Wednesday, January 26, 2011

EQ7 Accuquilt Design Challenge

Hi everyone:


Well it's Wednesday and my turn to tell you a little bit about the project I designed for the EQ7 Accuquilt Design Challenge back in September 2010. This is the first opportunity to see what other designers submitted and I'm especially excited to see the winning design by Judy Danz, which will be revealed very soon. 


If you've been following my blog posts, you will remember that I had previously described my process in designing my entry, which was hasty, to say the least. To recap, I knew about the contest, but did not have an Accuquilt GO! cutter at the time it was announced, so didn't really think much about entering it. Then, when I acquired my Accuquilt GO! and received a reminder about the contest, I frantically whipped up one small design and, with SewCalGal's help, was able to submit it in the contest just under the wire. I didn't win - not that I expected to - but I learned several things about designing on EQ7 with Accuquilt dies and that made the process worthwhile. I also made a new friend!


Holiday Medley die
Accquilt dies I originally purchased 
I haven't yet revealed my design, so you're the first readers to see it. When I purchased the Accuquilt GO! cutter I also purchased a few extra dies. I never do anything small when I have the opportunity to go big! I especially liked the Holiday Medley die, so I decided to use this in my design.


While I didn't actually have to make the design up in fabric (an EQ7 file would've sufficed), I decided I wanted to see what it would look like in fabric and actually made the quilt top. So, since the clock was ticking down towards the contest deadline, I decided to make a small table topper or wall hanging, rather than a large quilt.


I like to combine a simple pieced background with a few appliqués, so I used the 4 1/2" square from the Value die (included with the Accuquilt GO! cutter) to cut 15 squares in various shades of light blue for the background. I stitched these together into 3 rows of 5 squares each. Pretty simple, right? 


Next, I needed to decide which die shapes I wanted to use from the Holiday Medley die and how I would arrange them. I decided to use all of the shapes, with the exception of the tree. I used green, white, blue and red for my appliqué shapes - fairly traditional holiday colours. I ironed some Wonder-Under onto the back of my chosen fabrics, cut them out using the Holiday Medley die, arranged them on the pieced background and fused them down. Almost done, just needed to figure out the borders.


I didn't have time to do anything too complicated with the borders, but wanted to do something a little different. I decided to use two colours and have the border offset: one fabric along the left side and top with the other fabric along the right side and the bottom. Although I could've used my 2 1/2" strip die to cut the borders, due to the small amount of fabric, I chose to rotary cut them. The borders were stitched on and the top was done. I just needed to photograph and submit my design.


Now you're probably wondering what the final result was. Here is Holiday Jewels.



I think it turned out quilt well, I mean quite well! It isn't really this crooked looking - I did some cropping of the photo. Of course these aren't Accuquilt colours, so I also did up a virtual quilt using the company's chosen colours. While not very wintery, it has a certain something, I suppose :)


I had fun doing this challenge and hope to enter more of these, time permitting. 

Don't forget to continue following the rest of the bloggers to see the winning entry and a special giveaway on Friday from SewCalGal.

Check back with me later this week for some tips and ideas that I learned while designing this project.

Happy quilting!

22 comments:

Sandra said...

Great job. I, too, go for the gusto! You can never have too much of a good thing!!

Sally said...

Thanks for sharing your pattern ideas! I learn something new about EQ every time I use it, especially when inspired by other quilter's projects.

The Quilting Cat Lady. said...

I think it looks great. I am hoping to have the courage to try out my EQ after the bloghop, maybe sooner, lol.
Alda, Fl

Ariane said...

This is such a cute table runner. I love it. I have everything I need to make this. It would make a wonderful Christmas gift. Thanks for sharing it with us. Hugs Ariane

Joanna said...

I'm following the hop to see what can be done with the EQ and the GO!. I like that you made what you designed because that's really how we know if it works. Your design works just fine.

SewCalGal said...

Kim, this is an excellent post. Thanks for sharing. I really enjoyed seeing your design with the Holiday Medley die and what you created with it. Just beautiful. Love it. Inspirational (I want to make one myself).

SewCalGal
www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com

Chatterbox Quilts said...

Thanks for the positive comments, everyone. I've got several other projects in the works which I'll be posting about in upcoming weeks. GOing to be so much fun!

Barb said...

YOu did wonderful for not having the accuquilt go dies that long. Love your runners.

Thearica said...

Love your table runner! I don't have a GO as of yet but I do EQ! Maybe one day I can experience all the fun a GO can bring to a sewing room! :)

Unknown said...

Thanks for the info! I'm still learning my EQ7 I prefer to see, do and learn instead of reading instructions!

michele said...

I am hoping that my comment posted, but don't see it, sorry if this is a re-post. Love the Holiday quilt, thanks for taking the time to share.

Laurie in Maine said...

I love this project. (A reminder everything doesn't have to start out as a queen size quilt...so they get FINISHED in timely manner for change :)

Dorian said...

This is a great little quilt. I, too, enjoy the look of applique on/over squares and blocks. Thanks for the tips.

Dana Gaffney said...

Very cute, I really like the orange one because of the bright colors. I have those dies, but haven't used them yet. Thank you.

Lori said...

I really liked your Holiday Jewels. Thank your for sharing. I liked your color choice better than the viral one.

Nancy said...

I love your pattern - very nice! You did a great job with the dies!

robin said...

Nice project! Love the "frosty" looking fabric you used for background behind the snowflakes. Some day I hope to have both a GO! baby and EQ software.

MoeWest said...

Your project looks great! I think your fabric choices give it the perfect wintery look. I tried to cut out some snowflakes without the GO and I didn't like the result.

Beeshebags said...

I think your project looks great Kim....would look great in other colours too. Hugs Naomi

Chatterbox Quilts said...

Glad that everyone enjoyed the GO! project. Hope that it will motivate you to try out a few of your own designs with EQ7 and your GO! dies. Look for more little projects in the next few weeks.

Unknown said...

Hi Kim thanks for your tips on using both the eq and go. I would love the flexibility that I think using both would give for a project such as yours where you pieced and appliqued on the same quilt. That is what I love to do also.

Elena said...

Very pretty! I'd be so intimidated to do those shapes!