Today’s guest blogger is Inspirations’ education consultant Melisa Nisius.
I enjoy virtually creating quilt blocks using my fabrics, threads, embroidery designs and quilting stitches before making that first cut into my fabrics. Call it stitch insurance. My favorite method is to use Inspirations’ My Quilt Embellisher (MQE) for this task.
My first step is to load fabric images into each segment of the block and then lock the images in place so that I can debut various stitches.
Follow these easy steps for your own insurance. Open the Block Library and choose a block. In this example we used the Diamond from the Connector Blocks folder.
First, we need to virtually fill the block with fabrics. Using the Select Tool, select a patch in the block to fill with fabric. Click on the second icon in the Tool Bar, the Fabric tool. Once the dialog box opens, choose your fabric. Select Ok. (It’s easy to update your fabric swatches, just follow the steps in this blog post: https://blog.dzgns.com/?s=add+fabric )
Your highlighted pieces should now reflect the chosen fabric.
Repeat this process until your block is completely filled with fabric. Notice that in the Sequence Viewer each piece is still artwork. Left click on All Items to select the entire block then in the top Tool Bar, select Copy, Paste.
In the Sequence Viewer, left click on the small padlock icon next to the top two items.
Now we can add stitches and embroidery designs to our quilt block and still see the fabrics. Using the Selection Tool, either left click directly on a piece of your block or select an unlocked patch in the Sequence Viewer to add stitches. Here we selected a Stipple Stitch.
Continue adding stitches or embroidery designs until you’re pleased with the results.
You can learn more about My Quilt Embellisher here. Enjoy!
