt positions the fabric so it looks rotated in the on point blocks. Since most of us prefer piecing blocks so the outside edges do not have bias, the EQ coloration does not match our planned piecing of the blocks. Check out these before and after photos. In particular look at the placement of fabrics in the quarter-square triangle units.
FYI -- I also swapped out a couple of fabrics in the final block.
In the video tutorial, I will take you through my tricks for correcting the fabric placement. I will even walk through the process of creating perfect fabric placement for mitered borders. It is much easier to do this in EQ than to actually piece those mitered corners (in my opinion). :)
Fabric Used in the Quilt
Each month Electric Quilt provides us with a free fabric collection. In November of 2022, the collection was Stars and Stripes 10th Anniversary. The collection was designed by Linda Ludovico and Deborah Edwards and was manufactured by Northcott.
You can still download this free collection of fabric images from the Do You EQ website. It contains a number of striped fabrics, which are perfect for use in the quilt in the video.
For those doing a bit of shopping this weekend, there is a 25% off sale on all products (other than classes) on the EQ website. A perfect time to buy Electric Quilt 8 -- or one of their many downloads. I will be purchasing the EQ Stash - Download 01 for 2023.
Click on the above image to be taken to their site. If you use this link I will receive a small commission on the sale. My commission does not affect your price in any way. Make sure to use the coupon code BIGSALE.
Here is my final quilt from the video.
Rotary Cutting for On Point Blocks
The Rotary Cutting Chart (while accurate), can sometimes be confusing for on point blocks in EQ.
Select Print and Export, and select the Ohio Star block from the quilt and select Rotary Cutting. Note that EQ does give you the rotary cutting assuming you plan to piece the block in a traditional manner. However it will show the size of block as 16.97" x 16.97" -- which is the size from corner to corner (not the size of the edge of the block).
As an alternative, in the dialogue box for Rotary Cutting, you can select the option to change from "Use size from quilt" to "Custom block size" and set the finished block size (without seam allowances) to 12 x 12. As you can see the rotary cutting chart gives the exact same measurements as the first rotary cutting chart -- the only change being the block size.
Now It Is Your Turn
Experiment with using striped fabrics in an on point layout -- either the free fabric images I used from the Do You EQ website, or another collection. I would love to see your quilts. Feel free to post pictures in the Learning EQ Facebook group. I have set up a dedicated post for these images.
I remember agonizing over my first purchase of Electric Quilt. I loved quilting and had a ton of patterns and books – more than I could ever use in my lifetime. Can you relate? I wasn’t completely convinced I needed the software. However, I also realized that those purchased patterns were not always accurate and there were quilts that I saw in magazines and at shows that did not have patterns. And I didn't necessarily want to make an exact replica of the quilts from patterns I had bought. Once I started using the software, I knew I couldn’t live without it. I quickly found that I recouped my investment in the software through significantly fewer PIGS (projects in grocery sacks). You know those quilts that you thought would be your next masterpiece. But as you got started piecing them, you realized something wasn’t quite right. I knew from my own struggles that the initial purchase of Electric Quilt 8 can be a challenging decision. As a result, I want to help you resolve whether the software will be useful for you. In this blog post I will be sharing with you:
Six Reasons to Purchase Electric Quilt 8 After purchasing Electric Quilt and working with it (and teaching others how to use it), I've come to realize that Electric Quilt 8 is hands down the best tool I have purchased for creating both blocks and quilts. Full disclosure. I use it personally, but I also teach people how to get the best use of the program. I am pretty sure you know which side of the fence I will come down on. But I want you to go into this with your eyes open. So I will also be sharing some of the objections to buying…to help you make the right decision for you. #1 - Audition Your Favorite Fabrics When is the last time you bought a pattern because you loved the quilt on the cover? And then realized that the fabric is no longer available. Or maybe it doesn't work well with the other colors in the room you are hoping to use the quilt in. If you have trouble visualizing what your favorite fabrics will look like in your quilt pattern, you are perfectly normal. Before Electric Quilt, I lost count of the number of times I purchased some fabulous fabrics, cut them up and realized (after the point of no return) they wouldn’t work with my selected quilt pattern. With Electric Quilt 8 you have the option to audition fabrics before your first cut. This can even be done before spending money on fabric.
#2 - Never Manually Calculate Fabric Yardage Requirements Again One of my favorite features of Electric Quilt 8 is the ability to obtain fabric yardage requirements with a push of a button. If you use fabric from the Electric Quilt library, it even will provide you with a fabric reference number to assist you in purchasing the fabric at your favorite quilt shop. Bonus: A new feature in Electric Quilt 8 is the option of printing the number of Fat Quarters needed for your quilt. #3 - Modify Blocks and Quilts from Purchased Patterns Have you purchased a pattern and realized there are things you would like to change? Maybe the block needs to be tweaked to use your favorite ruler or die set. Or maybe the sizes or layout needs to be adjusted so the quilt can work for your bed -- and then of course you need to adjust the yardage requirements to accommodate the new size. Good news! Electric Quilt 8 has three different sets of tools for drawing your own blocks or redrafting a block from a picture. EasyDraw tools are similar to working with graph paper and pencil, just like you use to do. And if you want to draw a more complex design, PolyDraw tools also allows you to create pieced blocks that are not based on a standard graph paper type of grid. Think circular or kaleidoscope types of designs. If you are into hexagonal quilts, PolyDraw also provides us the ability to create interlocking blocks. And if you love applique, you will definitely be interested in the applique toolkit. I have not found an applique project that cannot be drafting using Electric Quilt 8. However, before starting to draft your own block, you may want to check if your block is in the Electric Quilt block library. With the release of EQ8, Electric Quilt added 1400 new bocks to their already extensive library. Giving us a total of 6500 blocks to choose from for starting our next quilt. But if you cannot locate your favorite block in the library, there is no need to worry. There is the option to import a picture of the block and trace it. This is probably my all time favorite feature of Electric Quilt 8. This is an area I love working with Electric Quilt users on and an area of focus in Tech Know Quilters - a paid membership program for Electric Quilt 8 users. There are also options to add more blocks to the library through collections such as as Block Base Plus based on Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns. Choose from collections by Judy Martin, Marsha McCloskey or even Dear Jane. And the beauty is that all of these blocks will be able to be modified by you within Electric Quilt 8. Within Electric Quilt 8, they even have added a group of Serendipity tools that provides a fast way to create entirely new blocks based on a previously drafted block. I find this is a great option for creating brand new original quilt blocks on days I am not feeling super creative. #4 - Select Your Favorite Construction MethodMany potential Electric Quilt 8 users wondering if the software will assist them in constructing their block. Electric Quilt does assume that users are familiar with basic quilt construction techniques. The software will not teach you how to applique, foundation piece or even piece together rotary cut patches. It will also not provide you step by step instructions typically found in a purchased quilt pattern. However it will provide you with a variety of tools to facilitate cutting fabric and even the foundations to paper piece your blocks. The method of construction is your choice. #5 - Save Money |
Broken Star Quilt using EQ8
Today on Facebook I saw a post from the American Quilter's Society.
They posted a picture of this amazing quilt by Kathy Bradbury of Milton Florida. As I was looking at the center of the quilt, I realized the layout is one in the EQ Stars layout library. I wonder if Kathy uses EQ8 for her designs. |
AQS QuiltWeek - Paducah 2023 Semi-finalist
BLUE JEANS, PEARLS AND DRAMA by Kathy Bradbury of Milton, Florida 91" x 91" Design Source: Piping Hot Curves by Susan K. Cleveland About her quilt, she writes, "This is a traditional Broken Star but as I was making it I wanted to make it more dramatic so I added spires (I lovingly call them 'eyelashes'). I was inspired by Susan Cleveland's Curved Piping when adding the border. It took 86 hours to quilt this." |
Blocks for the Quilt
I also played with the blocks in a different Star layout (Stars 29). This is not part of the video. EQ is so much fun.
I chose to use the latest free Fabric of the Month from the Do You EQ Website. The collection Color Club was designed by Heather Valentine for Windham Fabrics.
You can download a file to add to your EQ8, EQ7 or EQ Mini Fabric Library here. |
For the second block, I eliminated the flower head from the first block (replacing it with a plain background square).
Then I drafted a block in PolyDraw using the circle grid. I choose 20 petals as that would be conducive to some of the Dresden rulers on the market. However, feel free to modify the design if your Dresden ruler has a different number of petals. |
Kari Schell
Electric Quilt Expert and Educator and Pattern Designer.
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