I did a machine binding, for no other reason that hand bindings hurt my hands, but I decided to jazz it up with a fun wavy stitch on my machine. I love the added pop of color and fun it adds.

I did almost entirely swirls for the quilting, in the actual “pictures” I did some free motion quilting around the birds and the butterflies in the prints, but I will show those when I reveal the whole quilt at the end of the month. Here are some of my swirls.

Now it is your turn! Show us your progress! Don’t forget you can link up here with me or with Shanna, you don’t have to link with both of us, we have worked out the computer magic that your entry appears on both our blogs.

And also, don’t forget to check out our awesome sponsors and show them some love too! A Lovely Year of Finishes would not be nearly as much fun without them!

4. A Fat Quarter Bundle from Moda United Notions

5. $15.00 Gift Certificate to Fat Quarter Shop

6. $25.00 Gift Certificate to Superior Threads

Okie dokie, time to show us your stuff!

I love this pillow! I made it to complement my Sew Intertwined Quilt and also to encourage me to finish the quilt. I finished the pillow in February of this year and finished the quilt in March – see, it worked!

My favorite part of this pillow is the quilting, here’s a close up:

I’m a huge fan of straight line quilting and I also love that the dresden is echoed in the quilting. I used the exact same technique on the quilt itself when I quilted it a month later.

Final Stats:

Name: Sew Intertwined Pillow
Dresden Design By – Melissa Dunworth and Jenna Excel; Quilting and Pillow by – Melissa Dunworth
Size: 18″ x 18″
Quilting: King Tut Thread, Straight Line Echo Quilting by me
Fabrics: leftovers from my Sew Intertwined Quilt
Completed: February 2013 – originally blogged here

Make sure you head over to Ellison Lane and check out all the other entries!

I had two different blocks in mind when I was designing Quilted Crossroads, and whipping them up and seeing them made and quilted is what helped me decided on the final layout.

Sometimes it is hard to believe I went from the first picture to the second picture, but I do love both versions of the design.  The mini currently lives in my daughter’s room. When I took the quilt down to photograph it at nap time she said to me “you can’t leave an empty hole in my wall, I need my quilt!” I don’t think I have ever received a better compliment!

This is a picture of her room from about 6 months ago, she has a big girl bed now

Final Stats:

Name: Quilted Crossroads Mini
Pattern & Design By: Melissa Dunworth, Sew BitterSweet Designs
Size: 24″ x 24″
Quilting: King Tut Thread, Free Motion Stippling by me
Fabrics: Amy Butler and solids from my stash

Even though I’m not entering this mini into the challenge, please make sure you go check out the Modern Mini Quilt Challenge and see all the amazing minis that were created in 2013, and make sure you stop by tomorrow and see what I am actually entering into the challenge!

First, Jennie and Clara from Clover and Violet have A Season By Hand going on. For the next two months they will have inspirational projects handmade projects on their blog from some of your favorite bloggers (including me!). There will also be contests and prizes! Go check it out!

Beth from Plum and June is holding her second annual Let’s Get Acquainted New Blogger Blog hop. I participated last year and had a blast getting to “meet” new bloggers from all over the world. Go check it out!

Michele from Quilting Gallery is holding her second QAL called “Aiming for Accuracy”.  The blocks and over all quilt design look fantastic and she is offering some great prizes for those who quilt along with her, you will want to check out the sponsors page, you might just find someone you know on there (wink wink).

And last, but certainly not least, Kristy from Hopeful Threads just announced her first ever ongoing project. I am so very excited for her and for those that will be on the receiving end of this wonderful project. The ongoing project is called the Fluff Project – go check it out, I know you are going to want to sew some fluff too!

I know there are tons of other things going on too, but I wanted to draw your attention to these projects, as I think they are going to be lots of fun!

When it comes to Free Motion Quilting I am just not ready yet to jump in and go, so I always bust out some practice muslin and batting and get going. You might recognize this practice piece because it has been used before, for my last FMQ project.

To learn how to swirl without beating my head against the wall, and really, why recreate the wheel, I headed on over to The Free Motion Quilting Project by Leah Day and watched one of her videos, then I was off and running. I am extra excited about FMQ these days because I just signed up for Leah Day’s Craftsy class, Free Motion Fillers, Vol. 1.  So far I have only completed lesson one, but I am excited to learn more about using my machine to quilt a large quilt and even more designs.

After I felt confident I went to town. Here is a pic of my quilt in the machine:

Here is a pic out of the machine. I now know what I am going to do with the rest of the areas. I will be starting with the white frames and doing Leah’s Design for Spiral Chain.

I am so excited to be not only making progress on my June goal, but also conquering another FMQ design. My goal is to work up the confidence to quilt a couple of my larger quilts on my home machine. Hopefully all this practice will help me meet that goal.

What has everyone else been up to? Conquered any sewing fears lately?