EQ4 Country Set Tips (Renamed Custom Set in EQ5)

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EQ4 offers a variety of different quilt layouts, or lets you choose a freehand set called the Country Set layout. This layout style gives you complete design freedom. You can use this layout style to place blocks of different sizes and shapes on your quilt. For example, a center medallion quilt or a quilt with many different sized blocks would use a country set.

To set blocks in a Country Set quilt, use the Set tool and drag a marquee box for the placement of a block. (The cursor will look like cross hairs.) Once you have drawn the box, just choose the block you wish to insert and click on the quilt where you want it. It will pop into place.

You can’t use a grid on Country set, but you can draw a block with a grid, save it, and use that block as a single block quilt in Layer 3 of Country Set. That way you can have a transparent grid for your guidelines.  (To remove it from Layer 3 when you are finished, select it with the Adjust tool and hit delete on your keyboard.)  Click on the Layer 2 tab and set your multi-sized blocks in that layer using the grid on Layer 1 to help you with your setting. After you have set blocks, use the Adjust tool to select a block and the Graph Pad to fine tune your blocks to the exact size and location you want. It is up to you to make sure blocks fit together. Keep in mind the Adjust tool only works on Layer 2 and 3 in the Country Set layout.

Once your base layer is built, you can use any of the quilt tools to make changes to the quilt. Use layer 2 to add applique motifs and layer 3 for quilting stencils. Tricks for Layer 3 include using blocks as quilt layout templates for Country Set. For example, you can draw your quilt layout idea in EasyDraw, save it as a block to the Sketchbook, then set this block across the entire quilt in Layer 3. It will show as a "quilting" line drawing which will help you set your blocks in Layer 1. When you're finished arranging your quilt, delete this block.

To make a center medallion quilt, create the blank center medallion block. If your center medallion is an elaborate block, you can scan it as a .bmp, then import it as if it were a print fabric. To set it on point, you will need to use the Adjust tool and Graph Pad. Click on the block and click the arrows in the Graph Pad by the number next to the incomplete circle with arrows at the ends of it. The number will become highlighted. Type in 45 using your keyboard. The block will become on-point. To set a 4 block medallion center in Country Set, first create a solid-colored block, rotate it 45 degrees, then size it to fit exactly inside the center block of the quilt. Size your four center blocks to be somewhat smaller than the entire square, set them on top of it, and it will looks like sashing.

To resize a block, click on View and make sure Graph Pad is selected. Then, click the adjust tool and select the block you want to re-size. Towards the bottom of the screen is the Graph Pad bar, where you can manually adjust the block dimensions and location on the quilt. It also has buttons to set more than one block to the same horizontal and/or vertical dimensions. To do this, click the adjust tool, click the block that is the right size, hold down shift key and click on the other blocks to be re-sized, release shift key and then click on same size button. If you size a block by eye and need to know its size, click on the Adjust tool and select the block. Look at the middle set of numbers on the Graph Pad. These numbers indicate block size.

When you are in Country Set and you resize a motif, that size includes the space around the original block. You can see the space if you click on the block with the Adjust tool. However, if you want that size to reflect the actual motif, you need to resize your motif to fit the block as much as possible. With your motif on the Block Worktable, select all the motif (CTRL+A), right click and then select Resize from the pop up menu -- it goes by percentage.

To print a resized bock, select your block in Layer 2 and then go into File, Print. Choose your print option and for block size, choose "Size from quilt". EQ will print out the size and shape of the block from your quilt design.

Once you have blocks set in Country Set, you can replace the block by selecting the new block and pointing the cursor at the center of a set block. You will have the cross hair cursor because EQ thinks you might be wanting to set a new block. But put that cross in the center of the set block and with a click you can change it. With Ctrl+click you can put the same block in all the block spaces.

When you are in Country Set and you size a motif to say 12", is that the actual size of the motif, or does it include space, like when it was a block?

That size includes the space -- you can see the space if you click on the block with the Adjust tool. However, if you want that size to reflect the actual motif, you need to resize your motif to fit the block as much as possible. With your motif on the Block Worktable, select all the motif (CTRL+A), right click and then select Resize from the pop up menu -- it goes by percentage.

I am trying to make a medallion quilt with 8 blocks around a large center block. Each of the 8 blocks have a sashing and corner stones. I know I can do it in Country Set, but is there another way?

If your center medallion is on straight (instead of on-point), you can set up your quilt as a Horizontal layout with 8 blocks H and V. Add sashing to this layout but do not sash borders. In Layer 2, lay your medallion block in the center position. Now you will have a "border" around your medallion with blocks and sashing and cornerstones. There is no automatic border in EQ that includes sashing. Add further borders around this center as usual.

How do I change the size of a Country Set quilt?

With Country Set, once you change the size of the quilt you must reset the blocks.  If you change the quilt size you must resize each block from scratch. To set blocks of the same size in country set, just set the blocks then click on any one of them. Set it to the size you want (type in the measurement at the bottom.). Select this block again, holding down the shift key while you select all the other blocks that you want the same size. Click on the cross arrows in the lower right menu bar and the blocks
should automatically be resized to the same size. 

Can you use a country set in one layer and a horizontal layout in another?