Holding On......

Holding On ......
theme "Opposites Attract"
round 3 of McCall's QDS 2012

Well the time has come for the Voting to start on the final round of the Quilt Design Star 2012
Our theme was "Opposites Attract", I chose young and old, I found a wonderful photo on line of a great grandmother with her great granddaughters hands. It was a challenge working on the hands but I learned along the way and I am very happy with my end results. I have also used the Log Cabin block in both a traditional setting with the red centers for the hearth ( heart) of our home in darker colors and then off centered and uneven in brights to have yet another set of opposites.
Welcome to my blog to the readers of the Watrous Manitou ( our local paper)
I have the voting link on the side bar to make it easy to find the page. Once there you could bookmark it if you like to have a shorter way to get to the page, or you could cut and copy the voting widget that they have on the bottom of the page.
Thank you all for your support in my quilt designing in this challenge. I have had a great year of learning as well as designing. It has been a wonderful journey that I will continue to take and share along the way. I would also like to say Thank you to McCall's Quilting for the opportunity and let you know that they will be hosting this challenge again next year....... sew if you quilt and love to design this could be for you too!   You'll never know until you try.
in stitches
Annette

New Blog Hop

Is about to begin
Leafs Me Happy
here is the line up of the hop
follow along to see what everyone has created and there might be a few give aways as well.

Leafs Me Happy Schedule

Master Schedule

October 1-10, 2012

Monday 1

Fuzzy Hat Quiter

The Cuddle Quilter

Quilts My Way

Country Cabin Thoughts and Crafts

Dream quilt create

Why-Knot-Kwilt

Needled Mom
Quilter in Motion

Sunshine Girl

Pam

Meadowbrook

Tuesday 2

Mrs.Pickles Garden

Gingersnaps Quilts

Petit Design Co

Jessisca

A Passion For Applique

Annie Oak Designs

Michelle's Romantic Tangle

CherrysPrairiePrimitives

Krislovesfabric

Scrapbook-ChickADoodle

Wednesday 3

Plum and June

The Recipe Bunny

VroomansQuilts

It's Sew Kiki

PigTales and Quilts

Quilting fiesta

GrammieQ's

Nancy

Just Let Me Quilt

Selina Quilts
The Learning Curve~Quilts and Such

Thursday 4

Debby Kratovil Quilts

Patchouli Moon Studio

Freemotion by the River

Quilt Doodle Designs

Apple Avenue Quilts

Jane’s Quilting

Spoilt Dog Quilts

Ramblings of a Quilter

Deborah

A Passion For Appliqué

Gracie Oliver Arts

Friday 5

Insanity Defense

Michelle May and the Bunnies

Sparrow In Flight

Quilted Delights

Quilting With a Marmalade Cat

Traveling Quilter

A Stitch in Time

Cherry Blossoms
Tea Time Creations

Moose Stash Quilting

Stitchin By The Lake

Monday 8

Feathered Nest Studio

Grandmama's Stories

From This to That

Little Mama Hen

Quilt Monster in my Closet

Kathy

in stitches & seams

Buzzing and Bumbling

Nunu's Quilt World

Quilts And Dogs

Briarside Lane

Tuesday 9

Till We Quilt Again

Sheilas quilt world

ferristhoughts

Home Designs by Amanda

Quilt n Queen

Polka dot classic

Moonbeams in a Jar

Stitch, stitch, stitch

Sew Me Something Good

quiltingbydawn

My collection of Things

Wednesday 10

Quilter in the Closet

SewMuch2Luv

Peanut's Patchwork

Quilting Lines

Mochawildchild

Ariane Quilts

Lily Patch Quilts

Cindy's Crafty Creations

Hill Valley Quilter

Count it *all* JOY!!!

Sew We Quilt

Sew there you have it stop on by to see what I have created as well on October 8
see you then
in stitches
Annette

W.I.P. Wednesday

Even though it is early Thursday this is what I was up to yesterday.
I am working on my Leafs me Happy blocks

just a couple of sneak peaks

My FMQ for the challenge on SewCalGal   I would like to say thank you to both ladies, the book I won last month arrived and I am sew looking forward to some play time with it :)   I have linked up with the site to show what I have done , be sure to check how the others have made out with their FMQ.

September FMQ Samples

thanks Angela and SewCalGal
looks like a great resource book

I did up a couple more batches of jam and jelly .... might have to recook it as it has not set yet. Maybe the pectin  is getting weak or old not sure?? Maybe I should just leave the jelly/syrup as a syrup for pancakes and waffles.

And most important I put my quilt ,"Holding On .." ,in the mail to McCall's Quilting, sew they can have professional photos done as well as any judging of the design.
 I will have to ask to see when it comes home again.

 ...... and speaking of that I can go and get my Jewels of the Night , it was hanging in a museum for the summer.
It will seam strange not working on a challenge piece for McCall's anymore. If you count the Jewels of the night I have been working on challenges pieces since last December.
Oh don't worry I know that I will be busy.....
Finding the time to catch up with other projects and work  on a couple of blog hops that I have singed up for. One project will be the quilt for our son, it was to be for his 30th birthday. But when I entered the challenge and was selected to go on he told me not to worry about it and see how far I could go with the challenge with McCall's ..... thanks "Bud"
I will be linking in with The Needle and Thread Network  stop by here as well to see a lot of great works in progress....
until next time
stay
in stitches
Annette

Submitted

Well I have my finial quilt design done and submitted to McCall's Quilting. Come Tuesday October 2 the voting will begin.

Holding On......
one last peak before the voting starts

 

I had a busy week last week trying to get it finished. When things go to smoothly something is bound to happen ... well sometimes. And for me my Machine broke down just as I was getting a good start on my free motion quilting.  I do have another machine and it is a nice new machine but I have never tried to quilt with it and I knew this was not the time for that ....sew.... a good friend on mine loaned me her machine ( which is the same) to do my quilting. It worked sew nice, I had the quilting finished Friday with only the binding and label to do.

Now I have to do some paper work and get the quilt off in the mail to McCall's Quilting and wait and see how everyone dose.
Only one week until they are on line. I can hardly wait to see what all the quilts look like. And how they all have used the theme.
 I know that there will be 18 great quilts made by some new quilt designers.

on another note ....
This past weekend we where at our daughter's doing a few things around her palce, including picking about 26 gallons of grapes. I have started to make jams and jelly and  a few jars of juice. Soon I think I will turn purple ... but they are sew good. I know we will have some to share with friends.

well I'm off to get my quilt packed
have a nice evening
in stitches
Annette

Ready to Quilt !!

Well I had a busy day yesterday and I have my  MQS Design Challenge 3  quilt ready to quilt. I had planned out what I wanted to quilt this past weekend. Sew now  I just have to set my machine up for free motion and away I go. If I keep up to speed I should have the quilt ready to mail next week. I want to allow a little extra time for it's travel. I also will have to take it to the paper sew that folks in town will know that the voting starts October 2, on the McCall's Quilting web site.

just a peak
pin basted and ready to quilt

It will seam strange not to be working on a challenge piece. It has been most of the year that I have been participating in one challenge or another.
 It has been a good year of designing and I know I have a few more to work out after I have this one on it's way. And to clean up my sewing / quilting area.
I also have a suitcase with a few tops just waiting to become quilts and a few UFOs to finish up as well. Sew no worries I will be busy trying to get it all done.
I will be linking up with The Needle and Thread Network , with Monika. Be sure to stop on by and see what the gals have been up to with thier works in progress.
Have a great day
           in stitches
                      Annette

Full steam ahead.

We are back from a weekend in Alberta. We had a nice visit with family and celebrated my sister in laws 50 birthday.It was great to share that time with her.
Sew now that I am back home it will be full steam ahead on my design. I have some applique to do and then some thread play/painting before it set it up to quilt.
Just as soon as I have my Design Challenge 3 done I will play with a few ideas for the Leafs me Happy blog hop happening in October.
Later I will have to clean off a little more of the garden as we had some frost while we were away.
I best get started lots of stitching to do. I am looking forward to seeing the finished design, I hope you are too.
Have a great day
in stitches
Annette

W.I.P. Wednesday

It seams like forever since I last posted on a Wednesday.
I do have one main project on the go, and if you have been following me you'll guess that it is my Challenge 3 design for the McCall's Quilting  Design challenge.
I have a good start on the design wall. I have built my background and I am getting my applique ready to attach and then I will figure out what I want for my borders.
I did try to shop for fabric before I had the background size drawn..... big mistake. It left me open to too many choices  for color and block designs. I had wonderful help at the Haus of Stitches on the weekend .... thanks ladies....   I have decided on size and shape and even the number of blocks needed. I did do a little shopping at a friends in her scrap stash for a couple colors to add to the mix. What would we do with out our quilting buddies ??
And now that I have been home for a couple days I have the blocks built and assembled into the background. I went with what had been my first choice .... Log Cabin though Grandmother's Flower Garden was a close second ( forgot to grab the pattern Marci Baker has to build them a little quicker , I 'll have to put one on hold )

both log cabins are the same size
one is in a traditional setting and the other bright and off centered
with all sides the same
stay tuned to see how they work together

I know I have a lot to do in a little time  my weekends have been booked for the next little while sew I will be sewing a lot during the week. At this point I feel that I am on track and hope to be rolling right along .
I am linking up with The Needle and Thread Network. Check in and see what the others have been up to across Canada.
Off to sew
In stitches
Annette

I've got an idea

 ........ and I am going with it . I have been thinking of what I should design for the next and finial round in the McCall's Quilting Quilt Design Star (QDS). Last week they told us who get to go on with the challenges and what the theme is. If you check out their site you can get more info. The theme is "Opposites attract". I have made a list of about 20 different possibilities and then narrowed it down to 3 and now I am working on one. I will be tyring out something different in this one .... fingers crossed I hope it turns out the way I see it in my head.


getting some ideas together

the first fabrics I have pulled for my design

Sew for the next little while I will be concentrating on this one quilt as I have to have it quilted and off to them around the end of the month.
Other than that I have been making pickles and starting to clear off the garden. Fall is here and today weather feels like it.

my jar of counter dills

the first batch of pickles

We have also started to bring back some of our stuff from the camp site, we  might get one more weekend out there. It was a very windy weekend ... just what the wind / kite surfer's like.

Well that's all for now take care
in stitches
Annette

August FMQ Challenge

Boy this month slipped away from me......
I only had the chance to do a little practicing with this months challenge and I promise to do more. It is a fun little hat to stitch and with the middle little flame shape it lends itself to more quilting options.
Thanks Wendy for a fun tutorial on a fun little hat that we all can play with .
I can see it a a basic fill on a few of the little quilts that I like to make and give as gifts. A good place to practice and build a skill.

jester hats

jester hats with middle flame

I am linking up with SewCalGal with the Free Motion Quilting Challenge for August
.It's never to late to try out a few of the lessons posted. Some are posted for a limited time and others are still there, They also  have extra bonus lessons as well sew pop on over to check it out.
in stitches
Annette

and the winner is....

luck of the draw

Renate from Germany
 I'll be sending  her the table top needle threader. I have been in touch with her this morning and she is looking forward to this little helper. I know I love using it.
I will have to research how to use the number generators to help with give away draws.

my happy helpers

I wrote out each name and email to put into my draw pail. I had sheets and sheets of them write out and cut apart.

modern technology
 

One of my quilting friends was here last night sew I had her do the draw. She thought this was a great idea and was sorry she did not get in on the draw herself. Her daughter caught married last weekend sew she had been busy that last little while.

Today the post man delivered a package of goodies from McCall's Quilting.  A couple packages of batting in crib and queen size  from Warm and Natural and American Spirit, a nice collection of threads from Coats & Clark, a cute sewing tin
and a lovely quilting book. Thank you to McCall's for the lovely goodies I know I will be putting them to good use shortly.

Sew now that I have my news posted I best get back to thinking up my next design.
Take care
hugs
In stitches
Annette

Challenge 3 Finalistst Announced

Big smile on my face today :)  !!
Today was the day that McCall's Quilting  annoucned the finalists from the second challenge. Sew with all the voting done over the last few weeks I am happy to say that I am one of the quitlters that get to design one more quilt for this challenge. Check out McCall's Quilting to see who all made it on to the next round of designing. I feel that I am in good company as there were a lot of great quilts designed in the last challenge.
Sew I would like to once again say thank you to all who took the time to be part of the voting and encouragement along the way.
Over the next month I will design and complete another quilt and send it in to McCall's for a photo shoot.Voting will be  starting on October 2.
I am sure that I will keep you all posted and send a few sneak peaks to keep you interested.
Thanks again.

Flutterybys in My Garden
Challenge 2

Guide me Safely Home
Challenge 1

Off of a walk and put the thinking cap on.

Jewels of the Night
Entry Quilt Design

in stitches
Annette

Challenge 2 voting ends

It's down to the last couple of hours of voting, then the waiting begins. Tuesday at the end of the business day we can check the McCall's Quilting web page to see who the lucky ones are that will continue to design.There have been a lot of great quilts designed once again this round I hope you have checked them all out and in both categories.
It has been interesting finding out a few who have been voting and that they have gotten others on board to vote as well. It kind of snowballs. Sew I would like to thank you one and all who have taken the time to vote.
I can hardly wait to see who will get to go on.... sew it's fingers crossed while I wait. I'll be  keeping  myself busy while I wait to help the time go a little quicker. I think I'll be spending some time at the sewing machine. I have to get at my Free Motion Quilting Challenge and have it posted by the end of the month. I also have a couple small projects to get finished as well as getting my draw ready from my Bowls with Borders.
If you have not gotten in on the draw , check out the post and leave a comment and I will get you in.
I'll post as soon as I find out.
Have a good evening everyone
in stitches
Annette

Bowls with Borders & W I P Wednesdays

Sorry I'm late I tried to set the time and date for midnight last night :(

not sure why it did not work

I hope you enjoy my post

Well it's my turn to share with you what I have been up to for  the Bowls with Borders Blog Hop. This is the first time I have participated in a blog hop,I was a little nervous doing this not sure if I would have the time to do it up proper. Once I got started I had a lot of fun playing with the bowls, may have to make a few more later this fall.
There are sew many great ideas and combinations of ways to use the bowls out there on the other blogs,be sure to check them all out.
 I would like to thank all the ladies who have organized it as well as providing the pattern and any extra help we have needed along the way .
Thank you to Madame Samm , Carol and Regina. I know it takes a lot of team work to get this going, and we sew appreciate all that you have done.
Sew here goes.......
First I tried out the pattern and my paper piecing skills on this single bowl.
and then I tried again ....learning that my iron will pick up some of the ink and put it on the front side making it look dirty  :(     I also learned that I want to find a lighter paper to print on for paper piecing

unfinished bowl ....to much ink
transferred when pressing....

This one makes a nice little place mat.

I quilted in the steam

then I thought I would try stacking them, this one is almost done ... it will be a mat to line a serving tray.

my w i p for this week...
I like how it looks in the tray
below is a close up of the bowls

and I also thought I would enlarge it a far bit and make it a pocket on an apron
I made the apron as a gift for one of my nieces ... hope she likes it.

step one..... enlarge the pattern

make up the pocket for the apron

add a few words
and then some stitches

 soup's on Apron is ready for use

There have been sew many great projects made with the bowls, and sew many more ideas shared over the last week or sew and I know that there will be a few more over the next few as well.Sew glad that I am a part of this hop.
I would like to show it by having a little give away

Clover's Table Top Needle Threader
works sew slick
I just love it and sew do my eyes

this has been very handy for me and I thought I would send one out to one of you out there

It is a Table Top  Needle Threader by Clover. It is sew easy to use and saves the eyes ( both yours and the needles)
I had received one from McCall's in the quilter's goodies from the first round of the McCall's Quilt Design Star 2012. I have enjoyed using it sew much I went out and bought one to use for this blog hop.
Leave a comment and I will make a draw  on August 29.
Make sure you are not a no reply blogger, sew that I can get in touch with you if you are the winner.
be sure to follow along to see what the others have done with their bowls with border today here are the links for today
                                                                        August 22nd

Margaret M.

Monika (mo-pi-de)

Regina M.
Rosemarie W.

                                                                Anolisl's Kreative Seite  
                                                                  In Stitches and Seams
                                                                     Morgaine's 77 Blog  
                                                                      On The Go Quilting  
                                                                      Aus dem Fuchsbau
I also link up with The Needle and Thread Network with wips , since I have bowls in the works I thought it would be my work in progress for this week. You can see what the other ladies have been up to with the link that I have provided.
If you noticed the Voting link on my side bar I am in McCall's Quilting Quilt Design Star Challenge This is the 2nd round of quilt designs. Your daily votes will help me to go on to the finial round. For each round they give us a challenge to complete in about 4 weeks.  Sew please, stop on by and check out the quilts and cast a vote ... there is room for comments on the voting page as well. I would love to hear from you. Voting will go until this Sunday night. ( this is the first time that I have done any thing like this, it has been fun and a learning experience )
Thanks for stopping by and seeing what all I have been up to this summer.


In stitches
Annette

where did last week go??

Boy did last week fly by.
For me it was filled with work and then a few appointments , the weekend at the Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame  for the inductions of this years nominees. My high light of the week would be meeting Sheila from Sheila's Quilt World.

We have been chatting back and forth almost from the beginning of my blogging ... it was like meeting an  old friend . We met up at Periwinkle  quilt shop in Saskatoon home of Michelle from Periwinkle Quilting  and Beyond blog . Michelle greeted us as we all arrived Monika from My Sweet  Prairie, Flo from Butterfly Quilting and Brenda who had done a postcard exchange with Sheila . We took over the back half of the shop for a while and then went over to Jerry's  for ice cream. It was great to meet the ladies I have been chatting with over the last couple of years. Thank you Michelle for opening your shop to us and the coffee and cookies too.And thank you to Monika for getting the other gals together for Sheila and I to meet.

I did manage to have a few extra minutes with Sheila as we drove her to her son's house. It was such a great pleasure to met Sheila, we will get together on her next visit out and who knows maybe I will get out to Nova Scotia to see her at home.  When we got together we had little gifts for each other we both had made a tote bag to give the other ( with out knowing it). She also made me the cutest little pincushion that she stitched ...beautiful work Sheila.

I just love  it Sheila It is the perfect size I used it this past weekend to hold some quilting for the road trip and a few other goodies as well.
 I did get some work done for the Bowls with Borders blog hop. My turn is this week on the 22, stop on by and enter in the give away that I will be having.

We are on the last week of voting for the McCall's Quilt Design Star 2012 2nd challenge.sew if you are sew inclined stop on by and vote , leave a comment to I would love to know what you think of the quilt I designed. I have a link on the top side bar on this page to help you find your way.
Have a great day
In stitches
Annette