Software for quilt layout? Pre-drawn quilt elements?

hi uhhhhhh, none?

free trial on this one. not tried it myself. used that program either but hey, the price is right, eh.

i use EQ4. old now and the latest EQ6 is heaps better but EQ4 if you can find it is cheap and does the work i need. you can use the block library and recolour the blocks to your liking or design your own pieced and/or applique blocks. colour those blocks with the colour/fabric palettes in it. save those blocks, then set the blocks on a layout, gives you a few choices there. so if you can find a cheap one for sale might be worth trying it. the EQ6 new in USA is now about $90?? someone else on here might know better than i do on that one. other software out there that is cheaper but not so sure it is better than EQ. i guess its personal preference. hth, jeanne

"n> I've finally cajoled my Mom into doing a quilt for me,

I've played around with quite a lot of programs for drawing, rather than quilting specific, I thought some kind of drafting program where I could control the angle and length of lines might be quite good, but it didn't seem to work out and for ages, if I did a design on the computer I used microsoft paint, very few tools, but I had control at a pixel level, I wasn't able to draw anything but a very basic (8points) mariners compass in there, but I got good results using a scanned imagine of a quarter of a 64 point one - though it was quite a bit of work.

I've tried free or 30 day trial quilt programs, with no luck, one didn't provide you any way to add blocks to the library, another only enabled you to draw blocks that contained squares, HSTs, QSTs on up to a 6 by 6 grid, not much use when the design I was attempting at that point was based on an 8*8 grid.

I finally got EQ6 this week! I'm both impressed and little disappointed, there are several little bits of functionality that are slightly different to how most programs work, for example to zoom in on an area, instead of zooming in centreing where you click, you have to drag a box around the area you want to enlarge. As I get used to the program this will bother me less, though I don't know if I'll start doing it wrong in programs I use less often! Another problem is that I drew my own mariners compass and it claims the file is too large to save - I've emailed tech support about that. On the other hand I'm very impressed with the range of functions available for drawing blocks in the bit they call PatchDraw and the amount of stuff in the library is amazing.

Cheers Anne

I've used SketchUp - if we're talkin' about the same thing? It's a 3D application and I'd think it'd be a pain to use ...

Do you have anything like CorelDraw or Adobe Illustrator? I use Illy for draftin' applique patterns and if you don't mind the repitition of creatin' EACH square (since you can't just use lines if you want to color it - unless you want to color it by hand once you print it out), then it's great. Leastways, since I'm a graphic artist and illustrator by trade, it's what I know. :)

Someone here a while back told me about a FREE quilt design proggie - if that person (or someone who remembers it) doesn't come forward real soon, I'll find out what it was ... are you PC or Mac? If you're Mac (like me), there's not a lot of free options out there, since we don't have the marketshare computer platform-wise.

I found a site earlier while just putterin' around that had some quiltin' clip art - let me check through my browsin' history and I can tell you - though I'll bet that someone else will beat me to it! :)

Another option might be to see if someone who has Electric Quilt might not take your directions and make a quilt plan for you (complete with templates, yardage, etc) ... in fact, if what you're looking for is fair easy, I'll do it (not all that proficient with EQ6 yet - been too busy!) ...

HTH!!

Well, Connie. You just earned your keep. Back before I became a card-carrying deadbeat, I wrote some manuals and illustrated important points with cartoons. Recently, I needed to do a bit of that and simply had no idea what tool I used to use. It is Corel Draw. Better yet, I have a new version that has not been installed. Thank you so much for the reminder. This is great. Polly

Did you try Illustrator or CorelDraw? I've used'em both over the past 14 years and they're really nice ...

I use Illy for my work and I really, really hope that they take a few hints from Illy and incorporate more intuitive drawin' tools. Oooh! And more keyboard shortcuts (and the ability to create your own shortcuts) would be AWESOME!! :)

Hugs!! Connie :)

Well, hopefully usin' Corel had some good memories associated with it! Sure does for me!! :)

Hugs! Connie :)

disappointed,

Have you tried "Quilt Assisstant"? It's free,

I have it, and it's not bad.

Joan Coventry UK

If you just want a one time use program you could use anything, including the windows paint program. It might be more simple to get some graph paper out and draw your quilt. Debra in VA See my quilts at

Here's a nice site for quiltin' clip art (NAYY, just found it Googlin'):

They might have what you're lookin' for ... if not, just holler and I'll see what else I can find!! :)

HTH! Connie :)

Julia in MN

I dunno ... there seems to be 5 pages of blocks to download ... I just figured that luck might have it that the OP's faves might be amongst the ones up! :)

Really, though, there seems to be about 20 blocks per page - the last page has all 50 states' worth of State blocks!

Hugs!! Connie :)

Do you actually see any state blocks? All I see is the names of the states. There are no blocks and the names aren't clickable links on the pages I see. I usually use Firefox, but also tried it in IE and it's the same.

Julia in MN

Yep, I see the State blocks. But there don't seem to be any links - you have to right-click on the image and save'em to your computer. They're awfully small - so to me, they're on the chintzy side (seein' as how when she made'em she could have made'em bigger), but they are there for those that don't mind how wee they are. I figure the OP could design the quilt s/he wants and hope that her/his mom could make heads or tails out of it. Leastways, it's better'n nothin'.

I'm Firefox, too (though I have IE and Safari - on my Mac - on my laptop it's IE and Firefox). I've noticed several times that FF doesn't always want to download images. I usually refresh (sometimes a few times) and then it'll click somehow.

Hugs!! Connie :)

Hmmm... Wonder why I don't see them. What type of files are the images

-- jpg or something else? I don't see anything in my preferences that would affect that. I also took a look at the page source and don't see any references to images. There are also a couple links where I get a "page not found" message.

Julia in MN

The images seem to be JPGs ... I saved one to my desktop just to make sure.

I don't have the Developer's toolbar installed on this computer (have it on my Mac downstairs) but I did go to Tools>Page Info>Media and I can see all the images.

What FF are you usin'? And are you due for any updates? I ask only 'cause I JUST updated FF yesterday. Had to. It was actin' real funny and updatin' it solved the problem.

Now, I haven't checked out all of her links ... I'm not real interested in clip art (when I need artwork, I make my own - no copyright issues, no worries about givin' credit) so I just did a quick-y look-see.

This is what I'm seein' - I took a screenshot and uploaded it to my WebShots account:

Is that not what you're seein'?

Hugs! Connie :)

No, I don't see any blocks -- just the names of the states. I have Firefox 2.0.0.9. I think I downloaded a new version just a few days ago. I occasionally get a message telling me there is a new version available and I let them go ahead with the download.

I edit my guild's newsletter, so I could use the clip art, but I don't intend to spend much time trying to get at it. I can live without it.

Julia in MN

I'm using Agent and I went out to the site using IE and the blocks are there.

Bonnie, in Middletown, VA

Thanks everyone for all the good suggestions, I'm really impressed with the amount of response, especially being a newbie at this and here. I think I'll ask around at church, there's several ladies that quilt and see if any of them have EQ. That way I can possibly leverage their expertise and have them show me how to use the program, shorten the learning curve. If I don't have any luck with that I'll check out the freebie programs, and while I don't have any experience with them, I do have access to CorelDraw, Illustrator, or darn near anything else (not pirated, I work for a major computer manufacturer, one of the benefits is we have access to lots of software) so I'll give one of them a try too.

SewVeryCreative - you're right about SketchUp, I'd used it for something else 3D way back and mistakenly dragged up it's name when trolling my memory for the names of drawing programs.

Thanks aga> "Julia in MN" wrote in

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