Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Tuesday Archive - EQ Designs

Every Tuesday over at Val's Quilting Studio you have the opportunity to look back at your previous posts and bring one up to date if you like.   I'm a little late getting this post together, between getting the trash out this morning and getting Drama Teen out the door for volleyball camp, I didn't have time to get a post put together.  Hopefully I can pull this one together over lunch.  

I started using EQ in 2009 after  Microsoft's introduction of the Vista operating system made my QuiltPro program just about useless.   I wasn't very happy with EQ, it wasn't as intuitive as QuiltPro was.  It wasn't until about a year later in 2010 that I finally figured out how to use EQ to do some fundamental quilt layouts.  I had just completed all the blocks from a 2006 Buck A Block program from the quilt shop in Texas.  With the blocks done, I was looking for a way to set them.  The original post is here.  Looking back those initial layouts were pretty awful.  I was trying really hard to use all the finishing kit fabric I bought with the blocks.  I finally realized that just wasn't going to work and raided the stash for something else.  This was the working design I used to set the blocks together.


I ended up changing the final border in the finished quilt, it didn't work up on the design wall any better than it did in the EQ version. 

Texas Twilight
Buck-a-Block in a self designed layout

I was pretty happy with the final quilt, though that final photo is pretty bad.  My photography skills have definitely improved in the last 4 years.   This ended up as a Christmas gift for my sister-in-law who lives in Texas.  

I love playing in EQ.  I've designed a couple of quilts since.  Even when I'm making a project from a pattern, I'll draft the blocks in EQ, scan in some fabrics and play around till I've got the colors right.  It usually saves me from having to make a fabric change after the first block is made. 

Check out the other vintage EQ designs over at Val's Quilting Studio.  

4 comments:

Nancy said...

Glad you were able to get your post up today. I enjoyed reading it, reading the original post, and seeing the final quilt. EQ is helpful with layouts as well as so many other designing steps.
I, too, have not figured out how to scan a large print fabric and get it to look like it should in EQ. Thank you for sharing today.

Shay said...

Thats a great quilt Kate.

I havent got a program like EQ but I can see how it would be helpful to mock up designs ...Often my quilts are a complete mystery to me until they're actually finished.

Jo said...

I do not have any computer program so well done to you for working it out

libbyquilter said...

i love your finished quilt~!
fun to read the background info within your other post too.
the EQ program isn't one that i have but it does look like it could be useful and fun to play around with.

:-)
libbyQ