The First Day of Kindergarten

Well autumn has surely arrived in Western Washington, where we call home. It is a balmy 46 degrees this morning while I write this post. Along with autumn arriving (a bit too early for me), Anne has decided to grow up before my very eyes and become a Kindergartner. Not sure where she got this crazy growing up idea from, but alas, yesterday was the day when I had to turn my baby over to complete strangers for 6.5 hours for this thing called school.

Just yesterday my baby girl looked like this:

Anne - 10 months old - https://www.sewbittersweetdesigns.comOk, so maybe this wasn’t yesterday (after all Anne wouldn’t touch pasta with red sauce with a ten foot pole these days), but still! This is all I saw yesterday when I was taking this picture:

First day of Kinder - https://www.sewbittersweetdesigns.comI mean seriously! She just kills me being all grown up. The last two years she has wanted to be a pilot, this year she wants to be a zookeeper. I love how her personality has changed and developed over the last 5 years.

1st day of Kinder - https://www.sewbittersweetdesigns.com

Can you tell her mommy might be a quilter? Look what she designed during open free time!

So there you have it, my baby girl is in Kindergarten. Bring on the fears that accompany normal children and multiply them by multiple health issues and life threatening food allergies. Quite frankly, I’m surprised I survived yesterday with all my worry. Anne, was of course, just fine!

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Posted in Clothes, Personal Post | 7 Comments

Jaftex 85th Anniversary Blog Hop – Rainbow Spinner!

Jaftex85thAnniversaryICo-sponosored by: Aurifil ThreadsSchmetz Needles, and Janome

I was so excited when I received an email asking if I wanted to participate in the anniversary blog hop for Jaftex Corporation! I received 3 bundles of Peppered Cottons, one for me, one for YOU, and one to make a beautiful quilted item with.  Be sure to enter the giveaway at the bottom of this post for your chance to win 20 Fat Quarters of Peppered Cottons by Studio E.

When I first received the fabrics, I wasn’t quite sure how to show off their simple beauty. It would be so easy to use them and make something pretty, but the challenge I set for myself was to use them and make them sing. I had a notion for a non-tradition color wheel and started out in EQ7.

EQ7 Rainbow Spinner - https://www.sewbittersweetdesigns.com

 I ended up making my own template for the wedges, as I didn’t own one with the correct degree.  Before piecing my quilt, I made a test quilt, I was afraid to cut into the fabrics and not have it be “perfect”. You can see that quilt in this blog post. Once I was certain that the design was a successful one, I started cutting and sewing. The top went together quickly. I ended up spray basting the large circle to the backing fabric and then fusing the center pinwheel to it. The center is appliqued down and the rest is quilted together.

Rainbow Spinner - https://www.sewbittersweetdesigns.comTo truly appreciate the beauty of this quilt, it has to be viewed outside in sunlight, my parents deck in California happens to be my favorite place to photograph quilts, they always look amazing on the weather wood.  My favorite part, aside from the bright and beautiful fabrics, is the quilting. This is another one of my Zentangle Quilts. Check out the back!

Rainbow Spinner Back - https://www.sewbittersweetdesigns.comAs you can tell…it is a bit…ahem…heavily quilted. This is meant to be used as a wall hanging, so I am quite all right with it being dense. For quilts that will be loved and hugged on, I do prefer a lighter touch on the quilting, but I definitely went overboard on this one.

I came up with the quilting design by doodling it on a print out from EQ7, this process always helps me plan my quilting and I highly recommend it to everyone!

Rainbow Spinner Zentangle - https://www.sewbittersweetdesigns.com

I have to say that having never worked with the Peppered Cottons before, I really didn’t know what to expect. When I received them, they were so soft, I just wanted to wrap myself up inside of them. That’s why this entire quilt, front, back and binding, are all made out of them. I wanted it to feel soft and luxurious to the touch, and believe me, it does.

So the big question becomes, who gets to keep this quilt? Anne or Mommy? She has already informed me that it is hers, but alas, her walls are filled with other quilts that she has “claimed”. Maybe this one will be MINE!

Quilt Stats:

Quilt Name: Rainbow Spinner
Designed, Pieced and Quilted by: Melissa Dunworth
Fabrics: Peppered Cottons for Studio E (Jaftex Corporation)
Size: 44″ x 46″

One last pretty picture:

Rainbow Spinner - https://www.sewbittersweetdesigns.comPlease enter the Rafflecopter below to enter to win 20 Fat Quarters of these gorgeous Studio E Fabrics.

A little history behind the Jaftex Corporation:

Jaftex Corp. was founded in the 1930’s when Jacob A. Fortunoff started selling fabric on the streets of New York.  At that time, the mainstay of the business was women’s sleepwear and lingerie.  In the 80’s, Jacob’s grandson, Robert, dramatically changed the business of the company.  The business focus was transferred to the over the counter quilt industry when Robert purchased companies like A.E. Nathan, Henry Glass, Stylemaker, Chanteclaire, Fabric Editions/Studioe and more recently The Blank Quilting Corp.  Robert is now joined by his two sons, Scott and Greg.  Scott currently is the President of Studioe Fabrics, The Blank Quilting Corp. & A.E. Nathan Co., Inc.  Greg just joined the business in late 2014 and has successfully spearheaded the company’s foray in to precut fabrics among other contributions.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Also! Make sure you visit this post and enter to win some even more incredible prizes, including a new sewing machine!

Tomorrow head over to Yvonne Fuchs – http://quiltingjetgirl.com and see what she has come up with! To see the full schedule of bloggers, make sure you check out the link above!

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Posted in 2015 Finishes, Blog Hop, Sew BitterSweet Designs Patterns, Zentangle | 255 Comments

A Lovely Year of Finishes – August Winners

A Lovely Year of Finishes

Shanna from Fiber of All Sorts and I are so excited to celebrate with everyone.  It’s fun to finish and here is are the winners of our little extra incentives.


Here is a list of our amazing sponsors & winners for August

1. One Charm pack or $10.00 gift certificate to
Stitches n’ Giggles (winners choice)

Julie – That’s Sew Julie

2. One PDF pattern from Sew Sweetness

 Sew Sweetness

Rebecca – Biscuit’s Bits and Bobs

3. A Prize from Carrie of Gotcha Covered Quilting

4. One PDF pattern from Honey, Bunny, and Doll Designs

Honey, Bunny, and Doll

Mary – Mary Emmens

5. Thimblepie’s Quilt Supplies – Custom fabric package, 3 yards plus free shipping anywhere

Linda – A Pieceful Kingdom

6. Green Fairy Quilts – 3 pdf patterns

7. $15 gift certificate from Fat Quarter Shop

8. PDF Pattern from Katy – The Littlest Thistle

The Littlest Thistle - http://www.the-littlest-thistle.com/

 Ellie – Love to Color My World

9. One PDF Pattern from Meadow Mist Designs

Meadow Mist Designs Button

Sobana – The Quilt Bug

10. PDF Pattern from Persimon Dreams

11. One pdf Pattern from Clover and Violet

cloverandviolet

Sarah – Sarah Goer Quilts 

12. Sew BitterSweet Designs one pdf pattern

https://www.sewbittersweetdesigns.com/

Sherry – Blessings from our nest 

13. One PDF pattern from Michele of Aiming for Accuracy

mishka-playground_sq-125

Andrea – Flickr

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Keep up the great work!

Just keep Stitching

Posted in A Lovely Year of Finishes, Fiber of All Sorts | 2 Comments

Some mini quilts for your viewing pleasure

Last week at my Modern Quilt Guild meeting I was doing a demo of the Quick Curve Ruler by Jenny Pedigo of Sew Kind of Wonderful.  In order to do said demo I had to cut out two different blocks, which naturally meant that two new WIPs (works in progress) were born.  I have turned those demo blocks into mini quilts (tops anyways). One will be for my partner for the Schnitzel and Boo mini quilt swap that is currently happening on Instagram and the second one will be for yours truly.

Quick Curve Minis - https://www.sewbittersweetdesigns.comMy partner for Schnitzel and Boo likes batiks and modern patterns so I figured what’s better than combining them both. I made a 16 inch block from the Metro Scope pattern, available on Jenny’s site. The other block was originally two out of three rows from the Crazy Eight’s pillow pattern from the Curved Contemporary Quilts book. You may remember that last August I participated in a blog hop for the release of this book and made the Crazy Eight’s pillow.

I stayed with the same color inspiration, but realized that I wanted something a little different, so I ripped the mini apart and made each section square and made what I was truly envisioning when I was cutting fabric, now I am in LOVE!

Quick Curve Minis - https://www.sewbittersweetdesigns.comThis version makes me happy! I just need to quilt them both, but for now they will rest on my design wall while I work on my Lovely Year of Finishes goal.

Happy Tuesday and Happy Sewing!

signaturePS. Make sure you go to Day 8 of the Jaftex Blog Hop!

September 8th – Linda Lum DeBono – www.lindalumdebono.com

Posted in Mini Quilt, Quick Curve Ruler | 3 Comments

Star Wars – The Force Awakens

Every once in awhile in the awesome quilting universe that I spend a vast majority of my time in, an opportunity will come by that I cannot let pass me by. Last month, one such opportunity arose. The chance to make a Star Wars – The Force Awakens quilt for Camelot Fabrics.  Because today is Force Friday (#ForceFriday) the Star Wars universe is celebrating the release of all the incredible fan memorabilia that is being released in anticipation of the newest addition to the Star Wars Saga, this includes the release of an awesome new fabric line in honor of the movie!

Force Awakens Quilt - https://www.sewbittersweetdesigns.com

This quilt was made using the new Star Wars Collection: The Force Awakens from Camelot Fabrics. I have to say that the fabrics are a dream to sew with! The pattern is Farm Stand by Anne Sullivan for Camelot Fabrics and is a free download. I have used this pattern twice now and it is fantastic for showing off your favorite fabric collections.

And now a little fabric eye candy for you!

starwars_theforceawakens4
starwars_theforceawakens

The fabrics are so detailed, one of my favorites is the Storm Trooper fabric in white, for some reason it just reminds me of in childhood memories of watching the Storm Troopers in the original movies.

One last goodie for you! Camelot is hosting complete fat quarter bundle giveaway on Facebook! Click over here to enter!

So Happy #ForceFriday Everyone! Get out there and enjoy all of #TheForceAwakens goodies that are now hitting the shelves!

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Posted in 2015 Finishes, Camelot Fabrics, ForceFriday | 4 Comments