Finished Quilts – Sew Bittersweet Designs

Thank You Notes

7 Comments / 2016 Finishes, Finished Quilts, Innova, Long Arm Quilting, Spike / By Melissa Dunworth

As a parent I am trying to teach my child the value of thank you notes, sometimes though…it is really hard to put your emotions into words. Heck, sometimes I struggle to find the right words to write my blog. This summer my uncle rescued my blog, he sacrificed over a week of his time and was basically my superhero. It isn’t often these days that you come across people who will help you just out of the kindness and goodness of their hearts and I’m so lucky that my Uncle Pat is in my life.

When he was reloading all of my pictures to my blog (and I have A LOT of pictures) he commented on how lovely my quits were. I figured the best way to say thank you would be to make him a quilt. I started searching the internet for inspiration, my aunt and uncle are both into motorcycles, in fact that’s how they met, through their mutual love for motorcycles. I ran across this incredible motorcycle quilt pattern (pattern by QuiltWoman.com) and it just screamed Uncle Pat. He lives in Nevada and he loves motorcycles. Hello southwest motorcycle quilt, where have you been all of his life!

I loaded this quilt onto my frame and went to town custom quilting it. Then I wrote a special sentiment on the binding and shipped it off to my uncle. This is the wall hanging version that finishes at 28″ x 24″ and there are 264 pieces of fabric in it! Can you believe that! As my uncle received this last week, I can now share that it was one of the secret projects that I was working on last month. I’m very happy with how it turned out!

Remember to always say Thank You!

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.

Spiral Hexie Wall Hanging – Finished!

11 Comments / A Lovely Year of Finishes, Fiber of All Sorts, Finished Quilts, Hexies, swaps / By Melissa Dunworth

Woohoo! I finished my goal for A Lovey Year of Finishes for April. This is the closest I have cut it to the wire, but hey, it is done and I am happy. In fact I am probably going to cry the day I stick it in the mail to my partner!

I just love how it turned out and it looks so great on my wall, alas, I will be sending it off.

Quilt Stats:

Size: 22″ x 26″
Name: Spiral Hexie Quilt
Quilting: Matchstick Quilting – inspired by Shanna from Fiber of All Sorts
Designed by: Me
Made for: Modern She Made Swap round 4

If you haven’t linked up yet you have until later tonight! So get on it!

Take That Halloween Grinch!

12 Comments / Finished Quilts, halloween / By Melissa Dunworth

This mama knows how to save Halloween for my little girl! Do you remember my post about the Halloween Grinch? Well, I am happy to report that 3 days after writing the post I finished Anne’s new quilt. There were a couple changes I had to make to the pattern/kit. They provided backing fabric but it just wasn’t enough so I had to piece the backing myself. Not hard at all, and I think it makes the quilt all the more special. This is a picture heavy post, get ready!

Here’s Anne all cuddled under it about 5 seconds after I finished sewing on the binding! Instant gratification for this mama, I didn’t even have to ask if she liked it. LOL

Here she is getting ready for bed. I really like this back. The kit said to use just the orange pumpkin fabric that is at the top and the bottom, but I think the pieced look is more fun, plus I got to use almost all of my scraps.

Here is a close up of one of the witches – for the most part I stuck to a meandering large stipple, going around the different characters on the fabric. Below is the center of the quilt, I just love the expressions on the pumpkin’s faces.

I wanted to try a different pattern for the borders – what better time to practice my FMQ skills than on a quilt for someone who will love it no matter what the quilting looks like?!?

Of course I couldn’t do a quilt this special and precious without doing a label. This quilt is from my mom and me, so I labeled it Love Nana & Mommy. Originally my mom bought the kit and gave it to me because I was bored and wanted something to sew. Then Anne fell in love with it and my mom decided that she should have it.

Quilt Stats:

Pattern: Harvest Moon – Kit by Northcott
Pieced & Quilted – By Melissa Dunworth (Me)
Thread – Rainbows #856 (it is a variegated orange and black thread perfect for Halloween) by Superior Threads
Batting – 100% Cotton Batting
Size – 38.5″ x 51″ (after washing)
Started Sept 2011, Finished October 13, 2013.

This quilt went a long way to rescue Halloween from the Halloween Grinch. A second trip to the pumpkin patch didn’t hurt either 🙂

Blogger’s Quilt Festival – Entry 1

9 Comments / A Lovely Year of Finishes, Bee Blocks, Finished Quilts / By Melissa Dunworth

I thought long and hard about which quilt I should enter for the Blogger’s Quilt Festival over at Amy’s Creative Side. For my first entry I wanted to do my mom’s Purple Bee Quilt.

I am entering this quilt into the Group/Bee Category, make sure you head over and check out all the other amazing entries. You may remember this quilt as my August finish for A Lovely Year of Finishes.

Name: Purple Bee Quilt
For: My Mom!
Size: 75″ x 75″
Quilting: Straight line on angles, with a Wishbone FMQ in the border (done by me)

These blocks were collected over the course of 2012 from the 3×6 and 4×5 bees over on Flickr. 5 of the blocks were made by me and were my test blocks for what I made my bee mates.

I love this quilt because it is my mom. It fits her personality so well. I hope you don’t mind seeing it again!