The magic of Electric Quilt

Electric Quilt (EQ) is a great (and handy) tool. Especially when you have a funky block and aren't sure how many are needed. After much frustration and mathematical hijinks, I finally gave up and used EQ5 to figure stuff out for my Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt. Why not do this in the first place? Frankly, it just didn't occur to me. Last year, after a virus, my computer was wiped—including EQ5. I just hadn't installed it on my computer post-virus (maybe the near complete lack of quilting time last year contributed to this oversight).

The class I took on making this quilt has a worksheet that I've been using as a guide. But it occurred to me that nowhere within the handout is it indicated what size blocks are actually being referenced in all of the yardage and block/size requirements. I had been working under the assumption that I'd need 7 flowers across and 9 down to make a queen size quilt. But with a completed block in my hand, that just didn't seem right—but I just could not figure out what I did need, what with the funky block shape and all.

EQ to the rescue! I went into EQ and then created a quilt (pictured above) to figure out sizing.

As it turns out, I don't actually have enough of my green center fabric to make as many blocks as I'd need for a true queen. Poop! But, it looks like I might be able to get pretty close to a 80x97 quilt. Kind of full-queen-ish. Meh. It's not like it needs to be a specific size anyway. It will take 102 whole flowers, and 12 half-flowers. (Whoa! Good thing I second-guessed the handout, eh?) I might need to fudge with a different fabric center for a few of the blocks though. Of course, if I do that, then maybe I should just go for the 98x97 king-ish size (which would require 126 whole and 12 half flowers)? But then I'd need to buy more path fabric too. No matter what, it seems I'll have to buy more fabric! :P

I guess my next step (apart from continuing to make flowers) is to determine exactly how much green center fabric I actually have. Meanwhile, my garden continues to grow... I now have 67 flowers!

ETA: Eeep! Only enough green for a total of 105 blocks...