Melissa Dunworth – Page 122 – Sew Bittersweet Designs

Flying Arrows Finish

18 Comments / Contemporary Cloth, Finished Quilts, Quilting Gallery, Robert Kaufman / By Melissa Dunworth

I am so excited! I actually finished an entire quilt! In the same month I started it, now believe me when I say, that is a record for me! Another first for me…I made a pieced back for this quilt and I have to say I love the back practically as much as the front, so here goes, a ton of pictures! You can find the tutorial for the Flying Arrows Quilt top here.

The Front

The Back

Gratuitously cute toddler picture – sun bathing on my new quilt!

It’s perfect for watching TV on too!

All rolled up with nowhere to go!

Quilt Stats:
Measures: 62×62″
Fabric: Kona Modern Quilts for Robert Kaufman
Quilting: “Straight” Line
For: No purpose – it just tickles my fancy

Now, if you really like this quilt…I have entered it over in the weekly quilt contest at Quilting Gallery, this week’s contest is sponsored by Contemporary Cloth and the challenge was Geometric Designs. I would love your vote! And don’t forget you can always vote for more than one quilt!!! Thank you!

Don’t Faint – I’m Swooning Again!

15 Comments / Home Dec, Swoon / By Melissa Dunworth

Do you remember back in January, February, March and April I posted Swoon blocks? Haven’t seen any from me in awhile, have you? Well, I am Swooning again, please don’t faint or anything. I finally tracked down all the fabric I needed and then I stopped sewing blocks. There are lots of reasons why: deployment, sick toddler, sick mommy, company, and tons of other projects. Excuses excuses! Back to the Swooning already! In the last 2 days I have made 2 new blocks! I guess they would be my May and June Blocks. I’m hoping in the next several days I can get done my July and August blocks, then I would be back on track for 1 block per month. We’ll see – I don’t want to set myself up for failure, right now I just want to celebrate actually getting some swooning done!

Now you might be saying to yourself, “WOOHOO! 2/3 of the way done, only 3 blocks to go!” Well…let’s not jump the gun, I decided to go King Size remember? So I actually have 10 more blocks to go! This is the never ending quilt project! (And as a side note, can I just tell you how hard it was to get this picture, the blocks are so ginormous I practically needed a wide angle lens! I have no idea where I will lay them out from now on for pictures because I certainly do not have enough floor space in my sewing room!)

Now in totally non-quilting related news…I have decided to take on a Home Dec projects of sorts. This is really not my thing, but it is something I am really excited about. I am going to re-do my circa 1980s desk/dresser for Anne’s bedroom! Here is a really hideous before picture – it currently lives in my butler’s pantry downstairs just off my kitchen.

The white things are from our child safety lock days (don’t need them now – see picture below for explanation). The pictures on top are our family portraits from Anne’s First Birthday, the extra adults are my wonderful parents!

The drawers are all jamb packed with year books and photo albums. They are so heavy I can barely open them so I don’t worry about Anne getting into them, plus we are darn near out of the open ever drawer and cabinet stage – thank heavens!!!

So today I will be working on emptying the drawers and storing the books and photo albums. Anne will probably happily help me out with this chore and we are also going blueberry picking again! Should be a fun day! What’s on your agenda?

Product Review – Quilt Cut2

21 Comments / product review, QuiltCut2 / By Melissa Dunworth

(Full Disclosure: Alto’s EZ Mat, Inc. provided me with the QuiltCut2 Fabric Cutting System – the thoughts and opinions presented are my own.)

(update: This is actually a picture of the Quilt Cut2, until this post was up and Alto’s saw it, I was under the impression I had the original product. This review is still based on the Quilt Cut2 and it’s amazing cutting benefits. Both quilts in this post were made using the Quilt Cut2 and were each completely cut in 1 day!)

About 12 years ago at a local quilting show, my mom and I ran across an interesting product – called the QuiltCut Fabric Cutting System. This is our original one about 12 years old. In one day, I cut and sewed an entire QUEEN sized quilt top:

Isn’t it a lovely quilt! I seriously thought that this product was the end all beat all for cutting. I mean a QUEEN sized quilt in one day. I don’t know how many 2.5″ squares there are in this quilt, but I guarantee you that there are A LOT! Then earlier this year I went to the Sew Expo in Puyallup, WA and saw a newer version of the QuiltCut, the QuiltCut2, being marketed and I knew I needed to try it out if only to see what the differences were.

I emailed Alto’s EX Mat and asked if I could do a product review comparing the two, and then my hands started to deteriorate. I had the QuiltCut2 for over a month before I felt well enough to even open the box. I have to tell you what I saw and read blew my mind, then I decided it was time to start cutting and make a quilt!

Now with my arthritis you can probably guess that I struggle when it comes to cutting, sewing isn’t so much of a challenge because the machine does all the work, but cutting is really quite painful and labor intensive for me…until now.

The way the QuiltCut2 is designed allows the user to hold down the cutting guide with as little pressure as TWO fingers – this saved me so much time, energy and pain! When I use my regular quilting squares I have to exert a fairly significant amount of pressure to ensure the ruler doesn’t shift while I am cutting. The QuiltCut2 is designed to prevent that shifting, so you get a straight cut every time with very little effort on your part.

Here is a listing of all the projects you can cut using the QuiltCut2 – WITHOUT templates or special rulers!

There are even instructions for advanced blocks and accounting for seam allowances! When we first bought the quilt cut we didn’t even think about cutting anything beyond strips, rectangles and squares. Now you can cut Half Square Triangles, Hexagons, Diamonds and that isn’t even including the “Advanced Designs”!

When you open the box you find 3 DVDs (update: The included DVDs in this picture are actually available for purchase $16.95 each), a booklet with photo instructions (for the visual learner!), as well as all the hardware. One of my favorite features is that you can set it up for right-handed or left-handed use.

Here are the fruits of my labor after only an hour or so of cutting. Using the clamp bar and the cutting ruler I was able to cut 38 different fabrics into 5.5″ and 3″ squares in virtually no time. Until I started using the QuiltCut2 I truly didn’t know how I was going to get my commissioned quilt done in a timely manner because cutting was so very painful for me. And here is my finished quilt top:

Things I Liked:

I had the QuiltCut2 shipped to my house – it came in a timely manner AND it was packaged really well for the shipping – it arrived damage free.
The ease of use is amazing – as soon as I had it out of the box I was using it immediately.
The instruction manual is well written and has fantastic illustrations and photographs.
There are 3 DVDs available for purchase to help you learn how to get the most out of your $229.95.
It is affordable – you could literally get away with never purchasing another quilting ruler using this product.
For someone with Rheumatoid Arthritis and/or Carpal Tunnel it will alleviate a lot of the pain and discomfort that comes with cutting large amounts of fabric at a time. (This one is HUGE for me!)
It is versatile – there are so many different types of projects you can make using it, including scrappy projects, square in a square, HSTs, QSTs, Hexagons, Diamonds, and the list goes on – I cannot remember having instructions for any of these projects with my other QuiltCut.
When used correctly your cutting is precise and fast – there is an attachment, the Speed Gauge, to assist you in cutting identical pieces each time.
There are 4 Rubber Bumpers on the bottom of the QuiltCut2 to prevent slipping – my original QuiltCut did not have these – and this is a major improvement.
In addition to the videos and instruction manual that are included with your purchase, there are even more videos on the QuiltCut Website.

Rulers it Replaces:

60 Degree Triangles
Half Square Triangle Ruler
45 Degree Diamond Ruler
60 Degree Diamond Ruler
All Square Quilting Rulers
Dresdens (See Tips and Techniques Video)

Areas For Improvement

As this is a review that is meant to compare the QuiltCut2 with the original QuiltCut – I would have to say that they have addressed any area of concern I had before and then some. With the new cutting instructions and videos they have gone above and beyond making this product a useful and valuable tool in your quilting/sewing arsenal. The included videos alone have immeasurable added value.
One of my rubber bumpers does continue to fall off – so I might suggest including a couple of extra in the box OR switching to a stronger adhesive product. Update: Alto’s EZ Mat emailed me this morning and said the following: “Unfortunately we occasionally have that problem during the summer because the packages get so hot in transit and the adhesive on the feet sometimes loosens up – we have tried many different feet and adhesives and these are the best we have found on the market at this time unfortunately. Luckily the feet falling off is not very common but when it does happen we suggest to customers that they try re-adhering a foot that has fallen off with super glue. If the customer is unwilling/unable to re-glue the foot or if the foot has been lost we are always happy to send out a replacement. We would be happy to send you out some replacement feet if you need them, please just let me know.”

Do you have a Quilt Cut? Will you be upgrading to the Quilt Cut2?

Sew Intertwined QAL – Dresden Progress

6 Comments / Sew Intertwined QAL, SewHappyGeek / By Melissa Dunworth

Hi Everyone! If you missed it – I posted the second tutorial for the Sew Intertwined QAL yesterday – you can get the tutorial here.

I thought today I would share some of the amazing progress of the wonderful quilters who are sewing along with us!

This is by Ella, she blogs at Throw a Wrench in the Works

This bright cheerful one is by Debbe from Pieces to Love

This calming color palette is from Jennie at Jennie’s Threads

This one is from Revkez – Her colors all just POP!

These are just a few of the finished Dresdens, if I posted them all this post would have gone on for ages!), don’t they just all look so stunning! I can’t wait to see more. What amazes me most about this group is I posted the outer block tutorial 25 hours ago and there are already finished blocks in the group! You people are FAST!!!

Sew Intertwined QAL: Outside Blocks Tutorial

7 Comments / Contemporary Cloth, Sew Intertwined QAL, SewHappyGeek, tutorial / By Melissa Dunworth

Hi Everyone! And welcome to the second tutorial for the Sew Intertwined Quilt Along!

If you are just joining us or if you missed the first tutorial, head over and visit Jenna at Sew Happy Geek for the Dresden Center.

Today I will be showing you how to make the outside blocks – these are by far the easiest blocks to make and I will be showing you how to do it with the least amount of fabric waste – because I HATE wasting my fabric. I even double and triple checked the math on the HST method I’m showing just to make sure I was actually saving your fabric.

Based on my colors (shown above) you will need to cut the following: (Note: when I say feature fabric – I am referring to prints I used for my HSTs – both fabrics)

For the HSTS:
Background fabric (white): two strips – 8.5″ by width of fabric
Feature fabric: two strips – 8.5″ by width of fabric

Sub- cut the strips into 8.5″ x 8.5″ squares.

Pair your squares up – right sides together – one background, one feature fabric. You should have 10 Pairs Total

Use your 1/4″ foot and sew along the outside edges of the squares – ALL THE WAY around.

Next you will want to cut diagonally across your Squares. When you open the triangles up you will have made 4 half square triangles. You will have a total of 40 HSTs.

I pressed my HSTs towards the feature fabric because my background is white. You could also press your seams open if you like. You will want to trim your squares down to 5.5″ and then set them aside.

Next you will want to work on your 4 patches. Each block requires two 4 patches for a grand total of 40. I am going to demonstrate the fastest way to make them using strips.

You will want to cut:

6 Strips of Gray – 3″ by width of fabric
3 Strips Each of pink and orange – 3″ by width of fabric

Next you will want to sew the 3 pink strips to 3 of the gray strips, and the 3 orange strips to the remaining 3 gray strips.

Press towards the gray – I recommend this even if you are used to pressing your seams open. When creating a 4 patch, pressing towards the same fabric in both color sets, will allow you to perfectly match your seams.

Cut your strips into 3″ sections. See picture above.

Next you will want to put your pieces right sides together and butt your seams up – this is what gives you the perfect points.

Sew using a 1/4″ seam. You will create 40 four patch blocks. These should measure 5.5″ x 5.5″.

Next layout your blocks and sew them together.

You will make a total of 20 outside blocks and if you follow this tutorial you will conserve as much fabric as possible! The important things to note if you are doing a scrappier version of the quilt: each square in the 4 patch was 3″x3″ – when the 4 patches are sewn together they should measure 5.5″x5.5″. The finished HSTs should also measure 5.5″x5.5″ – in case you decide to use a method that you are more comfortable with. The overall finished block is 10.5″.

Please let me know if you have any questions and I can’t wait to start seeing finished blocks in the Flickr Group!

This post is sponsored by Contemporary Cloth – they provided the fabrics that were used for the tutorial and my quilt.

Author name: Melissa Dunworth