Charity – Sew Bittersweet Designs

September Courage Circle Do.Good Stitches

1 Comment / Charity, Courage Circle, Do.Good Stitches / By Melissa Dunworth

So excited to post these quilt blocks! This is the first month for Courage Circle Do. Good Stitches. The quilts made for this circle will be sent to army hospitals on opposite sides of the country to benefit kids who have to be hospitalized with one or both parents gone on a duty assignment for the US Military. I am so proud to not only be part of this circle but to have worked with my dear friend Jessica to start it. Most of our circle is comprised of military spouses, former military members, military mom and some of the most kindest women I have ever had the please of sewing with.

Our first block is an Around the World block, tutorial by Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville. I’ve used this technique before to make my own trip around the world quilt and I love how quick and easy it is to do.

I cannot wait to see this quilt come together, the blocks that I have seen so far from the other ladies have been fabulous and fun. You can follow our progress on instagram on the #dgscouragecircle hashtag.

Have a wonderful and happy Wednesday!

Fireflies Do. Good Stitches Quilt

2 Comments / 2016 Finishes, Charity, Do.Good Stitches, free motion quilting, Innova, Long Arm Quilting, Spike / By Melissa Dunworth

Last month I quilted my last quilt for the Trust Circle of Do. Good Stitches. Don’t worry, I am still part of Do. Good Stitches, but with a wonderful friend, Jessica (@plumpatchwork) I am starting a new circle to benefit military children that have to be hospitalized when a parent is away on deployment or duty assignment. This is a cause extremely close to my heart, as you can imagine and I am excited to get started. Before I could move on with the new group I needed to finish my final quilt for my old circle. This quilt was based on my block tutorial for the Fireflies block. This is the second quilt I have helped make using this block tutorial I love all of the secondary patterns at are created with this block. Check out my first quilt created with the pattern here.

I asked the ladies to use a Kona White background with Aquas and Reds. If you didn’t know, this is one of my favorite color combinations.

Here is a close up of the custom quilting job that I did on it. I love the feathers!

This was a super fun quilt to do and it was so quick too! All quilts should turn out this successfully when made of blocks from 8 different quilters! I know this quilt will bring much joy and love to a child in the foster care system.

What have you been working on? I’ve been prepping two quilts for shows and ordering supplies to get started on the customer quilts I have waiting for me. Don’t forget that I want to quilt for you so please feel free to leave a comment here or email me at any time! Melissa (at) sewbittersweetdesigns (dot) com!

Quilts for Pulse – South Sound Modern Quilt Guild

2 Comments / Charity, Custom Quilting, Customer Quilt, Edge to Edge Quilting, free motion quilting, Innova, Long Arm Quilting, SSMQG / By Melissa Dunworth

The Orlando Modern Quilt Guild put out a call for Quilts for Pulse – heart quilts. My local guild, South Sound Modern Quilt Guild (SSMQG) answered the call. I donated 20 blocks to our guild and there were so many blocks donated that two quilt tops were pieced by our wonderful guild mate Teri. I volunteered to quilt one of the quilts. I feel so blessed to have gotten to work on these quilts.

I decided to do a simple all over heart design on this quilt. Partially because the more quilting is done, the heavier the quilt becomes and as these quilts were heading to Florida, I thought a heavier quilt might not be as cuddly, heavier = hotter. I also wanted to do a simple heart design that kept with the heart/love theme.

This is before I trimmed the quilt, that is a Kona White background but getting the color balance just right on this photograph has proven to be a bit of a challenge for me. Some day I will invest in editing software…today is not that day.

I love how filled with love this quilt it. It was my first time ever quilting with Hobbs 80/20 batting and the first time Spike encountered polyester batting. It went really well. I used Superior Threads Omni on top and So Fine on the bottom, the perfect pairing of threads.

Have you been able to sew anything for Quilts for Pulse or Quilts for Peace?

August do. Good Stitches Block

Charity, Do.Good Stitches / By Melissa Dunworth

This month the Trust Circle for do. Good Stitches was asked at make just one block – the block measures 22″ x 22″.

This is the Triple Irish Chain block, tutorial can be found here on the Quilting Company’s website. What I liked about this tutorial is that most of the block is assembled with strip piecing, making it go together super quickly. I could see this being a quilt you could assemble really fast if you wanted.

In other news, I have found that my charity sewing continues to be a huge part of what drives me to quilt and sew, so I will soon be starting a new adventure with a quilting friend, look for information on that next month.

This week I am hoping to quilt a do. Good Stitches quilt and get it donated before I head out of town on Thursday. Hopefully I can be super productive and get it done!

Do Good Stitches – Wonky Starry Night Quilt

5 Comments / 2016 Finishes, Charity, Do.Good Stitches, Innova, Long Arm Quilting / By Melissa Dunworth

I am so excited to say that I have finished a quilt! This one was assembled with blocks made from the oh so talented ladies of the Do Good Stitches Trust Circle. I asked the ladies to use solid blues and whites to create wonky star blocks and they did such a beautiful job (as always!). This particular quilt has be actually quilted since March…but I really struggle to bind quilts so sadly it languished a bit in my “to bind” pile. I decided this week that it was ridiculous and unfair to everyone who helped make it and got my rear in gear! You may even remember my super angry concentration face (I’m not grumpy, I promise!) in this blog post.

I decided since the entire top was solid that I would use a very nice blue and white print for the binding. I like the fun contrast. This quilt will be donated to a child in the Foster Care System which is the group that Trust Circle sews for.

Have a happy and healthy Monday everyone!