Voting starts Tuesday May 1

let the voting begin ....

I am one of the qualified quilts in the
 Mc Calls Quilt Design Star 2012.
Voting starts May 1st and runs through to May 20 th. You can vote once a day in each category. I am in the professional category as I have sold some self published patterns.
here is a link to the voting page with my quilt
http://ck.upickem.net/engine/Details.aspx?c=54018&p=V&s=19013738

do look around and vote for the quilts you like, you can vote once a day in each of two categories from May 1 to May 20. This will send us on to the next round of designing.
There are some great quilts on display ...good luck to all who have entered.
I hope the link works fine for you all out there if not let me know or check in with McCall's Quilting web site and look under Quilt Design Star 2012 to find more info.

In stitches ( until the 20th that's for sure)
Annette

p.s.
thanks to all that have thought I could do this... I would not have entered with out the support of friends and family
I will enjoy the ride and see where it leads me

2012 FMQ challenge

April's challenge
I thought I better get this posted as I am not sure if I will be able to play with my free motion quilting any more this month. I am not sure where it went. The months are just flying by
sew with out further delay here are my stitching samples on practice and one on the little sampler quilt

practice  piece

 I will be using this method again, I found it very easy to transfer the designs and to stitch out  .... Thanks Don for the great info.
I did a little shopping and bought a few books for myself a couple to read and one for ideas from this months instructor Don Linn.

I will be linking with the SewCalGal 2012 Free Motion Quilting Challenge

I do hope to play with this technique more in the near future, with other shapes and sizes.

On another note I will have a little announcement on Tuesday May 1..... sew stay tuned

in stitches
Annette

a finish and a start

well for the finishes I did get Pick a Posy Tote done

detachable posy

inside pockets  2 pleated ,1 flat and
 2 loops one with elastic

I did add a few inside pockets and a elastic loop to hold a water bottle and and extra loop for what ever needs a loop. The fabrics I used is from my Jewels in the Night quilt, I still have a far bit left over .... the hazards of designing with out a pattern you do not know how much to buy.

and then I made a little clothespin bag and filled it with a few goodies including clothes pins, for a quilting friend's birthday
 As for the starts this weekend we did get a good start on the yard work and cleaning the windows on the house. We had a great day today temps around 27....last week we had snow and this Friday it is in the forecast again : {

Looking forward to another nice day tomorrow. I'll be off to Haus of Stitches to use my stitching bucks.    : )

In Stitches
Annette

digging in the scrap bag

WI.P.'s
I have a few thing in progress  today yesterday

to items ready to bind .... a quilt and a runner

I sent off two post cards that I made today as well.The sunflower post card is soft edged that I frayed out.
I have been working on my spool wall hanging

I am going to put the name of my blog along the side.

122 pieces later

 and then I thought I should cut up a few of the scraps from my Jewels of the Night quilt to make a tote.
Sew now I will link up with The Needle and Thread Network .... be sure to see what the other have been up to with the link on my side bar.
In stitches
Annette

wintery weekend

It seams that we have had to much spring like weather all winter, and now that it is spring winter dose not want to let go. Last weekend we had a good dump of snow today it is just a light snow. I am ready for it to warm up..... maybe with the warms temps the bug I have will finally leave.

We did get away for the weekend after I finished work. Off to Battleford to visit my brother and his wife a dear friend. Hubby is on the board of directors at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Battleford and it was the spring meeting.This is always a good time to get together with my brother and sis in law.

Sew not much swing going on but I did get started on a novel, I have been reading the Elm Creek Quilts Novels by Jennifer Chiaverini. I ordered the last two and I am almost half way through
THE WEDDING QUILT
they are an easy enjoyable read, I will not read anything else until I have them finished.

I might go have a look at the two projects I have pinned and ready to quilt, and maybe do one up tonight.
in stitches
Annette

Entered

Well this is a year of Firsts.
I designed a quilt    .... Jewels of the Night...... for a challenge and entered it
and now I have entered myself with Jewels of the Night into
Mc Calls Quilt Design Star 2012
it took me a while to get my picture loaded but I think it is successful and I am now entered
Voting starts May 1st you can vote once a day per group
I have entered into the Professional group as I have sold a few patterns in the past that I have self published. There are 2 groups Professional and Amateur.
Sew if you are inclined pop by mccallsquilting.com and vote for your favorite quilt/designer
vote once,  vote often.
Those who win at the different levels of the competition will have a few extra challenges over the next few months.
I told myself if you do not enter you will never know ..... sew that  is why I did it.
And the fact that I have had such wonderful people say that they think this is a great idea and worth a try, and have given me great support along the journey.

The deadline is this weekend to the Saskatchewan Stitches Conference 10 th Anniversary Challenge submissions sew I will post the quilt sew that if you go to vote you have an idea of what it looks like. I could only submit one picture sew here it is

Jewels of the Night
Designed  by Annette Schultz

I do have many showing different details of the quilt.
Just let me know and I will post other pics
thanks for letting me share
in stitches
Annette

Easter Treats

My daughter brought me a little Easter treat
a cute little pattern for a wall hanging.

but my best treat of all was to have my family together, now that they have grown up and have lives of their own it is very special to me to have them home. We did spend some time with hubby's family on Sunday and celebrated our daughter's birthday yesterday even though it is not until the 11th.

Now that they had all headed for home I have been doing a couple alterations and getting laundry caught up. I have also put myself on the mending list sew that I get everything tidied up downstairs.

I am very happy to say that I have a class all organized that Monika from My sweet prairie will teach next month :)  I have to get the supply list to a couple ladies and collect the fee.
I have found that the folks in the land of blog are great people.
 Thank you Monika for doing this for us

getting the next borders ready for my dragonfly D9P quilt

 As for a W I P  I still have one runner left to finish and my spool wall hanging to work on

ready to quilt


Be sure to check out what the others have been up to on
The Needle and Thread Network
 ( link on my side bar)

I hope to get a few things finished this week I hope you all have a great week as well
in stitches
Annette

HAPPY EASTER

                                                      Wishing everyone a Happy Easter
                                                     Time spent with family and friends
                                                     Remembering the gift of this Holiday
                                                

                                                     in stitches
                                                                  Annette

W.I.P. Wednesdays

Just a few runners in progress at the moment two to do the binding on and one that I am just playing with ..... using up those left over triangles from joining border lengths.

Here is the fabric I have picked for a mystery quilt class I will be taking next month. I have to cut the strips for the class prep

Well that's it for now
Check out what the others have been up to on The Needle and Thread Network..... there is a link on my side bar.
in stitches
Annette

Tidbit Tuesdays

It's been a while but here's another tidbit........

Here is just a short little tidbit that I used this weekend making Picking Petals
found in Better homes and Gardens Quilts and more spring 2012.

back side of block with stabilizer

The tidbit is when removing the stabilizer from under your applique.

scoring the seam

run your stiletto along the stitching line and

lift off

the stabilizer almost pops off. This prevents pulling on your block.
 You can run the stiletto under the stabilizer to lift it off after scoring it.I found that this works great on small areas. I found that this went along quit quick and I was off to the next step of the project .
 Another use for your stiletto would be to score the back of the iron on fusible web  to remove the paper backing.
Hope you find this useful.
in stitches
Annette

Spring Fever

Well I had a finish this weekend.
I managed to get my D9P ( disappearing 9 patch ) quilted and bound.
This one features a charm pack by Moda called Spring Fever. I only had the one pack sew I used them in the corners and fabrics on hand for the sides and center.

I also was able to get a runner called Picking Petals found in Quilts and More Better Homes and Gardens spring issue 2012 pieced and ready to quilt.Might be using this one for a birthday gift.

I sure felt good to get something finished.
  off to quilt
       in stitches
         Annette