What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

It is the season for hearts.  One of the loveliest ways to share our love is through a quilt full of hearts. 

​The blocks I will be sharing with your today could be done in five fabrics.  Or the pieces could be easily cut from charm squares.  Who doesn't have an extra collection or two of those five inch squares that are ready to be incorporated in a quilt.  

In the video tutorial, I will be sharing a new technique on quickly creating the double (shadow) block.  This uses one of the Serendipity options in EQ8.  

Many of you participated in a webinar shortly after Christmas, where I shared how to create applique snowflakes.  This used a process similar to how we cut paper snowflakes as a child.  It was a great opportunity to become acquainted with some of the tools within the applique worktable in EQ8.

However I know that not everyone is into applique.  So I decided to challenge myself to take one of those starting snowflake sections and turn it into a foundation piecing friendly block.  We will use a similar process in that we ...

Are you struggling to use Electric Quilt 8 in designing a quilt?  Or maybe you need to get your creative wheels turning to create an amazing snowflake quilt.   If so, you are definitely in the right place. 

This free live webinar will take you step by step through the process of using Electric Quilt 8 to:

• ​import and edit ...

Did you know that you can draw your own quilting motifs using Electric Quilt 8?  And then audition them on a quilt you designed using Electric Quilt 8?

Last week, I shared how to create a a Christmas feathered star quilt using Electric Quilt 8.  If you missed the post, you can still catch it here. 

In this video tutorial, I will share how to start with a holly motif from the EQ8 block library.   I could have drawn it from scratch -- but the beauty of the block library is I don't have to.

Using that simple block we ...

Since some of us will be focused on turkey this week, let's also think about creating a turkey block using Electric Quilt 8.  This is a fun block that uses PolyDraw to complete the feathers along with some of the shape tools in applique.  You will be amazed at how easy this block is to draft.

I don't know about you.  But I have a fair number of 2-1/2" fabric squares.  Some are leftovers from other projects.  And I have also been known to buy some of those mini-charm packs at quilt shows.

But I don't always tend to use them and they end up taking up space in my fabric collection -- which is way too large.

In this post, I decided to tackle the problem.  I designed a quilt that allows those 2-1/2 inch squares to be the star of the quilt.

Do you like working with specific rulers or dies?  You know -- the ones that will end up giving you a very specific block (or maybe even parts of a block). 

Some of my favorite are the tools from Deb Tucker's Studio 180 Design,

If I have specific pieces that I want to work with, I love using Electric Quilt to design blocks around those pieces.  It is so much fun having my own blocks, versus ones that look like everyone else.​

Deb Tucker has created a Split Rects tool.  The Split Rects tool allows us to cut pieces and ...

Learn to draft an easy asymmetrical block, and color it with a Spooky Hollow, a fabric collection by Melissa Mortenson that was produced by Riley Blake Designs.  

The Spooky Hollow fabric collection is part of EQ Stash Online - 2021 Download 01 which is available for purchase from EQ.     For those that were on my webinar earlier this week, you learned how you can download the collection from the Riley Blake website.  Feel free to refer back to the pdf for the webinar for including fabrics directly from the Riley Blake website.
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Then use Symmetry in Electric Quilt 8 to audition ...

An opportunity to join me on Zoom either Monday, October 25 or Tuesday October 26.  Three times to choose from.

 Select your preferred time below and click on the link to reserve your spot.

​In the month of July the primarily focus for Tech Know Quilter Masters members was labels.

Tech Know Quilters Masters members have received at least 12 months of Tech Know Quilter classes.  In the Masters lessons, participants not only work on EQ skills, but have lots of opportunities for enhancing their design skills as well. 

Here are some of the projects submitted in the private Facebook group for the various label making lessons. 

​Enjoy the virtual show!

One ...

I was recently made aware of sublimation.  Sublimation is a process that  mixes specialized ink within the fabric fibers.  Think of it as a variation of printing and/or using vinyl on fabric.  However both of these other examples put the material on top of the product.  With the sublimation the product is infused into the material.

I am doing a deeper dive into the process in  the TKQ Masters class this month.  However I though I would share a simplified process in this post.

• Select a "blank" that will serve as the canvas for the design.   Polyester is the ...

In a previous blog post I shared my techniques for redrafting an antique quilt.

Here is the inspiration quilt along with my EQ8 rendition.

One of the things I really love about using EQ8 is that you don't need to stop there.  Once you have the basic quilt drafted, you can start thinking about how you would like to personalize a design and make it your own.

I decided to play with ...

I am so thankful to have a job which allows me to work closely with a super talented group of quilters.  As I pull together these showcases, I love being able to look at each quilt and see the creativity of the quilter.

Maybe you are like Mary who was felt constrained by tradition.  After the More Optical Illusions class she is experiencing an expansion of her freedom to try things and see what happens.  

​Or Sue who received a bundle of fat quarters from a girlfriend for her birthday. After the first set of lessons she was able to ...

How would you redraft this antique quilt?

Often the hardest part in figuring out how to draft a particular quilt is identifying ...

Grandma Keller loved to quilt.  In fact the first quilt I owned was one that she made for me as a teenager.  Her quilts were fairly simple designs.  I am guessing that most of them were made between 1950 and 1975.  This wasn't a very popular time for quilting and cotton fabrics were not very plentiful.  She used a lot of solids in her quilts.  And they were all hand quilted.  

This week I spent some time photographing a number of her quilts.  This quilt measured 79" x 106".  Definitely not a small quilt.