A (late) Happy New Year

Well, so far 2018 hasn't been very healthy! Having managed to get through a wonderful family Christmas at my mum's, then a lovely laughter-filled New Year with dear friends in Germany without so much as a sniffle, we've both come home to the so-called 'hot bed' of Aussie flu! Great! Admittedly Justin seems to have had the worse of it, at least I've managed to get out of bed and do the odd bit of work. 

All of which explains why my Happy New Year wishes are rather late, as is my first free Pre-cut Party pattern for my Newsletter Subscribers. While browsing through my 500 Quilt Blocks book (Goldsworthy & Green) I came across this cute HST Shoo Fly block and thought it would make a lovely little project. Having promised myself one for ages, I decided to make a much-needed needle case - you would not believe how many needles I found buried in my pin cushion... or maybe you would! 

If you are new to Sewmotion, I send out a free pattern based on quilting pre-cuts every month to my Newsletter subscribers. You will also hear news of my latest products and events, plus subscriber-only offers. You can sign up here.

This lurgy has also meant we haven't been able to get outside to take some decent photos of my Curve Motion Medallion quilt - this one was taken in our half-finished dining room - hopefully by the weekend we can get out of the house! This block-of-the-month quilt is over 16 months and is one for lovers of hand-sewing, with English paper-pieced blocks, hand appliqué and even hand quilting is desired. You can learn more about this BOM here, you can start whenever you wish - the first shipments go out on Monday - but you must commit to the whole 16 months.

I also used this curved EPP technique in my Sun Spell mini quilt featured in this month's Love Patchwork & Quilting, so if you would like a taster before embarking on my BOM, why not give this a try - even better, Sun Spell is actually being demonstrated on the UK's Sewing Quarter Freeview channel (78) on Wednesday 17th January, so tune in to see this wonderful technique in action!

I wish you all a creative and colour-filled 2018!

Linking up with Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers and Needle & Thread Thursday