Thursday, October 18, 2012

If your in the area

You really should check out the display at the Arts Council Building ..... The Gallery on Third.

ARTLESS FABRICATIONS By Carol Schmold
In 2007 Carol challenged herself to made a new textile work every week for the year.
Sew there are 52 small art quilts that she designed and made during that year.
Artless Fabrications   this link will take you to Carol's home page . Check out her blog to have a peak at some of her work. I thought it was awesome.
I hope to stop by again later this week .... time/work permitting.  The hours that the Gallery on Third are Wed - Sat 1 -4 pm, her show is only here until the 20 of October.
This show is part of the OSAC Arts on the move program .... if you are in Saskatchewan check to see if it is coming to your area  or request it to come.
 Sew that's all for now
                    take care
                                      in stitches
                                              Annette

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

just a quilting


Quilting Guide me Safely Home

Well I have been working on my FMQ and trying to get one of my quilts finished before the end of the month. I really want to get both of my McCall's Quilting  challenge quilts done to take for a little bit of a trunk show that I will be doing in Davidson in November. This will be something completely new for me as I do not feel that I am a great public speaker ...... but I  am willing to try and learn to step outside my comfort zone ... at least just a little.( I'm sure it will be just like having show and tell :)   )
I have also been finishing up my blocks for the Wicked hop that will start next week ...sew stay tuned to see some great ideas and blocks for Halloween.
just a peak of my things that go
"bump in the night" quilt

I am linking up with The Needle and Thread Network and Monika ..... stop on by and see what everyone has been up to .
And of course there are only a few days left to get your votes in on this years McCall's Quilting Quilt Design Star 2012.
take care and have a wonderful day
in stitches
Annette

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Tidbit Tuesday

It's been a while .... a long while scince I posted a tidbit. This one is for cleaning your Iron.
Last week while doing some fusible applique I happened to get some sticky on the iron. Just a bit but it was enough to make a mess of a project. I remembered about using a used dryer softener sheet to clean the tip of a hot glue gun and thought, why not.  It might just work for a hot iron with fusible web.
And it did. It took off allof black( burnt glue ) and any sticky residue and even shine up the sole plate of the iron.
all clean and ready to go again

I also received a package in the mail today form Angie from morgaine77.blogspot.com
she sent out a few fat quarters , a neat little seam ripper and tweezer and a fabric fairy magnet( I knew she was real just like the quilting fairy .... I found 3 new quilt batts on my door step once,)
Thanks Angie

We are down to the last week of the McCall's Quilting Quilt Design Star 2012. Your votes will be counted until Sunday the 21 and the winner will be anounced on the 23.
Thank you to all how have voted once or daily. It has been a great experience and has helped me design a few more quilts. and the desire to do more. Next week in my Wicked post I will have one that I am thinking of doing a pattern for. I am taking little steps but I am going forward to see what I can do. Sew thank you for your support in my quilting.

Sew until next time happy stitching
in stitches
Annette

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Leafs Me Happy winner is......

Just a short note to say that my draw is over and the lucky winner was
comment #55 Robin.
I have sent her a note to get the mailing info and her package will be on it's way.
Thank you all for playing along and joining us with the Leafs Me Happy Blog Hop . It is great to hear from you all and see what everyone has created and shared with us through the hop. A way to get to know each other just a little bit better.
...... watch for the Wicked Hop that will soon be here. It should be spook-tacular....
Have a great day
               in stitches
                            Annette

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

W.I.P. Wednesdays..... fall is in the air, with a touch of snow too!

Another week has gone by sew fast. Not sure where it went just know that it is gone.  Sew what am I working on now.... samples for my candle mat class
candle mat samples

quilt for our son and items for another blog hop

both are hanging on my design wall

 and then back to the tomatoes and doing some fall cleaning around the house and putting up some fall / Halloween decorations
a friendly fall face

I am linking up with Monika and The Needle and Thread Network.
stop in and see what everyone has been up to this last week too.
And on the voting front with McCall's Quilting Quilt Design Star ....... there are only 12 days left for voting, You can either use the link on the top of my page or go to there site www.mccallsquilting.com
be sure to check out both categories as they have great quilts in both.
Thanks for stopping by to see what I have been up to, have a great day ( bundle up if you are around my area as they are talking snow , brrrrrrr. Just sew long as it does not last like yesterdays snow we will be fine )
in stitches
Annette
P.S. remember this is the last day of the Leafs Me Happy Blog hop check it out an dget in on some of the give aways!!!!
Wednesday 10











Sunday, October 7, 2012

Leafs Me Happy Hop October 8, 2012



Welcome Fall ........ and all the falling leaves
Happy Thanksgiving to all our Canadian bloggers and followers
It is my turn to share with you on the Leafs Me Happy blog hop .
I would like to thank Madame Samm and Cherry Blossoms for organizing and hosting this blog hop. I know it takes a fare bit of time to get it all done ..... thank you .. thank you.....  thank you. We all appreciate it a lot.
First I would like to share the list of links for the blogers today .....
Monday 8







                              in stitches & seams  ( hi! You are here )




be sure to stop by and see what makes them all smile with their leaves.

Scattered Leaves

Well I decided to play with the leaf templates I have from one of my patterns for a fall banner/garden flag, called  Changing Seasons. As I played with my 12 1/2" block I thought it would be nice to have a pillow for the season too.

And to dress it up some I added a ruffle to the border .Finished size is 16" square. My first pillow in a long time. I just might have to make a few more now as it went together fairly quick, and was fun to make.

Changing Seasons Banner

I have also made up the banner and will have a copy of the pattern as my give away for this hop, I'll include a fat quarter or two as well. Just leave a comment, and follow if you like. You can enter until midnight on the 10 of October for the give away.

I have a pile of leavs in my living room!



My give away for the Leafs Me Happy Blog Hop


If you noticed the Voting link on my page it is for the McCall's Quilting  Quilt Design Star challenge that I have been participating in this year. I have had a lot of support from family and friends and have made it to the finals, sew if you are sew inclined stop on  by and cast a vote and also check out the other quilts that have been designed for this last round.

Sew that's all for now , thanks for stopping by
in stitches Annette

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

W.I.Ps Wednesday ...... & voting

I have been busy getting my block together for the Leafs Me Happy hop. My turn will be on Monday the 8th, Thanksgiving here in Canada.
I have a couple peaks here and next I will be working on the blocks for Wicked another hop,over at Sew We Quilt aka Stash Manicure.
It will seam strange not working on a challenge piece now. As the last round of quilting is done and the voting has started. There have been some great quilts designed once again. I have been sew blessed to be part of this group of quilters.Check out the quilts with my link on the side bar.
a few blocks for my son's quilt
I hope to see it growing soon
sew now it will be time to take out a bunch of my UFOs and work on them I have a quilt started for my son and that will be the first one I want to finish. He had told me to put it on hold while I was in the McCall's Quilt Design Star Challenge.
I received good news the other day .... my sewing machine is all better. It had broken while quilting Holding On... and I had to borrow a friends to finish. sad to say I have not had it 4 yrs yet. But it is fixed and I can play with it again. I had trouble with the take up lever ( thread tangling on it and breaking, this is what the trouble was caused from as it loosen the lever and it came off as well as the build up caused the needle to miss aline when sewing decorative stitches ) I will be taking it for a good test run when I get it home again.
The weather has turned a little cooler here and they have been using that 4 letter word  .... snow..... It's much too early for that, but if it comes it should not stick around just yet I hope.
Well that's all for now be sure to check in with The Needle and Thread Network to see what everyone else has been  up to, I'll be linking up with Monika there.
in stitches
Annette

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

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

Friday, September 28, 2012

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

Tuesday 2

Wednesday 3

Thursday 4

Friday 5

Monday 8
Tuesday 9

Wednesday 10

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

Thursday, September 27, 2012

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

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

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

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

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

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

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

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

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

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

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

Thursday, August 30, 2012

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