EQ8

Yesterday I took an EQ8 class with my friends Stephanie and Mary. Classes are always fun when you do them with friends! Plus then you can ask them questions if you forget something.....

I have had the program for about a year and have made blocks and followed the lessons but there is nothing that beats a hands-on class. I learned so much and think I will be utilizing this tool a lot more in my quilting.

With my new found knowledge I may re-design the center of this block that I don't really love. I am going to make it easier and something I like.

Just being able to change the colors on blocks is so much fun! and so easy. How many times have you made a block and then decide you wish you had used something else? Almost everyone in the class had made blocks using the graph paper method so we all agreed this was a useful fun exercise.

We also "made" quilts and the fun part is you can turn blocks, delete blocks, add different blocks etc. The possibilities are endless. Our teacher, Ann Holte told us to remember this is not a video game......you can see how easy it would be to design many, many quilts in the virtual world but we all want to make them in the real world!
Ann was a wonderful teacher we all highly recommend her. You can find her information here.

I really like this quilt setting, and how easy it is to turn the blocks in a pleasing manner that I like.

For this exercise we were asked to pick a pieced block and an applique block. I love this!! I may just have to make it!

For you English Paper piecers, there is even a way to print out your templates. I thought randomly coloring in the hexies, made for a fun and unexpected quilt.

There are even labels to make for those of us (me) who don't like to make them.

Overall I like the program and will probably use it more and more, now that I have a taste of what it can do. How about you? Do you have it and do you like it? If you haven't taken a class do so. Even if it is just to learn the basics you will be surprised how easy it is.

Kelly