Electric Quilt 5: Features and System Requirements

Source: Electric Quilt Company website, http://www.electricquilt.com

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System requirements:
Windows 98 / 2000 / NT 4.0 / ME / XP
CD-ROM
Internet Explorer 5 or higher
32 MB RAM suggested
16-bit/high color monitor capable of 800x600 resolution
No other software required

Compact Installation (90 MB HD disk space)
Includes a small embroidery library and an extra fabric library of scanned fabrics organized by color. It does not include help videos.

Typical Installation (244 MB HD disk space)
Includes a large embroidery library and two extra fabric library files of scanned fabrics, over 3000 scanned fabrics. It also includes help videos.

Runs on Macs using Windows conversion software such as Virtual PC. "You can run any quilt PC program using Virtual PC if you are using a newer Macintosh, such as an iMac, or Macintosh with a 603 180 MHz processor or better." -Gloria Hansen, co-author of the Free Stuff on the Internet series.

1. Patterns:
EQ5 has over 3100 block patterns that can be printed in any size.

Pieced blocks Appliqué blocks Paper Piecing (Foundation) blocks Quilting Stencils

• Over 800 new blocks since EQ4

• New Classic appliqué with authentic Baltimore Album blocks

• New Contemporary appliqué blocks, including sections in the block library devoted to Teddy Bears, Blocks for Children, Tile & Celtic Designs, Christmas, Fish, Toys, and more...

• New Stained Glass blocks

• New Search feature for finding blocks in the Block Library

2. Quilts:
EQ5 has automatic layouts as well as a free layout style.

Horizontal	New Vertical Strip	New Horizontal Strip	New One-Patch	Baby Blocks	On-Point
	and more...

Quickly make Samplers, On-Point Quilts, Medallions, or Baby Blocks using any of the 8 automatic styles. Try one of the new layout styles:

• Vertical Strip Quilts or Horizontal Strip Quilts
  Choose the number of strips you want in the quilt and set the style of each strip. Use the "clone strip" feature to make a Bargello quilt layout in seconds.

• One-Patch Charm Quilts
  One-patch quilts have one patch repeated throughout. Choose the number of patches across and down, then set the style of the patch. Choose from 12 ready-made styles or 2 custom styles with infinite possibilities.

Or use our "anything goes" quilt layout and design freely on a large blank quilt layout, setting any block, any size, any place on your quilt.

Make a quilt and add the extras:

• "Float" appliqué designs or pieced blocks on top of your quilt.

• "Quilt" your quilt with any thread color you'd like.

• Create sashes and multiple borders.

• Keep note cards on each quilt, saving design ideas.

3. Printing:

Templates Specify the size of seam allowance around each patch. Move or delete unnecessary templates before you print. Foundation Patterns EQ5 numbers each pattern, separating units and adding seam allowance. If you draw a pattern, EQ5 numbers it for you. Move or delete unnecessary foundation pattern sections before you print. New Rotary Cutting Charts You wanted them, EQ5 has them. Print rotary cutting charts for blocks in EQ5 or blocks you design yourself. Blocks Print them as line drawings, in gray scale, in color, as appliqué patterns, or as quilting stencils! Print off your favorite blocks as line drawings and make quick coloring book pages for children. Quilts Print your quilts as line drawings or colored with fabrics. Fabric Yardage Estimates Calculate yardage in inches or centimeters and print yardage charts.

You can also draw and print your own original patterns.

4. Fabrics:
EQ5 has over 11,700 fabrics in the Fabric Library, including over 3000 newly scanned fabrics... just like the ones you would find in the fabric stores or in our STASH series.

Want to see what some Moda fabrics would look like in your quilt? Look for designer fabrics by Company Are you hunting for that one shade of blue that will make your quilt just right? Look for designer fabrics by Color

There are endless possibilities for the included fabrics:

    

• Want to see what your quilt would really look like with the fabrics you have in mind?
  Scan your own fabrics, import them into EQ5 and color your quilt before you even sew one stitch.
  Store the scanned fabrics in EQ5 and create your own fabric library.

• Fussy-cut fabrics right on your block or quilt.

• Make your own colors, including shaded palettes.

• Rotate fabrics right on your screen.

5. New Libraries:

• Layout Library (500 ready-made quilt layouts)
  Need to make a queen sized quilt, but feeling particularly un-creative? Or, do you want to start a medallion quilt and don't know where to begin?
  Open up the Layout library and use a ready-made quilt layout as a starting point for the quilt of your dreams.
  

  • By Size
    Different layouts (horizontal, on-point, bargello, grandmother's flower garden, etc.) in sizes from California King all the way to Crib. Even includes layouts for Tablerunners and Placemats.

  • By Style
    Showcase your blocks in a quilt from any one of the numerous styles, including Off-Center Designs, Horizontal or On-Point Medallions, Stars, and Tilted Blocks.
    

• Palette Library (14 fabric palettes, each with 20-30 coordinating fabrics)
  Coordinating scanned fabrics grouped as palettes are available in this library. Just load a palette into your project and start coloring. You can even create and save your own fabrics as a group in the palette library.

• Embroidery Library (over 1000 embroidery designs from Great Notions)
  Jazz up your quilt with any of these embroidery designs, including various alphabets, animals, western themes, toys, sports and mascots, holidays, mens' hobbies, weddings, special relatives (#1 Grandma, etc.), teddy bears, butterflies, hot air balloons... the list goes on and on.

6. Drawing tools:

• Draw pieced, appliqué or combination blocks from scratch.

• Draw pieced blocks almost as quickly as you would draw a block on paper in EasyDraw.

• Draw realistic appliqué blocks in PatchDraw using easy drag and drop patches (hearts, leaves, feathers, tear-drops, circles, triangles, octagons and more).

• Use freeform curves for full PatchDraw design freedom.

• Use the WreathMaker to turn shapes into wreaths or quick quilting stencils.

• Draw rectangular blocks or sashes on a rectangular drawing board.

• Draw just about anything from a 4-patch to a Giant Dahlia.

• Import bitmaps to trace and turn your favorite picture or drawing into a block.

7. EQ5 Help Videos:
Check out any of the 24 Help Videos (complete with picture and sound) to learn the basics of EQ5. Topics range from "Drawing EasyDraw lines and arcs," and "Wreathmaker fun," to "Getting a Quilt Layout" from the Layout Library.


Possibilities:
Save your own block designs in EQ5's User Libraries.
Keep design notes to cut and paste to word processing programs.
Export quilt or block designs to create graphics or digitize for embroidery machines.

Includes:
EQ5 comes with EQ5 Getting Started and the EQ5 Design Cookbook. EQ5 Getting Started gives an overview of the design features in the program and also includes six electric-quilting lessons. The exciting EQ5 Design Cookbook gives "step-by-step recipes for cooking up exciting quilts." You can find directions on scanning, importing bitmaps, tracing bitmaps, turning a Drunkard's Path block into a Sun Compass block, creating a Bargello quilt, creating strip quilts, printing, and more.

New Features Not in Previous Versions:

One patch charm quilts This new quilt layout option comes in 14 different styles. (Kite, Tumbler, Custom and Hexagon pictured at right.) Choose to make a One Patch Quilt, choose your patch style, and then tell EQ5 what size to make the finished patches. There are even two customizable patch styles, with which you can make your own unique patches each time.
	Embroidery library A library of embroidery designs available as digitizable patterns from Great Notions Company. EQ5 lets you try out these designs in planning your quilt. Set these embroidery designs on your quilt just as you would a stencil.
Import photographs for memory quilts Make a bitmap of your favorite picture and import the full picture at any size. Place it on your quilt just like you would a block.
	Enhanced custom quilt tools Copy and paste blocks, motifs, or stencils quickly on custom set quilts. Nudge or snap them into position. Now the same idea of "snap to" points on the Block Worktable has been translated to make your blocks size or position themselves quickly on the Quilt Worktable for custom set quilts.
Strip quilts With EQ5 you now have two choices of Strip quilts; horizontal and vertical. Just choose your strip quilt type and set the strip styles to be any number of the 11different styles available. Bargello quilts have never been this easy.

normal rotated	Rotate fabrics Move your fabrics around with the "fussy cut" tool to place them just as you would like. But if you need more than that, rotate the fabric to create amazing designs. Lonestars have never been this much fun.
New Eyedropper tool Use the Eyedropper to find fabrics in the Fabrics palette that you've already colored with. New Symmetry tool Create fast designs with the new Symmetry tool. It rotates and flips groups of blocks in a quilt each time you click. New Tape measure tool Determine the distance between any two points on your worktable.
New EQ5 Design Cookbook included	Rotary cutting charts We listen to our wish lists when it comes to future versions, so here's a new printing feature for EQ5. Customizable template and foundation pattern printouts Move and/or delete templates or foundation pattern sections right from the Print Preview. E-mail project feature Do you want to send a project to a friend? Well, EQ5 can automatically decrease the file size for you by deleting unused blocks and/or fabrics from the project. Then you can even email the project directly from EQ5.
Block search feature Well now that we've added over 1,000 new blocks, you'll be even more happy that this feature is included in EQ5's Block Library. Just type in a word to search the notecards of all blocks in the library. New border styles Nine new styles to add to your quilts. Fabric Palette library Think of a palette as everything you can color a quilt with... print and solid fabric swatches. Well now EQ5 comes with premade, coordinating palettes, as well as the ability to make and save your own.	New EQ5 Getting Started book included