Duckling Paddles

I'm not sure about you but I like to follow Mereth's blog for the wonderful scrap quilts that she makes - and she is quite prolific! Recently she made a quilt (the finished quilt was posted today) with blocks she called Duck Paddles.

I was enamored with the block after reading several posts and finally decided to draft it up in EQ last week. BTW - EQ calls the block Crosses and Crowns which just doesn't have the same appeal as duck paddles. I wasn't in the mood for a full sized quilt so I drafted the blocks at just 5" each with the whole quilt about 18"x24" finished. I originally planned to use pink as Meredith had but, having no pink yardage in the stash, opted for this great turquoise color.

And since these are small blocks...I call them Duckling Paddles!

We are in trouble my friends...

...because yesterday I figured out how to do hexies in EQ7 after emailing with another blogger!!!

You all know know that I have this little hexie project I am working on...but you probably didn't know that I had a very rough sketch on graph paper to get the project started. Then I had to add paper "wings" so the final design would fit. Yup - the final will be a huge hexagon shaped quilt. I was highlighting in bright yellow when the diamonds were attached to the mothership. I have 9 more diamonds done and another 7 "kitted" so I need to start figuring out where they go so the colors are spread out evenly and I can kit more. I need a total of 42 whole diamonds and 12 partial diamonds for the corners.

Then I moved to this! The colors are not actual matches but are pretty similar, and only represent the "mothership." Need to still play with those 9 finished hexies for placement. Hardest part was setting up the grid because of the way EQ counts rows. I suppose reading the manual might help but I was in a hurry last night :) Biggest lesson learned: If you doodle and then want the grid bigger, more space is added to the bottom, not to the top where I needed 2 more rows for this design. Live and learn for the next design...cuz there will be more!


PLEASE ignore the background mess - yikes!

I think the graph paper has it's purpose for a quick doodle or portability but I also really like the EQ version for showing colors and figuring yardage. I like the actual mothership for placement of the other finished diamonds - it's just faster. Which do you like better?

 And now I should get back to actually sewing hexies instead of just talking about them before my lunch is over...

Do you?

I do now!!!! Look what arrived yesterday...

And look what is on the back - one of the features of EQ7 is to import a photo and transform it into a one patch quilt. This sample is with hexies!!! OMG - I need to pick a photo - where to begin?? (Yikes that makes 3 more hexie quilts I want to make after I finish the current 2)

The LQS purchased the software for me to learn and then use at the store. I've already signed up for some EQ Yahoo groups and I'm looking into classes at International Quilt Fest in Houston (125 days to go!!!). I'll start with the lessons that came with the software this weekend. Wish me luck that I have the strength and fortitude to step away from the computer for more than 5 minutes at a time :)