Scrap-Basket Bounty Blog Celebration - Day Five

Welcome!  Today is the final day of the Scrap-Basket Bounty blog celebration.  I'm so grateful to all of you who have visited and left very encouraging comments.  For those of you who are just now finding your way over, I've been sharing two or three quilts each day, and giving away copies of my new book published by Martingale and a few other things that I enjoy using when I design, sew, and quilt.  In case you missed Days 1, 2, 3, and 4, click the hyperlinks to visit those posts.  And you still have time to visit Martingale's blog, Stitch This!, where I was the guest writer, for another opportunity to win a copy.

Scrap-Basket Bounty has patterns for 16 single-block quilts with additional layout options -- a total of 48 different quilt designs!  That's a lot, right?  If you you're wondering if these designs just popped into my head, the answer is no.  That happens occasionally, but not very often.  I almost always begin a design on my computer using software from Electric Quilt Company.  (I recently upgraded to EQ8, which was a pretty major update that made the software even more user-friendly.)

The first thing I do is draw a block in the Block Worktable.  (I won't go into a lot of detail about these steps -- within the software, you can download a quick-start guide, reference manual, and printable lessons.  There are also video lessons and online support articles.)  I color the block gray and white so I can see the design clearly.  

Next, I choose a layout (usually either horizontal blocks or on point blocks). In the Quilt Worktable, I fill the quilt with blocks.  

Then comes the fun part!  To rotate a single block a quarter turn, within the Design/Block Tools tab, just select the Rotate button and click on the block you want to rotate.  I've rotated the block on the top left by the red arrow.  You can continue clicking the block to rotate a quarter turn until the block is in the position you like.  

My favorite feature of EQ8 is the Symmetry tool.  When you select the Symmetry tool and click on any block, all of the blocks rotate and flip to create a totally different design.  The Symmetry tool is capable of producing up to 16 variations of the quilt design! Here's a variation that appeared with only a click of the mouse.  How cool is that?

Once I choose a final design, I use the Fabric Tools to "color" the quilt with fabric swatches downloaded from Electric Quilt Company or from websites of fabric manufacturers.  This gives me a good idea of what my quilt will look like when it's sewn together with the fabrics I've chosen.  

You can also make all of your quilt blocks first and rotate them directly on your design wall if you don't have quilt design software -- it just takes a little longer to produce a variety of options before choosing a final layout.  I hope this has encouraged you to play with additional arrangements for your blocks, no matter what you're working on.  You might find that your own layout looks better to you than the pattern you're using.     

STARBURST
Photography by Brent Kane

I've shown you only a fraction of what you can do with EQ8.  If you're interested in creating your own designs using EQ8, you can see a brief video demonstration of EQ8's capabilities here.  

STAR PETALS
Photography by Brent Kane

Star Petals was made by Cena Harmon.  She chose a design that radiates from the center and is very striking.  Doesn't this make you want to see what happens when you arrange the blocks you're working on right now in this setting?      

I hope you've enjoyed seeing lots of quilts from Scrap-Basket Bounty.  Martingale has generously offered to send a print copy of the book to the winner of a random drawing.  Electric Quilt Company will also send you their spectacular quilt design software, Electric Quilt 8! If you'd like to win the book and software, simply leave a comment and tell me if you like to experiment with different quilt layouts, or if you're a go-by-the-pattern kind of quilter.  The giveaway will close on Tuesday, October 2, at 10:00 p.m. CDT.  The winner will be announced at the end of next week.  (And don't forgot to visit Martingale's blog for another opportunity to win a copy of Scrap-Basket Bounty!) 

Thanks so much for visiting!

Kim  

Update:  Comments are now closed for this post.  Thank you for visiting. 

Civil War Reproduction Block Swap

When I last posted here, I had found an envelope full of signature blocks from a swap hosted by Melissa in 2009.  I intended to share a few layouts with you before sewing the blocks together, but I've had issues with Blogger that I'm hoping have been resolved.  In the meantime, I've been working on this little quilt, using blocks that were made from people all over the United States and beyond. 

It didn't take long to choose a layout.  I knew I wanted a zig-zaggy outer edge, so I arranged that first in EQ8.  Then I arranged the next rows to match the direction of the outer row ending up with an "X" in the center. 

Some of the blocks were a little wonky, but I thought I could fuss with the seam allowances when I sewed them together.  My rows started looking a little wonky, too, so I trimmed all the blocks to measure 3 1/4" instead of 3 1/2".  There were five blocks left over -- these were a little lighter than the rest of the blocks, so I'll probably applique them to the back of the quilt.  The fabrics I used for the inner border and binding aren't Civil War reproduction prints, but I was in the mood to finish the quilt, so I grabbed these from my stash.  They're older Brannock and Patek prints that I still love. 

As is always the case when I photograph a quilt, Psycho Kitty was right in the middle of things. 

Hope you have a great week!

Kim