jump start top finished!

Oh, lala! Today I get to show off my finished top for this summer's EQ7 SAL Jump Start hosted by Jenny. The main point of this SAL was to learn some essential skills for working with EQ7. Although I have had the program for several years and designed many a quilt, I did learn a few things. If only I could keep them stored on my mental harddrive. ;-)

This little sampler was a little more complicated. Only one of my blocks finished at 9.5" square. The rest were 9.25 or 9.125. I trimmed them to the average and went from there. Since I was using fabrics from my stash...this lovely yellow and gray from Marcus called New Wave, I decided to take a layout that would maximize my fat quarter fabrics. The checker border fabric was one entire FQ! I evened it up just a bit, but it still worked. I even centered it on the gray sashing corner blocks. Did you notice? I first wanted to put yellow squares on the order border corners, but the darker color allows your eye to get drawn into the sampler. Now, just to quilt. Since there is a square or a hint of a square in the center, I think that will be my starting point. Gray and yellow thread will have to come into play.

You can see all of my blocks and more pictures on flickr.

I am really really curious see everyone else's and to see which layout they chose!

Thanks for dropping by!

Karen

summer sewing with Jump Start!

Now that I have slowed down my pace (or turned into a slow blogger), I am starting to enjoy sewing once again.

At the beginning of the year, I loaded myself down with countless Sew & Quilt Alongs and got a little overwhelmed. After realizing I had a little bit more free time (without commitment) I joined up in a new and short summer series for EQ7 called Jump Start! It is a great program for helping you feel more confident using the computer program that you probably bought when it first came out and forgot you even had it. ;-) Although I have designed a few quilts with EQ, I thought it would be fun to join in the fun. I enjoy seeing what everyone else is creating!

The SAL is organized and presented by Jenny who is very competent. She has a video for each lesson telling you straight up what to do. Jenny is also a great cheerleader! ;-)

Our last lesson was to change a few lines around of the Twin Star block to create a new variation. Then we were to print out foundation pieces for a nine inch block. I thought this was a very great lesson for those of us who want to know more about paper piecing templates. If you what to be an accurate piecer....paper piecing can help you. Since this block could be a little tricky with the bias triangles, I think this method is the better choice for piecing. However, I don't like to waste my precious fabric, especially this yummy line from Marcus Brothers called Next Wave by Studio 37. So, I would advise you to cut four inch squares to make HST as templates for sewing. Only the fabric in the center square will be about five inches; four inch squares will accommodate the rest.

I am really looking forward to the next tutorial to see if Jenny will mix it up again. (Good thing I didn't sew ahead!!) I also hope she has a lesson on an interesting border, maybe even sashing??

If you would like to know more about EQ7 and how the program works, you can check it out or just join in the fun. I am sure it is not too late!