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Thursday 20 September 2018

Blogger's Quilt Festival

It's that time of year again when the lovely Amy Ellis of Amy's Creative Side hosts this wonderful quilt party where we can share and be inspired by fellow quilters around the world. Click here to find out more and to see all the truly stunning quilts.



My entry has to be my Rainbow Rings I entered into the Festival of Quilts earlier this year.



Having totally fallen for curved English paper-piecing in a big way, I thought I should really create a show quilt using this technique and decided to raid my stash and make a scrappy rainbow design. Having planned out the shapes on the computer and worked out how many of each colour I needed, I dragged out my many, many boxes of scraps and got pulling - this is how the quilt started...



I then worked on the rings making sure the colours were in sink as they went round.



Then I had a problem - what to back it onto? Originally I had planned to go with the cream as I had used grey in a previous project. But as much as I looked at each version, the dark grey kept calling to me, the colours seemed to really zing against such a dark background - so dark grey it was.



I wanted to make this a totally hand sewing project so decided to big-stitch hand quilt the entire thing... during the hottest summer the UK has known for years! Haha! I echo quilted within each of the EPP shapes and then around the rings, and then added some replica motifs in the negative spaces which I left unquilted.



I was very chuffed to see the quilt on display at Festival and had some really wonderful comments from the judges and visitors, thank you!



I can't wait to see all the other wonderful quilts on display, though it may take me a while, please be patient with me!

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

Thursday 13 September 2018

Stitch Gathering Sponsor & the latest CMM BOM

One of my best memories from last month's Festival of Quilts was finally meeting Jo Avery in the flesh - we've been trying and missing each other since Quilt Con in 2015! Jo is a wonderful modern quilter, designer, owner of My Bear Paw in Edinburgh and a prolific contributor to many quilting mags. Jo also organises and runs the modern quilting retreat, Stitch Gathering. Now in it's 6th year, this fantastic weekend is dedicated to all things modern and includes workshops on improv block building, lino printing your own fabrics and even some gorgeous embroidery that I know is close to Jo's heart. Tutors include Jo herself alongside well known names such as Karen Lewis and Mandy Munroe.


While talking to Jo at Festival she asked if I would like to be a sponsor for this great event, and I jumped at the chance. So those of you who are lucky enough to be going to this amazing retreat weekend, look out for a little Sewmotion EPP goodness :)


Talking of EPP goodness, the latest instalments of my Curve Motion Medallion block-of-the-month come out this week. I have customers at all different stages of this program having joined at different times, but above is a pic of Block 9, the Pink and Purple Flower. You can join in this 16-month EPP adventure at any time, and what's more I can now supply the pre-cut papers you need for each month, so no more cutting out! Click here to find out more.


A customer sent me her version of my EPP Hoop Art this week, I love those puffins so much, and the fussy-cutting is just perfect! Thanks very much for sharing Wendy. You can now purchase this pattern in paper form which comes with the pre-cut papers, or as a PDF for instant download.

Wishing you all an inspired week of creativity.

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

Thursday 6 September 2018

This month's free pattern and gorgeous new pre-cuts

We've had a little taster of autumn up here in the Northeast this last week, but the sun's shining again, so all's good. This time of year always reminds me of new beginnings and learning new things. What about you? Do you feel the urge to learn something new? A new technique maybe?? For my latest free Pre-cut Party pattern to my Newsletter subscribers, I have returned to my favourite curved English paper-piecing technique to make up these beautiful festive table mats. I've had the idea of an EPP wreath running around my head for a while now, and when I showed this variation on IG, a friend suggested they would be great as table mats, so here we are!



The wreath is hand pieced and then appliquéd onto the background, a feature panel for your cutlery and borders are then added to complete these beautiful mats, which would go nicely with my Table Runner kit featured last month. If you would like your own free copy of this pattern, subscribe to the Newsletter here.



I also have these mats available as a kit - with enough fabric to make a pair of mats, each kit also comes with the pre-cut papers for the EPP, binding, backing and full instructions, you just need wadding. You can find out more about this kit here.



I have also just taken delivery of these glorious fabrics from Alison Glass's latest collection, Road Trip - aren't they beautiful!! I have a 12pc fat quarter bundle (£36) and a 48pc charm pack (£12), both of which would make amazing quilts!



Wishing everyone a happy sewing week - linking up with Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers and Needle & Thread Thursday

Tuesday 4 September 2018

2018 Online Quilters Meet & Greet

Benita Skinner of Victoriana Quilt Designs is running the 2018 Online Quilters Meet & Greet during the month of September, and asked if I would like to join in. Of course I said yes, I love any opportunity to meet fellow quilt addicts from around the world!



Throughout September you can visit Benita's page where you will find links to lots of wonderful quilt bloggers, some you may already know, others will be completely new - what a great chance to make new friends and be inspired!! Benita is also running an amazing competition open to all who take part - you can learn more and enter by clicking below.



So let me introduce myself, I am Louisa Goult, I live in Middlesbrough in the Northeast of England, though I am originally from London, and I run my own quilt business, Sewmotion. I have always been fascinated by colour and geometry, particularly symmetry in design, and what better way to express this than through designing quilts! I started quilting in my teens, then had a break in my 20s where work/career took over. Then when I and my husband were both made redundant, we decided to embark on a round-the-world trip which included the US, New Zealand and Australia. It was on a rainy day in Australia, hunkered down in our campervan where my love of quilting was reignited thanks to some wonderful Aussie quilting mags.



When we eventually got back from our travels, I had a couple of jobs in craft retail to learn the ropes as it were, then in 2014 I decided to take the plunge and set up on my own (eek!) Having worked in a quilt shop for four years, I knew how the craft was growing in popularity, I had so many people come in looking for classes where they could learn this great skill, and this is where the idea for my first quilt kit, the Beginner's Quilt kit came from. I also provide free tutorials on the website, including how to make your first quilt which can work in conjunction with the kit if people prefer to follow photographic instruction.



From that first kit, I now offer around 50 kits which include quilts, cushions, runners, purses and hoop art projects, as well as a growing collection of patterns. I have also developed a curved English paper-piecing technique, which seems to be taking over my life at the moment. This method is used in my block of the month quilt, Curve Motion Medallion, which is also a quilt-as-you-go project. You can learn more about this 16-months of hand sewing joy here. I have also made my first YouTube film, a four part tutorial on how to make my EPP Flower Cushion, hopefully there will be more of these in the future!

Having just exhibited at the Festival of Quilts in the UK, I also entered a quilt for the first time, another curved EPP creation, using scraps from my stash. I then big-stitched quilted around the rings in the grey background space.



I also send out a Sewmotion Newsletter, which includes a free pattern every month based on my love of quilting pre-cuts, though it does seem to be whatever inspires me at the time! You can learn more about that here.

Well, I think that more or less covers me and Sewmotion. Working on my own from home everyday, I love meeting fellow quilters online and sharing experiences and ideas, thank you so much Benita for running this great event, hopefully this will be the first of many! Don't forget to enter the competition - the more blogs you visit the greater the chance of winning those amazing goodies!