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Electric Quilt offers three different ways to draw blocks, EasyDraw,
PatchDraw and Overlaid. EasyDraw is used for drawing blocks using lines.
All lines in EasyDraw must be connected to the block outline or intersect
with other lines. PatchDraw, as it's name implies, is used for drawing
blocks through the use of curved line tools and ready-made shapes such as
hearts, teardrops and leaves. PatchDraw shapes can stand alone and be used
as motifs in a quilt. They must be complete, however! Lines that do not
join to make a complete shape don't count. Overlaid is used to create
motifs that float on top of the quilt. Complete directions for using EasyDraw can be found in the "Getting Started" book (Lesson 6, page 70) that comes with EQ.  Here are
directions for making a simple nine patch: Start by choosing "work on
block" from the Worktable pull down menu. Double check to make sure
you are on the Easy Draw work table by looking at the tab in the lower left
hand corner of the block. If you are not, go to the Block pull down menu
and choose "new block". Choose Easy Draw. If you are editing an
existing block, you can quickly check the mode of drawing the block by
clicking on Edit when the block is selected in the Sketchbook. The
picture to the right is a thumbnail, click on it to see it up
close.
Click on Drawing Board Setup (in the block pull down menu), and adjust the
Snap to Grid points to be a multiple of three. (A nine patch is three rows
of three blocks.) This puts nodes (little round circles) on the block,
which will grab your drawn lines and make them straight. Using the line
tool (2nd from the top), draw a line from one side of the block to another
at approximately the 1/3 mark. Any lines you draw will automatically snap
to those nodes. All of your drawn lines must either connect to another
line, or the outside of the block, or they'll disappear. Save. To
customize the EasyDraw Toolbar (page 102 of the cookbook), go to the File
pull down menu and choose Preferences- Drawing Options - and check
customize the drawing tool bars. Now, right click on the right
toolbar of a new EasyDraw block. You will get a dialog box that will let
you add or delete EasyDraw tools.
To make things easier on yourself, you might want to click on View pull down
menu and make
sure rulers are checked. It will show a 6 x 6 block, but that doesn't
really matter. You can change the size now on the Drawing Board Set up or
you can change it later on when you put it in the quilt.
Like all Windows programs, there is more than one way to do anything. Another
way to draw a nine patch block is to just draw one line, the copy and paste it
three more times to get your grid. If you make a mistake, click on the Undo
button or change to the arrow icon on the right side drawing tools (the top
one), click on the line you wish to delete and press the "delete" key
on your keyboard.
To delete just part of the line, use the edit tool and click on the entire line,
choose Xing. This will create nodes where the line crosses other lines. Then you
can select the part of the line you wish to delete using the select icon and hit
the delete button on your keyboard. Or, you can hold down the Shift key as you
select lines if you want to delete more than one at the same time. You can also
create these nodes wherever the lines cross by saving the block to the
Sketchbook.
Another way to draw a nine patch is to use the grid tool, third one down on
the right. Clicking on it will open up a dialog box asking you how big you
want your grid. Choose 3 horizontal and 3 vertical. Click in the lower
right corner of your block and, with your finger down on the mouse, drag
the grid to the upper left corner. It will snap into place. If you have
ever drawn a table in a word processing program, you have done this before.
To delete the whole grid at once, hold down the shift key, click on each of
the Grid lines, to select them, then press your keyboard delete key. All
the selected lines will disappear.
PatchDraw doesn't have a Grid tool - only Overlaid and EasyDraw do. Page
88 in the EQ5 Design Cookbook explains how to can change a grid or any
drawing (PatchDraw included) to drawing guides which shows the lines on the
screen, but just as guidelines, not real lines. This can be very useful
when you are trying to fit different sized blocks in a quilt layout, for
example.
Once you are finished drawing your block, click on the Save to
Sketchbook icon. Then click on the color tab at the lower right hand corner
of the block worktable. Having the uncolored patches appear as unbleached
muslin on the Color patch is EQ5's attempt to alert you that this is an
uncolored patch -- not white. To quickly color your whole block white ,
click the Swap tool, click the block, then click the white solid. Color
bleeding in EasyDraw means something's not connected. Use the Zoom tools on
intersections and make sure that the lines connect or cross each other.
The Coloring Tools
With a block on the blocktable, hold your cursor over the tool to see it's name. It's use will
appear above the scroll bar.
If you would like to use your block as a motif or stencil, you need to
delete the rectangular box around it. This can't be done in EasyDraw. If
you have your block drawn in EasyDraw, you can change it to a PatchDraw
block by tracing it in an Overlaid block. Copy and paste your EasyDraw
block onto the Pieced layer, and then on the Applique layer trace each of
the parts as a separate closed shape. Once you have your Overlaid block
made, save it. Now, copy & paste the applique layer block back to a new
PatchDraw block, and once you have it placed correctly, delete the
background square so that it is a free floating motif.
To print the block the size that it will be used in the quilt, click the
Size from Quilt box in the print dialog box.
Sometimes EQ crashes when I am coloring a block in Easy Draw using
XP. How can I avoid this?
Service Pack 1 available from Microsoft corrects this problem. To find
it, click on the Windows Update button on your Start menu. Be aware that if
you upgrade using this service pak, you will not be able to use the
notecard.
If you would prefer not to update XP at this time, or if you have
already upgraded and want to use the notecard, try this fix:
On the Windows Desktop, right-click on the EQ5 icon. Click Properties.
Click the Compatibility tab. Click to check the "Run this
program..." box. Click the down arrow beside it to drop down choices
and choose Win 98/ME. Click Apply. Click OK.
For more help, see http://www.electricquilt.com/Support/FAQ/eq5faq/eq5faq.htm
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The
EQ5 Spraycan tool
is used for recoloring. Select the
new fabric first and then select the patch that you want to recolor.
The selected patch will then recolor with the selected fabric. 
The
Eyedropper locates a selected patch in the Fabrics or solids palette. 
The
EQ4 Spraycan is used for auditioning fabrics. Click
on the patch first and then select a fabric in the palette. The
patch will color with this selected fabric. You can go through the
entire palette quickly by holding down the slider arrow. 
