Craft Fair Fun and a New Quilter’s Joy

This year I’ve decided to book myself into a few craft fairs, not only to hopefully sell some of the pouches, purses and cushions I can’t seem to stop making, but also to spread the word about my growing collection of pre-cut quilt and cushion kits.

Last Sunday we were at the Vintage & Craft Fair held at The Rainbow Plant Centre near Stokesley, North Yorkshire. This independent family-run nursery started as an empty field, and 30 years later is now a thriving business selling high-quality plants and offering invaluable help and advice to its regular customers.

Setting up in the warmth of the greenhouse, we managed to get both Ikea shelf units and our Justin-made quilt ladder up, as well as my banner… looks pretty good eh?! There’s a lovely tearoom on-site too, so we weren’t short of tea.. and I won’t mention the pie stall…. Needless to say…

A few customers braved the chilly wind and came to explore our wares, but sadly not as many as I had hoped. However, I’ve stopped thinking of these fairs as ‘must sell as much as possible’ days, but rather as a way to advertise my products and website. While I love making my handmade gifts and T-T-Teessider cushions, the true ethos behind Sewmotion is to help and encourage folk to learn how to quilt, to develop their skills and to find as much enjoyment as I do from this wonderful craft. And my way of doing this is to offer free online tutorials, pre-cut quilt kits and quilting patterns to new quilters as well as the more experienced.

Much to my joy, this plan came to fruition with my last customer of the day. Having popped in for some plant food (I think) she spotted my All Squared Up quilt kit and stopped in her tracks. Apparently her husband had bought her a sewing machine recently after she mentioned wanting to learn to quilt, but he was getting frustrated that even though he could hear the machine going in her sewing room, and YouTube videos in the background, nothing was being produced! Overjoyed that my kits contain all the co-ordinating pre-cut fabric, thread and instructions to make the top, she went home very happy that she had a project she could finally get stuck in to and hopefully finish!

This really did make my day, when I say to people that I plan to get everyone addicted to quilting one customer at a time, I’m not joking!!

Our next craft fair is at Stokesley Town Hall on Saturday, 7th May - if you're local why not pop along and explore what our community has to offer.

Meanwhile, back at Sewmotion HQ, what really scares me at the moment is time, or lack of it. Having ordered quite a bit of fabric at a trade show a few months ago, I’m now starting to take deliveries, and my ‘stash’, if you can still call it that, is starting to look more like a shop!

I have so many kit and pre-cut ideas running around my head, from foundation-pieced hexies to a possible quilt along or block-of-the-month project... I’m finding it hard to concentrate on just one thing! My current project is a second All Squared Up kit using my gorgeous strip set in Sevenberry’s Japanese prints - watch this space…

If you're looking for more quilty fun and inspiration, why not pop over to Let's Bee Social over at Sew Fresh Quilts, Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation, and say hello.

A New Binding Trick...

Well it’s new to me anyway! Having spent years snipping the ends off my binding, feeding them into each other and sewing them down, I’ve never bothered with any other method –it worked fine, so why fix it?!

However… on one of my many perusals through Pinterest I came across this method which made me stop and think. Whenever I have seen ways for sewing the binding ends together before sewing them down, they’ve always demanded leaving so many inches of spare binding, I’ve never seen the point, just call me tight! I even bought a ‘smart’ ruler thing at QuiltCon last year... I used it once! Anyway, Vicki over on Sew Inspired shared her method, which does not require acres of spare fabric, and works like a dream!

So share and share alike, I’ve added a quick tutorial using this method my to collection, I’m not poo-pooing my old way at all, this still features in my Beginner’s Quilt series, but I’ve added a link if you would rather try this method instead.

Talking of quilt kits, we have a new version of our pre-cut Beginner’s Quilt kit which features the gorgeous Fablewood collection from Dashwood Studios. This colour scheme is so fresh and summery, I think it would look so sweet on a little girl’s bed. I am aware that these kits seem to be very girly-orientated at the moment, I am working on that!

I’ve also been wondering whether calling these kits “Beginner’s Quilts” may be putting some quilters off… having just made yet another version for this new kit, I have to say I really enjoyed making such an quick and easy quilt, especially in such gorgeous fabrics!  So for more experienced quilters, these kits also make great weekend projects, or even emergency gifts for early arrivals!

If you are local to the North Yorkshire/Teesside area, we'll be at The Rainbow Plant Centre's Vintage & Craft Fair, Stokesley Road, Nunthorpe, this Sunday (24th April) 10-3pm - why not pop along and see what our local community has to offer!

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This week I'm linking up with Sew Fresh Quilt's Let's Bee Social and Needle & Thread Thursday over on My Quilt Infatuation, come over and say hello!

A new Hexy Kit on the block - and we have a winner!

Thank you to all you wonderful people who entered our Prize Giveaway to win a Mono Flowers strip set and charm pack bundle! I am very pleased to announce we have a winner… Penny H, who on Facebook said these fabrics and colours are very her, so I can’t wait to see what she makes! Congratulations Penny! I have messaged you on Facebook :) 

 

New gems from Sewmotion

As well as our Mono Flowers pre-cuts above, I’ve been busy cutting away and have just released this Japanese beauty.

This Japanese stripper set consists of 40 strips - four each of 10 designs, all from Sevenberry’s Japanese collection, and are priced at £35 each - and don't forget we offer free UK postage! I do love these rich colours with highlights of pink and cream, so Japanese! I have so many ideas of what to make with this, and if I can get away from the computer, I may just do that! 

The other pre-cut released this week is this cute 6-piece Fat Quarter Bundle made up of four prints from Dashwood Studio’s new Fablewood collection, plus two blenders from their Twist range. These bundles are £17.50 each (with free UK postage) - I can see another Beginner’s Quilt Kit coming on ready for the Craft Fair season. 

Talking of craft fairs, our first of the year will be on Sunday 24^th April, 10am-3pm, at The Rainbow Plant Centre’s Vintage/Craft Fair in Nunthorpe, near Stokesley – if you’re local it would be lovely to see you there.

This week, we also have a new Hexy Cushion Kit on the block – this version of our pre-cut hexagon kit features this gorgeous soft pink from Sevenberry’s Japanese range, together with Robert Kaufman’s Essex Linen and a Kona Graphite. 

Each kit includes 10 fabric strips, 80 hexy papers, a Sewline Glue Pen, Aurifil thread and full colour instructions to make a 16”sq. cushion – the perfect portable holiday project, or a great introduction to hand-sewn English paper-piecing.

It seems I've been staring at the computer screen all week, I’ve been updating sewmotion.com and have a new checkout, you can now pay with all major credit cards without having a Paypal account!  Having said that, one of the things I love about writing these blogs is that it makes me realise the amount I actually get done in a week and that I haven’t been stuck at the Mac afterall!

I would just like to leave you with pics of my latest quilt, Monochrome Sunset (soon to be released as a kit). I forget it was only last weekend that we had glorious sunshine, and we managed to take some beautiful shots at our local landmark, Teesside’s Transporter bridge. I hope you like them!

This week I'm linking up with Needle & Thread Thursday over at My Quilt Infatuation, and Sew Fresh Quilt's Let's Bee Social - come and say hello and be inspired!

Designing a quilt back - and a Giveaway!

When working on my latest quilt kit, I realised just how much I love a pieced quilt back! I know there are more pretty extra-wide backings available than ever before, but there's just something about using some of the same fabrics you've used on the front, on the back, and sometimes, depending on the quilting, you can end up with two quilts in one!

It does make me laugh when some people see my quilt backs and then step back in complete awe, as if I'd just scaled Kilamanjaro! Let me tell you folks, pieced backings are really not that difficult! Or should I say, they're only as difficult as you make them - with a little maths and some added creativity, you can make your quilt backs just as beautiful as your fronts!

Read my new tutorial on designing and piecing your own quilt back - hopefully you will be inspired to try your own!

Elsewhere, there is still plenty of time to enter our free Giveaway! To celebrate springtime (well, it seemed so last week anyway) we're giving away a set of our new Mono Flowers Strip Set and Charm Packs. Featuring Riley Blake's Dot & Dash fabrics together with Kona Solids, this monochrome colourway would make a stunning modern quilt, with just a hint of yellow for the spring sunshine (she says hopefully...)

You can enter in a three ways – the more ways you enter, the more chances you have to win:   

a) Like our Facebook page, and leave a comment on the top Post telling me which is your favourite quilting pre-cut and why. If you have quilty friends, why not Share this post and spread the word!

b) Subscribe to our monthly Newsletter to be kept up to date with our latest products, pattern releases and events.

c) Leave a comment below on this Blog post telling me which is your favourite quilting pre-cut and why.

The draw will close at midnight on Wednesday 13th April 2016, so good luck everyone! For full term and conditions of this competition, click here.

This week's I'm linking up with;

* Lorna's Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts
* Needle And Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation 
* and Tips & Tutorials Tuesday at Late Night Quilter - come over, say hello and get inspired!

Spring is here – she says tentatively…

Time to celebrate with a FREE GIVEAWAY!?!

We’ve been busy adding to our fabric pre-cuts collection recently, and one of my favourite is our Mono Flowers range. These fabric strip and charm square packs are made up of six designs from Riley Blake’s Dot & Dash collection, plus co-ordinating Kona Solids in White, Banana and Silver (the charm pack does not include white).

The Mono Flowers Stripper consists of twenty 2½ x 44” (approx.) strips, and the Mono Flowers Charm Pack has forty-two 5” squares. Monochrome is very popular at the moment, and with a hint of yellow as an accent colour, a quilt made from these modern, fresh prints should fit nicely into many modern homes.

Both of these pre-cuts, plus many more to come, are available in our Sewmotion shop, our Folksy shop and on Etsy. The Strippers are £19 and the Charm Packs are £10, with free UK postage! I am also in the midst of designing some new quilt patterns to go with these, so if you’re stuck for inspiration, subscribe to our Newsletter to be kept up to date with our new pattern releases.

Are you inspired already? Or know a friend who will be? Why not enter in our Free Giveaway with a chance to win both a strip set and a charm pack?

You can enter in a three ways – the more ways you enter, the more chances you have to win:

a) Like our Facebook page, and leave a comment on the top Post telling me which is your favourite quilting pre-cut and why. If you have quilty friends, why not Share this post and spread the word!

b) Subscribe to our monthly Newsletter to be kept up to date with our latest products, pattern releases and events.

c) Leave a comment below on this Blog post telling me which is your favourite quilting pre-cut and why.

The draw will close at midnight on Wednesday 13th April 2016, so you have plenty of time, good luck everyone! For full term and conditions of this competition, click here.