beckalou

There are some really generous people on this board, how nice of someone to send you that program. That being said, I have been wanting a Singer 301 for a while now, but am not sure how much use I would get out of it.......lol ;)

Ladyjanedoe

I have EQ5 and it's great. I never felt the need to upgrade to a new version. It has everything I could think of using. You'll love it!

A big shout to the generous "friend". This place amazes me.

Flying_V_Goddess

I finally got around to playing with it for a little bit. Tried making the Tsunami quilt.

For the first five minutes I could not figure out why my line was curving when I'd try to make a straight one. After five minutes I finally noticed the tool bar on the right side and had the tool that made the curved lines. Managed to make a block with ease after that, but couldn't figure out how to get it onto a quilt setup. Figured I could put it in the scrapbook and go from there. Took me forever to figure out how to get rid of the sashing that was automatically put into the quilt layout. Made a second block. Would not let me automatically put in the blocks when I managed to put in more columns and rows.

Eventually got too ticked and gave up.

Eh, seems like the last couple of days I've been a little bit testier than usual. Of course, on Tuesday I had to have a tooth extraction (cause the little sucker was causing me a lot of grief...it had to go!). The resulting temporary hole in my mouth hurts just as much as the actual tooth did except now I have to make sure its clean and my tooth actually let me eat like a normal human being. I've been reduced to juice, applesauce, and soup. I tried eating some Progresso chicken noodle soup a while after the extraction and it took me an hour because I physically couldn't put the whole spoon in my mouth nor could I chew on more than one piece of ultra soft vegetable/noodle. So if I wasn't in pain (ranging from "mere annoyance" to "$#!@ that hurts!" ) and starving I might have had more patience with the software...or so I think.

thepolyparrot

Congratulations! If you like playing with graphics programs or publishing programs, you're going to like this, too. :)

But I will say that with EQ, the help files are not just a nice little luxury - they're a necessity. It's not the most intuitive program in the world to operate.

So don't feel bad and don't be frustrated - start with the easier lessons and work up to the more difficult ones. :)

There are a TON of free tutorials for EQ on the web - and a bunch of user support info on the ElectricQuilt.com site.

Hope your extraction site heals up quick, quick, quick and you can have fun with this new toy! :)

MTS

So very true.

Totally anecdotal, but I've found over the years that quilting friends (regardless of quilting level) who had experience in graphics programs (from Corel to AutoCad) had a much easier time initially than those (though they may be wizzes) with Word and Excel and general office software experience.

Flying_V_Goddess

Thanks. :) I hope it heals up quickly, too. But I noticed tonight the clot covering the hole was missing...they call it "dry socket" and it basically means the clot became dislodged and exposed the nerve. Which I know sounds horrible, but not to worry: I'm not in excruitating pain and I'm making sure the extraction site is clean (surprisingly the salt water gargle makes it feel better). But I sure feel that nerve if I happen to miss a dose of Advil Liqui-Gels! Definatly a little bit more painful than the "pressure" and "slight discomfort" the dentist told me about. I'll have to call him in the morning about it. On a brighter note I was able to eat a small sandwich with my soup today.

I'll have to read up on the help files later. But for now I'm going to go watch Tron.

thepolyparrot

I guess that's true in my case, too. I can run Paint Shop Pro in my sleep and I used to be very good with Corel Draw and Painter.

But I can *barely* make Word processors do even a tiny bit of what I want them to do - and any kind of spreadsheet-y thing makes me cry. :mrgreen:

EQ is hard on your nerves if you're used to sitting down to a program and having it do what you want it to do right from the start. ;)

thepolyparrot

Owwwwwwww.... :thumbdown: I had that "dry socket" condition once and it was pretty darn painful, to say the least. I hope that's all gone real quick.

I started sewing some 1½" scraps together the other day thinking I'd make a little nine-patch quilt. Nice mindless, relaxing project.

But, then I started thinking I had seen some way of making the sashing look like star points so I started sketching it out on paper and then I went to drawing it in EQ.

It's a very common pattern, as it turns out - common as toast. :) But I think it will be pretty when it's done - about 200 civil war prints with just a few aged-looking solids here and there. I've spent hours playing with the layout (instead of sewing the blocks, mind you. ;) ) and now I'll have the fun of actually making the quilt.

This is one of the joys of EQ - you can make the quilt as many times as you want until it's looking like you want it to look. *Then,* you cut the fabric. :) Have fun!

Rose L

So happy for you Goddess! I can't wait to see that green and yellow quilt you designed come to life.

Flying_V_Goddess

Did you just say 200 Civil war fabrics? Gosh...I thought
the wallhangings I'm planning out with 70ish different watercolor fabrics was a lot!