Storm at Sea Quilt Pattern

My Favorite Quilt Design Software

All the free patterns and block/quilt illustrations on this site were created in either EQ7 or EQ8—my favorite quilt design software.

Click here to purchase EQ8 from Amazon

This program makes it so easy to audition different colors and values with just a few mouse clicks.

Rotate and flip the blocks with another series of clicks.

I can't imagine going back to graph paper and colored pencils.

Or worse yet—simply keeping my fingers crossed. Fabric is much too expensive!

The box contains a software download license—License ID and Password—and a booklet to get you through installation and get you started. There is no disk as in the past. 

Download the software onto your computer from the EQ website using the ID and password as directed. At the time of download you can choose either PC or MAC. 

I LOVE Electric Quilt!

I hope you do to.

6 x 8 blocks

This next quilt is exactly the same layout as the first, except that the colors have been swapped—what was blue is now white and what was white is now blue.

6 x 8 blocks

Now take our first coloring of Block A and set it in an on point quilt layout. The piecing immediately seems more complicated, the curved illusion more prominent, but it's still the same straight line seams in simple blocks.

5 x 7 blocks

Storm at Sea Quilts made with Block B

As with Block A, this block also creates the illusion of curved pieced where none exists. The designs look more intricate than the previous quilts due to the additional pieces in each block.

Our first example is laid out in a straight set.

5 x 6 blocks

And now showing the same block, same setting with the two colors reversed. A simple change, quite different results.

5 x 6 blocks

Finally showing our Block B set on point in the second block coloring.

5 x 6 blocks

When set as a two color quilt, the colors are placed exactly the same for all the 'diamond in a rectangle' blocks. The same goes for the 'square in a square' blocks, regardless of which size it is. That's a nice simplification to the piecing.

Dial up the Drama!

Storm at Sea quilt block - three color

Now let's have some fun with the color.

We now add red and green to our previously colored blue and white Block B. The result is the block shown to the right.

The basic 'rectangle in a diamond' and 'square in a square' quilt blocks are the same in every other way.

Now let's lay it out in straight rows...

7 x 7 blocks

...and now set on point. Note we've reduced the number of rows and columns so that you can see the design better.

5 x 5

The additional colors really change the 'feel' of the quilt. It almost looks like the knitting patterns called 'intarsia' or a woven tapestry.

And to think, all this is from simple paper pieced quilt blocks!

You'll need the most current version of Adobe installed on your computer to download the pattern.

On the Adobe Print Menu page, under 'Page Size and Handling' set 'Custom Scale' to 100% before printing for accurate results. Click here to see what it looks like on the Print Menu page.

After printing, use the 1" square graphic on the printed pages to confirm they are printed accurately.

In our example, the 'Geese' are dark, but that doesn't mean you can't change the color values around. To make sure that the points show, choose fabrics with enough contrast.