April 2012 – Page 3 – Sew Bittersweet Designs

Winners, Vacation, and a Hop!

8 Comments / Colonial Needle, Contemporary Cloth, Lily Pad Quilting / By Melissa Dunworth

Happy Monday Everybody!!! I am so excited to announce the winners of the generous giveaway from Sondra at Contemporary Cloth – I love announcing winners, but it is even more fun when there is more than one!

First up…

Author: Angie
Website: http://pinterest.com/angielatte
Comment:
I’m a twitter follower.

Second up…

Author: Jacque
Website: http://lilypadquilting.blogspot.com
Comment:
I added Contemporary Cloth to my Facebook page! http://www.facebook.com/pages/OleFrogEyes-Virtual-Design-Wall-for-Quilters/221149167928848

Third up…

Author: Mary
Website: http://sewmaybeican.blogspot.ca/
Comment:
I signed up for Contemporary Cloth’s newsletter. Thanks for the chance to win.

Congratulations everyone! I will be sending your email addresses to Sondra and she will contact you since I will be out of the country.

Which brings me to Vacation!!!

My husband and I are taking our first ever vacation without our baby girl. We will be spending 4 days in Victoria, BC in Canada. I am so excited and so nervous at the same time. I know Anne will be fine, her Nana and Baba (grandpa) will be staying at our house with her. It is me that I am worried about, I just know I am going to have separation anxiety, I already have it and we haven’t even left yet!!! Good grief! The top of my list is going to Butchart Gardens, after that I will do whatever my hubs wants to do. I have already been there and this is his first trip.

And now for the hop!

I am participating in the Colonial Needle Blog Hop hosted by Lily Pad Quilting. Go check it out, I will be back on Thursday with my post and giveaway for the hop!

Sunday, April 15 – Snoodles at Lily Pad Quilting
Monday, April 16 – SewCalGal
Tuesday, April 17 – Gene Black – An Alabama Artist & Quilter
Wednesday, April 18 – Tonya at Hillbilly Handiworks
Thursday, April 19 – Yours Truly – Sew BitterSweet Designs
Friday, April 20 – Kiera at It’s Sew Kiki
Saturday, April 21 – Sunni at Love Affair With My Brother
Sunday, April 22 – Barbara at Cat Patches

I will see you on the flip side on Thursday! Have a great week!

Colonial Needle Blog Hop

4 Comments / Blog Hop, Colonial Needle, Lily Pad Quilting / By Melissa Dunworth

I know I don’t normally post on Sundays, but today is special. It is the first day of the Colonial Needle Blog Hop! This hop is being hosted by Snoodles from Lily Pad Quilting.

This hop will be going on for the next week and includes some of my favorite quilting and sewing bloggers! Check out the line up:

This is going to be a week filled with reviews and giveaways of products that every sewist and quilter NEEDS. I mean seriously how can you sew without NEEDLES!

I will be back tomorrow with the winner of the Contemporary Cloth Giveaway – you have until 9:00 pm Pacific Time tonight to enter. Then I will be off until my day of the blog hop. My hubs and I are getting ready for some major life changes (I will fill you in on the details next month – I promise) and we have decided to take a few days to ourselves in beautiful Victoria, BC. I am really excited and looking forward to some time alone with my hubs. I have a feeling, however, that I am going to miss Anne terribly (my parents are coming up here to stay with her while we are gone) and will be homesick for her before we even get to the border crossing!

Now head over to Lily Pad Quilting to have some Needle Fun!

When you have the heart to give

6 Comments / Charity, Hopeful Threads / By Melissa Dunworth

As I have said many times on this blog, I have the heart to give and as often as I can I do. Whether it be donating quilt block to Do.Good Stitches or to Quilting for Kids. There is something to be said for helping someone you have never met before. Most everything I donate to is quilt related, this is because I am not confident in my non-quilting sewing skills.

Kristy, of Hopeful Threads, also has the heart to give. She is truly an inspiration to not only me, but hundreds of others. Every month Kristy collects handmade items for a specific charity. Every month I have wanted to donate, it has been in my heart, but I just haven’t felt comfortable with my skill set to make something that I would feel good about donating. I want to donate my best, not my so-so work.

This month I asked Kristy if I could donate in an alternative way, I am donating a dress kit for Dress a Girl Around the World and I will send it to someone who would commit to make a dress and donate it to the cause.

This is my donation. Now it gets even better, Kristy matched my donation with a dress kit as well, after her post went live on Monday two more wonderful bloggers jumped on board with dress kits. Suzanne from Sew Delightful is donating a dress kit and so is my friend from Noguchi Designs. Not only are these wonderfully talented women donating dresses but they are also making it possible for someone else to donate too!

If you have it in your heart to sew a dress and put a smile on a little girls face please go enter the giveaways and sew a dress!

Have a wonderful weekend!

PS. Don’t forget to go enter the generous giveaway from Contemporary Cloth. You have until Sunday!

Quliting Away

10 Comments / Giveaway, quilting / By Melissa Dunworth

The last 2 weeks I haven’t been doing too much piecing. Mostly lots and lots of quilting. This is a sneak peak at my secret project. This is going to be turned in to my second pattern. I am really excited about it and I can’t wait to share it with you.

I have also finally gotten to quilting the Twirling Around Quilt.

Here I am working away with my headlamp in place. You may remember this as my secret weapon for when I paper piece. It is also my secret weapon for quilting, sometimes piecing (depending on the available light), and all handwork. Every quilter and sewist needs to have hiking headlamp. I LOVE mine!

Don’t forget to go enter the generous giveaway from Contemporary Cloth and if you like to sew dresses, go check out the giveaway I am sponsoring at Hopeful Threads!

Have a wonderful day!

2nd Quarter Finish-A-Long Goals

9 Comments / Finish-A-Long / By Melissa Dunworth

It’s that time again. Time to figure out what UFOs are going to get completed this quarter, and time to link up with Rhonda from Quilter in the Gap (I need to put it out there so I hold myself responsible!!!). There are only 4 this quarter because I want to set myself up for success this time (and I know this is going to be a rough few months for me!).

First and foremost I need to finish my mom’s mother’s day gift:

I’ve made some progress on this – I need to hand quilt in the butterflies still and maybe a few hearts if I am feeling extra ambitious.

Next I want to finish a quilt top I made before Anne was born, it is from a kit that my mom bought to make a hospice quilt for my grandma. She died from breast cancer when I was in college and I want to finish the quilt finally.

My third project I can’t share pictures of yet, I need to write the pattern, my second, for a quilt I designed. Wish me luck, my LQS has already shown some interest in possibly carrying it which would be HUGE for me!

My fourth project has no pictures either, but I need to make a pay it forward gift. Gotta finish!!!

What is on your UFO list for this quarter? I also have all my other on going fun projects and what not that I’m always working on so I should be nice and busy for the next three months!