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Issue 5: April 1999
Editor: Sharla R. Hicks
Newsletter index for all issuesTable of contents for this issue

 

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Letter from the Editor, Sharla Hicks

Do you have a product you would like to see Soft Expressions carry? Feel free to e-mail us at info@softexpressions.com and let us know. We have streamlined our shipping department and are getting ready to expand and would like your feedback on what you would like to see in our product line!

Computer Quilting continues to mature and I am hearing from more and more people about how they are using other types of software to create quilts. We were fortunate enough to find two users who were willing to also write some very informative articles about their experiences using other types of graphic software. Jos H. Hindriks tells us how he uses AutoCad LT (a drafting software) to create quilt projects with templates and stencils; and Claudia Wade shares with us her wonderful images and design tricks of using Electric Quilt Images in conjuction with Creative Impulse and Repligator for very innovative ideas for quilts.

Printing permanent images on fabric continues to be a FAQ (frequently asked question.) Over the last year a new development has occured with some printers. Many are offering waterproof ink that is proving to be very useful for printing on fabric. Also find some information on how to make water soluble inkjet labels and images on fabric more permanent.

Find Sharla's best finds on the Internet for Computer Quilters.

As a side note: Quilts Over Kosovo is a world wide philanthropy project that started as a grass roots movement within our Internet quilting community, this project is now complete but you can check out what quilters accomplished!

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Table of Contents

• Letter from the Editor: click here
• Feature Articles:
  • Electric Quilt 4 Review
  • Quiltmaking and_AutoCAD LT Drafting Software By Jos H. Hindriks, Dutchman Designs
  • Playing With Quilt Toys By Claudia Wade Part 1 covers Creative Impulse and Part 2 covers Repligator
• New addition to Frequently asked Questions
  • Creating Permanent Fabric Printout including a review of the fabric information in "The Quilter's Computer Companion" by Judy Heim and Gloria Hansen
• New Additions to the Virtual Gallery since the last newsletter Remember, I am always looking for more quilts and galleries to add. For instructions on how to participate, go to the bottom of the Gallery page.
  • Donna Collins is used Electric Quilt 3 and Windows Paint together to create a very unique image. Check them out in her Virtual Computer Quilting Gallery.
• World Wide Computer Quilting: Use this page to list your events on computer quilting or where you teach Computer Quilting!
• Information on the Internet for Computer Quilters:
  • Sheila Williams has written created an outstanding set of FAQs (frequently asked questions) for Microsoft Explorer, Netscape and Eudora and other topics of interest to computer quilters, information covers: Opening E-mail Attachments and Downloaded Files From the Internet. Creating Filters in E-mail Programs. Downloading Swatches of Fabric from the internet to be used in Quilting Programs. Converting "Gif" and "JPEG" Graphics to "BMP" Graphics For Use in Quilting Software Programs. Creating a New Folder in Windows 95/98. Scanning and Defragmenting your Hard Drive. Attaching Quilting Program Projects to E-mail Messages. Sorry, I can not create a link to the above mentioned web page because of the %20 in the address directly from this page, so it will require that you copy the following webpage location and Paste it into your Browser: http://www.iinet.com/users/donegan/faqs/FAQ%20.html
  • Check out Carolyn Laukkonen Feb. 1999 article on how she used EQ 3 to develope several versions of a vest. This is a very interesting and creative use of quilt software!
  • ClubEQ: a group of online quilters using EQ3 & EQ 4 to complete monthly challenges designed by Barb Vlark and put up on Pat Tribbey's Website. Anyone who is an EQ user can join the fun.
• Build your Fabric Libraries: Drena Paulson shares with the info-EQ mail list her method of building her fabric libraries and now is sharing with you by giving me permission to add it here (see below!) Note from the editor: Collecting fabrics off the Internet will work for the following programs: Creative Impulse, Electric Quilt, Quilt-Pro, QuiltSOFT, and PCQuilt (PCQuilt requires changing the extension, see manual).

Drena writes: Hi all,

Just a note about scanning and fabric bitmaps. I have had Quilt-Pro as well as EQ for some time and here's something people forget about. Go to the fabric company web site. Benartex is a perfect example. If you are in your browser, most of the time when you right click on a picture like a fabric, it says save image as ... and sometimes gives you no choices and sometimes does give you choices. Most of the time they are in jpg or bmp form anyway.

I was just at Benartex. I chose a fabric, right clicked when it was finished loading and picked save picture as... and went to change it to bitmap. I checked the picture and it was a bitmap. Just fine.

You don't have to scan fabrics from fabric companies that put them online, just use the already scanned images that are there. What a time saver!!!

Just try it.
drena
Drena can be reached via e-mail at: paulson@mhv.net

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