SewHappyGeek – Page 5 – Sew Bittersweet Designs

Weekend Sewing Update

6 Comments / Charity, quilt along, Sew Bee Blissful, SewHappyGeek, Valentine's Day Showcase / By Melissa Dunworth

I know, I know, it is Wednesday and I’m giving you a weekend sewing update in the middle of the week. Well, what can I say, there was some pretty important stuff I had to say earlier in the week 🙂

If you haven’t already, make sure you check out Monday’s post on the Valentine’s Day Showcase

Grab the button from my sidebar and show everyone you plan to participate – so far there are 2 great prizes lined up from my wonderful sponsors!

In sewing news, I was a busy little bee this past weekend. I worked on the first two blocks from Jenna’s Sew. Happy. Quilt QAL. The Snowball and Woven blocks. I have to tell you, I love how quickly these blocks came together – I was done with both in an hour!

I’m using Rendezvous for Anthropology that I bought from Julie at Intrepid Thread. It was painful to cut into these fabrics, but I couldn’t be happier with the results!

Next up, I worked on blocks for Quilting for Kids – this is a Flickr Group run by So Sarah Sews. The group is making two quilts right now for foster children. It made my day that I could participate and help make something that will bring comfort to a child in need.

Sarah gave us a great tutorial to follow and I learned yet another great way to make Half Square Triangles.

I also worked on my bee blocks for Sew.Bee.Blissful – the month we were give some gorgeous yellow and gray prints and some solid white fabric to create Garden Fence blocks. She linked us up with this tutorial from Hyacinth Quilt Designs.

Don’t you just love her fabric choices?!? Entering 2012 has lit a fire under me, I have to figure out what I want to do for my month…egads! My month is May so I need to have everything decided and mailed by the end of April – decisions decisions…

What have you been working on?

NOTE: Don’t forget, I am one of the bloggers who is going to lose Google Friend Connect in March 2012, please take a moment and follow me via Bloglovin’, Facebook, RSS or networked blogs. You are important to me and I want to be able to stay in contact with you! Check my side bar for all the best ways to stay in touch after GFC goes bye bye!

Finish-A-Long @ Quilter in the Gap

7 Comments / baby quilt, pay it forward, quilt along, Quilt Patterns, SewHappyGeek, UFO / By Melissa Dunworth

Do you follow Rhonda from Quilter in the Gap? For 2012 she has decided to host a Finish-A-Long party each quarter of the year. I am excited for a couple reasons, one I am participating (I need to hold myself accountable for a few things!) and two because I am a guest blogger for the 3rd quarter (fun fun fun!).

Here are the projects I want to finish this quarter:

Zig-Zag-Zoom Quilt for my Sister-In-Law – I am going to be a proud Auntie yet again in the Spring and that baby needs a FINISHED quilt!
Small Section of the Quilt
I have 2 Quilt”ish” designs in EQ7 that need to be turned into patterns and tested – no pictures now, but there will definitely be pictures on the finished post!
I am participating in Jenna at SewHappyGeek’s Sew. Happy. Quilt Along – I have all my fabrics purchased and I plan on making each block and finishing before the end of the quarter!
Sew. Happy. Quilt Along Layout
I need to make my last Pay it Forward gift – I am sure that my partner has probably given up all hope on me, even though I still have 6 months to make good!
I want to make SOMETHING for Valentine’s Day!

I am hoping that goal setting such as this will help keep me honest with myself on my projects!

I am linking up this post here over at Quilter in the Gap. Join in the fun and win some cool prizes while you finish things up!

Happy New Year

6 Comments / EQ7, free motion quilting, it's sew kiki, quilt along, Quilt Patterns, SewHappyGeek / By Melissa Dunworth

I haven’t been around much lately – I’m sorry. My hubby has been on leave from the Army the past two weeks and when he is home I liked to stay as plugged into my family as possible. In fact, he doesn’t actually go back to work until tomorrow. Would you believe that this means I haven’t so much as touched my sewing machine in 17 whole days!!! Also, we have been traveling – we went to the San Francisco Bay Area for Christmas and spent a few days in Lake Tahoe too.

I posted on Friday the projects that I finished in 2011 and I posted some goals. This week I am getting right to work.

Here are a few of the things I will be working on in the coming months from across the blogosphere:

Starting today – It’s Sew Kiki’s About Town Bag

Starting this week – SewHappyGeek’s Sew. Happy. Quilt QAL

I am especially excited about this one for 2 reasons: 1 – all kinds of new skills, I mean a Dresden Plate block?!? I have been dieing to learn how to make one and Jenna is going to teach me how! 2 – I am doing one of the tutorials – Block 6 – look for it on January 24th over on SewHappyGeek. I can’t tell you how tickled I was when Jenna asked me!

Also starting this week, yesterday actually – SewCalGal’s Free Motion Quilt Challenge

There are so many great projects going on around the quilting blogosphere this year that I couldn’t help but jump on the band wagon for a few, but I don’t want you to think that I am not working on anything of my own…because I have been very busy playing with EQ7 while on vacation!

I have two different patterns in the works right now, both of which I am hoping to sell, but I will be needing a couple of pattern testers – so if you are at all interested – please please please let me know! I am also working on a baby quilt for my sister-in-law (she doesn’t read this blog so I can actually post about it when I get closer to done!), a quilt for my niece and a few other projects! Get ready for it people 2012 has STARTED!

Happy Boxing Day!

2 Comments / it's sew kiki, SewHappyGeek / By Melissa Dunworth

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas surrounded by loved ones and friends. My family had a very blessed Christmas – it is the first time my entire family has gotten together all in one room since my wedding four years ago. It was a very special day.

Anne got exactly what she asked Santa for, a bike and a helmet.

It will be awhile before she fits it properly, but in the meantime she can learn at our weekly trips to Kinder Gym. She also got Lego Duplos. Usually the hubby and I try to do more educational gifts, but we decided that we give her educational things all year round and this Christmas we would do things a little different.

Boxing Day is the day after Christmas (today) and is celebrated throughout the United Kingdom and parts of Canada. In the British Military it is when officers and enlisted change positions for the day – it helps to boost morale. Some fun boxing day suggestions – trade places with your kids for the day – safe activities only (you use the stove and of course do all the driving), but let them see what it is like to be a parent and make the decisions. I imagine it would be a great lesson and it is something we will definitely try when Anne is older – probably teenage years.

I will be taking the rest of the week off and I will be back on January 2nd. I am participating in the It’s Sew Kiki About Town Bee.

And I will also be participating in the SewHappyGeek QAL

Tomorrow I am meeting my blogging friend Dawn_in_CA. I am so excited to meet her in person. We are going to go to a few local quilt shops and have lunch, my mom and Anne will be joining us. Wednesday will be a day of packing and Thursday will be our travel day.

I hope you all have a wonderful New Year celebration and I will see you all next year!