Mary Ann Sell started hand quilting in the 80′s, moved on to machine piecing and quilting, and made traditional quilts for years. She eventually decided she wanted to stop using others’ patterns and design her own. Enter EQ6 into the picture.

Mary Ann says: “I love to do raw-edge fusible applique and make quirky quilts, and that’s what I’ve been concentrating on with my Sticks and Broomstraws pattern line. Halloween is my favorite holiday. I had recently taken a class in EQ6 Appliqué with Patti Anderson at QuiltUniversity.com. One of the class lessons focused on using the WreathMaker and I got the bright idea to use that function to make Halloween themed wreaths.

I had a blast choosing the spooky elements that I wanted to “dance” around the wreath. My Harvest Quadrille pattern was born! That success has led to more designs that I hope to publish in the future.

EQ6 provides the perfect framework for designing without wearing my erasers down to nubs! There’s something about using the software to draw that isn’t as intimidating as holding a pencil and facing a blank piece of paper. My expectation is different somehow and that give me more creative freedom. Making changes in the designs is so much easier than re-drawing templates on paper, and duplicating those changes is a snap. I love that I can store all the design elements in my library and refer back to them, alter them, resize them and reuse them–all without searching through reams of paper to find my original templates. I am able to use the actual print-outs of my templates from EQ6 in my pattern instructions, rather than having to farm out the drafting to a graphics professional.”

“If all these aren’t enough reasons to love EQ6, the icing on the cake is the Tech Support. All the questions I’ve ever submitted have been answered quickly and thoroughly by Penny McMorris herself! Where else do you get that kind of customer service?

Thanks for sharing your story and for the kind words Mary Ann. We wish you much success in creating your own patterns. You can check out Mary Ann’s website at: www.sticksandbroomstraws.com