The 4th of July (Independence Day in the US) is just around the corner. I will be sharing one of my favorite red white and blue quilts in this weeks EQ tutorial.
Also check out the month-end showcase of quilts designed by Tech Know Quilter members. Stars and Stripes Door Quilt
The quilt I will be sharing with you today, is one that would be super easy to piece, and a cute way to decorate for Independence Day. If you aren't into red/white/blue quilts, try a different color combination.
The miniature size (23-1/4" x 6-1/8"), also makes it a fun quilt to hang on a door.
There are two rail fence blocks -- one done in EasyDraw and one in PolyDraw.
The fabric used in designing this quilt is from the Bandana Ballad collection by Michael Miller. The collection is included in Electric Quilts 2020 Stash Download 1 Collection
Although it is fun to download fabrics directly from manufacturing websites, it is much more efficient getting them directly from EQ as the fabric is always sized correctly and usually cropped to eliminate tiling problems. In the video, I also share with you my trick for adding a binding around this quilt. The binding is added for a visual perspective of my final quilt. I always calculate yardage for my binding separately, using my preferred binding method.
Here is my pieced version of this quilt. It was done many years ago and was gifted to my mother to use as a door hanger in her assisted living facility.
There are so many possibilities for modifying this design.
I look forward to seeing that you do with the design. Feel free to share in the Learning EQ Facebook group. Tech Know Quilter Showcase
Every month I challenge current Tech Know Quilter members to share a project that showcases something they learned during the previous month. I continue to be amazed at the creativity of these exceptional quilt designers and am honored to assist them on their Electric Quilt 8 journeys.
Check out their amazing challenge posts for May 2024.
This quilt was inspired by a quilt I saw at the MN Quilt Show last weekend. They had an amazing exhibit of from the Quilt Study Group on 19th Century Blues - It's More than Indigo.
I saw this quilt by Sandi K. Petsche of Harlan, Iowa. whose quilt was inspired by a quilt by Catherine Snyder, Minneola, Kaansas ca. 1850.
I decided to create my own version of Catherine's quilt.
However, I was not in the mood for complicated today. So rather than drafting the blocks from scratch, I used artistic license and modified blocks that I already had on my computer. Hopefully you will enjoy the ease of working with existing blocks.
The trickiest part of the design was getting the border blocks to be the same size both horizontally and vertically. This did require adding spacer borders. One was quilt large (4-1/2") -- so I decided to add additional Princess Feathers to complement the design.
Here is my final quilt.
Watch the full video here.
As I mentioned in the video, there are opportunities to swap out blocks (particularly the sunflower and the princess feather). I look forward to seeing what you do with the design concept. Feel free to share in the Learning EQ Facebook group. I've set up a post for your pictures.
I have a special blog post today. Joyce Drenth and Kristy Soard -- two members of my Tech Know Quilters program collaborated to create two very special quilts which have been shared on The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson and at the NSQG Quilt show.
Here is the story of their friendship -- and their BFF quilts - which were designed using EQ8. Joyce Drenth and Kristy Soard
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Joyce and Kristy were math teachers who both taught at the Turpin Middle School in Cincinnati Ohio.
After becoming fast friends in 1976, they soon discovered a shared passion for creating. In 1983, Joyce moved to the Chicago area. Joyce and Kristy continued their long-distance friendship using the phone and internet communication.
I became acquainted with both Joyce and Kristy when they purchased one of my EQ7 Classes -- Easy Peasy Easy Draw. When EQ8 was introduced in late 2017, they both took my intro class (Shoot for the Stars with EQ8) and joined Tech Know Quilters. They have been active participants in the program since then, sharing pictures of both their virtual and finished quilts.
I feel privileged that I have been able to get the know them over our years together -- and consider them fantastic quilters and designers. As well as truly wonderful individuals. |
Best Friends Forever Quilt Beginning
In the middle of September 2021 Alex Anderson of The Quilt Show online presented a FPP (foundation paper piecing) class as the world was still dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fabric bundles consisting of Jennifer Sampou and Kaffe Fassett fabrics were purchased by both Joyce and Kristy. Many happy colors were included and the world surely needed happy at this stage of the pandemic. Alex created a specific pattern for the online group to use; however, Joyce and Kristy decided to create their own quilt together using their Electric Quilt 8 programs. |
The Design Process
As they created the quilt, Kristy and Joyce remained in close contact reminiscing over the many years of their friendship and what blocks could be utilized to represent those aspects they treasure.
Early in their friendship, Kristy and Joyce formed a business together with a red cardinal on their calling cards. From this Kristy suggested they incorporate one bird for each of them to signify that bond.
As each of them was inspired they would design the block in EQ8, and then eventually they designed a layout to incorporate their meaningful blocks.
They learned to compress their project into a zip file, and emailed their blocks and the quilt design file back and forth.
Constructing the Quilt
When January 2022 rolled around and they contemplated a start date for the cutting and making to begin, Joyce received a diagnosis of stage 4 breast cancer. This was shocking news as Joyce had always kept up on annual mammograms and breast ultrasound tests. Joyce became very busy undergoing testing and assimilating all that comes with such a diagnosis.
On February 24, 2022, Kristy and Joyce finally connected via Zoom to analyze the center “Life Cross” block and the tactile part of the quilt commenced.
Highlights from the Quilt
Breast Cancer - The top left block, the hourglass/breast cancer block honors Kristy’s sister, (Kathy Goodin Febus) my mother (Charlotte Beasey Belcher) and my diagnosis during BFF quilt construction.
Kristy shared her butterfly fabric for the breast cancer heart. I selected the butterfly as my symbol for gifts to family members and birthday cards for the grandchildren. |
Dress - Our dress blocks became important from the time period when we were teaching and pregnant. Back in 1980, we sewed most of our clothing. Unbeknownst to each other, we frequently purchased and sewed identical maternity clothing. Imagine our laughter as we discovered our uncanny ability to become twins.
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Smocking - The upper right-smocking block reminds us of our journey into the new world of smocking. This heirloom sewing technique popular in the south produced stunning clothing to be treasured for generations. The flowers are reminiscent of the embroidery stitches typically adorning our sweet little daughter’s dresses. We learned to smock together and visited a smocking shop on the top floor of a beautiful Cincinnati home.
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Pear & Pear Tree with Bird – These blocks serve as a play on words as we were often referred to as “quite a pair”.
"It’s not about what someone can do for you, it's who and what the two of you become in each other's presence." James Clear This could not be exemplified more than in our friendship. |
Butterfly & Owl – The astute observer will discover a butterfly and owl hidden within the quilting.
The butterfly found on my side of the quilt signifies my desire to be remembered by all those I love each time they see a butterfly. The owl on Kristy’s side is a memory of her daddy. Even though he passed tragically at the age of 38, he still influences her daily life. |
Evergreen trees – The four tree blocks represent children we added to our family trees. The top left tree represents my son, Brian. The bottom left tree represents my daughter, Andrea. Kristy’s right side displays the top right tree for her son, Chad, and the bottom right tree for her daughter, Kate.
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Sewing Machine & Spools - Our lives revolve around sewing, and the wool sewing machines portray our first memories of the machines upon which our sewing journeys began. Our love of using this fabric medium as well as embellishment with embroidery stitches exemplifies past accomplishments. Each old sewing machine rests on spools of thread, a fitting combination. We blended applique, embroidery and piecing into this central position of each side.
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Coneflowers – These central anchor blocks represent the love of outdoors, growing not only flowers, but also the lives of our children as they became successful adults. The blocks shared a resemblance to the beautiful New York Beauty quilt block adored by both of us. Again, these shared blocks face the center indicating our continued connection through life.
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Life Block –The large cross symbolizes how the intersection of childhood experiences influenced the similarities of our adult lives. At the center of this intersection is the flower where the blessing of friendship blooms. The vines embody the growth of our friendship as our lives intertwined throughout the years.
This central block is framed by Log Cabins upon which many quilters begin their journey symbolizing how we started our friendship simply and nourished it throughout the years. |
The BFF Quilts
A few close-ups of the quilting.
The block essentially is friendship stars in two corners with a couple of squares that intersect the friendship stars..
Super simple to draft and to piece.
The block is asymmetrical -- which opens up the design possibilities.
With asymmetrical blocks, I always like to experiment with the Serendipity>Shrink and Flip option. You can find this option on the block worktable. You also have the option to with the Symmetry Option on the quilt worktable.
The Twinkle Star block can be drafted in EasyDraw using a 12 x 12 size. Set the snaps horizontal and vertical set at 12 x 12.
When drafting the block, I chose to make all the diagonal lines part of a square unit -- essentially making them all half square triangles. If you prefer piecing cheater corners (also known as snowball corners and folded corners), you could eliminate some of the horizontal and vertical lines on the quilt. When using that construction method, you will want to adjust the rotary cutting chart for the triangles (changing them to 2-1/2" squares) and the trapezoid (changing to rectangles that are 1/2" larger than the finished size of the patch). |
- On the block worktable, use the Shrink and Flip Option. (This is the one shared in the video).
- On the Quilt Worktable, use Symmetry. I used this option on a couple of my alternate quilts.
Here are the Shrink and Flip Blocks created in the video.
For my blocks and quilts I used the At Day's End fabric collection by Sarah Maxwell for Andover Fabrics. It is the free fabric download from Electric Quilt for June 2024.
The first two used a 4 x 4 grid with block sizes of 12". For the first quilt, I used the Symmetry option to change the rotation of the blocks.
The last one is the one I chose to provide detailed instructions on in the video.
For these quilts, I decided to incorporate the friendship star block in the borders as well. The basic friendship star block is one of the default blocks in EQ8 Projects -- so no drafting is required.
For the border, I alternated the friendship stars with a block with 3 columns and 1 row (drawn with the grid tool). With some coloring changes, it now appears there is a band running through all those border friendship stars.
Share a favorite Twinkle Stars quilt in the Learning EQ Facebook group. I've set up a post just for these quilts.
Usually when we think about drafting one patch quilts in Electric Quilt, we focus on using the One Patch layout option. However, I often prefer a different option -- one of which I will be sharing with you today.
The block that I will be drafting is a half-hexagon block. When drawing a hexagon (or a half hexagon), you need to decide on your base measurement. The various tools and rulers are typically based on either the width of the block (which is double the size of an edge) or the height.
The width and height are never the same on a regular hexagon (which is based on an equilateral triangle).
- Option 1 is the easiest to understand from a drafting perspective, so I will use that in drafting the block and quilt.
- But read on to see how easy it is to convert your quilt to Option 2.
- So whatever tool you are using, EQ can give you a correctly sized quilt.
I love using on-line calculators to give me the numbers I need for drafting my blocks in EQ. My favorite hexagon calculator is here.
It allows you to enter one measurement and select calculate and it fills in all the other measurements. How simple is that. Much easier than pulling out those High School geometry books. |
Option 1 Half Hexagon
To calculateHalf Hexagon One Pat the width of a block for a half hexagon quilt, you will need to use the long diagonal and edge length from the calculator as the patches will offset in the block. For the height you will use the Incircle radius from the calculator. This is half the Short diagonal or hexagon height. So for seven alternating half hexagons with a width of 6", the block width will be 33" and the height will be 2.598". These will be the numbers used in drafting a block in EQ. |
Use the process outlined in the video to draft the half hexagon block.
Here is the quilt from the video.
The quilt finishes 34" x 21-3/4".
This quilt would be compatible for using the an Accuquilt die or most EPP papers (both of which uses the edge with for sizing their half-hexagons.
After going back to the Hexagon calculator, I obtained the measurements for a half hexagon with a height of 3". This would allow for using rulers that are based on the hexagon height (rather than the width).
Often with these rulers we can cut strips 1/2" wider than the hexagon height and then use the rulers for the cross-cuts. These measurements would work super well for Star 60 (Studio 180 design), Jaybirds Hex-and-More and even the Half Hexagon rulers from Missouri Star.
To modify the Half Hexagon quilt in EQ, we only need to adjust the block width and height on the Layout tab! Super simple. (The adjusted block size is 38.104" x 3".)
I would love to see your Half Hexagon quilt. What fabric collection will you decide to feature in your design? Please share photos on the Learning EQ Facebook group.
One Patch Quilts will always tessellate. But the Tech Know Quilter Masters members were encouraged to bring their tessellation skills to a whole new level. Read on for a showcase of the quilts from the tessellation challenge.
Tessellation Challenge
One of the Lessons in the Tech Know Quilters Masters On Patch Quilts class was a tessellation block.
A tessellation is an arrangement of shapes closely fitted together in a repeated pattern. Mary Groesbeck designed this tessellation friendly block. Tech Know Quilter Masters members were challenged to not only draft the block, but create a quilt using the block. Here are their quilt submissions. |
Tech Know Quilters members are eligible for the Masters program after completing 12 months of Tech Know Quilter classes. Masters members receive fewer lessons each month, with more time to devote to their own projects and challenges.
Drop me a note if you have completed over 12 months of Tech Know Quilters and are interested in learning more about the Masters program.
You can learn more about the regular Tech Know Quilters membership program and sign up for the wait list for the next open enrollment period here.
Kari Schell
Electric Quilt Expert and Educator and Pattern Designer.
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