My EQ7 Adventure

Yesterday Sally shared some things she came up with when playing around with EQ7 and today it's my turn.

One of the things I love the most about EQ7 is the ability to take the same block or blocks and manipulate them different ways to decide on what you like best.

When I was designing the Floating Squares Quilt for my son I knew I wanted to use bowties and 4 patches. I wanted it to be an easy pattern to make. But that was the only thing I knew. So I started out with every other block a 4 patch and every other block a bowtie. Then I added a little color based on what colors I know he likes. It was as simple as coloring in the blocks. There's this wonderful function in EQ7 that lets you color in all the blocks at the same time or every other block at the same time. So after a few key strokes here's what I had.

When I started out I had no idea this was how it would look but I knew I was onto something Tyler would like.

Another thing that is great about the software is that you can move your blocks in different directions very easily and you can change the blocks slightly. Here's a few ways I played with the design

Using connectors on all corners



Opposite colors

Different Colors

Girl colors



After seeing all these choices I knew which design I liked best and luckily Tyler agreed. The rest fell into place. I added 2 borders and had my design. I do my own quilt math since I usually make my blocks a little different, and this one was very easy.

I also knew that I wanted to make this in girl colors at some point (It's almost finished by the way).

Here's my finished quilt

Since Tyler goes to school in Baltimore I knew this had to be a warm quilt. I backed it with flannel and its very warm, he loves it. By the way it's not really crooked, I just didn't pin it on that side.

Stay tuned for my first giveaway announcement later today!

 

My EQ7 Adventure

Yesterday Sally shared some things she came up with when playing around with EQ7 and today it's my turn.

One of the things I love the most about EQ7 is the ability to take the same block or blocks and manipulate them different ways to decide on what you like best.

When I was designing the Floating Squares Quilt for my son I knew I wanted to use bowties and 4 patches. I wanted it to be an easy pattern to make. But that was the only thing I knew. So I started out with every other block a 4 patch and every other block a bowtie. Then I added a little color based on what colors I know he likes. It was as simple as coloring in the blocks. There's this wonderful function in EQ7 that lets you color in all the blocks at the same time or every other block at the same time. So after a few key strokes here's what I had.

When I started out I had no idea this was how it would look but I knew I was onto something Tyler would like.

Another thing that is great about the software is that you can move your blocks in different directions very easily and you can change the blocks slightly. Here's a few ways I played with the design

Using connectors on all corners



Opposite colors

Different Colors

Girl colors



After seeing all these choices I knew which design I liked best and luckily Tyler agreed. The rest fell into place. I added 2 borders and had my design. I do my own quilt math since I usually make my blocks a little different, and this one was very easy.

I also knew that I wanted to make this in girl colors at some point (It's almost finished by the way).

Here's my finished quilt

Since Tyler goes to school in Baltimore I knew this had to be a warm quilt. I backed it with flannel and its very warm, he loves it. By the way it's not really crooked, I just didn't pin it on that side.

Stay tuned for my first giveaway announcement later today!

 

Valentine Voting

Do you remember when I kicked off the Valentines Day Showcase at the beginning of the month? Well it's now time to vote for your favorite projects in the Valentine Showcase After Party.

I have 2 entries in the contest

Love Braids Tablerunner

and a Valentine Goodie Bag

I would love your vote. Click here to go to the voting page. My entries are numbers 9 and 32.

Voting closes tomorrow so please hop on over to the Valentine Showcase page and vote :)

Valentine Voting

Do you remember when I kicked off the Valentines Day Showcase at the beginning of the month? Well it's now time to vote for your favorite projects in the Valentine Showcase After Party.

I have 2 entries in the contest

Love Braids Tablerunner

and a Valentine Goodie Bag

I would love your vote. Click here to go to the voting page. My entries are numbers 9 and 32.

Voting closes tomorrow so please hop on over to the Valentine Showcase page and vote :)

Floating Squares Quilt Pattern

Introducing my newest pattern...Floating Squares

71" x 80 

You will need:

4 yards brown fabric
1 ¾ yards orange fabric
1 ¼ yards cream fabric
4 yards backing fabric

Cutting Directions:

All strips are cut WOF (Width of fabric)
14 - 5" strips brown, sub cut 7 strips into 56 - 5" squares
4 - 2 ½" strips brown, sub cut into 56 - 2.5" squares
8 - 3 ½" strips brown for the border
7 - 5" strips cream, sub cut into 56 - 5" squares
7 - 5" strips orange
8 - 1 ½" strips orange for the border
9 - 2 ¼ strips brown for the binding 


Making the 4 patch blocks:
With 7 brown strips and 7 orange strips sew a 5" strip of brown to a 5" strip of orange along the long side.
Press towards the brown.
Sub cut the strips into 5" pieces making each piece 5" x 9 ½".
Repeat with the other 6 strips to make 56 pieces.

Sew the 56 pieces together to make 28 brown and orange 4 patches

Making the Bowtie blocks:

First you need to get your machine ready. Do you have a marked line or a piece of tape along your 1/4" line? Just about everyone I know around here does. What you do is put your needle in the down position and raise your presser foot. Insert a ruler against the needle and lower your presser foot. Line up a line on your ruler perpendicular to a line on your machine table so you know your ruler is straight, ie. the 4" line on the ruler. Then with a fine point sharpie draw a line against the ruler or place a 1/4" piece of tape in the same spot. I didn't have any 1/4" tape when I did this so I used a piece of painters tape that I cut with my rotary cutter to 1/4". And don't worry about the sharpie, you can always remove it with denatured alcohol.

With the 56 cream 5" squares and the 56 brown 2 ½" squares:

Place the brown 2 ½" squares on the top right corner of a cream 5" square. Make sure they edges are even.

Start sewing at the place where the top left corner of the brown square begins. Keep the bottom right part of the brown square even with the tape line on your machine and continue sewing till you reach the bottom right point of the brown square.

Make 56 of these

Trim the brown triangle piece that is closest to the cream point off. In other words the part you will not see. This will keep the integrity of the square in case your points are a little wonky

  

Press the points over and you will have 56 connector squares

 

Sew a connector square to a brown 5" square. Be sure they are sewn together like the picture below. Make 56 sets.

Sew 2 sets into a 4 patch to make the bowtie blocks. Make 28 blocks.

Putting it all together:

Using the diagram below sew 4 rows like this, pressing towards the left

and 4 rows like this, pressing towards the right.

Then sew the rows together

 
Adding the borders:

Sew 2 orange 1 ½" strips together along the short side. Make 4 sets of these. Sew the 2 side borders on and then the top and borders on.

Sew 2 brown 3 ½" strips together along the short side. Make 4 sets. Sew the 2 side borders on and then the top and bottom borders on.

Baste. Quilt and Bind as you would like.

I hope you enjoy this pattern!

Floating Squares Quilt Pattern

Introducing my newest pattern...Floating Squares

71" x 80 

You will need:

4 yards brown fabric
1 ¾ yards orange fabric
1 ¼ yards cream fabric
4 yards backing fabric

Cutting Directions:

All strips are cut WOF (Width of fabric)
14 - 5" strips brown, sub cut 7 strips into 56 - 5" squares
4 - 2 ½" strips brown, sub cut into 56 - 2.5" squares
8 - 3 ½" strips brown for the border
7 - 5" strips cream, sub cut into 56 - 5" squares
7 - 5" strips orange
8 - 1 ½" strips orange for the border
9 - 2 ¼ strips brown for the binding 


Making the 4 patch blocks:
With 7 brown strips and 7 orange strips sew a 5" strip of brown to a 5" strip of orange along the long side.
Press towards the brown.
Sub cut the strips into 5" pieces making each piece 5" x 9 ½".
Repeat with the other 6 strips to make 56 pieces.

Sew the 56 pieces together to make 28 brown and orange 4 patches

Making the Bowtie blocks:

First you need to get your machine ready. Do you have a marked line or a piece of tape along your 1/4" line? Just about everyone I know around here does. What you do is put your needle in the down position and raise your presser foot. Insert a ruler against the needle and lower your presser foot. Line up a line on your ruler perpendicular to a line on your machine table so you know your ruler is straight, ie. the 4" line on the ruler. Then with a fine point sharpie draw a line against the ruler or place a 1/4" piece of tape in the same spot. I didn't have any 1/4" tape when I did this so I used a piece of painters tape that I cut with my rotary cutter to 1/4". And don't worry about the sharpie, you can always remove it with denatured alcohol.

With the 56 cream 5" squares and the 56 brown 2 ½" squares:

Place the brown 2 ½" squares on the top right corner of a cream 5" square. Make sure they edges are even.

Start sewing at the place where the top left corner of the brown square begins. Keep the bottom right part of the brown square even with the tape line on your machine and continue sewing till you reach the bottom right point of the brown square.

Make 56 of these

Trim the brown triangle piece that is closest to the cream point off. In other words the part you will not see. This will keep the integrity of the square in case your points are a little wonky

  

Press the points over and you will have 56 connector squares

 

Sew a connector square to a brown 5" square. Be sure they are sewn together like the picture below. Make 56 sets.

Sew 2 sets into a 4 patch to make the bowtie blocks. Make 28 blocks.

Putting it all together:

Using the diagram below sew 4 rows like this, pressing towards the left

and 4 rows like this, pressing towards the right.

Then sew the rows together

 
Adding the borders:

Sew 2 orange 1 ½" strips together along the short side. Make 4 sets of these. Sew the 2 side borders on and then the top and borders on.

Sew 2 brown 3 ½" strips together along the short side. Make 4 sets. Sew the 2 side borders on and then the top and bottom borders on.

Baste. Quilt and Bind as you would like.

I hope you enjoy this pattern!