Hand Quilting

New Library Bag

12 Comments / Contemporary Cloth, Feathered Star, Hand Quilting, Purse/Pouch / By

Last month Anne and I went to our local library, for Olympia WA natives, that would be Tumwater Library.  My goal was to introduce her to the library and get myself a library card (yeah, we’ve lived here for a year and I still hadn’t done that). The cool part of our visit was that even though Anne is only 2, she was able to get a card too!  I’m not sure who thought that was cooler, me or her. Which brings me to my next project….

I finally decided that I needed to do something with my Feather Stars and I hand quilted one of them. I put the finished picture out on Twitter and asked my friends for ideas of what to do with them and my friend Debbe from Pieces To Love suggested making a book bag for our library trips. Hello GENIUS! A bag was born!

I wanted there to be some fun whimsy to the bag so for the back and lining of the bag I used some lovely Yuwa fabrics from Contemporary Cloth – after all this is a bag Anne and I will use together and there need to be some little girl touches for her.

I think my favorite touch is the lined inside zipper pocket. A first for me!  I followed a fabulous tutorial from my friend Beth at Plum & June. I changed the measurements slightly to fit the needs of my bag, and I can’t tell you how happy I am with how it turned out. It is the perfect pocket for Anne to keep her library card.

Pretty happy with out it turned out. Today we will be going to the library, we have to, our books are due tomorrow!  Have a happy hump day everyone!

Superior Threads – Sponsor Highlight & Giveaway

207 Comments / Giveaway, Hand Quilting, superior threads / By

Hi Everyone! I’m back. Next week I will tell you all about why I have been MIA, but in the meantime I have some really fabulous things going on here that I want to share with you! Today I have Superior Threads here and I wanted to tell you about some of my favorite products that they carry that are just plain FUN!

I love this product and I have 2 dress patterns and a package at home waiting for me to sew up a dress for Anne.  Texture Magic allows you to add dimension to whatever project you are working on, and the best part is that it is permanent. You can wash your finished project and the texture will remain!

Can you guess what that is?!? Yup! It’s glow-in-the-dark thread! Superior Threads product NiteLite Extra Glow Polyester Thread to be exact. I happen to have a spool of the pink thread and I do see a fun embroidered pillow in Anne’s future with it!

Hello Summer! How about a fun embroidered shirt or a picnic quilt that has been quilted with color changing thread. Inside you see white thread and when you step out side into the sun you see a fun colored design! I also have a spool of this thread! I think Anne and I need a picnic blanket for trips to the park this summer and color changing thread would be the perfect finishing touch!

Now did you see that the title for this post also said “giveaway”.  Well Superior Threads told me that I could pick out three of my favorite threads, and I picked three that I have reviewed and they will be giving away a spool of each to THREE different winners.

I decided to pick three threads that I have reviewed: King Tut, So Fine and Treasure Hand Quilting Thread (oh wait, I guess I haven’t reviewed that one yet – come back tomorrow for that one!).

How do you enter:

1. Head over to Superior Threads and tell me your favorite product/thread line or the one you most want to try. (1 Entry)
2. Go like Sew BitterSweet Designs on Facebook or follow me on Twitter (1 Entry)
3. Spread the word: blog, facebook, or tweet about this giveaway, come back and leave me the link (1 Entry)

Three ways to enter!  This giveaway will be open until 9pm Pacific time on Wednesday, May 23rd. I will announce the winner on Thursday the 24th.  Good luck and make sure you stop by tomorrow to see what I made my mom for mother’s day and my review on Treasure Hand Quilting Thread!

Waiting for light

8 Comments / Hand Quilting, quilts / By

Last night I worked for almost 2 hours on my star wall hanging that I am hand quilting for my moms Mother’s Day gift. I am paying the price this morning. Was going to take pictures, but let’s face it, the lighting at 9 pm at night is not ideal for any photo taking!

The lighting is still not that great, I tried flash but it just washed out the stitching. What you may not be able to see is the stitching in the center square and the stitching in the blue star points. That’s ok, I know it is there. If we ever have another sunny day I will try to take a picture outside. I am going to take tonight off from stitch because I way overdid it last night.

Here is a sneak peak at a secret project that I started working on last night.

This is the color palette for my next original quilt design. I started working on my test blocks yesterday and while I love how my first block turned out, I think I need to make a few tweaks to make it more manageable and easier to explain. Do you like the colors?

That’s all for me today! I will be taking it easy on my hands for the next few days…they are screaming at me today and advil isn’t helping…yet.

Oh yeah, and did you notice that I have disappeared from Google Friend Connect?!? Well I did, in fact one of my buddies only re-found me yesterday! The best ways to keep up with me are listed in my sidebar – Facebook and Twitter are where I hang out the most.

And The Answer Is…

8 Comments / Hand Quilting / By

Hand Quilting!

This is a relatively small project – a 22″ x 22″ wall hanging. It is a mother’s day gift for my mom and I wanted to make it extra special for her by putting in that little bit of extra effort.  I will let you all know how it goes. I am thinking of putting butterflies in the 4 cream colored squares and after that I have no other ideas. Do you have any suggestions for me? I would love to hear them!

Don’t forget to day is the last day to enter to win a trial of Ole Frog Eyes! You have until 9 pm tonight!

I hope you all have a great weekend. I seem to have come down with an icky little end of winter cold, so I will be resting as much as Anne will let me!

 

Playing Around

4 Comments / Fat Quarter Shop, Hand Quilting, holiday / By

I spent yesterday during nap time playing around with a new tool I got from Fat Quarter Shop and something new and fun was born.  Here is a scrappy peak of what I made:

I have decided to hand quilt the project – it will be my first attempt at hand quilting – I will start tonight during Project Runway (guilty pleasure).  Jenna from SewHappyGeek was kind enough to help me on Twitter yesterday, she sent me a couple of tutorials and also told me what supplies I was going to need.

I picked up some perle cotton number 8 in a beautiful red, some needles and a frame. I figured I needed to try hand quilting with and without a frame of some sort to see what worked for me so I picked up a cheapy little plastic frame. We shall see!

While Anne and I were out shopping I decided to pick up some more art projects for her – so we decided to make Valentine’s for our family and friends. I am sure her Grandparents will love them when we send them off at the beginning of next month – what do you think of them?

Today is my Friday, my hubs has Friday and Monday off and I want to spend some quality time with him and Anne – so I will be back on Tuesday!  I hope you all have a great weekend, take a moment and reflect on the holiday we celebrate – Martin Luther King Jr.

How will you be spending the weekend? Is it a long one for you too?

UPDATE! I just remembered I will be here on Monday…I have a very special fun giveaway for you! Make sure you come by and check it out!

 

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