Adding to the Sketchbook is how you collect all of your items for your project. Remember, your project is the file that sits on your computer’s hard drive, with the file extension *.EQM. Your Sketchbook is a place to store all of your items within your project file (*.EQM).

You can go to the Library to collect fabrics and blocks in your project’s Sketchbook. Or you can add your in-progress quilt designs to your Sketchbook.

Adding to the Sketchbook from the Library

After you add a block or fabric to your project’s Sketchbook, the newly added items will be the last items in the appropriate section of the Sketchbook. To view these, click the View Sketchbook button Tools-ViewSketchbook on the main toolbar, then click the section you want to view. Use the horizontal scrollbar to view the last items added to this section.

 

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To add a single block or fabric to the Sketchbook

  1. Open either the Block Library or the Fabric Library.
  2. Use the library list in the left panel of the Library window to find the category of blocks or fabrics you want to add to your project’s Sketchbook.
  3. Select the block or fabric by clicking on it one time.
  4. Click the Add to Sketchbook Tools-AddtoSketchbook button in the bottom-right of the Library window.addsketch1

The block or fabric will temporarily disappear, indicating that it’s been added to the Sketchbook. This action does not remove the block or fabric from the EQ Mini Library. It will still be there when you return to the library again.

To add multiple blocks or fabrics in a range

  1. Follow steps 1 and 2 above.
  2. Click to select the first block/fabric.
  3. Hold the SHIFT key on your keyboard, then select the last block/fabric in the range. All the blocks/fabrics between the first and the last block will become selected.
  4. Click the Add to Sketchbook button in the bottom-right of the Library window. All the blocks/fabrics will temporarily disappear, indicating that they’ve been added to the Sketchbook.addsketch2

To add multiple blocks or fabrics randomly

  1. Follow steps 1 and 2 above.
  2. Click to select a block/fabric.
  3. Hold the CTRL (or Command) key on your keyboard, then click another block/fabric. Continue clicking as many blocks/fabrics as you wish until all of them are highlighted.
  4. Click the Add to Sketchbook button in the bottom-right of the Library window. All the blocks/fabrics will temporarily disappear, indicating that they’ve been added to the Sketchbook.addsketch3

Adding to the Sketchbook from the Worktable

The “Worktable” is your workspace in EQ Mini. EQ Mini only has one worktable (or workspace) for designing quilts. If you upgrade to EQ7 software, you’ll have multiple worktables to use: Quilt worktable, Block worktable, Image worktable (and Stitching worktable if you have the EQStitch plug-in).

The most commonly used “Add to Sketchbook” process is done directly from the worktable itself by clicking the Add to Sketchbook button Tools-AddtoSketchbook. This action will put the current version of your quilt design in your project’s Sketchbook.

How does this affect my Sketchbook?

So what happens when you add to Sketchbook? Follow the steps below to see the results.

  1. Click the View Sketchbook button Tools-ViewSketchbook on the project toolbar.
  2. Click the Quilts section on the left.
  3. Your newly added version of your quilt will be the last quilt in this section. Use the horizontal scrollbar to find the quilt. If you only have one quilt in your Sketchbook, you should see that quilt in the Sketchbook.addsketch4
  4. Now click the Blocks section on the left. Every time you Add to Sketchbook after you’ve changed the coloring of the blocks in the quilt, a new “block coloring” will be shown in the Sketchbook.
  5. Find a block (use the horizontal scrollbar, if necessary) and select it.
  6. Right-click on the block and choose Select Coloring.
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  7. You’ll see a menu displaying all the colorings in the block. The block colorings purposely stack on top of each other to avoid cluttering up your Sketchbook. By default, each block will stack up to 10 colorings before creating a new block in the Sketchbook. You can change these settings by going to FILE > Preferences > General.
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