One of the best ways to learn/improve your skills is to participate in a challenge. For EQ users, Do You EQ is hosting another fun challenge which I want to heighten awareness of and encourage all EQ users to participate. Click this link for more info on this EQ Challenge: https://doyoueq.com/project_download_categories/fabric-downloads/
Anyone can participate. You can download free fabric swatches you can use anytime in your EQ software. These fabrics are from the new “By Hand” collection, by Amy Friend, with Benartex Fabrics. I just find this new fabric collection so cheerful.
Any EQ user can participate in this challenge. And, there will be several winners, including one lucky winner who will receive enough fabric, from this collection, to make their design, as well as one copy each of these EQ8 books. Way cool.
Two other lucky winners will receive fabric bundles to make the quilt they designed and entered in this challenge. For more info on this challenge: https://doyoueq.com/blog/2018/11/design-challenge-and-giveaway-with-amy-friend/
QuiltShopGal is going to enter this challenge and hopes you will too! Again, besides winning wonderful prizes, this is also a great way to learn/improve your EQ design skills and have fun while “playing” in EQ software too! Plus you have until November 30th to enter.
I’m big on letting fabric speak to me, to let me be inspired by the challenge, the situation. When I saw first saw the By Hand fabric collection, it was easy for me to come up with ideas to create with this cheerful fabric. And, I hope it speaks to you. But at the same time, I want to share with you exactly how this fabric spoke to me.
The keyword is “Cheerful”. And, I thought about who might ultimately receive a quilt with this beautiful fabric. I soon dreamed of making another quilt for the Carolina Hurricane Quilt Project, hosted by Carole of From My Carolina Home made with this fabric. It would certainly give a much needed quilty hugh of love and good cheer to someone in need.
I certainly want to heighten awareness of the need to send quilt blocks, quilt tops, even finished quilts to help with the Carolina Hurricane Quilt Project. And, this post was originally written to show my EQ design using this fabrics and what I’d make IF I were lucky enough to win. While I do plan on sharing my designs, as well as an EQ8 tutorial, I want to inspire all EQ users to participate in the Do You EQ Challenge. And, I want to inspire EVERYONE to try to help make 12.5″ Perkiomen quilt blocks (12″ finished) to help give much needed good quilty hugs to those impacted by natural disasters.
The Perkiomen quilt block was originally created by Scott Griffin, VP of the Ventura Quilt Guild, which wanted to provide Thomas Fire Relief quilts. And, quilters from all over the world helped to make quilts for victims of this terrible fire, by making Perkiomen blocks, quilt tops and even finished quilts that were sent to the Ventura Quilt Guild. While this fire was in California, quilters from all over the world, including Carole of From My Carolina Quilt Home rallied to get friends to help and she sent many beautiful quilted quilts to help with quilty hugs for Thomas Fire Victims.
More recently, the Carolina Hurricane devasted many parts of the Carolinas and Carole of From My Carolina Quilt Home has issued a call for blocks, tops, or finished quilts, using hte Perkiomen block. Again, this is why I’d like to win this EQ Challenge and use this cheerful fabric to make such a quilt.
Fast forward to today, as a California native, I’m once again heartbroken with all the fires in California, the loss of homes, loss of businesses, and loss of lives. Fires and Hurricanes are natural acts and the victims are people like us, but in a situation where they could use a good quilty hug. These natural acts are devastating and are happening way too close. I don’t want us to become cold, as we become overwhelmed with how we can help. Thus, I want to encourage everyone to adopt the “Perkiomen quilt block” as a block for use in such quilty hugs of love and kindness. Whether it is for the Carolina Hurricane Quilt Project, victims of current fires in California, or other natural disasters, I’m hopeful we can all start making Perkiomen blocks. Maybe with scraps after you finish a quilt, or when you go thru and clean & organize your sewing room you can make a few blocks. Sadly, there is a need for such blocks today and I will confess I’m beginning to realize that there will be a need in the future. I’m sorry I’m not able to find the right words, but I hope you understand what I’m trying to do and you’ll be inspired to help. We can be #PerkiomenStrong with #QuiltyKindness.
DID I MENTION AN EQ8 TUTORIAL?
This is a super easy & fun block, which works well with light & dark combinations. Here is one of the Perkiomen blocks I created in EQ8 using the “By Hand” fabric.
EQ Users can download these fabrics to use anytime in their EQ software: https://doyoueq.com/project_download_categories/fabric-downloads/ and follow these very easy instructions to install: https://doyoueq.com/project_download_categories/fabric-downloads/
After you have imported all the “By Hand” fabrics into your EQ8 software, View your Imported fabrics in the Fabric Library, Click the SELECT ALL FABRICS and then click the ADD TO SKETCHBOOK button. This will make it easier for you to access these fabrics, from your project libary while working on this project.
LET’S DESIGN THE PERKIOMEN BLOCK IN EQ8:
In EQ8 click on the BLOCK WORKTABLE button
Click EASY DRAW for Pieced Styles
Click on the DRAW tab and change the block width to 12″ and block height to 12″.
Click on the LINE tool.
Use your mouse to click, hold, drag, release line segments on your 12″ block to create 4″ squares and half squares, for your basic “perkiomen” block.
Click on the COLOR tab, Click on the PAINTBRUSH tool and one at a time, click to select the fabric and then click on the fabric patch you wish to paint.
Once you have your block colored with the fabrics, the way you wish, be sure to save: Simply click SAVE TO SKETCHBOOK
LET’S DESIGN THE OUR QUILT IN EQ8 USING THE PERKIOMEN BLOCK:
Click QUILT worktable button.
Click NEW QUILT and Horizontal.
Click on the QUILT LAYOUT tab. We will set the layout for this quilt with settings:
Blocks will be 12″x12″ (finished).
Number of blocks 5 horizontal and 6 finished, for a 60″ x 72″ quilt (w/o borders)
Click on the BORDERS tab and change the settings to zero (0) for size of borders.
Click on the DESIGN tab.
Click on the SET BLOCK tool and select the Perkiomen block from your Sketchbook.
To set your blocks on your quilt (layout 1), you now click on each blank block to set the Perkiomen blocks.
Now your own creativity can kick in. We can use the ROTATE tool to rotate the blocks as desired, to create different layouts. Click on the rotate tool and click on the blocks you want to rotate.
In the Quilt design mode, like in block design, you can click on the FABRIC TOOLS to change the colors of your patches, as you may now wish to do. You simply click FABRIC TOOLS and click on the fabric (one fabric at a time) then click on the fabric patch on your quilt that you may wish to change.
Here are some layouts that I created in EQ8 for this block with the beautiful By Hand fabric collection:
Congratulations, you have now designed an easy quilt in EQ8 based on the Perkiomen Quilt Block! Easy Peasy.
Don’t forget that you can start/stop/repeat EQ tutorials anytime. I hope you’ll adopt my “15 minutes of daily playtime with EQ”, as you will be amazed how much fun you’ll have and how fast you’ll learn.
If you have any problems, kindly send me an email and I’ll try to help you, as well as update this tutorial to help make the steps easier to follow.
Lastly, I hope I’ve inspired you to:
- enter the Do You EQ Challenge
- play with your EQ software for 15 minutes a day, to learn/improve your EQ skills.
- Help make Perkiomen quilt blocks, quilt tops, or finished quilts to help Carole of From My Carolina Home give much needed quilty hugs to victims of the Hurricanes in Carolina.
- Consider the current fires in California and what feels to me as overwhelming reoccuring natural disasters, where we can all adopt the Perkiomen quilt block to make quilts for those impacted by such disasters, now and in the future. Maybe you can make a block once a month, or make some blocks with left over scraps when you complete a quilt, or maybe you want to rally friends to get together to make Perkiomen quilt blocks. All the blocks, tops and quilts you can make will certainly give those impacted now, as well as in the future, much needed quilty hugs of love at a terrible time in their lives. Sadly, I’m convinced that these natural disasters are not going away and the Perkiomen quilt block is perfect for stash busting and making quilts for victims of any current, or future disaster. Together we can make a difference, one block at a time.
QuiltShopGal 
Thank you Carole. I’m happy to help. Thank you for all your work to help others in need.
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