Hi! Whoever put my post there, Thank You! I know very little about my software and could use some help but I don't know anyone who owns it to go to for help. Please if you own the software, post which version you have, are you having any trouble with it or are you good at setting up your quilt designs.
I have version 5. There are have been some family issues that have kept me from spending any time to learn how to use the software, so now there are no tutorials available and as I shared with Amma; I wasn't told to disappear because I hadn't upgraded but it was more like " what is wrong that you didn't want to upgrade". To be honest, I didn't know that there was a version 7 until recently!
This is what lead me to ask why and where could we have a section for the Eq questions. Please check the list often and if you can help please post. And if you learned something new, post about it. Never know who it might help!

I have EQ5 also...and frankly I haven't learned it enough to want to upgrade...don't feel bad. I've had it for 3 years and still don't know how to fully use it.

I too have EQ5; I wasn't keen on getting any quilt design software at all so I bought the EQ5, rather than EQ6, so as to keep my cost low (+ the EQ7 was not born yet). I've had EQ5 for close to 2 years and have only "played" with it 2 or 3 times, so obviously I am as uninterested in it as I thought I would be. I only hope that sometime before I die, I'll find it useful, even if it's only one time.

I just got EQ7 and am taking a class thru quiltuniversity.com to learn how to use it. So far I am having a lot of fun but I have only been in it a week

so then there still is hope for me...lol.

I agree with *weeze*...I must not have been interested in it enough, or else I would have taken the time to learn it.

I am not proficient enough on my EQ7 to teach or assist, still learning, do you have the book that comes with the program? I am going through the lessons, it helps Also there is a Yahoo group on EQ5,6,7-check it out there is alot of information there as well.

Hi! I've gone through Getting Started book about a year ago but because of family problems I didn't do alot with what I had learned so I forgot most of it. I did find on a used book site a copy of EQ5 Simplified for eight dollars. Wonder if that would help?
I was hoping someone who is proficient in V5 might give us some tips. I know when I first starting with the manual, it seemed overwhelming but I tried to do one page at a time, not looking to far ahead to get confused seemed to help.
I'd like to learn enough that I could use EQ to plan out a quilt with the blocks and get some idea what the quilt would look like. Not interested in adding fabrics, not sure I could find what I had selected.
I'm thinking I'm going to stick with V5 for a while, and going to look into Block Base because it has so many blocks in its directory and maybe Town and Country Patchwork.
Please keep posting and hopes someone might come over and help us. I think it might be fun to try to help each other, and encourage each other. Take care, Chris

I have EQ5 too, but also don't know much about it. I have gotten a couple of books thru ABE Books fairly cheap, now just need the time to do and read them.lol

I have EQ7 and am still learning-I have upgraded each time since the original EQ and learn a bit more each time. I don't spend a lot of time with it but find it useful for a number of things. Probably couldn't help much, I just refer to book or tutorials when I need to know something.

I have EQ6 and just loaded my EQ7 upgrade. I love the program. I got a good start over at Quilt University.

I have had EQ since the beginning. I currently have EQ6 and don't see a reason to upgrade to 7. I only design basic quilt layouts and I think a lot of the tutorials for EQ7 would work for the EQ5. I love the program and can spend hours playing with quilt layouts.

LeAnne

I have EQ6 and am going to take a class through Quilt University soon. I have looked through the manual, but haven't done anything with it yet. I do have some ideas for quilts I'd like to make and want to "try" them out on the computer first. I'm also hoping it will help with figureing out how to resize blocks and patterns.

A thread devoted to it would be nice.

Hi! Everyone, Thanks so much for all the posts. Its so encouraging to know that I'm not the only one still using V5! And to the owners of 6&7, maybe if we can get seperate thread going; there could be seperate areas for you; because it could get confusing talking about different versions in the same topic area. If you remember anything about V5 and help some of us who are still using it, please do so. All of us would be very grateful!
Hopefully with enough post about EQ someone will take notice and we might get our thread! Don't know how many post will take but please keep posting. Please share your sucesses and let us know what problems your having; all that will help to show that we need a thread just for EQ. Take care, Chris

I also have EQ5 with no interest in upgrading it. I do enjoy using it on occasion, but I'm sure I don't use even a fraction of its capabilities. I'm a bit old school in that most often I will grab my colored pencils and my graph paper to plot out my quilts. But every now and then I do love to play around on EQ5, just not enough to justify upgrading it.
I'll be watching this thread though to hopefully learn from others how to better utilize the software.

Hi! Suzanne, I know what you mean. I really don't care anything about using the fabric libraries because I wonder if I could ever found the fabrics they show. And I don't want to go shopping for fabrics with some preconceived idea of what I want and then can't find it. That would like trying to plan a quilt at the fabric store. I rather go with some idea of what color I want then go from there.
If there is anyone who has been using the program for a while, I have a question. I'm trying to learn how I can add my own fabric stash pictures to the User Library. I don't know how to change a .jpg picture to .bmp that EQ requires. I tried using my embroidery software that does change the formats but it resized the picture to fit the embroidery hoop. That probably was about 1/32th the size of the fabric panel I was wanting to add to the block I was working on and didn't help at all. Does anyone know how I can change the format .jpg to bmp? Thanks, Chris

Chris,
I am finding that when I want to use a fabric I already have, I can go to the manufacturers website and MOST of them have pictures you can easily download and import into EQ.

As for converting to .bmp, if you google "how to convert from .jpg to .bmp" you will find some really easy programs like coolutils.com. You want to be careful, of course to not get into a bad program with malware, but that one worked fine for me.

To insert my embroidery designs, I use Embird and I can save them as a picture file that is unrelated to hoop size but I have to resize them in EQ to make it work. I don't know if that has changed between the versions but it's easy to do on EQ6.

Julie

I just got EQ7 and will be taking classes once a month at my LQS. I am excited to learn this program.

Hi! Pam and Julie, Pam, you're very lucky to find a shop that will teach the software. Mine wasn't even interested!
Julie, thanks for the website suggestion. I'll check it out. I never thought to try using Embird to make a picture file then bringing it in EQ. I have made a few baby quilts that I wished I could have planned out the quilt in EQ but didn't know I could do this.
I've written to the Administrator, asking if we could have a seperate thread for EQ. I'm hoping the number of posts thus far will help them see that there is a need. I think there is so much we could share with each other, and just to hard to keep track of special posts in the Main thread.
Will see what happens! Take care, Chris

As for converting to .bmp, if you google "how to convert from .jpg to .bmp" you will find some really easy programs like coolutils.com. You want to be careful, of course to not get into a bad program with malware, but that one worked fine for me.

Hi! Julie, I got the converter downloaded and got the pictures converted over to .bmp but now they need to be resized. Do you know what size they need to be to import them into the user library? It almost looks like a 1" square but I'm not sure.
Thanks so much, can't believe how I've learned today already!!! Chris

Do you know that you can resize in EQ?

I've had EQ from 5 and now have 7. I was reluctant to upgrade to & but 6 only had so many downloads before it goes pouf! and I had reached my limit after a new computer and hard drive meltdowns. I have alternate used for it, but I do like using it for testing out block placement, color combinations, etc. I generally don't design from scratch with it. However, EQ7 has a nice new feature that allows you to take a photo and turn it into quilt top using any one block format that you like, e.g. hexagons, triangles, trapezoids. I found that addition very addictive and now have a 3,000 hex piece in my work basket.

Diana

I've had EQ for a long time and do enjoy it. I'm not saying I'm professional at it but I can usually do what I want. I've never done the fabric imports as I just like to design and then go to my stash. I would be willing to try to answer specific questions if I can.

Diana, that must a beautiful quilt you're working on. I can just imagine the range of colors and prints when you have that many pieces.
I'm still at the low end of abilities, working on baby quilts and tablerunners because of limited sewing area and starting to have some problems with my right hand, so I can't handle the larger projects.
Hope you will share a picture of your work so far, would love to see it. Have a great weekend, Chris

I have EQ5, EQ6, and EQ7 and have not had the time to learn to use any of them.

I don't know about EQ7. I had EQ4 and then went to EQ6. The EQ4 & then EQ6 Simplified was easier for me to use to learn.

I also found someone in my quilt guild who had used EQ a lot and he gave a few of us free tutoring at a local Barnes & Noble while enjoying our coffees.

I also loaded the EQ6 on my notebook so that when I travel I can 'play' at quilting design.

ali

Hi! I will be first the say that it does take some time to learn how to use the program but in one night I did go through the basic book and it wasn't bad. For me what was the most important thing, I didn't look any further than the page I was working on; I figured if I got too far ahead of myself I would be even more confused. Now, what happened after that is called "life" and I didn't take the time to use the program so that what I had learned was fully understood. So now I need to a fresher course; I've already started and alot of it is coming back to me.
Please share your experiences with EQ, things you've learned to do. It could help us all better understand the program. Chris

I have EQ7. Was doing find when I spent time at it. Have forgotten a lot. Will get back to it in February. Thanks for starting this post.

Hi Chris. The project is a totally different direction for me. I decided to try to interpret one of the photos of deep space from the Hubble telescope. I didn't intend for it to be that large, b ut it seems I need it for the detail. I'll happily share photos when it gets to any stage that is recognizable. In the meantime I'm just making bunches of mini hexagons in colors that I think I will use. Later I'll set up a board and start laying them out, but I'm anticipating that that will probably be a good 6 mos to a year from now.

Diana

Diana, I've seen some of those pictures, and the colors in them was extraordinary. Every color in the spectum. I'm sure the quilt will be to. Good luck on finding the fabrics!
Please keep posting, I'm hoping we'll hear soon that either a seperate thread for EQ will happen or not. The Administrator didn't give any indication of a yes or no when I asked if one could be set up, only that she would give it some thought. I don't know how much it would help, if you would please send the Admin a PM to let her know how much we all could learn to better use EQ. To find her, check the bottom of the home page and name "Admin" is highlighted; just click on it and it will take you to her profile. It might help!
Hopefully their watching to see how active the group would be to warrant a seperate thread. So if you have a question, please ask it!!! It will show how much we need this thread. Take care, Chris

I forgot to add that I'm pretty proficient at EQ and there are some things that are just difficult to find in the online documentation, especially if you don't know quite how to phrase the search parameters. I'd be happy to help with any specific questions either on the list or by pm.

Diana

Hi! Diana, Thank you sooo much! Today I found the post that told that the Admin(Konstantin) was resigning as Administrator to get married. http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-91403-1.htm
So I don't know if my email to Konstantin was forwarded to the new Admin but I thought I would write to Patrice and see if he might have turned the situation over to her for a decision as to what would done. Thought another reason to write was to find out if he even mentioned the seperate thread to anyone else.
To everyone else, please keeping posting! Diana has volunteered to help us, so that's make the most of her expertise! Or post about some "hahaha" moment when it suddenly occurred to you how the software works.
If we want a seperate thread, we have to show that there's a need, a reason for a seperate thread for EQ.

I just found another company that offers zip file fabric collection downloads for EQ users!! All I knew was that Moda (united notions), Connecting Threads, and EQ fabric of month were only places to download fabric swatches (other then saving jpegs etc)...I was going down a list of links for fabric manufacturers and found that NORTHCOTT fabrics, if you select "designers", will show all their collections thru Northcott and most (not all) but about 95% of all collections have button that comes up when select a collection from designer (over on right side pane)either saying "DOWNLOAD FILE/COLLECTION FOR EQ" or "DOWNLOAD HIGH RESOLUTION" - either way, your downloading the collection such as you would with Moda etc..Watch for some collections which offer 2 colorways, which will be in same right panel, under the download zip file button for more of same collection in different colors OH YEA almost forgot...ALSO, ANDOVER HOUSE has their colletions too, downloadable by zip file for all collections. If you click on designers, you CAN'T download all collections as zip files, HOWEVER, there is a little link (near bottom of page??? forgot) which says "DOWNLOAD COLLECTIONS AS ZIP FILES" which brings you to a scroll down menu of all collections (even ones I didn't see on designer pages - and collections that did NOT have a "DOWNLOAD ZIP FILE" I was able to find those here to download)----Maybe I'm living with dinosaurs and everyone else already knew this, but I was sooooooooo thirlled to find other places to download more fabrics that I wanted to share this!!!! (new today to the site...Question on 1/4" seams)..

Hi! Bucksie, So glad you joined the forum and us too. Its a great group of sewers! How long have you been using EQ and what version do you have?
I didn't realize so many companies had fabrics that could shown in EQ. I've not used the fabric libraries because I wondered how hard to find a particular fabric that you really liked. And I didn't trust my computer to give a true respresentation of the color in the fabric. I'm so used to working with what I can find in the stores, its hard to think about fabrics and buying without seeing them. Chris

My husband is the draftsman in the family and has worked with EQ5, 6, and the latest verison EQ7 update. I started with his help, and am using the EQ7 with its special extra disk from Amazon on Farmers Wife Sampler Quilt. I a new at using it, but love it and the company. They answer questions quickly and very nicely.

I have been posting my blocks with the FWSQ monthly block group here and love seeing everyone else's blocks. I work with my EQ7 designing each block, printing out an outline and templates. We scan in the materials we want too to design blocks or quilts. The tutorial books that come with EQ are very good at guiding one through their lessons...at least, we thought they were at getting us started.

I have EQ5 and am happy with it so I don't 'need' to upgrade.

Maybe this will help you learn it?

http://doyoueq.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1269

http://doyoueq.com/phpBB3/index.php

I have EQ5 and love the way it helps me resize blocks to the size that I need. Love playing around with fabs to see if what I like in my head may look ok w/fabric.

Hi! Thanks to everyone who is posting. So glad to hear from those who still have V5! I'm not changing either at this point. Think I'd rather have the add-on programs.
I wrote to Patrice last night and sent a copy of the message I sent to Konstantin(Admin). Hopefully I'll hear something soon one way or the other about a seperate thread for EQ.
I'd like for us to sub-threads within the Eq thread so that the three versions can each have a seperate area. I think it would less confusing for everyone since each version is slightly different way of using the software.
Maybe tonight I can spend some time going through the manual again. Take care, Chris

Well, I got through the "EQ5 Getting Started" book without alot of trouble, most of it I remember but after finishing it I started on the "Quilt Design" book and I was captivated! I finally found what I have wanted to do most since I started quilting, that's the Irregular Grid quilt block shown on page 44 called Stars and Geese. I love the scrappy look of quilt, would like to do a mixture of geese and star blocks along with some of the blocks having some appliques. Its almost like a puzzle; the pieces are irregular in shape but all fit together in a quilt. If you don't have this book, I would recommend you try some of the used books sites like Amazon or Thrifty Books, I found mine on Amazon because EQ doesn't sell V5 books anymore. It was slightly used but that doesn't bother me!
Have a great weekend, Chris
I think this book will help me more than anything in planning new quilts because I have a hard visualing what something should look like but if I have a guide or picture of something I have something to start with. I would never be any good at designing something original but if I an example I know I figure out what I want. In the back of book, there are some amazing examples of borders and sashing designs, some are even blocks themselves used in a different way.

I'm taking the course too, it starts next Friday I think. Can't wait to see how my EQ6 works. I don't see the need to upgrade either. I think one of the cool things with EQ7 is that you can scan your fabrics into your library of fabrics. I think I saw a computer programmer mentioned on this board that came up with something in order to do that without EQ7. Not sure.

Have fun in the class, we'll have to keep in touch.

You can import Jpg, at least in EQ6 & 7 from the fabric library. Occassionally I have a patterns with large images that I want to use in a quilt. These I import as a photo so they will hold their sizes.

Lanny