May doodles

May already! “Birds Nest” is our chosen block for doodling and, following our tried and true Doodle traditions, here is the default colouring of the block in the EQ Library –

All very monochrome but lots of possibilities nonetheless –

Choosing to stay with the classic blue and white palette but ramping up the shade of blue –

Forward to the block settings where the changes really show up –

This reminds us very much of our beloved Minton tiled floors, so much so that we can feel a quilt coming on straight away!

We were about to fall down the rabbit hole of on-point settings when we had the brilliant idea that we could, just this once, suggest that if you tip your head either right or left you can get an impression of what on-point might look like. The usual quilt colouring sheet can be downloaded here to play with colourways of your own.

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April doodles

We’ve chosen “Bluebell” from the EQ Block Library for our April doodling – here’s the default colouring of this floral block –

This would be a great block to foundation piece with lots of options for graphic arrangements. Here’s just a few block colouring choices to start off –

On to multiple blocks! Begin with that default colouring with all blocks following the same orientation –

The urge to start twirling blocks around was too great to resist – the results were maybe slightly predictable but we thought they looked really good!

So we’re off to choose blue fabrics from our stashes. You can download a Bluebell quilt to colour here while you are deciding which arrangement to make!

March Doodles

A mathematical title for this month’s block – Four times Nine, according to the EQ Block Library. This is the EQ default colouring –

Switching in some green, add more pink, taking out some of the green and putting a different blue back in – we never tire of playing with EQ!

And on to some straight-set quilts, default colouring first, finishing with a mixture on point with a little magic infill courtesy of EQ.

Download a colouring sheet here to plan your own Four times Nine quilt. Happy stitching & colouring!

February doodles

This month’s doodle features a truly traditional block – Pine Tree. Lots of triangles in this one but a stunningly graphic block that is well worth the effort. This is the default block from the EQ Library –

We weren’t too sure about those outer strips so the first change we made blended them in to the background –

We followed this with some minor adjustments – first one being to change the whole background value, then a more “realistic” background.

Directional blocks such as Pine Tree present their own challenges when it comes to setting into a quilt. Scroll through the selection of options that we came up with –

You can download a free quilt colouring sheet here as a start for your own Pine Tree project.

And tomorrow – if you feel you would like to actually make the block or a quilt – you can download the cutting instructions for both 6 inch and 12 inch versions from our sister site Meadowside Designs.

New Year, new Doodles

Here’s to a year filled with stitching! and presenting our first Doodles of 2023. The block from the EQ Library is titled Stars & Lilies and this is the default colouring –

Inevitably, we changed the colouring –

and then made further changes –

Instead of exploring changes to the Star & Lilies block any further than this we went straight on to basic quilt settings –

And then a sudden switch to almost monochrome –

By this point we were starting to think of tiled floors and were rummaging through our stashes so we decided to call it a day. But if you want to play with this block and quilt then colouring sheets, rotary cutting measurements and templates for 12 inch blocks are here!

Traditional colours

Red and green are often first colour choices for anything to do with the festive season and, earlier this month, we showed some of our 2022 Doodle blocks in red/green colourway. And one thing leads to another so easily in EQ8 – from random to almost-organised.

December doodle

No featured block for our Doodles this month but a red/green re-colouring of some of the 2022 blocks to reflect a festive theme. In no particular order –

Stellar Sampler

Browsing through the star blocks in BlockBase and Electric Quilt Chris came across a star called Star and Dot which looks a bit like a Blazing Star with bits missing. Further browsing produced a few more stars in the same family.

Let’s start with Star and Dot

Then add a few lines to make New Star

Or add spiked corners to make Blazing Star

Split those corners to make another version of Blazing Star

Change the corner and centre to make the Emerald block

Or add in lots of extras to make Optical Illusion

You can download the cutting instructions for all these blocks (12 inches) and blank blocks to colour here. You could also use the blank Star and Dot block to design a block of your own.

EQ Doodles -October

We slip into autumn with the spotlight on Pinwheel Square –

Scroll through the blocks and straight quilt settings below and enjoy the difference that simple changes of value or placement of value can make.

It’s always interesting to try out combinations of different versions of the same block –

And sometimes you just have to turn it all on point!

You’ll find a free pdf download with block to colour, rotary cutting directions and templates here.

EQ Doodles – September

We seem to say every year that September has come around very quickly – and every year seems to whizz by very quickly. So it is following this well-established tradition that we welcome you to our September Doodles with the observation that September has indeed come around very quickly! Our featured block is Nine Patch Star –

shown above with the EQ default colouring. And it’s an easy step from a a single block to a straight quilt setting –

We’ve never been able to resist the “what if” factor that is so easy with Electric Quilt – here’s the Nine Patch Star block recoloured to rose –

and a slight tweak –

A second slight tweak –

Another tweak –

Again, a tweak –

Last tweak –

Another of our well-established traditions is to provide you with a free pdf download which has a block to colour, rotary cutting instructions and templates – find it here.