Contest! Love the lines. Quilt more!

Use Inklingo Shapes to Design with Electric Quilt

The contest is called “Love the lines. Quilt more!” or LTL for short.

It was first announced when Penny McMorris interviewed Monkey and me. In that interview, I told you the “official rules” would be published before Christmas, so this is it!

Monkey even dressed up for the occasion.

The rules are very similar to ClubEQ Challenges by Barb Vlack, but with big prizes.

What? Submit EQ6 or EQ7 designs which use Inklingo shapes/sizes. (Exceptions noted below)
By using Inklingo shapes, we know that these quilts will be easy to sew when the contest is over. There are no other limitations—any size, any fabrics, any colors, pieced or appliqué.

Example? There is already an example on the blog (here), and there are a few EQ project files to get you started too.

When? Only files submitted between January 1 and February 14, 2012 will be considered. By announcing the rules now, quilters can start playing with Inklingo shapes and designing during the holidays, but please do not send your file early!

Entry fee? None, but please see the note about multiple entries below.

Prizes? Please see the details in the Interview in the EQ December Newsletter (here).

Please note! Everyone will receive the project files for Barb’s Top 25, but if you use EQ6, you will not be able to open any which were prepared in EQ7.

OFFICIAL RULES

1. Only use Inklingo shapes and sizes, as described in the Index of Shapes and in the Shop on inklingo.com.

Exceptions: Since Inklingo quilters sometimes combine Inklingo and non-Inklingo shapes, there is an exception for squares, rectangles, sashing strips, and long border strips which quilters would be more likely to rotary cut than to print. Follow the blog in January for examples and tips.

2. Email an EQ6 or EQ7 file to linda@lindafranz.com (NOT TO EQ) using the following guidelines.

  • ONE quilt per project file.
  • Name the project after yourself with your first and last name. My name is Linda Franz, so my project would be called: LTL_LindaFranz.  If I submit a second project it would be LTL_LindaFranz_02, etc.
  • The following info is required on the notecard as your “quilt label.”
    • Quilt name
    • Your name
    • Where you are from (city/country) (no restrictions)
    • Your e-mail address and/or website
    • Which Inklingo Shape Collections have the shapes you used
    • Whether or not it is an original design, or source/inspiration
    • Any other notes you would like to include
    • Anything else you would like us to know

Please do not submit any copyrighted work that should not be shared. If the design you are submitting has appeared elsewhere and/or is not of your own creation, please acknowledge where the design came from and/or the original designer.

  • Submit the file by attaching your project file to an email to linda@lindafranz.com, NOT to Electric Quilt.  Please include the words Love the Lines in the subject line and in the body somewhere. Otherwise, the attachment could look more like a virus email than an EQ project file. Please send small files. (Under 300KB is amazing, under 600KB is ok, anything 700KB-1MB is a bit excessive, and anything over 1MB is too much.) See the tips for small file size below.

If you project does not meet one of the criteria, I will try to contact you so you can correct it. For example, if you send a project with 2 quilts, I will let you know that one must be deleted. If the problem is not solved, the file will not be entered in the contest.

3. When I receive the file, I will check to make sure the shapes are “inklingo-able” and save it with a different file name (a number) and remove personal info from the notecard before sending the file to Barb Vlack, so the judging will be anonymous.

4. Barb Vlack will judge the entries. She will choose the Grand Prize Winner, 3 runner ups, and the top 25 designs.

5. The Grand Prize Winner and the three runner ups will be announced on February 28.

6. Barb’s top 25 entries will be displayed on the Inklingo website in March. Only those who entered the contest will have access to the project files for the top 25 designs, but everyone will be able to see images of the top 25.

ONE ENTRY FOR EVERYONE

You do not have to buy anything and there is no entry fee, as described in the first announcement. Inklingo and EQ are used in dozens of countries and everyone is included.

MORE THAN ONE ENTRY  ???

If you wish to enter additional project files (one design in each), please consider making a donation to AAQI on this special donation page. The story of AAQI is on the blog here.  Every $5, $10, $15 is put to good use by this all-volunteer organization.

Donations are on the honor system.  If you cannot make a donation, you can still enter more than one design, but we hope that this will raise money for a very worthy cause. You will feel good. We won’t know if you don’t donate, but please let us know if you do. Of course, you might decide to make a donation for your first entry too.

It’s easy to donate with a credit card, and we love it if you do, but if you send a check, AAQI does not have to pay bank fees. That means your donation is worth a little more.

Small enough?

TIPS FOR SMALL FILE SIZE

Eliminate excess info before sending your file, okay? I like to save my working file first including everything and with “working file” in the name, and then save it again with the a new project name (above), so that when I delete stuff I will still have the original file, just in case.

Please delete:

  • all quilts other than the ONE you wish to submit
    (separate project file for each entry)
  • unused quilt blocks
  • unused block colorings
  • unnecessary scanned fabrics
  • unused fabrics

Keep the number of fabrics (scanned or otherwise) to a minimum and make sure they are in the 8-bit/256-color bitmap format. There is no need to delete anything from the colors tab.

NEED HELP?

I will be posting tips and ideas for designing with Inklingo shapes all during the month of January. I hope you will subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss anything. Get an email every time there is something new.

The Inklingo Yahoo Group is a great place to ask questions about using Inklingo. It is a very friendly place.

Electric Quilt Support has a fabulous reputation—for good reason.  They are available to help will questions related to EQ, but questions specifically related to using Inklingo should be addressed to me or the Inklingo Yahoo Group.

PRIZES PRIZES!

Thanks to Northcott Fabric, Electric Quilt and Monkey, the prizes are wonderful. Monkey and I are going to do everything we can to make this contest fun.

Go ahead! Inspire us with what you can do with EQ and Inklingo together!

In the meantime, we wish you a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Wonderful 2012!

Linda & Monkey

New to Inklingo? Order and download free shapes and start sewing in the next few minutes. Quick Start (Always FREE.) There are triangles, diamonds, and squares in the free collection—great for dozens of different blocks.

Inklingo for Beginners

Tilde’s 15 Minute Challenge

11 thoughts on “Contest! Love the lines. Quilt more!”

  1. Dear Linda & Monkey,
    I am having fun already! Monkey looks like a ‘pickled bishop’ with his Sinterklaas hat and beard a little crooked 🙂 Mmm…maybe there is a quilt in that! I have many ideas, but I am curious about the criteria of the judge. Will Barb reveal a little about this in her guest post?

    Reply
  2. Game on! Thanks for the holiday lead time to get the juices flowing.

    I didn’t think to put EQ7 on my Christmas list (I still have EQ5), but sometimes extra cash comes through as gifts during the holidays that I can put toward the upgrade. Meanwhile, I can still tinker with designing in EQ5 then upgrade in January and still have time to enter. 🙂 The prizes are awesome!

    Reply
  3. This looks like a fun project. I used to do the EQ challenges but, unfortunately, I only have EQ5. It serves my purposes for designing and I cannot fit the new one into my budget right now.

    Good luck to all and a Merry Christmas, as well.

    Sue Wegert in Indiana

    Reply

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