2015 Finishes – Page 4 – Sew Bittersweet Designs

Jaftex 85th Anniversary Blog Hop – Rainbow Spinner!

255 Comments / 2015 Finishes, Blog Hop, Sew BitterSweet Designs Patterns, Zentangle / By Melissa Dunworth

Co-sponosored by: Aurifil Threads, Schmetz 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.

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.

To 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!

As 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!

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:

Please 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!

Star Wars – The Force Awakens

4 Comments / 2015 Finishes, Camelot Fabrics, ForceFriday / By Melissa Dunworth

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://test.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!

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!

Anne’s Back to School Dress

10 Comments / 2015 Finishes, A Lovely Year of Finishes, Clothes / By Melissa Dunworth

I am so excited to report that I finished Anne’s Back to School dress last Friday morning. This was my August goal and I was worried I wouldn’t finish in time. If you are just finishing up your goal today, you can enter until midnight tonight!

The dress turned out super cute! The fabric on top is a Michael Miller print and the fabric on the bottom is by Robert Kaufman. The piping I got from JoAnn’s. I had no idea you could buy pre-made piping, and let me tell you that has sort of changed my world! Now that I have successfully done piping in a purse (made it myself and hated every step) and a dress I feel like I can pretty much conquer any project with piping – piping that I will BUY!

I am so tickled with how it turned out. The piping just gives it so much pizzazz!

And just look at the pockets!

The pattern is Simplicity 1379A – I made it a size 7 which is a little roomy, but I think it looks good on her. Her first official day of school is September 14th. Yes, mommy will be balling her eyes out and Anne will be skipping into the classroom beyond excited!

Thurston County Fair 2015

11 Comments / 2015 Finishes, Sew BitterSweet Designs Patterns, Swoon / By Melissa Dunworth

Hello From Sunny California! I am on vacation AND working on my brand new computer in a completely different browser than I am used to, so if anything looks a little funky, please forgive me (I am still working out the kinks!).

This past weekend was the local county fair where I live in Washington. Even though I wasn’t home for the fair, I still entered 3 of my quilts and one of Anne’s dresses. My local chapter of the Modern Quilt Guild is trying to get the word out about our guild and what better way than a fun public event like the fair! I was pleasantly surprised (shocked, amazed, pick your synonym) when my awesome guild mate Kathy (read her blog here) messaged me during her volunteer shift in our booth to tell me that I won ribbons. Such a wonderful surprise! Another awesome guild mate, Heaether (go check out her blog here) was kind enough to take pictures for me, AND a third awesome guild mate, Lori, picked up my entries for me since I am out of town. I have to say I am so blessed to know such wonderful people!

Anne’s back to school dress from last year won a blue ribbon. I am so excited because clothes sewing is definitely not my thing. And by the way, my goal for August is to sew her back to school dress for this year, she naturally picked a pattern that has PIPING! Wish me luck!

My Flowering Lone Start quilt won a blue ribbon! How exciting is that! If you love this pattern as much as I do you can find a link for it on My Patterns page!

My Divergent Quilt, also won a blue ribbon. This one recently hung at the National Quilt Association show in Arkansas. I received such lovely feedback from that show and now a blue ribbon from the county fair. This is also an original design, though no pattern is available at this time.

My Swoon quilt not only won a blue ribbon but it also got a Judges Choice ribbon. Such an honor. It was quilted by my wonderful friend Vicki from Orchid Owl Quilts. The way they hung it (which I am assuming was done because of space constraints) doesn’t show off the full quilt, so if you would like to see more of it, click here. This pattern is by Thimble Blossoms and can be purchased from her website here.

It was so amazing to find out I had received so many blue ribbons, truly mind boggling. The best part though was being able to tell my mom in person and see the pride and happiness on her face. She is the one who taught me to quilt and continues to inspire and encourage me each and every day.

I hope you have a wonderful Tuesday! I plan to go to the park with Anne and work on a quilting a top for my mom.

If you don’t try, you will never fail

20 Comments / 2015 Finishes, A Lovely Year of Finishes, Finished Quilts, Sew BitterSweet Designs Patterns / By Melissa Dunworth

Terrible motto right? Well I have tried a couple of juried shows in the past and not gotten in. I suppose I could live by the motto above and stop trying, or I could just try harder and try different things. So this is me, putting myself back out there again.

Yesterday I submitted my newest quilt design to the Quilt! Knit! Stitch! show in Portland, OR. The design challenge is to make a modern quilt using Black to White fabrics (which includes grays). We were also allowed to add one pop color in one place if we wanted. Below is my entry. I have decided to call it Hypnotic Eye.

I have to say that I really love how the quilt turned out. There are a couple of other quilt shows coming up that I think I may also submit to, we shall see what the future holds. In the meantime. I have two quilt patterns to write before this one, but it will be coming hopefully by the end of the summer. I need to figure out how to juggle my quilting and pattern writing with a five year old who no longer wants to nap. It should prove interesting.

Here is a close up on the quilting. I will share with you either tomorrow or Monday how I came up with the different quilting designs that I decided to use.

I hope you have a wonderful Thursday.

Also, please know that the reason I haven’t been replying to comments lately is that we have had some very personal family health challenges going on. I am going to make it a goal to spend more time focusing on the blog, but I think we can all agree, that family has to come first. Please know that I read each and every comment and that I draw much strength from the comments and love that you send when you take the time out of your day to comment. At some point I may share what has been going on, but for right now things are too fresh and still a bit painful to talk about.

Much love to all of you.