EQ7 - should I?
 

Ok guys, tell me about EQ7 and whether or not I should get it. DH said he would get it for me for Mother's Day, but I am trying to decide if I really want it (or rather, if I really want to spend $200 on it). I am debating asking him to just get me the [cheaper] Dear Jane software and book.

I don't do much designing of quilts on my own, but I suppose that could change if I had EQ7... What else is it handy for?

Is it easy to put blocks/units from commercial quilt patterns in, so that you can plan your fabrics?

Does it auto-magically make paper piecing templates for the blocks you create?

I started with Dear Jane and have to say I found it very labor intensive to learn and use. If you do decide to go with Dear Jane, You really can not design new blocks, you can change colors and add borders.

Some people have told me I should have started with EQ, but was a large expense.

First of all, buy it from quiltinaday and save a bundle.

I use it all the time and would not be without it. It does provide paper piecing sheets for your blocks. It's also easy to create blocks either from your imagination or by looking at blocks that you find in other quilts. It comes with great built-in lessons. However... you have to be willing to learn something new, and not be afraid of using a computer.

I know the two are entirely different software. Dear Jane is just meant to help you design and make a specific quilt with specific blocks; while EQ7 is meant for designing whatever you want. I was just thinking that if I decided EQ7 wasn't worthwhile for me, Dear Jane would be an excellent alternative because I really intrigued by that quilt. Although I suspect it could take me years to finish the quilt since I would be making the blocks along side other projects. I don't think I have the attention span to make that thing all at once!

I am am software engineer, so the learning/using software is no big deal. Thanks for the quiltinaday tip! That will save $46! That is excellent considering I think I will purchase the PC version and then get the $25 "migration" so I can use it on both my Mac & PC. (I prefer Mac, but my Pfaff software is only for PC... so I would need to use it with PC sometimes). And I was thinking of getting the Judy Martin Star Power add on too.

romille, you might want to check the license on EQ7, I don't think you can load it on two computers without deleting from the one, but I could be wrong.

You can install it on any number of computers, but only two can have the license active at one time. It's easy enough to inactivate the license on one computer in order to activate it on another, if you really need to use more than 2 computers with the software.

I second this! I have EQ7 on my "big" PC upstairs and also on my downstairs laptop; I've replaced both of those machines since I bought EQ7 and had no trouble moving my licenses from my old machines to the new ones. I don't remember exactly what I did, but I do remember it was easier than I thought it would be.

I actually have a theory that folks who use computers and software a lot have a harder time with EQ7 than someone who is more of a novice. It's not intuitively built like most software is and doesn't do what you might expect it to do, or at least not in the way you'd expect it to do it. I'm a programmer and I have found the learning curve to be pretty steep! There are still a lot of things I revert back to graph paper for because I can't figure it out in EQ7, BUT I love having the software and some day I'll really knuckle down and figure out how to do those things. There are a lot of tutorials for it that I haven't had any trouble following.

Interesting observation. I am a retired software engineer (it seems many of us have been attracted to quilting) and for years I claimed that I was a software developer, not a software user, because I didn't like spending the time to learn to use a system designed by someone else. Eventually I had to give up on writing my own applications for everything. I agree that EQ7 doesn't follow today's standard Windows interface, but once I started using it I didn't find it particularly difficult. I started with EQ6, but then I bought the DJ software, which is based on EQ5, and I found that the interface was drastically changed and improved with EQ6. I think many people who complain about the user interface are still using 5.

My experience and hope also! I was a software programmer and systems analyst in a previous life (and have a degree in MIS), but I do not find EQ at all intuitive. I have both EQ7 and Quilt Pro, and QP is definitely more intuitive for me to learn. Incidentally, I got Quilt Pro when it was on sale for 50% off from the Quilt Pro website (I think it was around Black Friday/Christmas). Cost was $50 at that time; much lower than EQ. From what I have heard, Quilt Pro is very comparable but does not do *all* of the fancy things that EQ7 can do (assuming you learn it to that level). For the average quilter, Quilt Pro is both less expensive and easier to learn. (I would consider myself an average/intermediate level quilter.)

EQ7 seems to have extremes. A few people take to it like a duck to water. I'd say more of us, though, throw up our hands in frustration. I too thought it would be easy to learn because of my programming background. I do think those who find it easy tend to be younger and are the type who find it easy to learn how to use smartphones without books or a teen on hand.

Me, too,. I wrote systems requirements, documentation, test plans, and user documentation, so I thought that I would have no problem learning EQ7. Unfortunately, EQ7 is not as intuitive as it could/should be, even with the video lessons and documentation. I've used it several times and always wind up asking myself, "What were they thinking?" at some point during the process.

It's learnable and very useful, but not user friendly.

It must be all that fussy attention to little details that appeals!!

Well I'm still in my 30's (by a hair) and figured out my smartphone just fine, but some stuff in EQ7 is still beyond me!

But to be fair, I haven't really TRIED to learn some of those things. I get so far and realize I don't know what to do next and it's just so much easier to go back to my faithful graph paper than it is to do the research to figure out what I'm missing within the software! So it's partially just laziness on my part, I can't entirely blame the software for how slowly I'm learning to use it.

But even with my partial understanding of the software, I love playing around in there. It's a lot of fun to design blocks and throw them into a quilt and play with rotations and color options with just a click. I am sure I've gotten my money's worth just in entertainment value, and I also HAVE successfully designed several quilts in there.

It IS really neat to see how many of us quilters are (or were) in the IT/Software/Programming biz. Maybe there's a higher percentage here since it's a website (and therefore theoretically more appealing to technology-minded people) but I still think it's an interesting demographic.

They just changed the way that works. You have unlimited installs now, but I think only two can be active at one time.

Wow, there are lots of us software geeks here! I didn't realize there were so many. I guess quilting appeals to that little OCD side many of us seem to share.

Ya'll aren't helping! I am still on the fence. Maybe I should pop in to my neighborhood quilt shop and ask the proprietor if I can demo his copy. Looking at the add-on's had me excited, but now I am hesitant again. I am going to be irritated by poor design the whole time, aren't I? The Pfaff Quilt Creator software (that cost 6-fricken-hundred dollars) is awful as well. The entire UX is antiquated and lacks any form of intuitiveness. I hope EQ7 isn't that bad.

I am a very big fan of EQ. I have no idea what an interface in a program is and really could care less. What I wanted was something that I could use with my computer to design quilt tops and have the computer calculate how much of each fabric I would need to make my design. I wanted to play around with color options and settings before I invested my $$ in the fabric of my choice. If I was doing an applique I wanted to be able to print out the the pieces so I could make my own templates out of a sturdy material. I also wanted a quick way to play around with different known quilt block combinations to see how they "worked" together. I also wanted to do sampler quilts. EQ does all of that. I knew about foundation piecing but felt that printing out tons of paper foundation was not what I wanted to do. I feel that it uses way too much paper. But you can also do that with EQ. I really like that it will figure out how many of each size piece I need for each fabric.

Like others have mentioned, you need to be open to learning how to use EQ. I have Dear Jane, Block Base and a couple other add ons. I have not looked at the Dear Jame program in some time because I found it very confusing when I purchased it way back when I first started looking for a quilt design program. EQ has come a long way towards being user friendly since I first purchased Dear Jane and EQ5.

The only thing that I would like to see is an active forum (like this) where there would be a forum format for just quilt related software posting so that users of the program can talk about the designing of blocks and quilts with each other. To me, I find reading other posts is an additional way to learn how something is done.

I agree. Once you have your block drawn or retrieved one from EQ's Library, you can print Rotary instructions or print out Paper Piecing. Here is the Paper Piecing pattern I printed out on my EQ5 and the Mug rug I made from the pattern.

I have been using EQ since it was on floppy and used MS DOS. I had to write programs in DOS for one of my college classes, my mind still hasn't unwarped. LOL. EQ 7 is very easy to learn, you just have to use it to remember. If you only use it once in a while you have to start over trying to remember how to make it do what you want it to.

I use computers (home and work) more than 50 hours a week. I have used my EQ7 maybe a total of 20 hours to help me decide colors and how much fabric I will need. I haven't designed a quilt *yet*.

What I miss is a function to allow me to copy and paste a finished block(s) so I don't have to repeat the same steps over and over. Microsoft has spoiled me on that one! Am I missing it?

I'm so glad to see someone say this out loud ;-) I too, have Quilt Pro. I bought it on sale for $80, and found it very easy to use after going through its tutorial, step by step. I've no regrets buying this program. Very handy for figuring patterns out for yourself.

Copy and paste to where? I must be missing what you mean.

I am also from the IT realm and find when I "challenge" EQ, it doesn't deliver as well as it should. I wonder if people without heavy computer backgrounds tend not to get frustrated with what it SHOULD be able to do, because they don't realize that it should be able to do that, thus find it easy to use.

I am really proficient with Photoshop and would much rather use PS or Photoshop Elements for quilt design over EQ. Of course, you can't do yardage calcs and things like that in Photoshop, but it's fairly easy to set all of that up with Excel.

Let me try to explain. My quilt is a New York Beauty with around 100 10" blocks. When I was testing colors, I would have 4 blocks with the same colors / design - 25 times. I couldn't figure out how to take 1 10" block, copy and pasting it in 4 different places on the quilt.

I bought the Dear Jane software to print out the patterns for paper piecing. I didn't use it for colors or anything else. Figured it was worth the price just to get the paper piecing patterns! Took me quite a while to get them all printed and ready to work on! There are wonderful tutorials on each block in the blog That Quilt.

I'm thinking that all you software people should get together and write a user friendly program that does all that EQ7 does! I would bet it would be wonderful as you all know how to program and you also quilt so you know what is needed.

Sure! Contact me as soon as you have the financing arranged! :D

If I understand this right. All you need to do is put the 4 blocks in your sketch book. Once there go to the work on quilt feature and using the layer one area of your quilt layout place the 4 blocks that you are using into whatever place that you want them on the layout. If you need to turn the block in a different direction use the rotate block until it is turned the direction you want. If you have 75 blocks that are all the same you can place that block in all 100 places in the quilt then just place another block over the one that you want to be different.

Ok - I am going to throw my opinion in here as well. I too am from a IT type background (taught Advance Placement Comp Sci for 8 years). I bought a cheaper program (one of the Jenny Haskin programs) with very little flexibility and SO not intuitive. After a year - I finally broke down and purchased EQ6 and there was no going back. I have updated to EQ7 now for the convenience of having two computers active (unlike EQ6 - where you had only 3 activations no matter what - EQ7 allows for unlimited installations and you can manage which ones are active easily).

I use mine all the time. I do a $5 BOM at the LQS which requires templates - because I am cheap I just come home and draw it in EQ, print out the templates or the PPing and do the block. I play with designs, colors and layouts all the time. While there are a list of things I wish it could do - in a heart beat I would buy it again for all the things that it does do for me.

I did not find it difficult to learn to use - I might have even said it was straight forward for the basics. Granted some of the more advanced drawing and quilt designs are a bit more time consuming. There are some drawing techniques that to learn you have to walk through the tutorials a few times and to date I am still learning every day I use it. The custom quilt layout can be cumbersome at first and if you want to design hexagon shaped blocks it is neither easy or intuitive (imho). I expect that we all take the time to "learn" those techniques that we most want to use.

My only wish is that there were more online opportunities for advanced classes. However, our own Rhonda has so graciously shared her lessons with us

http://www.quiltingboard.com/tutoria...a-t195158.html

It is well worth the time and effort to go through them.

I love my EQ and would not be without it. If you have the $$ and you want a good program I would highly recommend it. Also, see if you can find a dealer who sells it locally to you. Go in and ask to play with it - find out if they offer lessons. Granted, Quilt in a Day or even jhittlesewing.com (they will give a price over the phone) might be way cheaper but you may be more comfortable if the seller offers lessons and support locally.

I am the newbie here. Last week I purchased EQ for my Mac. I can tell you, it is not as friendly as Mac software with draw features. Last week I saw an advertisement for a "must have" book on using EQ to design blocks. Really? Will I need a book to figure it out? I have watched the tutorials, and practiced each step, but it's not "happening". My plan B is it turn off Mac in my head, pretend I never saw a computer before, and dig into the program. Wish me luck.

I purchased EQ7 after using QuiltPro for many years. I L-O-V-E it!
altho retired now, my occupation did not involve computers. I almost died of fright when my boss said, "what we need is a computer!". I found EQ7 ways enough to understand. When I have problems I ask The Board and even emailed EQ7. Both have been helpful. Customer service is excellent.

Why EQ7? Because you are only limited by your own willingness to learn and ask questions. In the few months I have owned it I have designed my own quilts, made blocks, figured yardage, made paper piecing patterns automatically, and created hand appliqué templates. (I like to do a wide variety of things.)

There are layout choices, blocks galore to choose from, you can trace a photograph as well as automatically digitize a photo for making the picture into a quilt, anything can become a hand quilting template--the possibilities are endless. After having EQ7 I am very disappointed I didn't get it the first time around.

I suggest shopping around for price. AQS members save about 25%. Let us know what you decide to do.

My sis in law develops software for the banking systems. She opened up EQ7 she used all the drawing tools and found shortcuts that I will never remember using the keyboard. She couldn't believe the low cost. She said it was an amazing program for the price.

I too think it's amazing how many quilters are/were also Technology professionals. I've been quilting longer than I've been doing IT - quilting for 30+ years, technology for 25+ years. It really is amazing that the two of them go together.

I am a newbie to EQ7 and haven't used it enough to become really familiar with it. I'm working on a sampler quilt and got the software about half way through the project -- primarily because I could scan MY fabrics into the fabric library and audition different colorings for blocks, sashings, borders etc. Even if the exact block I was working on was not in the EQ library, I could find one close enough so I could see what different fabric combinations looked like. I worked through the designing tutorials included with the software and did fine but it won't "click" until I work on my own stuff. I doubt that I'll ever make use of all of EQ7's features and it's easy to get buried in it.... but it's really amazing software.

I have EQ6 and the thing I don't like about it is that when you design a quilt I don't care what size you make the blocks when you go to the rotary cutting instructions it always gives you odd sizes to cut your fabric... like 2-7/8, 2-13/16 etc.

I have a tech background and find that EQ7 is not as intuitive as I would like, BUT I couldn't live without it now. AND I can do anything I want with it. If I can't figure out how, I email EQ support and they always help me very promptly. So over the years I've been able to do anything with the program. For example, my guild is making a quilt for an expectant mom, they said it should be a star, with pinks, and finished size 8 inches. All I had to do was find the star that I wanted (which didn't happen to be in the EQ library). I drew the block, and I could print out the rotary cutting directions (or templates or paper piecing template) so quickly, and make the block. I use it all the time.

I'm with Prism99! I started off with Quilt Pro I and have worked my way up the versions. Everyone always went on about EQ. I bought it tried it, even upgraded to 6 when it became available, and still found myself going back to Quilt Pro. It's just easier to use. To me EQ has file organization beat over QP, but that's about all. So, I have to open separate files for different quilt variations. I can open them and do just about anything with QP.

I have EQ7. I enjoy it but some things like drawing etc is hard & haven't figured it out yet after a couple of years. It is a good program because of all the block choices.

I have both EQ7 and Quilt Pro, both have their ups and downs. I love both programs for different reasons and use them both all the time. The one problem I have with EQ is the fabric yardage estimates always seem to be off (not enough) and that just bugs the heck out of me when I'm in a hurry so I have learned to double check the yardage in the Quilt Pro program before buying any fabric.

I know you are thinking, did I design the quilts twice, that answer is yes. Once in each program so I can use the one that works best for the project at hand. Guess I have more time on my hands then most but it's the only way I know for sure if I have it covered.

The best thing about EQ is the design features, they are so much easier for me to use instead of the ones in Quilt Pro. I can design curved blocks faster and with less trouble.

As many here have said, there are a lot of people that have lessons on the different features of EQ and that is itself is a plus for me. But you have to take the time to learn them. Walk through the lessons one at a time until you get it before moving on to the next lesson. Reading through the books won't get you there, you have to work them through each step as you read them. This has helped me more then once.

The only thing I really wish they would do is have it so you could export the blocks from one program to use with the other. Now that would be a great idea!!!!

So glad to see this thread--I've been thinking about investing in EQ7 also, but can't find the answer to what I'm really interested in--is it possible to scan in a picture of a finished top and then play with different quilting designs--both in EQ and also my own designs? If not, does anyone know of another program that would allow me to do that?? Thanks for your input. P.S. I'm looking to not just design a single block design, but be able to see how it would look both on single blocks and over a whole quilt.