While my hand-quilting is frustrating me, learning EQ7 (Electric Quilt) has been a blast! As I mentioned, I'm working through the supplied lessons in order to understand what the software is capable of and how to use the features.
The lessons are divided into six categories, including quilts, EasyDraw, Printing, images, blocks, and applique - with several exercises in each to complete. They really are an excellent teaching tool and I can tell they are designed to make you repeatedly use key functions until they become second nature. You don't actually have to sew anything but all the projects are saved in the 'sketchbook' for later use if wanted.
So far, I love the program. I'm not sure how much drawing and designing I will do from scratch because there are over 500 blocks and patterns built right into the program and I can't imagine I'd have to re-invent the wheel with all of those available. There are over 5,000 fabrics in the library, including Gail Kessler's Dimples line (kind of cool for me since I met her and have the swatch chart). Using the various tools is pretty intuitive, once you know what's there and how they work. I'm sure it's a virtual playground for a true designer! I feel like an impostor designer adding fabrics and blocks to imaginary quilts! With all the colours, fabrics, borders, embroidery, applique, blocks, layouts, sizes, photos, etc. at your fingertips, the possibilities are endless.
I am almost through all the lessons and then I will switch to the manual and print off more specific instructions for the things I want to do, like create labels, plan a photo quilt, and import my own fabrics. I think the fun will really begin for me then! This is truly an exciting piece of software and I would totally recommend it for anyone who enjoys producing custom quilts.
Pretty neat! I'd like to make some custom labels... I don't usually label my quilts which is bad. If I'd labeled the one for my Grandma maybe I'd have gotten it back. I'm sure some person I don't even know has it stuffed in a closet somewhere. :(
Posted by: Maureen | October 01, 2014 at 10:28 PM