Surrounding Angels Font Inspired Quilt

Earlier this week I was on a live call with my Tech Know Quilter Masters members.  After going through all the pre-submitted questions, we had some extra time.  So we began playing with the Winter Icons font from DaFont.com.

The group collaborated on the process of turning one letter into an applique snowman motif and then created a quilt around the motif.  They were super creative and we were all energized after working together on the project.

Selecting a Font for the Applique Angel

After I got off the call, I decided to experiment with a more Christmas themed font. 

After downloading and installing the Christmas-i font, I couldn't get it to work in Electric Quilt.  Sometimes the glyph fonts just are not compatible with the software.  However, it was usable in Word and in Inkscape. 

​So I typed the capital S with the font and  saved it as a png image on my computer.

Christmas I Font

Png images can be imported into Electric Quilt and used for tracing.

​You are welcome to download this image and use it in your own Electric Quilt project.

FYI -- If you have problems with importing selected .png images into EQ, it is possible you have a corrupt .png image.  (A problem I experienced for the first time this week.)

There is a program called RIOT that can be used to fix these issues.  (Thank you Matt and the EQ staff for sharing information on this program.)  If you look closing at the image below, you can see the recommended settings I received from Matt.
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Angel Glyph Image

Repairing a corrupt .png image using Riot software

Drawing the Applique Angel

In the video I share how to trace this image as an applique motif.

I suggest using the circle under shapes for the halo.

Then use the Bezier curve for the wing, body and head.  The key when using the Bezier curve is to start and stop at each sharp point in the drawing.  Don't worry if the curve looks terrible.  That can be fixed.

Once you have roughly traced a shape, make sure it is a fillable shape.  You can do this by turning on the autofill on closed patches.  

Then zoom in and move any of the nodes to match the sharp points in the drawing.

Then fix the curves.  You can either move the curve itself or the handles on both sides of the curve.

​Color the image and add to sketchbook.

Angel Traced from Capital S in the Christmas-i font.

Fabrics for the Quilt

​The fabrics for this project came from a collection called Angels on High by Cathy Squire for Northcott fabrics.

I discuss how to download these fabrics in the blog post on December 12, 2023.

​I also used a neutral from the default palette for the head.

Wreathmaker

Use Wreathmaker to turn the Angel motif into a wreath of angels.  Set the number of clusters at 6, cluster spacing at 100%, and then move the slider bar for resize cluster to get the amount of overlap desired.  I chose to have no overlap.

Angel Wreathmaker Settings

To create a round table topper, create a second applique block.  Use the circle (under the Shapes tool).  Resize to fill the block worktable.  Color with the background and Add to Sketchbook.

Surrounding Angels Quilt

On the quilt worktable, set up a new quilt with the style Custom Set.

On the Layout tab, change the size to 37" x 37".

Under Block Tools, Set Block, locate the circle under Motifs and drag on the quilt.  Change the size to 37" x 37" and recolor.  Center horizontally and vertically.  The represents the binding in the drawing.

Under Block Tools, Set Block, locate the circle under Motifs and drag on the quilt.  Center horizontally and vertically.  The represents the background in the drawing.

Under Block Tools, Set Block, locate the Angel Wreath under Motifs and drag on the quilt.  Center horizontally and vertically. 

For the snowflakes, I used a different font (from Dafont.com).  This one is named Christmas Icons. 

I loved the options and was able to use this font in Electric Quilt 8.

Note that glyph fonts are not always able to be used in Electric Quilt.  However I did find that this one worked on my PC with Windows 11. 

Give it a try.  You will probably need to close EQ8, download and install the font and then reopen EQ8 for it to be usable in the program.

I used the small c from the font for my snowflakes.

If you are having a problem accessing the font, consider using one of the applique snowflakes from EQ8 library.

​Check out a few options I found in the library.

Snowflakes from the EQ8 Library

Christmas Icons Font from Dafont.com

Here is the final quilt.  Wouldn't it make a stunning table topper?

The angel could also grace some placemats (a suggestion from my TKQ Masters members) -- for a fun project with the kids or grandkids.

Surrounding Angels Table Topper Created using EQ8

Learn how to draft the quilt in the following video.
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I look forward to seeing what you choose to do with a Christmas font -- either the ones I shared or a different font.  I've set up a post in the Learning EQ Facebook Group, where you can share your design.

Learning EQ Facebook Group Post on Surrounding Angels

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Happy quilting.

​Kari

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