Sew Bittersweet Designs | Sewing and Designing in my BitterSweet World

The Halloween Grinch

Posted on October 10, 2013 by Melissa Dunworth

Did you know there is a Halloween Grinch? There may actually be more than one, in all likelihood there are probably multiple. The one in our neighborhood steals pumpkins from 3 year olds. Yup, that’s right, the pumpkins we picked out on Saturday were gone by Monday afternoon. Someone waltzed onto our front porch, took 3 of our 5 pumpkins and smashed the sand dollar that we were sun bleaching. I felt terrible having to tell Anne, needless to say, she cried.

I decided that I had to make it up to her so I took out a project I started 2 years ago and got back to work on it. This is a kit my mom bought eons ago, it features the line “Harvest Moon” by Northcott. There is no date on the fabrics or the pattern, so if you know how old it is I would love to hear. All that is left is the borders and quilting it. Hoping to finish it by the end of next week but we shall see…

The perfect quilt for the child who loves Halloween. As soon as she saw the top in its current state she asked if she could sleep with it. I told her she had to wait until it was at least quilted. We will hopefully go get new pumpkins this weekend and this time we will be decorating the back porch!

Posted in halloween | 13 Comments

Pretty Pouch Swap

Posted on October 9, 2013 by Melissa Dunworth

Last month I participated in the Pretty Pouch Swap hosted by Kim of Lily Patch Quilts.

I had a lot of fun and got to know my partner a little bit too, it is always fun to learn about new people and try and make something that they will hopefully love. As this was a pouch swap the pattern I picked was the Gathered Clutch by Noodlehead. It is a pattern I have made once before and I really loved it.

My partner Roxie described her style as Rustic Tuscan which I had never heard of, so I of course headed over to Pinterest and did a search. I saw lots of blues and browns together, which is awesome because I happen to have lots of both of those colors! Here is the pouch I came up with:

I just love these 2 prints together! Here is an inside shot – I opted for the pockets and for the divider. I love being able to separate things in my wallet so I wanted to make sure Roxie had that option too!

All I did was reverse the prints on the inside. I used about a fat eighth or so of both my fabrics and I’m tickled with how it turned out. I tucked a mini charm pack inside for my partner. We were supposed to throw in local treats but I don’t keep much in the house because of Anne’s allergies. I hope my partner didn’t mind that too much.

Tomorrow I will be sharing a special quilt I am working on for Anne so make sure you stop by to check it out!

Posted in swaps | 9 Comments

A Lovely Year of Finishes – September Winners

Posted on October 6, 2013 by Melissa Dunworth

I love the days Shanna & I announce the winners – it is always such a feel good post and who doesn’t love that! Remember you still have today and tomorrow to link up your goal for October, in order to be eligible for prize you must link up to the Goal Party and the Finishes Party.

Congratulations to our awesome winners!

1. A CraftsyClass (winners choice of class)

Winner – Katy – Lethargic Lass http://lethargiclass.blogspot.com/

2, 3. TWO winners each getting to choose one pdf pattern
from Sew BitterSweet Designs – that’s me!
($10 value)

2 – Kerry from Penny Dog Patchwork

3 – Lynette from What a Hoot Quilts

4. $25.00 Gift Certificate to I Love Fabrics

Winner – Marlene of KISSed Quilts

5. Choice of $15 or 2 charm packs from Stitch n’ Giggles

Winner – Amy from Cloud CouCou Crafts

6. A Paper Piecing Kit from Paper Pieces

Winner – Jessica from Noguchi Designs

7. Quilting Patterns designed by Quilting Lodge

Winner – Beatrice from Une Aiguille dans une botte de foin

8 & 9. A thread pack from Aurifil

Winner – Karen from Flick r

Winner – Jo from CReate the poinT

Posted in A Lovely Year of Finishes, Fiber of All Sorts | 6 Comments

Design Wall Saturday

Posted on October 5, 2013 by Melissa Dunworth

I have been using fleece all week! At least that is how it feels anyways. I made 5 hats – two of which are for charity (more in the coming month). I also started working on Anne’s project. Check out the current state of my cutting table:

So if you know Anne at all, you will know that she picked this fabric out all by herself! She is going to be a Pink Tiger for Halloween. As soon as she saw this fabric there was no question in her mind that of course cats come in pink! I have a coordinating solid too. Yesterday I got the main bulk of pattern pieces pinned, today I will cut them all out (or try to anyways).

Note: I need new fabric cutting scissors. I have very nice Gingher Dress Makers Shears, but truth be told, they really hurt my hands. Being that my psoriatic arthritis is in my hands scissors are hard for me. These ones are hard for me to open and close and they are super heavy, I would love recommendations for a good replacement pair.

On my actual design wall are some awesome Riley Blake Fabrics! The South Sound Modern Quilt Guild is participating in the national Modern Quilt Guild fabric challenge this year. Pictured below are the fabrics our guild was sent:

We are allowed to add solids and any other Riley Blake fabrics that we like. I have them sitting up there in the hopes that by staring at them I will become magically inspired!

What’s everyone else working on?

Posted in halloween, SSMQG | 9 Comments

A Lovely Year of Finishes – Survey Update

Posted on October 4, 2013 by Melissa Dunworth

So far the response to the survey we have up for A Lovely Year of Finishes that I am co-hosting with Shanna has been fantastic.

We super appreciate this feedback as we decide if we’re up to hosting this group again the new year.

If you haven’t already…fill out the survey here.

There have been some items that we wanted to address along the way.

These are now added to the Q&A page

Q. Can international people participate?

A. Yes, yes, and yes. If our sponsors have mailed us the prizes, we mail them out and just request some assistance with shipping. If you are unable to obtain your winnings – please contact us! We have other prizes that can be substituted.

Q. Is there a different drawing for those that completed all their goals?

A. Yes, this will be the final link-up to be held January 1-7, 2014 We’ve set the minimum number of projects to 6 completed projects to enter into this “extra” drawing.

Q. I have a quilty shop and would love to be part of the sponsors, who do I contact?

A. Please email either Melissa (melissa {at} sewbittersweetdesigns {dot} com) or Shanna (fiberofallsorts {at} gmail {dot} com)

*There could a special giveaway for people who completed all their goals – maybe some suggestions of sponsors of this would be rocking*

Just as a reminder that we’re just to two quilters that are running this. We’ve obtained no compensation from the sponsors, we’ve actually gone seeking them out. We are doing this purely for the fun of it and to encourage ourselves and others to get stuff DONE!

And then we’ve put in our own funds to send out the prizes some sponsors sent to our doorstep. We actually didn’t anticipate this happening and are so thankful some people have assisted and donated a little to the shipping costs for them to get prizes.

Everyone has been so awesome while we grow and learn what we’re doing. If there has been a concern with anything remember we aren’t privy to that information unless you tell us.

Keep the comments coming.

Help us know if you want this project again.

And the October goal setting link is open till the 7th. This is a requirement to be eligible for prizes. You can find that linky in this post.

Posted in A Lovely Year of Finishes, Fiber of All Sorts | 2 Comments

The Halloween Grinch

Pretty Pouch Swap

A Lovely Year of Finishes – September Winners

Design Wall Saturday

A Lovely Year of Finishes – Survey Update

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