EQ the Mouse

Our mascot, EQ the Mouse, answers frequently asked questions, with some help from author, Barb Vlack (whose book, EQ5 Quilt Design is coming May 2003.). EQ has been learning the new features in EQ5 as fast as he can, so he can answer the questions about EQ5 below.


Libraries - Blocks - Borders - Windows XP - Printing

Libraries
Q: I saved blocks in my EQ4 My Library. How do I get those blocks into the EQ5 User Library?
A: Ooops. Perhaps I'm not so smart. I think I answered this question incorrectly (no cheese tonight) in my last column. Andrea has helped me write the complete steps below:

1. Go to your My EQ5 folder. [This is the 2nd path you chose during your installation. It is either C:\My Documents\My EQ5 , C:\Documents and Settings\YourUserName\My Documents\My EQ5, or something else if you changed the path by clicking BROWSE.]

2. Once in the My EQ5 folder, click FILE, point to New, and click on Folder.

3. Rename this folder to be "My EQ4 Blocks".

4. Go to your EQ4 folder. [Usually, C:\EQ4 unless you chose another folder.]

5. Double-click the Lib folder.

6. Toward the bottom you'll see a bunch of usrlib## files. Click the first one you see that is a .blk extension or says "BLK format" or "Block". It "should" be usrlib01.blk ... and now that you've clicked it once, it should be selected.

7. Hold down the CTRL key on your keyboard WHILE YOU CLICK on the other usrlib##.blk files in this folder. Most people will have 4 (usrlib01.blk, usrlib02.blk, usrlib03.blk, usrlib04.blk).

8. Now that all the usrlib##.blk files are selected at the same time, click EDIT on the top menu and click Copy.

9. Go back to the brand new folder you created in step 3. [Something like C:\My Documents\My EQ5\My EQ4 Blocks].

10. From the menu at the top, click EDIT and click Paste. Close this window. Yeah... now the hard part is over.

11. Open EQ5.

12. At the EQ5 Opening Screen (a.k.a. The EQ5 Project Helper) click Cancel.

13. On the FILE menu, click Preferences.

14. Go to the Directories tab.

15. Click the Add button.

16. Name the new library "My EQ4 Blocks".

17. Make sure the dropdown menu says "Blocks".

18. Click OK. You just added a name to the list. It'll say "My EQ4 Blocks", and red-colored not found, because we have yet to specify a path.

19. Click on "My EQ4 Blocks" in the list.

20. Click the Modify button. The Browse for folder box will show up.

21. Click the plus signs until you reach the folder we made in step 3. [Something like C:\My Documents\My EQ5\My EQ4 Blocks].

22. Make sure you've got the My EQ4 Blocks highlighted. [Not the C:\My Documents folder, not the My EQ5 folder, just the folder that contains the files with the .blk extension.]

23. Click OK. Now we're back on the Directories tab. Your "My EQ4 Blocks" name in the list should have the path C:\My Documents\My EQ5\My EQ4 Blocks next to it, as well as a green-colored ok.

24. Click OK to get out of the Preferences box.

25. You can now work in the program or close it.

Q: What about saving my fabrics from EQ4?
A: For your EQ4 Fabrics, change the following in the steps above...

Step 3. Name your folder "My EQ4 Fabrics".

Steps 6-8. Look for and highlight all the usrlib##.fab files. Your looking for the ones with the .fab extension.

Steps 9-10. Paste these .fab files into the "My EQ4 Fabrics" folder.

Step 16. Call it "My EQ4 Fabrics".

Step 17. Make sure the dropdown reads "Fabrics".

Steps 19-20. Modify "My EQ4 Fabrics". Steps 21-22) Find the path to the My EQ4 Fabrics folder, and make sure that it's the folder you have highlighted when you click OK.

Q: I'm using a stripe and would like to be able to rotate it in part of my block. Can I do this?
A: Yes. Being able to rotate a fabric design is a new feature in EQ5. This lets you change your vertical stripe into a horizontal one and so on. The restriction of this feature is that the fabrics must be 256 color bitmaps and they must not be compressed. Most of the scanned fabrics in EQ5 fit this criteria. The "computer-generated" EQ fabrics do not. If the fabric is not available for rotating, the menu will be disabled.

Click directly on the fabric you want to rotate. Click the small arrow next to the tabs on the Fabrics Palette. Point to Add Symmetry. Click the symmetry option you would like to apply. A new fabric will be added to the palette immediately after the original one. The focus (or frame) will automatically change to display the new fabric.

Q: Can I add my own embroidery to the EQ Embroidery Library?
A: No, I'm sorry you can't. There are four EQ5 libraries: blocks, fabrics, embroidery and layouts. You can add your own blocks and fabrics to the User Library, but you can't add your own embroidery or quilt layouts. We've added requests like this to the "wish list" we always keep for later editions.

Blocks
Q: Can I sort blocks in a project? I'm making a Sampler, and would like to reorganize the block order in the Blocks palette.
A: Yes. To sort blocks, embroidery, or pictures in the blocks palette, make sure you are on the correct tab (ex: blocks, motifs, embroidery). Right-click anywhere on the Blocks palette to display the context menu. You can also display the context menu by clicking the small arrow to the right of the tabs. Click Sort Blocks. The blocks will display in the Sort Blocks dialog box. Click on the blocks in the order you want them to appear. If you make a mistake, click Start over. When you've sorted the blocks that you want, click Close. The blocks will appear in the sorted order.

Note: You do not have to click on every block. When you've clicked on the important ones you want to appear at the beginning, just close the dialog. The rest of the blocks will fall in behind the ones you've sorted.

Q: I want to set an uncolored block in my quilt, but EQ5 won't let me. What to do?
A: EQ5 wants you to set colored blocks. You can then recolor if you want. But if you insist, you can make EQ5 let you set your uncolored blocks on Layer 1. Here's how:

1 Click FILE - Preferences.

2 Click the Layout Options tab.

3 Click to remove the check mark from "Prevent uncolored drawings from being set on layer 1." While you're in there you may want to notice the other layout options you can change.

Borders
Q: Can I make scalloped edges on my Double Wedding Ring quilt?
A: Yes. To do this, you use EQ5's "Virtual Border" feature.

Any quilt that you create with EQ5 can be borderless. Simply delete all of the borders using the Delete button on the Borders palette.

When you delete all of the borders, you can create a scalloped edge to your quilt. This is easily seen on the One Patch quilt layouts.

Making a scalloped edge with other layouts requires placing motifs on Layer 2.

Special Note: If you start a new Custom Set style quilt layout without borders, your worktable will appear empty. You may want to add a small border while you're building your quilt, and then delete it later.

Barb Vlack (her new EQ5 Quilt Design book comes out in May 2003) gives you some specific tips about doing this:

The virtual border means that we can have an appliqué motif that extends beyond the border of the quilt or table runner in order to give us an irregular edge. This irregular edge can be rounded, pointed (as with a triangle), or other interesting edge shape.

You can set up a nice tablerunner from a layout from the Layout Library, Basics by Style. When you edit the layout, you can change the border style and sizing. What I like to do is extend the top and bottom borders to the measurement I will be using for the shaped extension. This is to get the final measurement for the tablerunner. Take note of this because when we you design the "virtual border", the final measurement of the whole tablerunner will not include the extension.

Design the shape that you want to use at the ends of the tablerunner as a motif in PatchDraw. If, for example, you want to have triangular pointed ends with a binding showing, you will have to design the motif to include that binding. You can do this by overlapping triangles with the bottom triangle extending enough to look like the binding.

Set the extension in Layer 2.

Click on the Borders tab and either reduce the width of the border under the extension to hide it or delete the outer border. You may have to uncheck the boxes for All and L + R so border sizing does not affect them when you reduce the size for the top and bottom.

You get the virtual border - one that extends beyond the last border of the quilt - when you place a motif in Layer 2. You cannot get this kind of effect with any of the border styles, such as Point Out. In order to get a virtual border that looks like Prairie Points, you will have to set the PPs as motifs around the edge of the quilt and have them extend beyond the edge of the quilt and all borders.

Printing
Q: I'm trying to zoom on the yardage chart print preview and can't. Why isn't it working?
A: Zooming in EQ5 is different than in EQ4. (Please see page 106 in the EQ5 Design Cookbook. Zooming is also covered in Lesson 4 of the EQ5 Getting Started book.)

In EQ4 you could not specify the area, or amount you wanted magnified. In EQ5 you can. To do so, point the mouse to the upper-left of the area you want magnified, and drag the mouse to form a select box surrounding the area you want to see enlarged. Release the mouse and the selected area will be magnified. If it's not magnified, your zoom box was too small. Try again, making a larger select box.

Q: Why can't I move a foundation piece on the Print Preview? The Move button isn't enabled.
A: To be able to move a foundation pattern piece on the print preview, you must be printing a block with more than one unit, and you must have made the following choices on the Options tab:

- Separate units must be checked
- Print as many as fit must be unchecked

Q: How do I print templates for border blocks or spaces?
A: Barb Vlack answers this one:

If you can design something in EQ5, you'll be able to print out the pattern/templates/foundation/rotary cutting instructions (when appropriate)!

If the border block is a square, rectangle or diamond:

Go to a new Block Worktable, click on the Color tab, give the blank block a solid color, and save the blank colored block. You'll get a message box asking if you really want to do this, and answer YES! I suggested you color this blank block for ease in setting it. You'll be able to identify immediately when you've set it somewhere on the quilt worktable.

On the Quilt Worktable, all of the spaces in the border styles are intended for color or block placement. To get a Template or a Block printout for these border pieces, all you have to do is color that space with the Plain Block tool, then use the Select tool to select the border area, click on FILE, Print, and you can choose your printout option from the menu. Your options will be only Template or Block. BUT if you want Rotary cutting instructions, you will have to put the blank block into that area. Use the Select tool again to choose that patch on the quilt (that's why I suggested you color it so you can identify it). Go to FILE, Print, and you will see Rotary Cutting enabled. Be sure to check "Size from quilt" in order to get the shape you desire.

If the border block is a triangle (this also works for setting triangles around blocks): If you have triangles in the border style, you will want to set the Half Square Triangle block (from Classic Pieced - Simple Blocks in the Library) into the triangle space to get a triangle template. If you set a pieced block into this area, you will want to draw a diagonal line across the block when you have the block in Edit mode on the block worktable so all the templates will be reshaped for your triangle block on the quilt.

In EQ5, go to Help, EQ Help, Contents tab, Printing and Exporting, Printing Blocks. Scroll down to Printing Templates for Clipped Blocks and you'll have a further explanation WITH ILLUSTRATIONS!

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