Sew Bittersweet Designs | Sewing and Designing in my BitterSweet World

Finishes Party! January – A Lovely Year of Finishes

Posted on January 25, 2014 by Melissa Dunworth

Month one is done and gone! Can you believe that we are already one month down? I myself am blown away by how fast this year is going. I need for time to slow down, but since that isn’t going to happen, let’s just party it up with our first finish of the year!!!

I got my top completed for my Flying Stripper Quilt. I made the row at the bottom and all of the geese sashing rows. I do believe that I will be using geese for sashing again because I absolutely love the over all effect. This quilt is destined to belong to Anne some day. It measures 84″ x 85″. I still have to make a backing for it so for the time being it will sit for a bit, but I am reveling in the fact that the top is complete.

Your turn!!! Shanna and I want to see what you have finished up this month!

Remember, to be eligible for prizes you need to have linked up to our goal party at the beginning of the year. When you write your post to link to the finishes party, please link back to your original goal post. It makes life easier for Shanna and I. Thank you!!!

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

Let’s make sure we thank our wonderful sponsors!!!

1, 2. TWO winners each getting to choose one pdf pattern
from Sew BitterSweet Designs ($10 value)

3. Quilting Patterns designed by Quilting Lodge

4. Persimon Dreams – Project Quilting Mystery Bundle

5. Thread Prize from Aurifil

6. Green Fairy Quilts – 3 pdf patterns

7, 8. Honey, Bunny and Doll – 2 Patterns

9. Sew Sweetness – 1 pdf Pattern

Don’t forget to visit each other! It is always more fun when we cheer each other on!!!

Posted in A Lovely Year of Finishes, Fiber of All Sorts | 11 Comments

Missing

Posted on January 24, 2014 by Melissa Dunworth

Melissa has gone missing…she can be found in the Sewing Sanctuary. Be back tomorrow with the January finishes link up party!

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Sweet Pouch Swap

Posted on January 23, 2014 by Melissa Dunworth

I am participating in the Sweet Pouch Swap hosted by Sew Delicious. I learned about it on Instagram, which I am just loving being on (@SewBitterSweetDesigns), it is so inspiring. I finished my pouch 2 weeks ago, but I only finished filling it up yesterday. I am hoping to mail either today or Friday. I need to get it out soon because it has a long way to travel…all the way to Australia.

I followed the Triple Zipper Pouch Tutorial by A Quilter’s Table.

I love how it turned out. Having never been to Australia I had no idea what kind of candy they may or may not have there, but I knew I shouldn’t send chocolate since it is summer there right now. I decided to include some new Skittles that are new here. I guess I am hoping they aren’t there yet.

Are you doing any swaps right now? I have one more pouch to make for another swap, but I have until the middle of March to finish that one.

Posted in swaps | 6 Comments

Week 4 Goals

Posted on January 21, 2014 by Melissa Dunworth

Welcome to week 4 of the year! I normally want to get these posts up on Mondays, but my husband had the day off work on Monday and I spent the day with him and Anne instead of blogging. Family comes first, right?

I am happy to report that I finished last week’s goal, but I won’t be showing it to you until the finishes party for A Lovely Year of Finishes. How is your goal coming along?

This week I want to work on my Riley Blake Challenge quilt for The Modern Quilt Guild. You can read about the Challenge here. I’m really excited because my top is done and I love how it turned out. I added white for a solid and some more basics that I happened to have in my stash and the red chevron that I bought to go with the challenge. The challenge is to use the fabrics that Riley Blake provided. You can add in any brand solids and any other Riley Blake prints that you like. Here is what I have so far:

I am seriously in love. I am not quite sure what I will do with this quilt when it is finished but whatever happens with it I am sure it will be loved.

My goal for this week is to get the back made and get the quilt basted. I have no idea what I am going to do for the backing yet, but I would like to incorporate the 2 challenge fabrics that I did not use on the front. There is no requirement to use all 6 fabrics that were provided, but it would be nice to do so.

What are you working on this week?

Posted in SSMQG, The Modern Quilt Guild | 16 Comments

January – A Lovely Year of Finishes Participant Highlight – Katy at Lethargic Lass

Posted on January 17, 2014 by Melissa Dunworth

If you were with Shanna and I last year we did a mid-month check-in. These were fun, but some work for us that wasn’t heavily linked-up.

This year we’re trying something new.

For the middle of the month, we’re going to highlight a person that participates in #ALYoF so we can encourage everyone to visit one another. You all are what makes this link up so exciting.

Okay our fantastic sponsors help a bunch too!

Sew BitterSweet Designs
Quilting Lodge
Persimon Dreams
Aurifil
Green Fairy Quilts
Honey, Bunny and Doll
Sew Sweetness

This will fall in the middle of the month so you don’t forget us and the goal you chose during the beginning of the month.

This month we are going to highlight a long-time participant of A Lovely Year of Finishes

Katy from Lethargic Lass

Blog name: LethargicLass

Blog address: http://lethargiclass.blogspot.com/

Name you’re known by throughout quilting world: LethargicLass (Katy)

What’s your ALYoF goal this month? To finish my project for the Mosaic Tiles blog hop from the Modern Bee book

Mosaic Tiles Blog Hop Pillow - Lethargic Lass

Photo by Katy from Lethargic Lass

How do you approach your sewing goals? I try to make my goals do-able,and as well, I set little progress goals on more than one project at a time so I don’t get bored. One day I might chain-piece HSTs for one project and iron and trim something from another project.

How do you organize/prioritize your projects? I keep the pattern (whether printed or a book) with the fabrics and any templates either in a baggie, or a plastic storage tub depending on size. I keep any hand-sewing or embroidery projects at my computer desk, as well as small things to trim so I can do them while watching tv or checking emails.

Photo by Katy of Lethargic Lass

What is your current favorite project that you are working on? Will you share pictures with us? My favourite project right now is my newest and most unplanned one. On the same day that a friend released a great tutorial, another friend announced a pregnancy… it had to be done! The tutorial I am using can be found here http://euphoriajessica.blogspot.com/2014/01/scrappy-slice-o-pie-blocks-tutorial.html

What is your dream project to work on? I have almost all of Jen Kingwell’s patterns. Any one of them would be a dream really… I am just working on convincing myself I can do it 🙂

What is your favorite time of day to sew? Pretty much anytime other than late evening… I go to bed early, and if I am still sewing it tempts me to stay up, so I have to stop myself lol.

What is your favorite quilting/sewing accessory? Hard one… probably my Best Press and seam ripper… with those two I can fix almost anything!

What is your number one quilting/sewing goal for 2014? to actually make more quilts. I normally do so many swaps that I don’t get time to make quilts, and I want to return to more quilts, less smaller items.

What is one technique you really want to learn? I would like to learn FMQ… I figure with making more quilts this year that shouldn’t be a problem!

Thank you so much Katy for joining us today! We loved learning more about you!!!

Don’t forget to link up your finishes during the last 7 days of the month! We can’t wait to see them!