Do you....EQ? You Should!

 

 

On newsstands now!  Check out my latest quilt in McCall's Quilting!

 

McCall's Quilting May June 2015

 

Made from Kona Cotton Solids in shades of purple with just a dash of green.

 

 

This is the one of the very first quilts I ever designed using EQ7 quite some time ago.   I had just upgraded my EQ5 program to EQ7 and was practicing away, in fact, I'm pretty sure I have it saved in approximately 47 different color ways.  This quilt is made from two of the blocks that can be found in the Block Library.   If you've been contemplating EQ7, I say "Go For It!!"  The program comes with an entire Fabric Library too, but you're also able to upload jpeg files of the actual fabrics you'll be using, so you really get a good look at what your quilt will look like when it's finished.

 

EQ has lots of tutorials as well to learn their program.  You can also create your own original quilt labels to print on your inkjet printer!

EQ7 has a gazillion (maybe more) blocks and layouts to choose from as well as options to print instructions for rotary cutting or foundation piecing, as well as printable templates.  For the star block in this quilt I was able to use a Tri Recs ruler (not to be confused with T Rex) so completing blocks went pretty quickly.  

My Fantasia Quilt is Complete!



 

Two rows of two and a half inch squares sewn together to make an outer border, some simple quilting and then prairie points make this  quilt complete.  I am totally in love with this quilt! 

 

I found a tutorial online for making the prairie points  using a width of fabric instead of cutting each square separately.  The directions were really easy to follow and they really didn't take me long to make...and of course using a width of fabric, as long as you made your cuts in the appropriate places your points will be very evenly spaced.  The only thing I didn't like was that I felt like I had more bulk  using the folded width of fabric  when I was doing the final stitching.  I really struggled to make it lie flat on the back....and that was frustrating.

 

One hint, if you make a quilt and want to add the prairie points as a finishing touch, make sure you let your longarmer know so that she/he doesn't quilt all the way to the edge of the quilt.  You really need to leave a  minimum of a half an inch or even an inch so that you've got room to turn that seam under and it's really hard to do if the quilt has been quilted too close to the edge.  The last thing you want to do is pick out quilting stitches. (ask me how I know this....fortunately I gave myself room on this one!)

 

 

 

I printed and stitched on a very special label and the quilt is on it's way to provide love and comfort to someone very special. 

 

Thank you Sara Lawson (@SewSweetness) for the opportunity to create something lovely with your new fabric line and to honor your Grandpa.  Love you to the moon and back, my sweet friend.

Fantasia (Art Gallery Fabrics) by Sara Lawson @ Sew Sweetness

Last week I got this great package in the mail from my friend, Sara Lawson at Sew Sweetness.  Inside was a collection of fat quarters from her new fabric line with Art Gallery Fabrics called "Fantasia". I absolutely love the colors in this line and kept them stacked up on my sewing table for inspiration while I decided just what to make with them.

Even though this is a fabric line, designed to coordinate, I decided that I'd like to step a bit outside of my comfort zone and create something scrappy.  I don't do scrappy very well...and even when I attempt to be scrappy, I have to be somewhat organized in my scrapiness.  I mean....what if you're being all scraptastic and you end up with two of the same fabrics side by side in your quilt?   What then?

Well, as seems to be the norm for me, whether processing how I should quilt something...or deciding on a design....for some reason my inspirations arrive at approximately 3am. Just like clockwork...  I'll wake up with an idea, cutting or stitching in my mind until I think I have it figured out.  Often I'll reach over to look at my phone for the time although I'm not sure why....and it's always in the three o'clock hour.  Always.  Weird, huh?  When does your inspiration come?

The other night....or should I say early in the morning...right on schedule came the idea for what I wanted to do with Sara's fabrics.  I woke up thinking about a block that I had pinned on Pinterest a long time ago that I thought would work so great for a scrappy quilt.  I was imaging her fabrics in this scrappy block.  (one look at my phone showed the time as 3:07am)  I fell back to sleep thinking about what color I might use for the background.

small squares are 2.5"
larger squares are 4.5" with 2.5" square sewn diagonally on opposing sides 

Yesterday I pulled out my stash of solids to see what I might already  have to use for the background.  I auditioned four different solid colors.   Cream (some of the Fantasia line have a cream background), Navy...hmmm...didn't really trip my trigger....and White (expected).  Then I found this teal or jade shade of green and I thought it would be awesome.

Cream

Navy

White


 

Teal/Jade

But then a funny thing happened on the way to the cutting table.  As I was preparing the fat quarters to cut into 2.5" strips, I noticed this other stack of solids that I plan to use on another project....and there was this shade of Butter Yellow that just spoke to me "Psssst, I think I would look better than the green"....and well....when fabric talks to you...you just have to listen.

That print you can see on the top of the stack has the sweetest unicorn that I just could not cut up into a 2.5" strip...so I decided to fussy cut those into 4.5" squares and was able to get five of them.  Look how cute these blocks turned out!

I alternated the fussy cut unicorn blocks with the scrappy block, three blocks across and three down.

Clearly Mr Bone Jangles approves.

Love!

 I absolutely love how this quilt turned out....but as I stitched it together I realized that I had sewn two of the very same pink fabrics side by side! TWO PINKS! SIDE.BY.SIDE, PEOPLE!  For about five minutes, I told myself I would just have to live with it....but I know from experience....that come three o'clock in the morning...I'd be awake imagining just how I would remove one of the squares to replace it with another color....so I went ahead and just did it.  Now, I am contemplating adding a yellow border...followed by a scrappy border of leftover 2.5" squares.  Unless of course, I'm awake at 3am with some other inspiration.

So funny as I was sewing this quilt, I was listening to an Irish radio station and what did they play but The Unicorn Song by the Irish Rovers.  I grew up listening to them as my Mom was a big fan!  I was always so sad about the unicorns missing the Ark.   I'm attaching the link so you can have a listen too!

                                                   Irish Rovers - Unicorn Son

My beautiful friend, Sara - Sew Sweetness
Love her!