Autumn Appliqued Blog Hop

Today I'm participating in Beaquilters Autumn Appliqued Blog Hop, where she has lined up several bloggers who also love EQ.   And, at each stop in this hop you'll find inspirational Autumn theme projects,  tips, tutorials, and a giveaway where you could win a copy of EQ7 software.

SewCalGal is a big fan of the Electric Quilt Company.  I love everything EQ.  So, I am delighted to participate in this blog hop today, where I want to share some tips on using EQ to create applique projects, as well as what I hope is an inspirational project idea for you to create your own unique project for Autumn.



To start, I want  to talk about where I find inspiration.  For me, I look around and get ideas just about every place I look, every minute of the day.  And, it is so easy to use EQ7 to incorporate these ideas into a quilt project, or clipart that it just becomes fun to create.


I'm also fond of shopping at fan of  Oriental Trading, as they have great party supplies, kids' craft projects, seasonal decorations for your home or school and much more.   I saw a some craft projects that inspired me to make a couple of Fall projects.  To avoid copyright issues, I did not scan an image and trace to replicate their design, but used it as inspiration to create my own design.

Oriental Trader has a cute DIY Bulletin Board Turkey.  Looks like a perfect holiday decorative item for classrooms, libraries, and even family craft nights with an Autumn/Thanksgiving theme.

This DIY Bulletin Board Turkey also inspired me to create an applique turkey using EQ7 I created this design.  While I'm still tweaking it, before I use it to create a project, I want to share with you how I did it.  And, if you are looking for ways to learn more about creating applique designs in EQ7, I hope you'll use the tips I'm sharing to create your own Thanksgiving Turkey design, for your projects, as it is also a great exercise to expand your skills using EQ7....and it really is super easy to create.

Once I finalize this design, I'm thinking of using it to create a wallhanging or pillow. 

As I've previously written tutorials for creating applique designs using EQ7, I'm not going to write a step by step tutorial.  But, I do want to share some core steps that you may want to use to create this design in EQ7.  And, for those that may not have EQ7 but are interested in winning a copy, scroll down to find out how you can enter to win a copy.

How to Create your own Applique Thanksgiving Turkey in EQ7:

Create a new block using Patch Draw Motif.

Use the freehand draw tool to create the core shapes of a Thanksgiving Turkey (e.g. Body, Head, Feet, Feathers, wings, beak, eyes, etc).

Right click on your design to use the Edit Arc tool.  Take advantage of the features in this tool to get each shape of your your drawing to what you ultimately want.

I found it helpful to create a circle on my block, that gave me a visual boundary for this design. I would rotate back and forth of viewing from the color tab and edit on the applique tab to create feathers around the body of the turkey that I liked (I'm still working on this).

On the Applique tab I used the freehand drawing tool and the edit arc tool to get all of the body parts and feathers in position.  Then on the Applique tab I used the freehand tool to draw the face.

Of course a Thanksgiving Turkey needs wings. So on the Applique tab I used the free hand tool to draw some wings.

And any respectable Thanksgiving Turkey needs a "wattle".  Can you guess how I added it?  Yes, back over on the Applique layer I used my free hand tool and editing arc to give my turkey a wattle.

And, of course, after I was done drawing my Thanksgiving Turkey I removed this circle.

While my Thanksgiving Turkey design needs to "bake" a bit more (fine tuning) I hope you see how easy it is to use EQ7 to create your own design and will give this a try.  Email me if you create a turkey as I'd love to see your design.

With EQ, designing is a breeze!  And fun too!

I hope you will visit all of the participating blogs in this hop, for more inspiration, tips, tutorials and fun.  Plus, if you want to win a copy of EQ7 the more blogs you visit and leave a comment with, the more chances you get to win a copy of EQ7.  Beaquilter will be randomly selecting a lucky winner, from all the comments on all of the blogs participating in this hop.  And, she'll be announcing the lucky winner on her blog on November lst.  I'll also update this post to reflect the lucky winner that Bea has selected.

Here is the line up for this fun Autumn Appliqued Blog Hop:

October 21st

Bea Beaquilter

Jane’s quilting

October 22nd

Connie Freemotion by the river

October 23rd

Amy sew incredibly crazy

SewCalgal

October 24th

Nancy Patchworkbreeze

Marian seams to be sew

October 25th

Carol Funthreads

"EQ Mouse" Electric Quilt

Don't forget to comment on the post for each of these blogs, to get an extra entry in the giveaway hosted at Beaquilter, sponsored by The Electric Quilt Company.

And while I'm thinking of making a wallhanging or table runner with my Thanksgiving Turkey design, I'd love to hear from you as to how you might want to use such a turkey.    Growing up, I have fond memories of my mother answering the phone, during the Thanksgiving Holiday season, saying "Gobble, Gobble, Gobble" so, I am leaning toward a wallhanging design with those words on it.  Still, I'd like to hear how you might use it.

Happy Autumn!

Oh, don't overlook the following opportunities to learn more about EQ:

- Every Tuesday, Beaquilter shares tips and tutorials on using EQ on her blog.
- Behind the Mouse, the EQ blog, shares tips, tutorials and more that help EQ users learn and build on their skills.
- The EQ website has an excellent "Education" section that have links to many amazing videos and tutorials. While they are all excellent, I always point "newbies" to the "Benni Harper" lessons.
- SewCalGal has a list of Quilters with Modern Tools where many use EQ tools and share tips, tutorials and inspirational projects on their blog.  Simply visit the blogs on this list that use EQ software and search "Electric Quilt" to find insights that they have shared on various EQ products. Again, you'll find tips, tutorials and inspiration on a variety of EQ products.