Kari Schell On Point Quilter Blog

Hearthside Poinsettias EQ8 Tutorial

12/20/2025

Design a festive holiday table topper in EQ8 with Hearthside Poinsettias, a cozy poinsettia-inspired quilt project.

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to combine multiple PolyDraw grids, create layered appliqué, and assemble a piecing-friendly design that works beautifully as a table topper—or can be resized into a tree skirt.

Step-by-step design instructions, construction tips, and a full video tutorial make this project approachable, even if it looks complex at first glance.

At first glance, this design may look complicated—but I promise, it’s very manageable when you work through it one step at a time.

The Countdown Is On

This week marks the start of a big countdown.

Not to Christmas—but to the Majestic Views – Free EQ8 Webinar, happening in just 9 days!

I’d love to have you join me live as I share a design technique that can instantly elevate your quilts.

Majestic Views – Free Live EQ8 Webinar

Do you ever feel stuck using the same basic blocks over and over in EQ8?

Are you ready to learn a technique that adds instant “wow”—without making your quilts harder to sew?

In this brand-new, free live webinar, I’ll show you how to transform traditional pieced blocks into dramatic stained-glass–inspired designs using just a few extra lines in EasyDraw. You’ll learn how to add “leading strips” that create bold visual impact while keeping everything 100% piecing-friendly.

Your friends and family will swear you spent hours crafting intricate designs—but you’ll know the secret to creating them quickly and confidently.

Pick your time and save your spot below:

Replay available for 48 hours — but you must register to receive the replay link.

Hearthside Poinsettias EQ8 Tutorial

Fabric Selection

Berry & Pine Fabrics for Hearthside Poinsettia Quilt

For this project, I chose Berry & Pine by Lella Boutique, a Moda fabric collection that feels both cozy and sophisticated. Inspired by winter forests, it features classic holiday motifs—poinsettias, pine boughs, and berries—in rich cranberry reds, forest greens, charcoal, and snowy creams. Supporting prints like toile, herringbone, and polka dots add depth while keeping the collection timeless.

Berry & Pine is included in the Electric Quilt Digital Stash Collection – 2025 Download 01. If you don’t have that stash, you can also download and import the fabrics directly from the Moda website.

For this table topper, I selected:

Three reds
Three greens
A yellow for the poinsettia centers
One background fabric

Because this is a smaller project, I stuck with smaller-scale, mostly monochromatic prints. If you’d like to double the size and turn this into a tree skirt, consider experimenting with some of the larger-scale prints in the collection.

PolyDraw Background

Hearthside Poinsettia PolyDraw Backdrop

PolyDraw offers multiple grid options, each with its own strengths.

For this table topper, I recommend starting with the Kaleidoscope grid, which naturally creates an eight-sided shape—perfect for a table topper.

I also wanted to add prairie points along the outer edge. Those perfect quarter-square triangles can’t be drafted directly in the Kaleidoscope grid—but they can be created using the Rectangle grid.

Here’s the workflow:

Start in the Kaleidoscope grid to establish the overall shape for one wedge.
Switch to the Rectangle grid to draft the prairie points for one wedge.
Switch back to the Kaleidoscope grid.
Clone and rotate the entire group of patches for the single wedge to complete the PolyDraw design.

This method allows you to combine grids seamlessly while keeping everything aligned.

Poinsettia Appliqué

Poinsetia Applique Draw Tab

Poinsettia Block

If you look at the overall design, you might think it’s too complicated—but it really isn’t. The key is to work through it step by step.

Here’s how the poinsettia appliqué comes together in EQ8:

Use the Shapes tool to draw an Acute Diamond.
With the Edit tool, reposition two nodes to form the red poinsettia leaf.
Use Wreathmaker to quickly replicate and position eight diamonds.
Use the Bezier Curve (under Drawing Tools) to create the stem.
Use the Line tool (under Drawing Tools) to create pine needles.
Select the Brush Stroke tool and double-click each line and Bezier curve to convert them into patches.
If you need to reposition or resize pieces, use the Pick tool.
If something doesn’t look right, simply Undo (red arrow in EQ, Ctrl+Z on Windows, Cmd+Z on macOS).

Faux Binding

Faux Binding Drafted in PolyDraw

If you’d like to create a faux binding, I recommend drafting it in PolyDraw using the Kaleidoscope grid.

I drafted mine slightly larger than needed. This will ensure EQ will provide sufficient fabric yardage for the binding.

Hearthside Poinsettia Quilt Layout

For the table topper, use a Custom Set Layout sized 19 × 19.

Add the block to the quilt.
Center it Horizontally and Vertically.

Next, add a sashing block:

Change its size to 19 × 19 (slightly larger than the block).
Center it Horizontally and Vertically.
Send it to the back.

Hearthside Poinsettia Quilt

Video Tutorial

Watch the video below for complete, step-by-step instructions.

Tree Skirt Option

If you’d prefer to make a tree skirt, I suggest doubling the size of the quilt.

Eliminate the poinsettia in the center.
Reposition (rotate) the remaining poinsettias to allow for an opening cut from one corner.

There are no detailed instructions for the tree skirt option.

Adjusted Quilt for Tree Skirt Option

Construction Tips

Since you may want to finish this project in time for Christmas, here are a few construction tips to help streamline the process.

Adjusted Rotary Cutting Chart

Adjusted Fabric Yardage Chart

Background
You can cut all eight wedges from a single 9⅞″ strip of fabric, reducing background yardage to about ⅓ yard.

Of course, you could also use a single piece of fabric instead of wedges—your choice.

Prairie Points
For the prairie points, cut one 2¾″ square for each point and fold twice on the diagonal. I recommend adding the prairie points after completing the appliqué.

When you alter construction techniques, be sure to adjust your yardage calculations accordingly.

Adjusted Applique Block to Eliminate Duplicated Patches

Annotated Templates for Applicate

Applique

When a block includes repeated appliqué elements, I like to make a copy of the block, remove the duplicates, and print templates from that version. This is much easier than deleting duplicates in Print Preview.

For the appliqué:

Add fusible to the back of the fabric.
Print templates and cut by hand—or use a cutting machine.
I personally prefer cutting my pieces on my Cricut Maker.

To secure the edges, I recommend a very small blanket stitch, especially since this quilt may need to be washed.

Share Your Hearthside Poinsettias

I can’t wait to see your version of the Hearthside Poinsettia quilt!

Please share your creations in the Learning EQ Facebook group—I love seeing how you interpret each design.

Learning EQ Facebook Hearthside Poinsettia Post

Happy quilting.

Kari

Join the On Point Quilter weekly newsletter and receive regular tips and inspiration on using Electric Quilt 8 along with the Free 12 Top
Tips for EQ8 video guide.

Christmas Star

12/13/2025

Today I’m excited to share a set of new EQ8 blocks and a brand-new quilt design—all inspired by a classic favorite: the variable star. What I love most about this block is how easy it is to personalize. A simple star becomes spectacular when you begin:

Merging it with other blocks (hello, Christmas trees!)
Adding piecing to the star points
Adding piecing to other sections of the block

But before we dive in, make sure you’re signed up for my Majestic Views Webinar on December 29, 2025. I’d love to see you there!

Majestic Views - Free EQ8 Webinar

Are you stuck using the same basic blocks over and over in your EQ8 designs?

Ready to learn a fresh technique that adds instant “wow” without making your quilts harder to sew?

Join me for this brand-new, free live webinar where I’ll show you how to transform traditional pieced blocks into dramatic stained-glass designs—using only a few extra lines in EasyDraw. You’ll discover how to add “leading strips” that create bold stained-glass style while keeping everything 100% piecing-friendly.

Your friends and family will swear you spent hours crafting intricate designs… but you’ll know the secret to making them quickly and confidently!

Pick your time & save your spot:

Replay available for 48 hours—but you must register to receive the replay link.

Christmas Star Quilt EQ8 Tutorial

Fabric Selection

Fabrics for Christmas Star Quilt

For this project I combined Tilda's Merry Little Christmas with Moda's Winter Friends—and they play beautifully together.

Here’s what I used:

Two reds
Two greens
Two backgrounds
One brown/tan

Feel free to choose fabrics from your stash or from the EQ library. If you’d like a non-Christmas quilt, simply swap out the reds for a different color family.

Christmas Star Blocks

Four Christmas Tree Block 12 x 12

I started by drafting a block containing four Christmas trees. Set your snaps to 12 × 12. To create the tree trunk, I demonstrate how to partition a line and use Snap to Node for accuracy.

After drafting one quadrant, select its line segments, clone, and position them in the remaining three corners.

Variable Christmas Star 12 x 12

You can draft your own variable star block or simply use EQ8’s default variable star—either one works perfectly for this project.

Merged Christmas Star Block 12 x 12

Use Serendipity → Merge to combine the Variable Star block with the Four Christmas Tree block.

Merging reduces the tree size, but you can easily increase the block size on the Quilt Worktable (which is what I did) so that each tree ends up at 6″ × 6″.

Merged Christmas Star Block with 8 Trees 12 x 12

To add even more charm, I brought the Christmas trees into the corners of the block—giving the block a total of 8 Christmas trees.

Just copy and rotate one of the center sections to fill all four corners.

Be sure to Add to Sketchbook—this block will be the base for the next two variations.

Christmas Star with Pieced Star Points 12 x 12

Add horizontal, vertical, and diagonal lines inside each star point to create additional triangles.

These added shapes instantly elevate the block.

Once one star point is drafted, copy/paste it and then flip or rotate to complete the other star points.

Churn Dash Christmas Block 12 x 12

For the second variation, recolor the star points with background fabric.

Then, draw a churn dash block inside the large flying geese triangle.

After completing one section, copy, paste, and rotate it to fill the other three rectangles.

Christmas Star Quilt

Set your blocks in a horizontal layout, 3 blocks across and 3 blocks down.

I increased the block size to 24″, then alternated the different block variations on the Quilt Worktable. If you hold Alt/Options as you set the blocks, it goes amazingly fast.

Nine 24″ blocks create a 73″ × 73″ finished quilt.

Christmas Star Quilt 73" x 73"

I think this quilt is absolutely breathtaking, and I can’t wait to see your version!

Please share your creations in the Learning EQ Facebook group—I love seeing how you interpret each design.

Christmas Star Learning EQ Facebook Post

Happy quilting.

Kari

Join the On Point Quilter weekly newsletter and receive regular tips and inspiration on using Electric Quilt 8 along with the Free 12 Top
Tips for EQ8 video guide.

I Heard the Bells with Tilda

12/6/2025

I’m excited to share a brand-new quilt—and a brand-new EQ8 tutorial—featuring Tilda’s Merry Little Christmas fabric collection from Electric Quilt’s 2025 Stash Download 3.

If you’re already a Tilda fan, you know the charm: soft colors, romantic florals, and the whimsical Scandinavian aesthetic created by Norwegian designer Tone Finnanger.

This quilt celebrates that magical style with a fresh log cabin design and a sweet bell wreath drawn from the EQ8 library.

About the Quilt

This project combines a newly drafted log cabin block with appliqué bells that come together to form a festive wreath. The finished quilt measures 45" x 45", making it just the right size to showcase these beautiful prints.

18" Log Cabin Block with 1" and 2" logs

Bells Wreath

I Heard the Bells Quilt Designed in EQ8 by Kari Schell

What You’ll Learn in the Tutorial

In the step-by-step video, I’ll walk you through how to:

Import a Stash Download into your current EQ8 project
Draft a new log cabin block—including two different log widths
Convert an appliqué block into a motif (so it has no background)
Create a wreath design using your newly converted motif
Resize and place your wreath on Layer 2 of the quilt worktable

These skills are versatile and can easily be used in future quilt projects.

Watch the Video Tutorial

Make It Your Own

Feel free to substitute:

A different appliqué motif
Another favorite fabric collection
Or even a completely different color theme

The structure of this design works beautifully with a wide variety of styles.

I can’t wait to see your version! When you finish, be sure to share it in the Learning EQ Facebook group—I love seeing what you create.

I Heart the Bells with Tilda Learning EQ Facebook Post

Happy quilting.

Kari

Join the On Point Quilter weekly newsletter and receive regular tips and inspiration on using Electric Quilt 8 along with the Free 12 Top Tips for EQ8 video guide.

Hearthside Poinsettias EQ8 Tutorial

The Countdown Is On

Majestic Views – Free Live EQ8 Webinar

Hearthside Poinsettias EQ8 Tutorial

Fabric Selection

PolyDraw Background

Poinsettia Appliqué

Faux Binding

Hearthside Poinsettia Quilt Layout

Video Tutorial

Tree Skirt Option

Construction Tips

Share Your Hearthside Poinsettias

Christmas Star

Majestic Views - Free EQ8 Webinar

Christmas Star Quilt EQ8 Tutorial

Fabric Selection

Christmas Star Blocks

Christmas Star Quilt

I Heard the Bells with Tilda

Kari Schell

Categories

Archives

Hearthside Poinsettias EQ8 Tutorial

​The Countdown Is On

​Majestic Views – Free Live EQ8 Webinar

Hearthside Poinsettias EQ8 Tutorial

​Fabric Selection

​PolyDraw Background

​Poinsettia Appliqué

Faux Binding

​Hearthside Poinsettia Quilt Layout

​Video Tutorial

​Tree Skirt Option

​Construction Tips

​Share Your Hearthside Poinsettias

Christmas Star

Majestic Views - Free EQ8 Webinar

Christmas Star Quilt EQ8 Tutorial

Fabric Selection

Christmas Star Blocks

Christmas Star Quilt

I Heard the Bells with Tilda

Kari Schell

﻿Categories﻿

Archives

GET MY NEWSLETTER FOR REGULAR EQ AWESOMENESS!

The Countdown Is On

Majestic Views – Free Live EQ8 Webinar

Fabric Selection

PolyDraw Background

Poinsettia Appliqué

Hearthside Poinsettia Quilt Layout

Video Tutorial

Tree Skirt Option

Construction Tips

Share Your Hearthside Poinsettias

Categories