It’s no secret that I’m a cheerleader for the quilting industry. One of my favorite things is being an ambassador for companies whose products I love. Full disclosure: I’m not paid for this other than getting a few free or discounted products here & there, but that’s not why I do it. I sing these companies’ praises because I LOVE their stuff and want everyone to have as much fun quilting as much as I do!! (And yes, I’ve turned down plenty of opportunities from companies who DON’T float my boat!!)

So here are my top 5 reasons why I love designing my quilts in Electric Quilt Software:

1. They love working with designers to cross-promote. Ever since I’ve used their software to design commercial patterns, my friends at EQ have done an amazing job promoting my books, patterns, fabrics and more. It’s been a mutually beneficial relationship and the folks that work for the company genuinely love what they do.
2. I can see the finished design in the exact fabrics I plan to use, before ever making the first cut! This is so valuable to me as a fabric and pattern designer. Because most of my stuff has to be designed months ahead of when it’s available for sale, being able to create a perfect rendering of the finished design is such a critical part of my work flow.
3. EQ8 checks my math for me. Although I design all of my quilts from scratch and calculate the yardage requirements myself, I love being able to use the calculate yardage feature as a double check. If something’s way off, I’ll be able to spot it right away and fix it asap!
4. Amazing product support. I shouldn’t really be telling you this, but I’m often not as tech savvy as I’d like to be. There are a LOT of things I don’t know how to do in the software. But it’s always a fun learning experience when I’m trying something new. When you have a question about how to perform a certain task in EQ, my #1 tip when is to contact customer support or search their website and check out ALL of the tutorials. My #2 tips is to google “How do I ______ in EQ?” Chances are, someone has already written a blog post about that!
5. Most of their block designs are copyright free. Did you know that? I think all (or nearly all) of the blocks included in the basic version of EQ are public domain and/or copyright free. That makes it easy to start with a traditional quilt block and then build an original design from there. Why re-draw a 9 patch when I can already start what’s in the program to begin with, right??

So those are just a few of the many reasons I love designing in EQ8. Below are some of my quilts designed in EQ compared to the actual finished quilt. Can you tell which is which?

Facets, shown above, was the first quilt I designed for my first book, Machine Quilting with Style way back in 2015. Sometimes I create an exact design in EQ; other times, especially when designing improv quilts, I’m not too worried about exact color or fabric placement.

(Click here to get the Bling-Hashtags quilt kit while supplies last!)

Fast forward to a recent finish and I’m still designing and making quilts the same way! This is “Hashtags” one of the layouts included in my Bling Quilt Pattern.

EQ8 allows me to upload images of my own fabric and rescale the sizes if needed. I really don’t know how to design without it!

I hope you enjoyed that bit of inspiration. If you use Electric Quilt Software to design quilts, be sure to tell me all about it in the comments. I’d love to know which features YOU use the most!

Click here to check out Electric Quilt Software Version 8 – I love it!!