|
It has been a super busy week with the Fall Migration webinars followed by open enrollment for Tech Know Quilters (which happens only a few times a year) ...and trying to keep up with my latest Tech Know Quilter class. So rather than doing a video today, I thought I would take the opportunity to share some amazing quilts recently completed by Tech Know Quilter members as part of the month-end challenge. As you can see they are super talented. Click on the photo to see a close-up of the quilt designs.  Jane Perri Here is my challenge quilt from More Optical Illusions
Did you know it was possible to design all these quilts using Electric Quilt 8? I am so proud of this super group of Electric Quilt users. Click on the Learn More Image to find out about Tech Know Quilters. 
Fall Migration Free Webinar on Monday and Tuesday (September 23-24, 2023)
Registration Now Open for Free EQ8 Webinar - Options Available for Next Monday or Tuesday
Last week I shared how I took Louisiana (a historic quilt block) and created my own variation using Custom Set within EQ8. If you missed the tutorial, you can still catch the video here.
Louisiana Block Playtime
This week I will share how to create a full quilt (complete with coordination borders) for the Louisiana variation block.
I knew I wanted to carry the flying geese unit into the border -- but I didn't want those flying geese units around the entire quilt center as I thought it was a bit heavy for the center of the quilt.
So I decided to put four of them on each side of the corners. And I added one of those rectangle plus flying geese units to the corners as well.
In the video I also share how to deal with all those pesky unused block spaces in the pieced borders.
Here is the final quilt from the video.
Louisiana Quilt in Morris Garden fabrics (from video)
I also thought I would try this quilt with a different fabric collection. This one is using the Flourish fabric collection from QT Fabrics.
Louisiana Quilt in Flourish Fabrics
I look forward to seeing what fabric collection you decide to work with.
Feel free to share pictures in the Learning EQ Facebook group. Tech Know Quilters Masters Challenge - Louisiana Block
Each month, I provide a challenge to Tech Know Quilter Masters members. In August the challenge was to design a quilt using the Louisiana block. Look at how different every quilt submitted in the challenge is. It is so amazing to see the creativity when there is no set pattern to follow.
Looks closely at each quilt and find the Louisiana block. Some are harder than others to figure out. Bonus points if you can identify the layout used by each designer.
If you have completed twelve or more months of Tech Know Quilters, you are eligible to join Tech Know Quilters Masters. If this interests you, send me a note and I will provide you more information on the program.
Every month I offer a challenge opportunity to my Tech Know Quilter Masters members. These are my more advanced students. The challenges give them an opportunity to expand their Electric Quilt 8 skills -- but more importantly their design skills. The members have mentioned that I should participate in the challenges as well.
No worries if you don't own BlockBase+ (yet). This is a super easy block to draft directly in Electric Quilt 8 and I will share how in this video.
But wait there's more!
For the challenge, I decided to play with a variation of the block. I was intrigued by the rectangle patch in the block and was curious what it would look like if I shared that space with another copy of the same block. In the video, you will see how to play the "what if" game and design your new block using custom set in the quilt worktable.
Here is the idea I ended up pursuing. 
Louisiana Variation Designed in Custom Set
From there you will learn how to take your custom set design and use it as a tracing image. Along with a fast way to draft the new block in EasyDraw. You will also learn how to figure out how the best size and snap points for the new block.
Here is my Louisiana variation from the video.
Louisiana Variation
I would love to see your Louisiana block. (FYI for the TKQ Masters members -- no need to share ahead of my post next week as I plan to post your quilts at that time.) ?
Check back next week to see a quilt using this block. Spoiler alert -- there just may be an additional change to this block. And learn how to use elements from your block as a guide for your pieced borders as well.
There will also be a show of the quilts Tech Know Quilter members designed for their challenge. I've looked at them and can say with a great deal of confidence that they will amaze you with their designs.
Quilting should be easy. However, sometimes getting all those points to match up can take the fun out of the quilting process. So I thought I would create a "no stress" block that is both easy to draft and easy to piece.
The fabric collection I decided to use, is one of the free monthly downloads from DoYouEQ.com.
The no stress blocks started with a basic 9-patch block. Rather than "precision" flying geese units I drew some random lines for a more casual look.
I then decided to "tilt" the block using Serendipity. As part of the "tilt" process I rotated the inside of the design 90 degrees to ensure the blocks looks different.
Learn how to create the blocks and quilt with the video.
For the first quilt, I chose to add a binding to finish off the 3 x 3 layout.
No Stress Star Quilt -- without borders.
But I rarely stop at just one design. So for the next quilt, I decided to carry the "no stress" look into the borders. But for the borders, I chose to create some "no stress" half square triangles rather than flying geese units.
No Stress Quilt designed in the video.
Continuing with the "what if" game, I decided to swap the coloring in the centers for the "light background" and "dark background" blocks.
No Stress Star Quilt with alternating backgrounds for the star centers.
For another option, I thought I would use a third background fabric for the centers. And just for fun decided to fussy cut them.
No Stress Stars Quilt with 3rd background in the center. Center of star is fussy cut.
There are so many more ways you could personal this quilt. It might be fun to use sky colors for the background and star colors for the stars. How would you make this your own?
Feel free to share pictures of your quilts in the Learning EQ Facebook group. I've set up a dedicated post for your designs.
In Minnesota parents are getting ready to send their kids back to school with the official start date for most schools on September 5th. This quilt is in honor of teachers and school workers.
It is a two color red and white quilt -- so super simple to color. And a fun quilt to piece once the drafting is done.
Here is the quilt from the video.
Back to School drawn in Electric Quilt 8 by Kari Schell
Feel free to draft this quilt in EQ8. Or bonus points, if you use the block in a different layout. I would love to see pictures of your quilt. Feel free to share in the Learning EQ Facebook group.
Tech Know Quilter Showcase
Terry McCaskey
Using my improved TKQ Custom Set tools I have finally re-visited a 2019 UFO. This was a bit challenging for me...even though a simple design...made doubly troublesome because it is a "modern design" (not typical for me). Plus I am nearly out of the black & white stash fabric (which are polished cottons) so a redesign needed to happen. Now a 110 sketches into this puzzle and I have landed on my top two and have made progress in actually getting it together. You can let me know which outer border gets a thumbs up...or if I should go back to the drawing board.
Julie Pedersen This is a variation of Lesson 7 of the Masters Sampler Quilt class. I played with colors and decided to see what it would look like as a grayscale quilt. Here are 4 colorations of the same quilt.
Kristy Goodin Soard I just finished the Design Your Own Sampler Layout Masters class. Here is my quilt and my template (both done in EQ).
Renae Frank Butler I am a Group Leader for Quilts of Valor. So many times I like to play with ideas that might be appropriate for our group. I almost never use the colors and blocks given the lesson. I thought two of my quilts from lesson 4 & 7 could be improved on in one I lightened and changed the background blocks along with other changes. In the other I went to less busy blocks and worked with color changes.
Helen Warwick Combining two quilt patterns to come up with one I can’t wait to make. I drafted the block and added sashings not in the original pattern. I changed the size of the blocks from 20 to 16 inches. The original pattern was Enchanted Garden by Jason Yenter. The other pattern for the next quilt is Woodland Creatures by Quilts By Rosemary. I plan to call the combined quilt Enchanted Garden Creatures After Dark. I have been having so much fun just being able to find something I like and combining with other pattern parts. Thank you Kari for all that I have learned. You are the BEST!!!
|
Free guide available for newsletter subscribers
Kari SchellElectric Quilt Expert and Educator and Pattern Designer. Categories
All
Archives
June 2025
|
RSS Feed