Ask EQ! - March 2008
Technical questions answered this month by EQ the Mouse
Q: Just who are you Mr. Mouse?
A: Thank you for asking. I am the official EQ Mascot. I have held this position
since a winter night in 1993 when Penny noticed me running across her desk
and hired me on the spot. At that time the EQ headquarters was housed in
the basement of the Neumann/McMorris residence. I had come in from the
woods for a bit of warmth and to see if Penny had left lunch crumbs behind.
She took me by surprise, we both screamed, then she invited me to join
the technical support department of Sara, Andrea and Penny.
So my job is to collect questions from you and to answer them, at times
with their help. Do you have a question? If so, send it to the Tech
Support email address. Subject: Ask EQ. I'll answer
your question, and you may see it in one of my columns.
Q: What do I do about an error 42 when installing EQ6 on Vista?
A:
This error 42 is Vista's way of asking you for more permission.
Here's what to do:
Hold down SHIFT and right-click the red and white EQ6 icon on your computer
desktop.
Choose Run as administrator.
Choose to Allow this.
Now continue with the activation.
Q: Help, EQ! I click my Paintbrush tool but my palette is gone.
A:
Let's restore EQ6. Click FILE > Preferences > Restore > Restore
Default Settings. EQ6 will close. Open EQ6 again > click the Paintbrush
tool and you should see your palette again.
Q: How can I resize appliqué on the block without guessing
at the size percentage?
A: You can use Resize (page 256 in
the EQ6 User Manual) but then you have to guess at the resize percentage.
Try this instead: Use CTRL + A to select
all patches. Hold down your CTRL key as you drag a corner node of
the select box that forms around your patches. Your appliqué will
stay proportioned correctly as long as you drag on the corner node (not the side or bottom
node).
Q: Mr. Mouse: How do I link my [insert your EQ product name here] with EQ6?
A: Here is a link to a page on our web site which will help you with all
your EQ6 linking questions. http://www.electricquilt.com/Support/FAQ/eq6FAQ/eq6_link.asp
Q: Where in the user guide does it show me how to turn solid colors
into fabrics? This feature is listed on the back of my EQ6 box.
A: The tool that does this is the "Random Recolor" tool. See
pages 215-218 in the EQ6 User Manual for all the details on using this
tool.
The feature you are looking for is the "Map to Colors" option
of that tool.
First, make sure you're on the Quilt Worktable with a quilt in front of
you that is colored with fabrics.
Click Add to Sketchbook to save this quilt design in case you don't like
the results of the Random Recolor tool.
Next, make sure the tool in on your toolbar. Right-click the Quilt tools
(right toolbar) and choose Add/Remove buttons. If Random Recolor doesn't
have a checkmark next to it, click the name to put one there.
Click the Random Recolor tool on the toolbar.
Read page 218 to understand "Tolerance" when mapping.
Put the dot next to "Map to Colors".
Choose your Tolerance.
Click OK.
Depending on the tolerance number, it will either replace all the fabrics
or just the ones that have a solid close enough in average color.
Q: Is there an easy to add sashing to an already-drawn block to save as a
new block which includes the sashing?
A: Have you tried using Frame
or Merge Blocks under Serendipity? Check out pages 257 and 259 in the EQ6
User Manual for steps.
Frame would add a pre-designed sash around your block. Merge would add
a sash you design around your block.
Q: Can I turn an existing block into a new block set on point so it has
setting triangles around it?
A: (Barb Vlack helps with this answer:)
You can merge your appliqué block with a Diamond in the Square block and
get your squared appliqué set in a block surrounded by triangles.
Have both your appliqué block and the Diamond in the Square block
in the Sketchbook.
From the Block worktable, go to BLOCK>Serendipity>Merging blocks.
See page 259 in the EQ6 User Manual.
Q: Is it possible to design a bargello quilt using EQ6?
A: (EQ staffer Andrea helped me with this part of the answer)
There are a couple of ways to do it.
1) Start a new EasyDraw block. Make it rectangular according to however
many stripes you want to do. Use the Grid tool. Set Columns = block
width and Rows = 1. Drag out the grid on the block. Add this block to the
Sketchbook. Set it into each plain strip
of a horizontal or vertical strip quilt. Then color each one individually.
The nice part about this is that when you go to print, each one will
printout as 1 long block for rotary cutting. If you wanted to change the
number of
patches in your block, you'd need to redraw and recolor the whole block.
2) An alternative is, just use a horizontal or vertical strip quilt set
to pieced blocks. There's a trick where you delete all but one strip,
set its properties the way you want, then put a check in "clone selected
strip" and just keep clicking Add. If you wanted alternating strips
of plain and pieced, just toggle back and forth between the left arrow
for Selected strip and Add. The trouble with this is, you need to print
each
piece individually. If you wanted to change the number of patches in
a row/column, you'd need to recolor the whole quilt (the strips would
go blank as soon
as you changed the numbers on the Layout tab).
3) A third option would be to do your whole Bargello as one big EasyDraw
block.
If you are using the "tube" method for constructing your Bargello...
where you sew your strata together, then sew it into a tube, and cut
out the width you need and let the seam out in the appropriate place each
time
to undo the small tube you've cut... I don't know which method would
be easier for you. Maybe Barb can add her 2 cents worth here.
(Barb Vlack adds some suggestions:)
My favorite method, as described by Andrea, is the first one, with EasyDraw
blocks. The reason is, you can color repeats of the strips with CTRL+click
and not have to color each patch individually. The CTRL+click lets you
color the patch in every block at once.
Set this block into a Vertical Strip layout, where you can change the width
of each strip. You may want to alternate strip styles between Plain Blocks
and Half-Drop Blocks.
If you want to have a color progression that goes beyond one block, you
can color one block, Add to the Sketchbook, and then select that colored
block from the Set Block (tool) display. Right click and select "Split
Colorings." Then you will have two blocks on the display and you
can choose which coloring fits with your design. You can split the colorings
as often as you wish.
You can construct the tube of strips of colored fabric as Andrea also described
and illustrate the split with your block colorings.
You can use the special brush coloring tools to help get the design colored
a bit more quickly than clicking on each patch. See page 200 in the User
Manual.
Q: My Auto Borders seem out of order. Why is that?
A: The auto borders problem is caused by an old type of file system on
your computer. The "misnaming" is not something that can be
fixed by us. It has to do with the way the hard drive is formatted (FAT32
versus
NTFS). If you install EQ6 on a FAT32 drive, the borders will be out
of order.
Please try this on your computer.
1. Make a new folder on your Desktop temporarily. Name it "Borders" without
the quotes.
2. Go to START > My Computer.
3. Double-click C drive > Program Files > Electric Quilt Company > EQ6 > RES > BDR.
These are the border files.
4. At the top choose EDIT > Select All. EDIT > Cut.
5. Minimize this screen.
6. Open your Borders folder.
7. Choose EDIT > Paste.
8. Choose VIEW > Details. Make sure they are alphabetized.
9. EDIT > Cut the first file only from the Borders folder and EDIT > Paste
it back into the BDR folder that you still have open.
10. Repeat for the rest of the files ALPHABETICALLY one by one.
Open EQ6 and try the auto borders. That should take care of it!
