Tips and Ideas I've Learned from the Accuquilt/EQ7 Challenge

Hi everyone:


I had really just started experimenting with my GO! cutter when I designed my entry for the Accuquilt/EQ7 challenge last fall. I've learned a few things about using the GO! along the way and also a bit about using EQ7 to design patterns that are GO!-friendly.

First, I had no idea how to use an Accuquilt die on EQ7. How would I be able to import a physical die into EQ7 to design a virtual quilt? I couldn't even begin to grasp this concept - I blame this on a deficiency of chocolate that evening - so how would I be able to even enter anything in this contest? Luckily, SewCalGal came to my rescue and I was able to incorporate the Holiday Medley die images into my EQ7 project. You can read her excellent tutorial on this process here. So, that was one thing I learned from this experience and this will definitely help me in designing future projects.


Speaking of designing, I find myself drawn to appliqué projects. Now, I'm no hand appliquér, fusible web appliqué is my thing since I like to do things quickly, but this is great if you're using the GO! cutter since Accuquilt's appliqué dies are designed for just this type of technique. A little fusible web on the back of your fabric, a few passes through the GO! cutter and voilà, you're ready to fuse to your background. But wait, you're left with the paper backing from your appliqué shapes, which is also die cut and perfect. You're not just going to throw those away, are you? I didn't think so! Here are some of the things that I do with my paper backings (besides admire how perfect they are):


Keep these paper shapes in a ziplock bag until you want to design another project. If you don't have EQ7, you are usually reduced to drawing shapes several times when trying out a new design. Save time and paper by pulling out these paper appliqué shapes and using them to design your new project. You can rearrange them any way you like until you come up with a satisfactory design. You can then cut your chosen fabric with your Accuquilt cutter and will have your new quilt done in no time.

Did I mention how perfect these die cut paper appliqués are? And you've used the fabric appliqués on a project, but now aren't sure how to quilt it? Guess what? These paper shapes make great quilt motifs. Again, you can arrange them as desired, then trace around them with a water soluble pen and you're ready to quilt. You might want to use a little temporary spray adhesive to hold them down while you trace around them. Don't forget to spritz out the marks with water after you're done quilting and before you use any heat on the quilt.

Something else that I've noticed is how my designs in EQ7 translate very nicely with Accuquilt's dies. I usually do fairly simple appliqué designs on a pieced background and Accuquilt helps me here too. As you can see the poinsettias in this design can very easily be created with the Accuquilt feather die. I can also use the half-square triangle and square dies that Accuquilt has. I've just completed a small wall hanging with hearts and leaves where I used Accuquilt's hearts die as well as the small leaf from the Rose of Sharon die (more on this design in a future post). I know that I'll save a significant amount of time creating these designs by using Accuquilt's appliqué designs, rather than drawing and cutting these shapes out by hand. Plus, they'll be much more accurate making my quilt simply stunning - well, at least the die cut appliqués will be :)

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!

Did you enter the Accuquilt/EQ7 challenge?

Hi everyone:

If you currently own an Accuquilt cutter or are considering purchasing one, you'll want to follow the blog posts from some of the members of the Team of Bloggers that love Accuquilt this week. We will be discussing and showing our entries in the Accquilt/EQ7 challenge which ran last September. 


The blog hop kicked off today with SewCalGal, who is organizing this event, and will feature different bloggers each day this week. Here are the other bloggers that you'll be hearing from this week:


Tuesday - Marjorie will be giving you some information about using EQ7 with Accuquilt dies. 


Wednesday - Moi will be showing you my non-winning entry :) and talking about the process of designing an entry for my first challenge.


Thursday - Judy will be sharing her winning entry with us and providing us some insights into her winning design.


Friday - We're back to SewCalGal for a surprise giveaway from Accuquilt and a wrap up to the week.


I'm really looking forward to seeing all these designs and I'm sure you are too. It's also a great opportunity to see how you can combine EQ7 with your Accuquilt cutter to design your quilts.


Sharing and learning - that's what quilters do!


Happy quilting!

What a great link!

I spend most of my time designing quilt patterns or making samples for the patterns that I've designed. It's like a 9:00 to 5:00 job, except that I fit it in around making breakfast, making lunches, getting kids to school, grocery shopping, housecleaning (well, sometimes!), etc. While I have no problem thinking up lots of new design ideas, I often have a problem getting down to making the patterns and writing the instructions. Yes, I'll admit it, I'm a procrastinator. It's amazing how many things I can find to get in the way of work and it's ironic that the very thing that helps me in my designing is almost my worst obstacle to accomplishing things - the computer. 

In the old days (pre-home computers), quilt patterns would be drafted using your imagination, some graph paper and a pencil and eraser. You would write or type out your instructions and then they would be copied and sold. At least I'm guessing that's how it would be done, since I've never done it that way. My laptop was already well broken in when I started designing patterns and I was already an Electric Quilt afficionado. I use software to design my quilts, draw my appliqué shapes and write instructions. So this means that I'm on the computer for a significant portion of each day. So what's the problem with that, you ask? Well, once I'm working on the computer, I tend to get a little, shall we say, distracted by what else is available there. 


Now before you start thinking that I'm cruising inappropriate websites, let me clarify... I get distracted by emails and quilting websites. I'm also on Facebook, so that has to be checked frequently throughout the day, contrary to what my husband says. This wouldn't be so bad if I only looked at the recent entries and then moved on to my actual work, but wait, look at the link to that great new fabric - and who would've thought that you could do appliqué that way? See what I mean? I'm a link-aholic. I can't resist investigating all that information that is waiting for me just be clicking on links posted by other quilters. Now don't get me wrong, I appreciate all that information and learn a lot, but it does cut down on my productivity. 


I know that I need more self-control to just say no to the links and get back to my own work, but I have a really hard time doing that. I'm hoping that someday someone invents computer blinders, like they use on horses, to keep me focussed on my own work and avoid being distracted by all the other information on the internet. If you think you can help me out, just send me an email - or a link!