Swoon – Sew Bittersweet Designs

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.

Happy National Quilting Day!

11 Comments / National Quilt Day, Swoon / By Melissa Dunworth

Happy Saturday! Happy Second Day of Spring! Happy National Quilting Day! Happy to be Alive! So many things to be happy about to. Happy for the rain that is watering my freshly seeded lawn! Ok, I guess I am in a good mood this morning. Maybe that is because I just finished a photo shoot with my favorite quilting finish EVER! My Swoon is FINALLY finished! It only took me 3 years and 2.5 months to finish, but it is done!

Our bed is king sized and it doesn’t quite hang over the edges, but I’m ok with that, this allows me to see the entire quilt at once!

I would need to be about 3 feet taller to get a more over the bed and centered shot, but I think you get the idea!

This is my backing. I decided to use some of my favorite fat quarters to make a gorgeous star and have a reversible quilt! I love it!

Oh, Anne loves the quilt too! She couldn’t help but jump into on of my pictures. Did you notice the super huge gap? She lost her two front teeth this month!

Quilt Stats:

Quilt Name – Swoon
Pattern By – Thimble Blossoms
Pieced By – Melissa Dunworth (me)
Backing Designed By – Melissa Dunworth (me)
Quilted by – Vicki Ruebel – Orchid Owl Quilts
Thread Used – Superior Threads So Fine – 50 wt
Batting – Quilters Dream Cotton Batting
Fabrics – Kona White and Half Moon Modern by Moda

So there you have it! My very happy National Quilting Day! The sun came out for about 5 minutes this morning (before the rain started) and I now have a gorgeous quilt on my bed to keep me warm! Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Tutorial – Supporting Those Large Quilts

6 Comments / Swoon, tutorial / By Melissa Dunworth

The projects I will be working on for the next couple weeks will be largely heavy on the handwork. This is because my flooring did not match and I had to pick out all new floors. When they are finally ready to do my floors Anne and I will have to move out for a minimum of 5 days. To say the least, I am not looking forward to that prospect. In the meantime, I got my Swoon Quilt back from the incredibly talented Vicki of Orchid Owl Quilts. You should follow her on Instagram, if you don’t already!

The Swoon is huge, 80″ x 80″ huge! When working with a quilt of this size I know some people can get a little intimidated, but over the years I have come to find that it is simply a matter of getting creative on how you support your quilt.

This is my sewing set up on a typical day. How I like it to be when I am piecing or working on small quilts.

The table next to my sewing table is actually a drawer set from Ikea and bonus, it is on wheels.

This is my set up when I am working on a huge quilt. Even though I didn’t quilt my Swoon, I still have to be able to work with it’s giant size to put the binding on the front. This is my set up for that process.

I’ve turned my ironing board into a side table and moved my set of drawers out to the front to support the weight of my quilt.

Now here is how it looks with my 80″ x 80″ Swoon on it:

Once I sit in my chair and adjust the quilt to sit further back on the extra table, the quilt doesn’t pull down at all. It is 100% supported and I don’t have to worry about it pulling on my machine or impacting my tension.

Get creative in your sewing room to support those big quilts. I’ve used chairs, ironing boards, extra side tables and my husband once or twice. Don’t let your quilt pull or hang from your machine. It isn’t good for the machine or the quilt.

Have Fun Quilting!

Swoon Journey – The Backing

13 Comments / A Lovely Year of Finishes, Swoon / By Melissa Dunworth

I started my Swoon quilt way back in January of 2012. I kept up with the swoon along on Flickr for a few months, I think I made 6 blocks before I stopped dead in my tracks. Then last May for my A Lovely Year of Finishes goal, I swore I would finish my top, and I did!

I love this top! It is probably one of my most favorite (for me) quilts I’ve ever made. Then I stopped dead in my tracks again. The reason was/is silly but I bet many of you can identify…I didn’t want to cut into the remainder of my precious Half Moon Modern fabrics. After all, it is an out of print line that is still in high demand. If I cut them and used them…then I wouldn’t have them anymore.

Fast forward to January of 2014 and my self-imposed fabric diet. I decided I wasn’t buying anymore fabric so I had better finish my projects with what I have!

My goal this month has been to make a backing for my Swoon. I decided on a giant star so I could feature some of my favorite scissor prints from the line. I didn’t use a tutorial for the backing, though I know there are tons out there for giant stars. Anne insists on having her picture taken with all of my quilting projects so here is the obligatory cute picture (sorry, I just can’t help myself but to share her adorableness).

And here is another one with the borders on. It is hugenormous if you can’t tell. 89″ x 89″

Have you finished your June Goal yet? Link up here!

A Lovely Year of Finishes – June Finishes Party

5 Comments / A Lovely Year of Finishes, Fiber of All Sorts, Swoon / By Melissa Dunworth

It is official! With this post we have reached the half way point of the year. Can you believe it?!? I personally want to cry just a little bit because this year has gone by so fast. On the other hand I want to celebrate because I have so many finishes under my belt. I honestly can’t remember ever being so productive.

My goal this month was to make a backing for my swoon quilt.

Here is my top, I will show you the back tomorrow. I really love how it turned out.

Did you finish you June Goal?!?

What one item did you choose?

You have two requirements to be entered into the prizes this month.

1. Link-up {on this post} the first 7-days of the month

and

2. Link-up in the last 7-days of the month.
Add your blog post or flickr photo (with appropriate descriptions) to the linky party below.
Please grab a button or link back to Shanna and I so other people can join in the fun!

**Please note, the linky party is the same here and over at Shanna , so there is no need to enter twice **

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Here is a list of our generous sponsors for June!!

June prizes include:

1. Green Fairy Quilts – 3 pdf patterns