Melissa Dunworth – Page 154 – Sew Bittersweet Designs

Valentine’s Day Showcase

7 Comments / Valentine's Day Showcase / By Melissa Dunworth

I know what you are thinking…it’s only January!!! Why are you bringing up Valentine’s Day? I’ll tell you why. If we don’t start thinking about it now, we won’t be able to get our projects done in time!

I have something special planned here on the blog – I am hosting my first ever Valentine’s Day Showcase! I am bringing some very special bloggers/crafters to you on my blog with inspirational projects and tutorials. It will start the first week of February and will culminate on February 15th with a linky party for you to link up YOUR Valentine’s Day creations! The linky party will have voting enabled so everyone can vote for their favorite project and the person with the most votes will win a little something special from yours truly!

Here is a sneak peak at some of the contributors:

Jenna from SewHappyGeek
Michele from Quilting Gallery
Nurse Brandy from When Life Hands You Fabric…Make a Quilt
Kris from I Don’t Have a Problem…I Have a Well-Rounded Fabric Stash
Debbe from Pieces to Love
Lyanna from Purple Panda Quilts
Lisa – she is in the process of launching a foodie & craft blog
Vicki from SassyBlog
And me too!

I have asked a couple other very talented bloggers to join in as well, but I sent the email out on a Saturday and I haven’t heard back yet, so there may be 2 more people joining us! Take some time to check out the wonderful guest bloggers and follow their blogs, they are all such talented women!

This might be the first year ever that I am looking forward to Valentine’s Day – I never have before (was just never my thing).

What do you think? Are you in? If so grab a button and get working on the project you want to submit – I promise the prize is a cool one 🙂

NOTE: Don’t forget, I am one of the bloggers who is going to lose Google Friend Connect in March 2012, please take a moment and follow me via Bloglovin’, Facebook, RSS or networked blogs. You are important to me and I want to be able to stay in contact with you! Check my side bar for all the best ways to stay in touch after GFC goes bye bye!

Progress & Pay It Forward

2 Comments / CeLynn's Sunflower Patch, pay it forward, Quilt Patterns, work in progress / By Melissa Dunworth

I got to sew sew sew today and tonight. My hubs got home late so after Anne went to bed, I got an hour in the sewing room. Here is my progress on my Twirling Around Quilt:

My hubby is working a 24 hour shift tomorrow, so I should be able to make some major progress if nothing catastrophic happens tomorrow.

In other fun news, I got an AWESOME package in the mail yesterday – well actually Anne and I got an AWESOME package in the mail. CeLynn from The Sunflower Patch hosted a Pay It Forward on her blog and I was one of the lucky people to get something from her!

Check it out!

Oh My Lord is CeLynn talented! I first met CeLynn in a swap I participated in and we also happen to be in a virtual bee together. She is wonderful! Check out her blog and check out her Etsy Shop too (she is on vacation until January 9th, but I promise she is worth the wait)!

I have one more Pay It Forward gift to make for my Pay It Forward – I have something special planned for it and I just need to find the time to git er done!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! I will be working on my quilt and the first two blocks for Jenna’s Sew. Happy. Quilt. QAL. What will you be working on?

Newest Design

9 Comments / Me and My Sister, Quilt Patterns, work in progress / By Melissa Dunworth

Sorry I was MIA yesterday…I have been having phone problems ever since we got back from our vacation. Three visits from Comcast and one visit from our alarm monitoring company and we THINK that everything is solved now. In other news, and warning – this may be TMI (too much information) for some of you – but Anne used the potty yesterday afternoon and evening SEVEN times! I am so thrilled! I hope this is the start of a beautiful trend 🙂

I have been working on something special and I have a little sneaky peak for you!

I know the colors are slightly assaulting in the mock up – but how about imaging it in these fabrics:

Do you recognizes these fabrics (keep in mind you are seeing the reverse side of the prints)? Check out the name of quilt if you need a hint!

Did you know from one layer cake you can get 672 squares measuring 2.5×2.5 inches? I was able to cut all those squares in 45 minutes! Fastest cutting I’ve ever done and I got to use one of the nifty tools that I won, a Sullivan’s Cutting EDGE Quilting 6.5×24.5″ ruler from Pat Sloan. So I not only got all my cutting done, but I sharpened my blade at the same time – no more dull blades for this lady 🙂

I am hoping to have more of this quilt completed this weekend – my hubby will be working a 24 hour shift on Friday which means lots of extra sewing time on Friday night.

Finish-A-Long @ Quilter in the Gap

7 Comments / baby quilt, pay it forward, quilt along, Quilt Patterns, SewHappyGeek, UFO / By Melissa Dunworth

Do you follow Rhonda from Quilter in the Gap? For 2012 she has decided to host a Finish-A-Long party each quarter of the year. I am excited for a couple reasons, one I am participating (I need to hold myself accountable for a few things!) and two because I am a guest blogger for the 3rd quarter (fun fun fun!).

Here are the projects I want to finish this quarter:

Zig-Zag-Zoom Quilt for my Sister-In-Law – I am going to be a proud Auntie yet again in the Spring and that baby needs a FINISHED quilt!
Small Section of the Quilt
I have 2 Quilt”ish” designs in EQ7 that need to be turned into patterns and tested – no pictures now, but there will definitely be pictures on the finished post!
I am participating in Jenna at SewHappyGeek’s Sew. Happy. Quilt Along – I have all my fabrics purchased and I plan on making each block and finishing before the end of the quarter!
Sew. Happy. Quilt Along Layout
I need to make my last Pay it Forward gift – I am sure that my partner has probably given up all hope on me, even though I still have 6 months to make good!
I want to make SOMETHING for Valentine’s Day!

I am hoping that goal setting such as this will help keep me honest with myself on my projects!

I am linking up this post here over at Quilter in the Gap. Join in the fun and win some cool prizes while you finish things up!

Happy New Year

6 Comments / EQ7, free motion quilting, it's sew kiki, quilt along, Quilt Patterns, SewHappyGeek / By Melissa Dunworth

I haven’t been around much lately – I’m sorry. My hubby has been on leave from the Army the past two weeks and when he is home I liked to stay as plugged into my family as possible. In fact, he doesn’t actually go back to work until tomorrow. Would you believe that this means I haven’t so much as touched my sewing machine in 17 whole days!!! Also, we have been traveling – we went to the San Francisco Bay Area for Christmas and spent a few days in Lake Tahoe too.

I posted on Friday the projects that I finished in 2011 and I posted some goals. This week I am getting right to work.

Here are a few of the things I will be working on in the coming months from across the blogosphere:

Starting today – It’s Sew Kiki’s About Town Bag

Starting this week – SewHappyGeek’s Sew. Happy. Quilt QAL

I am especially excited about this one for 2 reasons: 1 – all kinds of new skills, I mean a Dresden Plate block?!? I have been dieing to learn how to make one and Jenna is going to teach me how! 2 – I am doing one of the tutorials – Block 6 – look for it on January 24th over on SewHappyGeek. I can’t tell you how tickled I was when Jenna asked me!

Also starting this week, yesterday actually – SewCalGal’s Free Motion Quilt Challenge

There are so many great projects going on around the quilting blogosphere this year that I couldn’t help but jump on the band wagon for a few, but I don’t want you to think that I am not working on anything of my own…because I have been very busy playing with EQ7 while on vacation!

I have two different patterns in the works right now, both of which I am hoping to sell, but I will be needing a couple of pattern testers – so if you are at all interested – please please please let me know! I am also working on a baby quilt for my sister-in-law (she doesn’t read this blog so I can actually post about it when I get closer to done!), a quilt for my niece and a few other projects! Get ready for it people 2012 has STARTED!

Author name: Melissa Dunworth