Are you ready to take your Electric Quilt 8 skills to the next level?  If you been going a bit stir crazy with the snow and ice, here is an opportunity to focus on spring.  In this free Mystery project you will learn how to draft a series of newly designed pieced blocks that would be suitable for a miniature spring themed quilt.   You will be the first to see these new designs. ​

The quilt will finish 17 x 11 -- suitable for framing and small enough to finish by the end of the month.  With EQ there are plenty of options to make a larger quilter -- so don't feel constrained by my quilt size. 

This free challenge is designed for both beginners to Electric Quilt 8 and those that would like to expand their bock drawing skills to a whole new level. My goal is to encourage you to spend a small amount of time using Electric Quilt each day to allow you to become much more comfortable with the software.

Although the mystery is FREE, you must sign up to receive the video tutorials.  The mystery will start on Wednesday, March 10th.

You can read more about the mystery here.

The getting started videos are available to all -- regardless of whether you choose to join the mystery.
​I've put together three short videos to give you a head start for the mystery:

1. Video 1 discussing setting up your EQ file and adding a fabric collection to use in your project.
2. Video 2 shows you how to import a picture for tracing and draft a practice sunshine block.
3. Video 3 shows you how to export an EQ Image to Facebook.  I love to see pictures of your progress.

Video 1:  Setting Up Your Project File and Adding Fabrics
In this tutorial, I will share with you how to set up your project for the ​Spring Fever Mystery.   You will also learn how to add fabrics from the library and select and import fabric swatches from the Riley Blake website.

The Riley Blake fabric collection I will be using is "Prim" by Lori Holt.  The fabric swatches from the library is Spring Prints.  This is located under Themes.  Both are great collections for a Spring Fever quilt.  I did add a background from Riley Blake as well.

Video 3:  Exporting an EQ Block Image to Facebook

​When exporting a block you wish to share on Social Media, the process can be different than sharing a quilt.   In this tutorial, learn how to export an image of a block and then add it to a Facebook post.

Here is the link the the Learning EQ Facebook post that is referenced in the videos.  

If you haven't enrolled in the challenge, now is the time.  I look forward to working with you to  become more comfortable in drafting your own foundation friendly blocks.  The first block will be sent out Wednesday, March 10th (that is this coming Wednesday) at 8 am. 

I've been asked by those that are in one of my classes or receive my weekly newsletter if they are automatically enrolled in the challenge.  The answer is NO.  So please sign up using the link if you would like to participate in the challenge.

For those currently in the Tech Know Quilter group, check your emails for your special bonus option for the challenge.

Are you ready to take your Electric Quilt 8 skills to the next level?  I will be sharing how to draft a series of newly designed piecing friendly blocks that would be suitable for a Spring themed quilt.   You will be the first to see these new designs. 

This free challenge is designed for both beginners to Electric Quilt 8 and those that would like to expand their bock drawing skills to a whole new level. My goal is to encourage you to spend a small amount of time using Electric Quilt each day to allow you to become much more comfortable with the software.

Although the mystery is FREE, you must sign up to receive the video tutorials. The mystery will start on Wednesday, March 10th.

A pastor at my church requested prayer quilts for a local nursing home.  He wanted something tangible that could be used to pray for the resident.  Rather than a full size quilt, we realized that it would be more appropriate to do something the size of a prayer shawl that could be draped over the shoulders of the person.  

Fortunately there were lots of posts on prayer crocheted prayer shawls and I found the size was general between 24 and 36 inches high with a length of around 70 inches.

I didn't want to create something too complicated, but thought it would be appropriate to use a block with a Biblical reference or name.

In this blog post, I will share how to draft one of my designs using Electric Quilt.  The tree block is designed with a 10 x 10 grid and finishes at 10" x 10".  Since the block was directional, it looked better when placed on point, so I merged it with an on point block.  A 10 inch block will measure 14-1/4" on the diagonal.  

For those of you that are into the math, the size of the center block was backed into after creating an on-point tile square border.  An on-point tile square border ensures that all blocks (patches) have the same width and height.  It will add a spacer border so that everything fits.  To eliminate the spacer border, you can increase the size of blocks and border prior to the tile on point border.   What I chose to adjust was the width of the center block so that everything fit. 

If you are not into the math, just use the numbers as laid out in the video.  I've verified that they will work.

Note that in Electric Quilt we always design in finished sizes (before seam allowances).

I used the default palette to color the quilt.  But I am debating scrapping out the blocks and combining them with 2 background fabrics and along with a border fabric.

My quilt group at church will be creating a number of prayer quilts for this project.  I look forward to sharing pictures at we get them pieced and quilted.

My mother (who is in Assisted Living) received her second vaccine a little over two weeks ago.  I decided to surprise her by taking her out for a late birthday meal.  It will be her first time in over a year that she has been able to leave her Assisted Living Center.  Unless you count the trip by ambulance to the ER after a fall.   

So instead of working on an Electric Quilt tutorial for this blog post I will be driving to North Dakota today for a short trip.  I already have an idea for next week  that I think you will enjoy.

Be inspired by the showcase of projects Tech Know Quilter members have been doing.

The Master's challenge for January was to design a Dresden city or town quilt.  The inspiration for this challenge came from the a pattern by Persimmon Dreams (Kim Lapacek).   Also check out her Pinterest page.   The goal was not to copy her pattern, but to create a circular quilt comprised of homes in your real or imaginary town.  

This week, someone asked me why I purchased Electric Quilt.  My first EQ purchase was quite a while ago (back in the EQ4 days).  But there were two problems I was dealing with that I believed EQ could help me solve.

Issue #1 -- Quilt Pictures without a Pattern

I was still a relatively new quilter and had begun buying a collection of books, patterns and magazines.  In one magazine I saw a picture of a quilt that combined Wheel blocks  with Jacob's Ladder blocks.  The pictured quilt really appealed to me, but unfortunately there were no instructions on how to make the quilt. ​

Issue #2 -- Errors in Pattern Instructions

I had another quilt that I worked on from a pattern.  The quilt was a full-size quilt.  I closely followed the instructions in the pattern to cut out and piece the blocks.  However, I started noticing that I had to do a fair amount of "stretching" to get my pieces to come together.    I went back and double checked that I had cut the pieces correctly and then double checked my seam allowances.  Both were ok.  I ultimately took out the graph paper and redrew the block and recalculated the sizes needed for the triangles.  The sizes were off by 3/8 of an inch.  Unfortunately I did not have enough fabric to fix the problem.  Ultimately I trashed the entire quilt wasting about $80 in fabric.

I also began talking to my quilting friends who shared with me that there were certain designers that always had errors in their patterns.  This was a bit distressing as the quilts appealed to me and I wanted to be able to make them without a lot of problems.

Solving My Problems
My purchase of Electric Quilt 4 was motivated by wanting to be able to double check the math before working with purchased patterns along with the ability to easily draft a favorite quilt and have cutting instructions along with fabric yardage information. 

Ultimately I learned that I could do so much more with Electric Quilt.  It is my #1 quilting tool and is used with every quilt I make.  And it has entertained me by allowing me to draft a whole bunch of quilts that I will never find the time to make.

Would You Like to Share Your Story?

I would love to know why you made the decision to purchase your first version of Electric Quilt.  Was there a particular problem you were trying to solve or was there a particular feature that appealed to you?  Send me a note, or post a response in the comments below.

​Or are you still on the fence -- debating your first EQ purchase?

In My Favorite Hearts blog post I shared how to draft  two pieced heart blocks and how to create a custom set quilt that incorporates the blocks.  I also shared how to add a block (or motif) from another EQ project file.

I also released a new pattern that includes my favorite technique for constructing these blocks and also included some simple applique that can be cut out using your favorite Electric Cutting system (Cricut, Silhouette or Brother Scan N Cut).

The full pattern with the bonus cutting files is on sale for the new release price of $5.  The sale ends February 14, 2021.

In this weeks free EQ8 video tutorial, I will share will you two other quilt options for those 4" and 6" pieced heart blocks.

Here is the horizontal strip quilt from the video.  This quilt finishes (before binding) 30" x 38".  It includes nine six inch blocks and 10 four inch blocks.

Here is the horizontal quilt with sashing from the video.  This quilt finishes (before binding) 34" x 44".  It includes six six inch blocks and 16 four inch blocks.

I was excited to see pictures of your heart quilts inspired by last weeks free tutorial.  Thanks so much for sharing your creations.

On the QT Fabric's website I learned that Reed Johnson of Blue Bear Quilts (bluebearquilts.com) and QT joined forces to refresh prints from QTs 1920s archive of sophisticated art-deco designs. 

That inspired me to search for a quilt from from the early 1900's.  My go to source for old quilts is the Quilt Index.  They recently went through a redo of their website and the search feature is not working.  But I came across this quilt and began thinking about how to use the design with the Coco Chic collection.

The video tutorial includes information about

• including a picture of your inspiration quilt on Layer 3
• the vertical strip set-up, and
• a fun coloring tool that will really speed up the coloring process.

Since each patch is technically a block when using the vertical strip set, I also discuss how to use the fabric yardage chart to track not only the number of required fat quarters, but the number of pieces and size of each piece.  

​Here is my "adjusted" fabric yardage chart to include all the information I need to cut the patches for the quilt.

Here was my final quilt from the video.

Tech Know Quilters is a membership of Electric Quilt 8 owners who are mastering Electric Quilt through online training.  At the end of their December class, they were encouraged to apply what they learned during the month of December. 

Tech Know Quilters is open to new members only a few times a year.  You can sign up for the wait list here and we will notify you of the next open enrollment period. ​

Tech Know Quilter members who have completed twelve months of Tech Know Quilter's class are eligible for the Masters program.  The Masters lessons in December focused on using ordinary photos and creating fabric from those photos. 

​Here are some of the quilts created with their original fabrics.

Each month Tech Know Quilter Masters members receive an optional challenge.  Their challenge for December was to design a holiday (or seasonal) themed quilt using Electric Quilt 8.

Tech Know Quilters is a membership of Electric Quilt 8 owners who are mastering Electric Quilt through online training.  At the end of their December class, they were encouraged to apply what they learned during the month of December. 

Tech Know Quilters is open to new members only a few times a year.  You can sign up for the wait list here and we will notify you of the next open enrollment period. ​