Author name: Melissa Dunworth

Owner/Operator

Vacation Time

10 Comments / A Lovely Year of Finishes, Personal Post / By

We had a truly wonderful vacation in California with my family. We decided to stay until the day after Easter so that Anne could celebrate in the sun and warmth and also have that time with her grandparents.  Here is her pic with the Easter Bunny.

Do you like the dress? I made it! I was super lucky, Debbe from Pieces to Love ended up doing a quick picture tutorial for me because I really struggled with the collar. Kristy from Hopeful Threads also helped me via email. I love my friends, they are so wonderful and generous with their time!

We are still recovering and unpacking and doing laundry here. We spent most of Wednesday working in our garden. It is super fledgling right now, we planted 2 strawberry plants, a huge blueberry bush, 2 lavender plants, we hung up another strawberry plant and a gorgeous hanging flower basket as well. Mr. SBD rented a huge tiller and tilled our backyard, next up is building planter boxes. I have to say, I am really excited to turn our backyard into one big science project for Anne. It should be lots of fun!

I will try and get more pictures of our vacation up next week. All the yard work on Wednesday was not so great for my hands it is hurts to type. In the mean time, make sure you link up your project for April – A Lovely Year of Finishes and get sewing!

A Lovely Year of Finishes – April Goal Setting Party

11 Comments / A Lovely Year of Finishes, Fiber of All Sorts / By

The saying goes “April Showers, Bring May Flowers”, well here in Washington, truer words have never been spoke. All of those little sayings about Spring, “Comes in like a lion, goes out like a lamb” are beyond true. On the upside with all that rain, I want nothing more than to be in doors working on a quilt or two and that is just what I plan to do!

This month I want to get the borders on a quilt top I have been working on for my mom, I blogged about it back in September 2 days after her birthday. I want to get the borders on (there will be 3) and I would love to get it pinned – I don’t want to set the goal of quilting because I don’t want to stress my hands out again – the pain last month just wasn’t worth it.

I think it would be really nice to be able to give this to her this year all finished for her birthday and that is my long term goal, hopefully in May I will get it quilted.

Here’s a little background information on A Lovely Year of Finishes which I am co-hosting with the amazing and talented Shanna of Fiber of All Sorts.

The most important thing to remember that you get to determine what the word “Finish” means – for some of us it is a completely finished quilt – bound and everything, for others it is going to be a pieced top, or even just cutting out all the pieces for a top. Set a goal and meet it, that is what we want to happen. Don’t set a goal you can’t reach and don’t do what I did last month and set an over-ambitious goal!

Add your blog post or flickr photo (with appropriate descriptions) to the linky party below.  Make sure you also link back here so other people can join in the fun!

**Please note, the linky party is the same here and over at Shanna’s, so there is no need to enter twice **

For those unsure of how to link up go check out our Q&A Page for A Lovely Year of Finishes – there are instructions on how to link up from a blog and from Flickr.

Grab a button from my sidebar and Spread the LOVE

Oh, and let’s not forget prizes! Each month we have been blessed with some incredible Sponsors for all of our finishes. Please take some time to visit each of their sites!

***Remember, in order to be eligible for prizes you must link up to this party with a goal and link up at the end of the month to the finishes party.***

1. A Craftsy Class (winners choice of class)

I heart Craftsy!

2. $15.00 Gift Certificate to Fat Quarter Shop

3. Choice of $15 or 2 charm packs from Stitch n’ Giggles

4. A Paper Piecing Kit from Paper Pieces

5, 6, 7 Will get one thread pack of Auriful Thread donated from Aurifil

8. $20.00 Gift Certificate from the Quilting Lodge

 

9. $10.00 Gift Certificate from Contemporary Cloth

9 winners will be chosen by Mr. Random for those that post here and the wrap-up linky at the end of the month with a completed finish.



March Finish – A Lovely Year of Finishes

31 Comments / A Lovely Year of Finishes, Sew Intertwined QAL, SewHappyGeek / By

This month I paid the price for my zeal and need to finish my goal. Truly I paid the price for all the handwork. All that aside, I am bursting with pride to show you my finish for March!

I know it is bright and obnoxious, but I just don’t care, I’m IN LOVE!

Here is a close up of how I quilted the Dresden (you can see even more detail on the back pictures below).

This was quilted on my home machine and I think this is truly the largest size I could handle in my machine for this particular type of quilt – 60×60 (before washing). With the shadow (or echo) quilting the quilt needs to be constantly worked through the throat of the machine and turned at every angle. The overall effect though is pretty cool if you ask me. Check out the back:

I used the same color threads on the front and on the back. My goal was to mimic the quilt design from the front on the back. A very simple but effective design element. I used 90″ wide, high thread count muslin for the backing. It is soft and yet not so dense that it is hard to quilt like using sheets can sometimes be.

Here is a picture of the dresden from the back. (Sorry for the crap lighting I had a little trouble with lighting on the back photographs. I’m not used to shooting an all white cloth surface.)

I don’t know why but I loved the way the corners looked on the back, so here is one last close up for you:

Quilt Details:

Design: Sew Intertwined Quilt, by Jenna Excell and Melissa Dunworth
Quilted: By Melissa Dunworth, on a Janome Horizon 7700
Thread: Masterpiece and King Tut by Superior Threads
Measures: 60″ x 60″ (unwashed)

My Button

So, I finished mine, have you finished yours? Link up your Lovely Finish for March over here!

 

 

Guest Post – Vicki from Quilting Lodge

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I have a great treat for you today, my wonderful friend Vicki from Quilting Lodge. She knows I have a thing for Flying Geese and has a fantastic review of a new ruler for you. If you have time make sure you hop on over and check her blog out, she has great tutorials and she will be hosting a QAL coming up soon!
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I’m so honored and excited to be a guest on Melissa’s blog today.  My name is Vicki and I normally blog over at Quilting Lodge with my mom (when she has time).  I love to design patterns and quilt.  I hope you will stop by our blog and say hello.  I’d also love to do a little shameless plugging for my newest adventure, the Texas Teardrops Quilt Along.  This is my first QAL and it starts April 1st.  I’m very excited to share this pattern with everyone.  Check it out!    
I have to admit I picked today’s topic because I know Melissa loves flying geese blocks and so do I.  What’s not love about them?  I found a pretty cool ruler that makes 4 at a time.  It’s called the Flying Geese x 4 “no math” ruler by Lazy Girl.  The ruler comes with great directions that are very easy to follow.  I whipped out 16 flying geese units in no time.  

Let’s take a look at how easy it is.  The ruler has all the markings to make flying geese from 3/4″ x 1.5″ all the way up to 3.5″ x 7.”  This ruler is clearly marked and very easy to use.

First, you use the ruler and cut 1 large square and 4 small squares.  I cut 4 large squares and 16 small squares because I wanted to make 16 flying geese units.    


Then lay 2 small squares on top of the large square, right sides together, as pictured below.


I used some stitching lines to lay across the squares instead of drawing the diagonal line.  I’m not a fan of drawing lines on the fabric.  I never can get them straight.  The stitching lines make life easy because I can simply sew along the dotted lines and then tear the paper off. 

If you don’t have stitching lines, simply draw a line down the middle and stitch a 1/4″ from the drawn line on each side. 
Cut the square in half along the line.

Press the triangles.   You will end up with 2 units that look like hearts.

Add a small square to each unit as pictured below.  Again, I used stitching lines but you could simply draw a diagonal line on the small square.  Stitch the square 1/4″ from each side of the line. 

 

Cut the units apart.  You will have 4 units now.  

 

Press.  Ta da!  You now have 4 flying geese units.

 

One of the benefits of flying geese is all the layout options.  I tried several layouts.

 

 

This is the one I finally settled on.  I love how the geese form little chevrons and a diamond in the middle.  I would love to do a whole quilt like this.  I see lots of possibilities.  

I hope you enjoyed my mini tutorial as much as I enjoyed sharing it.  Please stop by my blog sometime to say hello.  And a huge thank you to Melissa for letting me take over her blog today.  It’s been a pleasure.

A Lovely Year of Finishes – March Finishes Party

8 Comments / A Lovely Year of Finishes, Fiber of All Sorts, Sew Intertwined QAL / By

Here we are ready to wrap up March, winter has come to an end (finally) and it is now time for Spring. Spring is my all time favorite season because it is a time of new beginnings. We can’t have new beginnings without finishing a few things up first, so show us your finishes!

This month I have been working on my Sew Intertwined Quilt from a QAL that I co-hosted with Jenna from Sew Happy Geek last summer. Here’s a picture in it’s unfinished state – I am still working away on this one and I have a feeling I will be posting my finish on the very last day of the month!

Now it is your turn, show us what you got done!

No worries if you aren’t a blogger, you can link up your finished project from a photo you’ve added to our  flickr group.

Shanna and I are excited to host this monthly link with tons of prizes!

To be eligible for March prizes you must have entered into the goal setting party.

**Please note, this is the same linky on both Shanna’s blog and here, so no need to enter twice ***

And let’s not forget the prizes from our amazing sponsors:

March Prizes Include:

1. A Fat Quarter Bundle from Moda United Notions

*US winner only*

 

2. Choice of $15 or 2 charm packs from Stitch n’ Giggles

 

3. All Dolled Up from Paper Pieces

 

4. $20.00 Gift Certificate from the Quilting Lodge

 

5. $15.00 Gift Certificate from Contemporary Cloth

 

6, 7, & 8 Will get one thread pack of Auriful Thread donated from Aurifil

8 winners will be chosen by Mr. Random for those that post here and the wrap-up linky at the end of the month with a completed finish.

Winners will be chosen shortly after I get home from my family vacation in California – but never fear it should be early April.


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