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Create a New Block From The Historic Louisiana Block using EQ8 and Custom Set

9/16/2023

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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.
The challenge I provided them last month was to create a quilt based on the Louisiana block.  I pulled the block from BlockBase+, a program from the Electric Quilt Company that compiles over 4000 quilt blocks from Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns book.

Here is a post I did on BlockBase+ a year ago.

Barbara Brackman noted that the block Louisiana was first published in Hearth and Home magazine about a century ago when the magazine asked readers to mail in blocks named for their home states. The BlockBase+ # is 1335.
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Louisiana Block from BlockBase+
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.
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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.
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Louisiana Variation
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Morris Meadow Collection
If you don't have the Morris Meadow collection in EQ8, you can obtain a copy on DoYouEQ.com  This is a free download that you can install on your computer.  And then access in EQ8.
Link to Morris Meadow Fabric Download
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.)  ​?
Learning EQ Facebook Group Post for Louisiana Block
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.

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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.
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No Stress Stars

9/9/2023

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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.​
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Ridgewood Collection by Moda
The free download I used for my blocks and quilts is from the Ridgewood collection designed by Minick & Simpson for Moda.

You can download the collection here.

This collection can only be used with Electric Quilt.
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.
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9 Patch No Stress Block - Coloring 1
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9 Patch No Stress Block - Coloring 2
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.
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No Stress Block tilted 45 degrees - coloring 1
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No Stress Block tilted 45 degrees - coloring 2
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
No Stress Star Block and Quilt Learning EQ Facebook Group Post
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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.
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1 Comment

Back to School Quilt

9/2/2023

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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.
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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.
Back to School Learning EQ Facebook Group Post

Tech Know Quilter Showcase

Tech Know Quilter members shared some of their favorite projects (along with their own designs) from their July class.  You can learn more and sign up for the wait list to join this amazing group of designers here.
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Terry M. Option A
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Terry M. Option B
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Terry's Pieced Quilt (minus the last border)
​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.
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Lynne Maramieri I have always loved Sampler Quilts and really enjoyed creating my own Sampler Quilt.
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Rhonda Goss Quilt Layouts class
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Patricia Hansen I liked the layout from lesson with the pine tree border. I modified it and call it Southwest Visit.
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Curryanne Hostetler At the sea....sampler. Some of the blocks are Angie Padilla's foundation blocks.
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Margo Reppert I enjoyed learning different ways of displaying sampler or swap blocks in a quilt. This one is my favorite.
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Denise Mohler Wow I have learned so much with the Mix and Match Medallion Centers and had a lot of fun along the way! One thing that stands out the most for me is that I learned how to fix a polygon error that I kept getting! The whole lesson was fun and I definitely am feeling more comfortable with EQ8
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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.
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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).
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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.
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Fran Heisey This is my quilt for the Masters Challenge this month. The block was copied from a cement tile, which I thought would be quick and easy to draft - boy was I wrong. Kari's classes are always challenging and she is so helpful to answer questions when I run into a problem.
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Faye Groth I loved playing with combining two blocks.
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Jan Beckert Here's my attempt at a landscape...based on the view of my field as I walk out of the woods. I took the "Landscape Quilts" class...this was a great class! I learned many things...and, especially, I learned that I need a lot more practice!
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Edith Craig My class this month was Masters Sampler Layout. I used custom set, putting the blocks on-point and filling the extra spaces with additional blocks. This class showed me the various things that can be accomplished with Custom Set, rather than trying to fit a design in a traditional layout. It was great fun to work with the many different possibilities.
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Linda Carlson I completed the Masters Sampler Layout Designs class. This is a variation of the Lesson 7.
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Zdenka Nemethová Last Masters Class was simply GREAT ❤ I prepared this Summer Sampler.
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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!!! 
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Terry McCaskey I almost chose to skip the "TKQ Speciality Dies & Rulers" class since I do not have or anticipate having a cutting system. As always though I learned lots from Kari and am glad to have taken it. I especially liked the applique drawing exercises. I found a different bear image for practice and now have a motif I can resize to fit a specific project rather than being tied to the cutting system template....and I have more confidence to try additional outline drawings. Thanks Kari.
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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.
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0 Comments

Random Color Generator

8/26/2023

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Each month, I provide a challenge to Tech Know Quilter Masters members.  In July, their challenge was to use a random color generator to generate three colors.  Then to design a quilt using those three fabrics.  The only other color that could be added was a background.  They were also allowed to use "fabrics" to replace the random color.

I decided to challenge myself to complete the challenge and will be sharing my process and quilt in this blog post as well.

Tech Know Quilter Masters Random Color Generator Challenge Showcase

Here are the designs submitted by Masters members in July. Tech Know Quilters Masters members are more advanced and are working on stretching both their design and their Electric Quilt skills.  ​
Mary Groesbeck
I was expecting 3 colors that I would have to force to play together against their (and my) will...and look what I got. A real red, a blue black, and a good green. Anything with red and black will work for me.
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Edith Craig   ​

​Here is my challenge quilt using the 3 colors from the generator and then selecting fabrics from that spectrum. I also used some of the techniques from last month to design this quilt.
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Patricia Hansen  ​

​My three colors were used in the borders of this EQ quilt design. I looked for similar colors in the fabric swatches I already had downloaded for this project to use in the X designs.
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Rhonda Goss
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  Gloria Worthen Jacobs  

​I reviewed lesson 1 on tessellations and used my colours in a version of the trees.
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Katherine Martin

I am working on More optical Illusions this month, so tried my colours out on my Bubble Quilt.
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Renae Frank Butler
I am not a orange and yellow person so this was an interesting choice for me all three generated colors were used for the design, then I used map to fabric randomizing and did a little tweaking. 

The second item was a block in the block library that was recolored.
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Curryanne Hostetler
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Fran Heisey
I'll have to confess, I cheated a little. I generated 2 sets of colors, and picked the set I like better.
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Block copied from a ceramic tile.
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Lee Wiencki  

​​A three colour quilt using Drunkard's Path.
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Julie Pedersen

Here are my 3 colors and fabrics to match them.

​The second quilt were selected fabrics when I search by color to make it more interesting.

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My Random Color Generator Project

Some of the TKQ Masters members have suggested that I should participate in these challenges myself.  So I thought I would walk you through my project -- along with some of my thought processes as I was creating the quilt.
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Assigned Colors from the Generator:
  • Strawberry red
  • Raspberry red
  • White aluminum

I like the idea of red and grey -- but was a little concerned with having two reds that are fairly close in value.

Fortunately I previously set the rule that fabrics can be selected instead of colors.  ​?
For the project, I selected a design I didn't have room for in one of my Tech Know Quilter classes.  I had colored the quilt in three colors -- which I realized would be perfect for the challenge.

In BlockBase+, I selected #1718 called either Nine Patch T or Mrs. Danner Bk. 7.  If you are looking in BlockBase+ you can find the block in 09 Equal Nine Patch > 08 Like Santa Fe.

If you don't have BlockBase+, the block could be drawn in EasyDraw.  Set the block width and height to 12 x 12.  Set the snaps at 24 x 24.  The only snapping option should be Snap to Grid.


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Block 1718 from BlockBase Plus
Even though I started with Block 1718, I chose to use only part of the block.  In the video, I will take you through the process to eliminate both the left third and top third of the design.  

I then created two colorings of the block using my colors from the random color generator.
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Block 1718 Revised by Kari Schell
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Raspberry Red and White Aluminum Colored Block
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Strawberry Red and White Aluminum Colored Block
The modifications to the block resulted in an asymmetrical design.  Which gives so many more options on the quilt worktable.Here are the quilts from the video saved after selecting Symmetry.
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Original Layout (no rotation)
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Symmetry Option 1
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Symmetry Option 2
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Symmetry Option 3
I hope you enjoyed seeing my thought process as I designed a quilt for the challenge -- as well as how the quilts were created in EQ8.

I would love to see your use of my modified block.  With a different set of fabrics or colors.  If you would like to try the Random Color Generator, you can locate it here.  ​

​Post you pictures on the Learning EQ8 Facebook group.
Random Color Generator Learning EQ Facebook Post

Tech Know Quilters Working with Fabric Class

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The first Tech Know Quilters class is all above working with fabrics and colors in Electric Quilt 8.  

If you would like to join Tech Know Quilters ahead of the next open enrollment period, send me a note and I will send you information on getting started in September -- back to school for you.

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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.
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Rotating and Fussy Cutting Large Scale Fabric Using Electric Quilt 8

8/19/2023

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Last week I created a new block that I called "Sashing and Block Combo" and set it in a quilt.

The circle was drawn and quartered with the Ellipse applique tool and I set and rotated one fabric for the four quarters of the circle.

Most of the fabric used in the quilt were from from the Waters Edge fabric collection FREE download from Electric Quilt.

You can find last weeks tutorial on drafting the block and quilt here.
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When I went to play with rotating and fussy cutting some of the Waters Edge fabric pieces, I quickly realized some of the fabrics had a very large repeat.  This first piece in the collection was 25 inches square -- and it isn't even a full repeat of the design.
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Waters Edge by Brett Lewis for Northcott (SKU 26719-49)
Trying to rotate and fussy cut a 25" piece of fabric in a 2-1/2" quarter circle, did not work very well for me.  So I knew I needed to approach the process a bit differently.

I thought about the time I did a One Block Wonder quilt (a real quilt -- not an EQ design) where I cut the theme fabric into strips that were exactly the same section of the fabric (essentially cutting the repeats).  I then aligned each of the strips and sub-cut them for each of the blocks.  Then sewed together for a kaleidoscope type of design.

The approach I chose for fussy cutting in my quarter circles in the Sashing and Block Combo EQ quilt was similar to that.  However I chose to cut my strips larger than needed.  Then I could have more options for fussy cutting the design to pick different elements to highlight. 
I found that I could cut the 25" fabric swatch into 25 different 5" segments -- more than I need for the  Sashing and Block Combo quilt.

In this weeks video tutorial, check out how I created smaller fabric swatches, rotated fabric and fussy cut in the quilt.  
Here are my updated blocks.  Check out the circle designs in each of them.  The first 8 were from the fabric image shown above.  Can you find the designs in the full fabric image?

Click on each block for a close-up view.
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The last four were from the following piece.  This is also from the Waters Edge fabric collection.  This one had a full repeat both horizontally and vertically.  The single repeat was 16-1/2" by 12-1/2".
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Waters Edge by Brett Lewis by Northcott SKU 26711-86
Here is the final quilt.
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Sashing and Block Quilt with Rotating and Fussy Cutting of Theme Fabric
I look forward to seeing what you choose to do with fussy-cutting.  Feel free to share a block (or two) in the Learning EQ Facebook group.
Learning EQ Facebook Group Fussy Cut Design Post

What to do about Pixelated Fabric?

When I reopened the Sashing and Block Combo Design project file after last weeks video, I noticed that some of the fabric in the sketchbook, looked pixelated and appeared to have lost its color. (See the last three fabrics in the picture as an example.)

After some experimenting I found that if you use this fabric to color a quilt, it will look "normal" in the quilt.  The pixelation is only visible in the coloring tools and in the project sketchbook.
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Pixelated Fabric Problem
I reached out to Electric Quilt who shared with me that it was a known issue.  I suspect related to these super large fabric swatches.  The workaround is:
  • Close the project.
  • Reopen the project.
  • The first screen you will see is the Project Sketchbook.
  • Select the Fabrics tab before doing anything else.  Scroll over and note that the fabrics should now be able to be viewed correctly.

I was able to fix this project.  However I did find that it doesn't work 100% of the time.  So we may need to deal with a few "pixelated fabric swatches".  FYI -- I didn't find any issues after cropping the large pieces.

Tech Know Quilters Working with Fabric Class

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The first Tech Know Quilters class is all above working with fabrics in Electric Quilt 8.  In addition to learning how to import fabric from multiple sources, you will even learn how to photograph and scan your own fabric.  Won't that be a great stash busting option!

If you would like to join Tech Know Quilters ahead of the next open enrollment period, send me a note and I will send you information on getting started in September -- back to school for you.

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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.
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    Kari Schell

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  • Blog
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