ELECTRIC QUILT 6

Design Concepts. EQ is one of the oldest design programs. Each release has improved features, flexibility and instructions. The design philosophy of EQ is to give the user the most flexible tools for design with the least demands on computer capacity. Version 6 is their third 32 bit Windows version. It extends and improves the very popular and successful versions 4.1 and 5.

File Format. Designs are saved as projects using a proprietary file format. A project includes the fabrics, blocks, and palette used plus any number of finished or partly finished quilts. The files are relatively small. Any individual block or quilt layout can be converted to BMP or WMF format for use in other programs.

Features. Blocks and quilt layouts are created at almost full screen size regardless of the finished size desired. Zoom tools are available for certain functions where it is helpful to zoom in on an area (e.g. when creating an appliqué block or colouring a small patch on a quilt). A special tool lets you capture all or part of your work and copy it to the clipboard for pasting into Word etc. to illustrate instructions and notes.

The block library tools allow you to see a selection of blocks at once in colour. Block names are also shown. The fabric library tools let you see 2 to 25 fabrics in colour at once. Both the Colour toolbox for blocks and the Quilt toolbox for quilt layout have fabric, colour, block (quilt layout) and tool palettes giving you ready access to all elements you need.

EQ6 uses a very simple CAD program type of layering. Quilt designs can be set to have a block layer, appliqué layer, and quilting layer. Any block can be used in a layer. In the block layer, blocks are dropped into the selected format and cannot overlap other blocks or borders. In the appliqué layer, blocks can be moved and sized to suit the purpose. You can omit the background on blocks designed with appliqué tools... just like fabric appliqué! In resizing, the blocks keep their aspect ratio. In the top (quilting) layer, only the block outline appears as a dotted line ("thread" colour can be set or changed). This time, the block can also be stretched. A small grid pad can be opened to let you accurately place and size blocks on the applique and quilting layers.

Fabrics. EQ6 comes with a very pleasing selection of 1,000s of fabric designs, including many commercial patterns complete with the style and colourway codes. STASH CDs are offered with commercial fabrics professionally scanned for use in EQ6. Each STASH CD has over 4,000 fabrics. You can also scan your own fabrics and save the BMP files to use in EQ6.

Price. Electric Quilt includes the program a selection of block designs and fabrics, and a very useful help file on a CD. Detailed manual is included. It provides installation instructions plus a number of lessons, and how to use the various tools. EQ6 includes a large number of short videos in the help menu to illustrate some of the tools and technoqies in use... List Price $170.00 CDN

Support. There is excellent support for this program both on line and in companion books. www.electricquilt.com has a wealth of information, plus access to Info-EQ which is a very active user newsgroup.

TO PLACE AN ORDER

• PHONE us at 416 232-1199 (GTA) or +1 416 232-1199 (International)
  
• E-MAIL robert@quiltersfancy.ca, or
  
• WRITE us at Quilters' Fancy Limited, 4 Norbert Cr, Toronto, Ontario M9C 3J9 Canada

We accept personal cheques/checks and money orders in Canadian/US funds. We can also accept payment via PayPal (you do not need a PayPal account to use this option). Once your order is ready, we will invoice you through PayPal via email. As soon as PayPaansferred to US funds by your bank at approximately the amount shown here (depends on your bank and the current exchange rate). Please include Country (or State) for shipping charges.