Picnic Quilt with EQ6….EQ7?

So, Spring semester is over.. phew!  Three final exams down… one more to go!  Then we’re off to New Orleans for a week vacation to visit my hubby’s family and attend Jazz Festival. I can’t wait!!  I will be teaching three more classes this summer at the local college but since two of them are online, I will have more time to quilt!! woo-hoo!

Now that Jonathan is 8 months old we have been attending more play dates at the park and the pool with our local mom’s group.  I always take a quilt to lay on the grass for us to eat and play on… only problem is THE quilt I always take is the picnic quilt I made my husband for his 29th birthday a few years back.  I love it for park outings because of the denim backing– it holds up great to constant throwing on rough and dirty ground surfaces like the park or beach.  It has slowly turned into the go-to family quilt.  My hubby doesn’t mind… but I feel bad wearing out his quilt.

I’m going to make my baby a picnic quilt specifically for our playtime outings. These are the fabrics I want to use.  I love the different shades of blue and even though they have a floral theme I thought it would be appropriate for my baby boy.  These fabrics will also go nicely with the dark navy denim backing fabric I plan to use.
I used to design my quilts by drafting the dimensions and blocks on graph paper or just drawing rough sketches on a drawing pad.  Thanks to technology and Quilting Lodge I can now design ALL my quilts on my Electric Quilt 6 (EQ6) Quilting Software program! I am so excited! I heard so many great things about EQ6 and now I finally get to use it. I’m still learning the ins and outs but look at the design draft I came up with for the picnic quilt….

The different shades of blue represent the fabrics pictured above.  So, it won’t look exactly like the design but it will be similar.

If you are interested in this quilting software please note that EQ7 is coming out in June 2010 so you may want to head over to the Quilting Lodge shop and pre-order your copy with FREE SHIPPING for a limited time only!

This software is fabulous and I can’t wait to see what is coming out new in EQ7.  I hear it will be great for those of us who like to incorporate pictures into our quilts.  If you have EQ6 there is an upgrade option for you too at a reduced price.

In the meantime I will enjoy my EQ6!

Happy quilting!