Partnering with Electric Quilt

Hi everyone,

I have some exciting news. You all know how much I love designing paper piecing designs in EQ7 right? Well the folks over at Electric Quilt love that I’m designing with their program too and have asked me to be one of their Media Partners. A perfect partnership!

To give you a little background about my paper piecing/EQ7 journey…It all started with a mini quilt swap in April 2014 that I signed up for. My partner said she loved all things nautical so I got this idea to make an anchor. I was still new to quilting in general but wanted to make an anchor and didn’t know how – (at that point I still didn’t know how to do raw edge applique or needle turn either – yes I was really new to quilting). Somehow paper piecing was way more interesting to me so that is where I set my sights.

I had been hearing for a few months all about paper piecing but had no idea what it was and what that meant. The more I looked around the more I learned about the process and had enough ‘curious cat’ in me to figure it out. That’s when I discovered The Electric Quilt Company. Much to my dismay, the PC version had been out for years, but they were still working on the program for the MAC and were releasing it soon, but hadn’t yet. What to do while I wait? I tried designing a paper-pieced anchor on graph paper so it would be easier to get me up and running on the program. I got it all drawn out on paper and still wasn’t sure I was doing it right and took Amy (Friend) up on her offer to email my drawing just to be sure I had done it right (btw - she’s one of the EQ Ambassadors this year). If you click on the link above - you can read the comments and share in my #idontknowwhatimdoing hashtag! lol.

A month or so later the program came and I was thoroughly hooked. Everything new has a learning curve, but I quickly found answers on their website for anything I couldn’t figure out on my own. They really have an answer for everything! Now I can't stop myself from making more difficult blocks and pushing the program to it's limit (a limit of which I have yet to find).

About 2 years after beginning this paper piecing journey the folks at Electric Quilt Co. named me one of their #doyoueq artists and now almost 3 years later one of their Media Partners and I couldn’t be more thrilled. I’ve really enjoyed making so many new designs to fit my needs (like the chair above that I made last year for my husband’s quilt), and making blocks for friends like this one above I made recently for Giusepe to match his (Giucy_Giuce) logo.

I am also having fun making random blocks like the Christmas Sweater block (a play on the Ugly sweaters everyone wears to holiday parties) and hosting sew-alongs to encourage more fun.

If you are still wondering how paper piecing works…Here’s this analogy that I hope helps to explain it the best way I know how…Think of the game “Pick Up Sticks”. When playing pick up sticks (which are usually longer and colorful), the object of the game is to pick up as many sticks, one at a time, without moving any of the others. Meaning you can’t just grab them all at once. Paper piecing is similar but works in the opposite order. As you lay down the fabric, and sew on each line of the paper, you have to put them down in a particular order, one by one, as they will lay over each other line by line. As you sew each piece, you are sewing on the paper with the fabric underneath, flipping the fabric and trimming seam allowances as you go. When you have a design that has a perpendicular line next to a section that has another perpendicular line lower or higher, it splits the block into multiple sections. I hope that makes sense. You can visit some of my previous learning how to paper piece tutorials starting at the Land of Magic Crown tutorial.

Thanks so much for stopping by and thank you especially to the Electric Quilt Co for including me in this new program. I'll have a fun block to share with you later this month so keep an eye open for that. In the meantime, let me know in the comments below what you love about paper piecing, and any questions about paper piecing and the EQ7 Electric Quilt Program that you have. I'd love to help answer some of them and might chose your question to work a tutorial off of!

Disclaimer: This blog may accept forms of compensation, including cash and product, and although I may be paid for this post all opinions of the Electric Quilt Company and EQ7 are always my own. There are no affiliate links.