The Electric Quilt Company: Users: Newsletters and EQ Mailings

CONTENTS: Announcements - Ask EQ - Works For Me - Show & Tell - Quilt University - Floral Illusions - Club EQ - From Computer to Catalog - EQ Haiku - Yankee Doodle Jane - Designing a Jacket with EQ5 - EQ on TV - EQ in the College Classroom - Anniversary Contest- EQ Computer Lab at Houston Quilt Festival

Floral Illusions
An Interview with Author/Designer, Karen Combs

Author/Designer:
Karen Combs

Karen Combs says, "I use EQ5 ALL the time! In fact, all of the quilts for my new book, Floral Illusions, were designed in EQ."

Q: Karen, you're known for your three-dimension designs. But this book looks like a bit of a departure for you, in that you're incorporating floral imagery. Is it a departure?

Karen Combs' new book,
Floral Illusions

A: As you know, I love creating illusions. I am known for my illusions of depth, namely cubes and boxes of all types. However, as I wrote my first book, Optical Illusions for Quilters, I discovered there are other ways to create illusions in a quilt. For this book, I decided to create illusions using the design concepts of motion and transparency. The floral designs lend themselves to this type of illusion and in the process; many secondary designs are created within each quilt.

Q: What started you thinking along this track?

A: I was traveling a great deal during the spring of 2001. I love planting flowers and have several small herb gardens. I guess the warm spring weather bit me with a gardening bug and I wanted to be in the garden. However, I was on the road and did not have much time for gardening. I decided to do the next best thing; create quilts with floral themes. Adding illusions to the designs added extra fun to the design process.

Q: When did you start quilting, and what got you started?

A: I started quilting in the mid-1970s, while still in high school. I wanted a quilt and did not have one. I liked sewing, so I decided to try quilting. Once I started, I was hooked.

Q: You teach, travel, have a Web site, design fabric and write books. How do you accomplish so much? Do you sleep?

A: Lots of organization, some outside help, an understanding husband and an empty nest; our two children are both in college! My husband does much of the work on my webpage and handles any computer problems we encounter. I can tell you, he hates when I say, "hmmm, could we try something new on the webpage?" He knows he will be spending lots of time at the computer when he hears me say this. I am very organized, that helps as well. While I still do all the packing and preparation for my trips, I do have some help assembling patterns, cutting fabric for kits and have a cleaning lady come in two times a month.

I do a lot of designing while on the road and always have a cell phone and laptop computer with me on my trips. I do work a lot of hours, even when I'm on the road. I am up early, answering email and always work on writing projects in the evenings, after I have taught a class. Since I love my job, the long hours do not bother me. In fact, many times, I have to force myself to stop and go to bed, especially when I am piecing a new design.

I make sure I take time out for myself to avoid getting burned out. I do yoga 3-5 times a week, which is relaxing. I also make sure I take time to spend with my husband and friends. I don't get to see friends as much as I use to, but go to lunch or a movie with them when I am in town. Sundays are reserved for family and church, when I am home.

My husband and I are learning American Sign Language. We attend a class at church every Sunday and practice signing to the deaf that attend our congregation. I'm still fairly new at it and make many mistakes, but love the language. It is so rewarding to finally be able to speak of my new deaf friends. They laugh at my mistakes, correct me and teach me new words. We have a great time!

Starglow

Q: Do you sew all the quilts in the book yourself? Or do you have help? I'm thinking this might be of interest to other potential book authors who are wondering what the process of getting projects together to create a book proposal is all about. Any tips?

A: For this book, I designed and pieced all the quilts myself. I quilted about half of them and then decided I needed some help. The rest of the quilts were machine quilted by Barbie Kanta, a fantastic long-arm quilter. She is so creative and I love the designs she quilts on my quilts.

For this book, I had designed many quilt designs, all of them using The Electric Quilt software. I made one of the quilts and loved it so much that I thought it would make a good book. I sent the quilt and the best twelve drawings to the American Quilter's Society (my publisher.) They loved the concept and the quilt and accepted the proposal. I made the rest of the quilts after the proposal was accepted.

As far as tips, I would suggest asking for proposal guidelines for any publisher you wish to submit a proposal to. Each publisher wants to see something a little different and the guidelines will tell you what they want to see. Some publishers want to see an outline, sample chapter and sample quilts; other publishers want to see the entire book! It is best to know that you will have a great deal of time in a proposal, so make it the best it can be. This is what will sell the publisher on your book idea.

Q: You're designing fabric, too, now. How did that come about? And what is the designing process for this?

A: I met with people from Clearwater Fabrics at the Fall Market in 2000. They wanted to work with a quilt designer in designing new fabric lines. I had some ideas about "holes" in the marketplace and they were excited by my ideas. I was excited to work with them! Clearwater Fabrics is a new division of Blank Textiles. Clearwater will only sell its fabrics to independent quilt shops. They produce fine fabrics, most frequently on 205 count cloth with a wonderful "hand." Their designs are very innovative.

My first fabric line with Clearwater Fabrics, Karen Combs' Textured Stripe, debuted at Fall Market 2001 and has been very successful. The fabric features a single color gradation across the width of the fabric. It gives the quilter a light, medium, medium/dark and dark fabric in a single color within one piece of yardage. We started out with sixteen colors and have added six new colors for Spring Market 2003.

It is very exciting to see an idea become reality. Each company has a different way of working with a designer. My work with Clearwater has been thrilling. I suggest a concept, colors and textures to Bruce Magidson. We work together to develop the design. We check colors and create textures along the way. When the final strike-offs ( i.e. preliminary samples), are approved, we know we have fabric that is ready to be printed. I am adding six colors to the Karen Combs' Texture Stripe fabric for Spring Market.

I am also rolling out another new line through Clearwater Fabrics called Danube. Danube is a beautiful contemporary geometric print collection inspired by the work of Gustav Klimpt. I am also collaborating with Bruce on several new lines for Clearwater's sister company, Blank Textiles. These lines are Optical Illusions by Karen Combs, (op-art textures in clear, bright colors) and Kiryu Flannel. Kiryu is a flannel collection based on vintage mill engravings from the 1900's in clear, bright colors. You can see my fabrics here.

Q: How do you use EQ in your work?

A: I use it ALL the time! In fact, all of the quilts for Floral Illusions were designed in EQ. All the quilts for Schoolhouse and the fabric booth were also designed in EQ. It is my favorite software! I use it to design quilts, try different colors. I love the STASH software; it allows me to try the newest fabrics in the market place in my quilt designs. My online classes for Quilt University all have EQ samples. I love using STASH to show the students how a design will look in different fabrics. In turn, the students can look for that fabric at their local quilt shop or favorite online store.

I also use EQ software for my illustrations in my online classes, class handouts and my lectures. I recently bought a computer projector. Now my lectures are done from my computer and I use EQ software to create different visuals in the lectures. I use the EQ software to print paper piecing patterns, to check fabric yardage and to print templates.

Trellis

Q: What do you say to the beginning quilter who might feel a bit intimidated by the huge number of styles, patterns, books, fabrics available? How do they jump into this quilting world without feeling a bit overwhelmed?

A: It is easy to get overwhelmed! I would suggest trying small projects in different techniques that interest them. You only know what your "niche" is by trying different types of projects. Don't be afraid to try something new, you may find you absolutely love a technique that you have never tried before. If you are unsure about a technique or project, make something small, like a pillow, table topper or wall hanging.

Remember, not every project has to be finished. Some projects will serve their purpose by teaching you what you like and what you don't like. We now have such wonderful resources, like the Internet, quilt shows on TV, tons of books, magazines and, of course, quilt shops. Use them to find out what type of quilting you prefer. . .

Q: What is your dream project, if you could go anywhere, or do anything in quilting?

A: Hmm, that is a hard one, so many of my dreams and goals are being met each year. I think I would like to further explore the world of optical illusions and keep creating new fabric designs.