Special Announcement

20TH ANNIVERSARY EQ CRUISE TAKING SIGNUPS NOW!

Sign up now to join us on a 10 Day / 9 Night Caribbean Cruise - January 28-February 6, 2011. You'll have sun and EQ fun with top-notch teachers Barb Vlack & Mary Ellen Kranz and come home knowing more about EQ and with small sewn projects featuring your own cruise photos. BONUS: You'll learn how easy it is to take better vacation (and quilt) photos with one of the quilt world's best photographers and teachers: Gregory Case. See more details about this first-ever EQ cruise you've been asking for.

Interview

INTERVIEW WITH DESIGNER REBECCA KEMP BRENT

We talk to this busy teacher/educator/author's about her newest book, Redwork from The WORKBASKET and how the accompanying embroidery files will work with EQ6. Read our interview with Rebecca Kemp Brent.

Lessons & Classes

WHERE IS THE NEW BENNI HARPER LESSON????
We're sorry not to have a new Benni Harper lesson this month. Heidi, who creates these lessons, is up to her eyeballs scanning fabric for our upcoming STASH software. We hope to have a new lesson up next month, if Heidi manages to get another 5000 fabrics ironed and scanned... Here's a link to last month's Kansas Troubles lesson.

SIGN UP NOW FOR ONLINE EQ CLASSES AT QUILT UNIVERSITY
Fran Iverson Gonzalez, author of EQ6 Simplified, the tutorial for beginners, will teach "Advanced Layouts" starting April 2 and " Building Blocks" starting May 7.

The "EQ6 Appliqué Design" EQ drawing class from Patti Anderson, author of EQ6 Pieced Drawing, starts April 16.
Sign up for an online class now.

APRIL & MAY HANDS-ON EQ CLASSES
Lots of EQ classes listed for April & May, from Maryland, to California, don't forget Waunaukee (WI). Look for an EQ class near you.

ARE YOU TEACHING EQ?
If you are teaching EQ classes, don't forget to let our webmaster know the date, time and location of your classes so we can list them on our website.

KALEIDOSCOPE COLLECTORS
All 12 fun free lessons involving EQ and the Kaleidoscope Collection CD are now up. This is a TERRIFIC way to learn more in EQ5 or EQ6! Try Months 1 - 12.

PREVIOUS MYSTERY QUILT STORIES AND LESSONS
Learn EQ5 or EQ6 by working through our two different Mystery Quilt series: If you are just joining us, start here with Skylights Episode 1 and Skylights Lesson 1.

Then work through the EQuinox mystery, starting with EQuinox Episode 1 and EQuinox Lesson 1.

Show us your quilts! Have you made one of our Mystery quilts? We want to see your quilt or top. Email us a photo and we'll post it in our mystery gallery: Skylight mystery quilts, EQuinox mystery quilts.

News

EQ ARTICLE IN QUILTER'S NEWSLETTER
In the current (April/May 2010) issue of QN, Andrea Bishop tells you "Things You May Not Know About Electric Quilt Pieced Borders and Medallion Quilts." In this, the first of three articles, Andrea gives border design tips, introduces the Auto Border tool and shows using the Tile borders style to keep your border blocks perfect squares. Watch for Andrea's upcoming articles in the June/July and August/September issues of QN.

EQ6 COMPATIBLE WITH WINDOWS 7
Both EQ5 & EQ6 are fully compatible with Windows 7, as are most of our other software programs. Contact us if you have questions.

ELECTRIC QUILT IS ON FACEBOOK
Electric Quilt has its own Facebook page now, as does EQ the Mouse. Become a Fan of both, and you'll get regular updates when we post something on our blog, or add a new video, or have other news.

EQ the Mouse adores his fans. If you're not yet one, he would love you to "fan him."

To become a fan:
1. Log into your facebook profile
2. Click this link, EQ the Mouse, to become a fan of EQ the Mouse.
3. Click this link, Electric Quilt, to become a fan of Electric Quilt.

FAB FAN FREEBIES
EQ the Mouse announces "Fab Fan Freebies." He explains: He loves his fabulous fans, and will have contests from time to time so he can give out a prize. To be eligible, become his Facebook fan.

Show us your work

SCARLETT ROSE PUBLISHED IN IRISH QUILTING MAGAZINE
Scarlett's Lucky Four Patch quilt was pictured and patterned. See her quilt, and her EQ6 color variations. Also, check out Scarlett's Amanda's Celtic Circles quilt complete with a supply list. Scarlett sells the pattern on her site.

NANCY RINK'S QUILT APPEARS IN THE QUILTER

Nancy's EQ design combines simple pieced blocks with appliqué in the border. Read more about her beautiful Fantasy Garden Quilt.

ALLISON ALLER'S INSPIRATIONAL ARTISTRY
Allie combines threads, fabrics, vintage quilt blocks, crazy quilt inspiration and a sheet of EQ Printables Cotton Lawn. The result is magic! Read how she does it. Then be sure to see the latest project she just completed.

CAROLYN LAUKKONEN'S DESIGNS ARE FOR THE BIRDS
Carolyn used EQ6 to illustrate children's internet stories about Josie, a budgie.

ROTARY CUTTING REVOLUTION BOOK NEW THIS MONTH

The newest book by Make It Simpler® originator and long-time EQer Anita Grossman Solomon debuts this month, from C&T. We love how Anita's mind works (her blog is full of engaging ideas), and how she brings new zing to traditional block design. In case you missed it, you can still read our 2004 interview with Anita.

THE EQ QUILT GALLERY
Check out the beautiful quilts in the "EQ Quilt Gallery." Then send us one of YOURS!

If YOU would like to exhibit, send us a photo of your quilt, plus your EQ project containing the EQ design for this same quilt. Tell us a bit about you, your quilt, your designing, etc. List your website or blog if you have them. Help us show off your designing whether you're a quilting professional or this is your first quilt. Send them to penny@electricquilt.com. We love seeing what you're making and knowing more about you.


Display this blog badge to send others to see your quilt in our gallery.

Inspiration

EQ6 DESIGN IDEAS FROM JUDY LAQUIDARA
Judy has just started a new series of illustrated "how EQ6 designs developed" blog posts full of great design ideas. In this first entry, see how Judy modified a block by deleting lines. [ Click the Pick tool > click line you want to delete > press your keyboard DELETE key.] Her second post works on pieced border ideas. Then see how she fits everything together.

DAILY EQ-DESIGNS BY JUDY BUTCHER
We like visiting Judy Butcher's blog often just to see what new EQ quilt she's designed for the day.

DAILY EQ-DESIGNS BY GLYNIS THOMPSON
Want more inspiration? Glynis has a blog too where she posts daily EQ designs. Check out some of Glynis's latest work.

Clubs

WANT TO START YOUR OWN EQ CLUB?
Download our "Planning an EQ Club" PDF file. See what you need to get started, how to organize and get topic ideas. The Mystery Quilt would make a great club project.

New ClubEQ Challenge
ClubEQ is a free monthly challenge organized by EQ-author, Barb Vlack. To participate, send in a project with 1-2 quilts to penny@electricquilt.com that follow the challenge theme and ClubEQ rules. Imagine getting 50 to 100 quilts for just submitting one.

Support

ASK EQ THE MOUSE!
Long-time mascot, EQ the Mouse, invites you to submit EQ questions for his column "Ask EQ." Email questions to Tech Support. Put "Ask EQ" in the subject line. He'll answer your question, and perhaps you'll make his monthly Q & A column. Read it here.

Read this month's Ask EQ questions & answers.

EQ the Mouse also invites you to Fan him on Facebook.

MAIL-LIST FOR MAC EQ-ERS
Are you running your EQ on a Mac? Then you may want to subscribe to the free EQonMacs Yahoo group, run by Sheila Williams. For more information, contact Sheila at Sheila@SheilaWilliams.com.

EQ FORUMS
The EQ Forums are waiting for your questions! Visit the EQ Forums and register, then you can ask questions and get answers from EQ staff, authors and other EQ users right on the EQ website.

TECH SUPPORT
A reminder that you can see answers to our most Frequently Asked Questions right on the EQ website. See EQ6 questions here. See EQ5 questions here.

EQ6 UPDATE
If you own EQ6, download and install the free EQ6 Update which makes EQ6 run faster and smarter. You'll know you're updated if in EQ6 you click
HELP > About EQ6 and see "Build 2."

Contests

NEW CONTEST: GUESS ANDREA'S DUE DATE!
Let's let THIS cat out of the bag: Announcing another EQ baby! Andrea Bishop, EQ's webmaster/educator/ TV star is pregnant. Guess her due date. If your guess is the closest to the doctor's estimated date you will win an EQ companion book of your choice. In case of duplicate answers, we will choose one winner at random.

To enter, send an email with your information and answer to our "Contest Contessa" Sarah Shriver:
To: sarahshriver@electricquilt.com
Subject line: Andrea's Due Date
Body: The date you are guessing
Your Full Name:
Your Email:

SHERRY COTE WINS THE EQ CROSSWORD CONTEST
Our first-ever crossword tested your EQ knowledge. Sherry was chosen at random from the 13 who sent in the correct puzzle answers. She wins an EQ Companion Book of her choice. Check out the correct puzzle answers here.

DENISE RUSSART WINS OUR "WE WANT TO KNOW.." SURVEY CONTEST
Denise was selected at random from those answering our blog question wanting to know more about the innovative ways you are using EQ6 to design, plan, create, and organize in your world. Denise wrote: "I used it to make photo frame mats." Cool idea, Denise! You can see her examples here. Denise wins a copy of Angie Padilla's My Dream House.

Fabric

DOWNLOAD MORE FREE FABRIC
This month's download is "Desert Oasis." Choose either to download a Library file or a Project file. Be sure to follow the easy steps provided. Then vote for next month's fabric. We take suggestions for future voting options; email penny@electricquilt.com to let her know.

CONNECTING THREADS FABS AVAILABLE TO DOWNLOAD
Connecting Threads has made some of their own fabric collections available especially for EQ6 users as Library files. Find the collections here.

1) Download the file to your Desktop. Extract the zipped file (right-click, then click "Extract All").
2) Place the .FAB file in your My Documents\My EQ6\USER\ folder on your hard drive.
3) Open EQ6 and your fabric library. The collection will appear in your "MY LIBRARY" folder.

MODA FABS AVAILABLE TO DOWNLOAD
Moda has new fabrics available to download as jpeg files, ready to be opened in EQ6.

1) Visit Moda's site, click any brown dot in front of a fabric name, download to your computer (remember where it goes).
2) Go to LIBRARIES > Fabric Library > Import > From Image Files and import the fabric.
3) Add the fabric to your Sketchbook and use it, or save the fabric in My Library (see pages 143 and 144 in the EQ6 User Manual) to use in future projects.

If you need complete steps, EQ the Mouse addresses them in one of his Ask EQ columns.

Freebies

EASY SPRING BOUQUET PROJECT

Download this easy EQ6 project to celebrate spring and get some GORGEOUS (we love these) new fabrics along with it.

FREE CONNECTING THREADS BEGINNER PATTERNS & TUTORIALS
Karen Johnson, one of our friends at Connecting Threads, has created an on-going series of great new how-to-quilt tutorials especially for beginning quilters. A new lesson appears each month. Here's what's up so far:
Lesson 1: Pinwheels
Lesson 2: Nine Patch

And as a bonus, Karen includes free EQ6 project files for each lesson.

FREEDOM STAR BLOCKS -- FREE FROM BETTY DIETZ WEEKLY
Betty is a long-time EQer who once lived fairly close to EQ headquarters. Every Monday she offers you a new free weekly PDF pattern for a star block. Get the patterns here. Then read her blog post about her latest pattern entry. She writes: "There will be 50 blocks in total this year and all of them have been designed and the directions created using EQ6." Thanks, Betty!

ONGOING CROP CIRCLE BOM FROM DENISE RUSSART
Denise posts a new block the first Saturday of the month, and removes the earlier blocks. So be sure to get the pattern while it's still available.

Denise has also added new free projects to download here.

SINDY RODENMAYER'S PINK WARRIOR PATTERN
Inspired by a Breast Cancer Awareness radio spot, Sindy designed this stunning pattern which turns the pink cancer ribbon into a feathered headdress. Thanks to Sindy for making these great patterns available in PDFs for you.

CHRISTMAS ROW BY ROW QUILT FROM SINDY RODENMAYER
The idea of Sindy's quilt is that you sew all during the year and will have this free Christmas Row by Row quilt ready for quilting starting in August. New free pattern available each month until August. Check it out NOW because come April 1 the March row designs will no longer be available.

FREE BOM FROM MOOSE ON THE PORCH QUILTS
Konda Luckau, of Moose on the Porch Quilts, invites you to participate in her free Block of the Month which started March 1. Visit her blog for a new block every 2 weeks. She writes, "I design all my projects in EQ and consider it my right-hand in quilt design." Sounds like fun.

PATTERN SERIES FROM REGINA GREWE
Regina’s easy-to-sew Magic Mushrooms continue to grow. Download them as EQ6 projects.

ONGOING FREE CIVIL WAR BOM FROM GUDRUN
Gudrun, from Belgium, has an easy-to-sew 2010 BOM Civil War BOM. See the design here. And get started here.

FREE QUILTED DESKTOP CALENDAR
Diane Anderson starts a whole year of beautiful desktop calendars for you.

FREE VIEWERS
Want to see a self-running show of your own EQ projects? Download a free project viewer:

Download "EQ6 Show" if you have EQ6. It will show any EQ3, EQ4, EQ5 and EQ6 projects you've made.
Download "EQ5 Show" if you only have EQ5. It will show any EQ3, EQ4 & EQ5 projects you have made.

MORE NEW BLOG BADGES & CHANCES FOR BLOG GIVE-AWAY PRIZE

We've made several NEW blog badges for you. (We also take suggestions for new ones.) Display one on your blog, let us know (write Sarah Shriver at EQ) and we may choose your blog to receive a free prize to give away to a lucky reader of your blog.

FREE EQ6 WEB BUTTONS
Show your EQ spirit by adding an EQ6 button to your website!

DO YOU HAVE FREE EQ PROJECTS OR PATTERNS TO SHARE ON YOUR WEBSITE?
Let us know and we'll list you on the Project Sharing page. Just email our webmaster with the necessary links and information and ask for your site to be considered for inclusion on that page.

Next Month...

COMING NEXT MONTH
* Mystery interview. Will there be one? Only EQ the Mouse knows, and we don't know if he has someone in mind or not...

* Benni Harper Mystery Lesson 4: Goose in the Pond

* A new contest