Christmas Gift Sale & Folksy Gift Guide

A few weeks ago I remember promising a round-up of my favourite handmade gift ideas to be found in online marketplaces, and I seem to have got as far as Etsy… and then we moved house. I completed underestimated how much time this was going to take out of my month, and now I fear I’ve missed the Christmas shopping bubble. Hopefully there is still time for last minute purchases, and where better to look in the UK than Folksy.

For those of you who are new Folksy, this online marketplace is very similar to Etsy, but only sells hand crafted or designed work from UK designer-makers. This is a great opportunity to support British makers, and also handy for last-minute gifts! Folksy provides handy Gift Guides  which have been curated by some of the talented makers over the past year. These include ‘British Printmakers’, ‘Gifts for Makers’ ‘Eco Friendly Gifts’ and ‘Gifts for Music Lovers’ – there really is something for everyone! Here are just a few of my favourites...

Going clockwise from top left: Mouse Bookmark, Earth & Air Jewellery, £18; Sycamore Yarn Bowl, Bluebell Woodturning, £31; Thread Storage Wall Organiser, Laura ter Kulle, £34.99; Lampshade in Forest Green, Justine Ellis, £46; Wooden Heart Stud Earrings, Ivy Lace London, £6.50; Felt Coin Pouch, Song of the Seam, £6.

If you're still stuck for last minute gift ideas, why not check out my own sale in both the Sewmotion shop, and my Folksy shop - with up to 30% off selected gifts and cushions.

Folksy is also running a great campaign to celebrate everything handmade – use the hashtag #celebrate_handmade on social media to find some beautiful items. They also have a wonderful article on their blog by Tash Goswami who explains why buying and giving handmade is so much better - why it's more sustainable than mass production, how handmade is forever, not just for now, and how, by buying handmade, we are supporting local businesses and keeping craft skills alive.

I think the last point Tash makes about keeping craft skills alive, which also demands education in these skills, is something I feel very strongly about. I could go one for days about how wonderful, relaxing, therapeutic, and just so good for you, crafting is, whether you are sitting at your sewing machine all day sewing endless half-square triangles, or in front of a roaring fire with an EPP project on the go, the repetitive action of crafts like patchwork and quilting is what slow craft is all about. Being able to unplug, for even just an hour, and concentrate on one thing, is as beneficial for many as a good night’s sleep. This is why through Sewmotion, I aim to introduce as many people as I can to my wonderful craft, be it through my free online tutorials such as the Beginner’s Quilt series, or through one of my Quick and Easy Quilt Kits. These would also make great Christmas gifts!  

I hope this blog has helped you out with any last-minute gifts, before I go I just wanted to share this fantastic video. As you may know by now, I’m a great fan of star quilter Angela Walters, and I was so happy to discover she’s just started a new quilting channel on YouTube for Craftsy called the Midnight Quilter. In the first episode Angela makes this gorgeous Variable Star Quilt and shares some great tips along the way, at the same time raising a glass of red wine – she is my kinda girl!

This week I'm linking up with Let's Bee Social on Sew Fresh Quilts and Midweek Makers on Quilt Fabrication. If anyone knows of any UK linky parties out there, please let me know - otherwise, I'm thinking of starting my own in 2017...


 

Folksy Friday: Mid-Century Modern

Life is a little stressful over here at the moment, but also really exciting... we're moving house.. again! I know it's going to be exhausting and a lot of work, though it is nice to be moving to a house in the same town for a change.What I'm really excited about is decorating, particularly my studio!! Ikea, here we come! As for the rest of the house, we've recently both realised that we love the Mid-Century Modern style that seems to be everywhere at the moment, so I decided to do a little research into what Folksy sellers have to offer. Enjoy!  

1. Tea Towel in Flowerpress Design, Annabl Perrin, £12

2. Brutalist London Balfrom Tower, Eye For London Prints, £18  

3. Robin and Tree Necklace, Claire Gent, £64.95 

4. Jam Cross Range Reclaimed Oak Side Table, JAM Furniture, £415

5. Bird Print, Cassia Beck Collage, £12

6. Atomic Handmade Lampshade, Rubydo Designs, £32.95

7.  Waterproof Wallet, Jiggle Ma Wiggle, £9

8.  G-Plan Chair, ReCover, £105

9. Ting Coffee Table, La Maison De Furniture, £190

These beautiful items have been designed and created by some of the very talented sellers on Folksy - the online marketplace for modern British craft - go and explore their shops - you may get that September feeling too!

   

Folksy Friday - Riding the Wave

This week I finally got round to quilting my latest top ready for a new kit - which will be revealed soon... I love using my walking foot on my sewing machine to sew wavy lines across the entire quilt top, not only does it give it great texture, but it also looks fresh and modern. So this week I thought I'd carry on this 'Wave' theme - enjoy!

1. Making Waves Whale Lino Print – Meadow Lark Prints - £20

2. Fused Glass Rainbow Wave – Glass by Harleyjay - £20

3.  Life On The Ocean Wave Badge Set – Hole in My Pocket - £3 

4. The Great Wave Pendant – Mad as a Box of Frogs - £7.50  

5. Mustard Ripple Crochet Baby Blanket – Ivey’s Attic - £30  

6. Stained Glass Ocean Wave Panel Suncatcher – Sugar Lips Glass - £42

7.  It’s Our Song – Personalised Sound Wave Print – The Cheekie Monkey - £14.99 

8. Minimal Silver Plate Wave Bangle – ClutchandClasp - £10  

9. Lighthouse Limited Edition Screen Print – The Lost Fox £63  

These beautiful handmade items are made by some of the very talented makers on Folksy - the online marketplace for modern British craft - go and explore their shops - you may find that perfect gift you won't find anywhere else!

 

Folksy Friday!

A couple of posts ago I talked about Folksy - the UK's online marketplace for modern British craft. As a longtime seller on this great website, I have seen it grow over the years, and there are now more makers and crafters on there than ever before. So as sellers, we think we need to share more of our wonderful items with the world. Etsy has #TreasuryTuesday, so we're having #FolksyFriday!

My aim is to share a collection of items with your every Friday, roughly based on a theme, or maybe goodies that I have just caught my eye. If anything tempts you, then please click on their link and go explore their shop... if you like or share, this would be greatly appreciate.. you never know, you may just find the perfect gift you wouldn't find anywhere else...

Let's start with squirrels.... My mum has this very pesky squirrel living in her garden, if he's not eating all the bird food, (yes, I'm calling it a 'him') then he's digging up mum's freshly sown plants! That's not to mention the things she finds buried all round the garden.. last year she caught him burying a Cadbury's Creme Egg in a window box! So I thought I'd dedicate my first #FolksyFriday to this little critter, as even though he does drive her mad, I think mum would miss him if he wasn't there!

1. Squirrel with Acorn Papercut - The Tartan Boston, £22.50 

2. Squirrel Bunting - The Owlery , £15.00

3. Squirrel Clock -  Dancing Mole, £30.00

4. Pair of Red Squirrel Brooches - Jessie Growden Design, £25.00

5. Edge of the Woods Tiny Squirrel Necklace - Claire Gent, £29.95

6. Squirrel in the Hawthorn Handpulled Linocut - LittleRamStudio, £38.00

7. Squirrel Dress -  There’s Only One Amy Laws, £60.00

8. Grey Squirrel Wool Socks - Fir Tree Knitwear, £25.00

9. Red Squirrel Photographic Print - PM Photography, £4.50

In Print with Folksy, and Exciting News!

After a rathering shattering weekend with Doughty’s at the National Quilt Championships at Sandown Park – (as usual too busy to take photos, and yes I am kicking myself!!)… 

…I came home to find my mum had sent me a copy of the latest Homemaker magazine that features an article on Sewmotion! Yay!! This being a special Sewing edition, Camilla at Folksy contacted me for help with her regular column about selling online. You can see my top 5 tips below ;)

 

While I’m here, I’d like to say a bit about Folksy. Similar to Etsy, but British and much smaller, Folksy is an online marketplace providing an invaluable outlet for British crafters and makers in the UK. You will find over 17,000 handmade products made by over 5,000 designers and crafters - from beautiful lino prints, pretty silver bracelets, and quirky illustrations to knitted made-to-measure dog coats and funky overnight bags. Not only are these items handmade to the highest quality, but you know it has been made by a crafter/designer in Britain, and will often be a one-off item, making it all the more special.

If you’re feeling inspired to make something yourself, there is also a large collection of craft supplies and kits, including of course, my Quilt and Cushion Kits!

EXCITING NEWS… Sewmotion will be attending its first quilt show!!! I still can’t decide if I’m excited or nervous as hell!! We’ll be at the Great Northern Quilt Show in Harrogate on Friday 2^nd – Sunday 4^th September, 2016. All I can think about at the moment is stock and more quilt designs for kits, starting with a new All Squared Up Quilt Kit… It’s going to be a very busy couple of months!!

Back to the present – don’t forget we’ll be at Rainbow Plant Centre’s Vintage/Craft Fair this Sunday, 10am – 3pm – if you’re local to Nunthorpe near Stokesley, why not pop along and explore what our local community has to offer – the cream teas at the newly revamped Tearoom sound pretty good too!

Looking for more quilty fun and inspiration? Why not pop along to these Linky Parties and say hello!

Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts - who is having a fantastic Giveaway Week by the way.

Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

 

A Much Needed Upgrade!

This week has seen some radical decisions… we’ve upgraded the operating system on our poor over-used MacBook Pro! I have to admit, we’re quite lazy and sometimes daunted when it comes to updating software and the like, also a little scared of things going wrong. However, after struggling along with a very old version of iMovie, I decided it was time to move on… I found the Mac OS upgrade and pressed the button, three hours later and we are now running the rather impressive sounding El Capitan and I have a brand new iMovie to play with!! Yeah!

So the next logical step was to have a play and make a new movie… and voilà, we have the next episode in our English Paper Piecing tutorial series. 

My philosophy behind these mini movies is for the viewer to be able to watch a short film and grasp the technique pretty quickly. I have watched many films on YouTube, and while so many are amazing and very educational, there are others that I find quite laboursome to watch, and a little boring. So in making my own I wanted them to be snappy, jolly and straight to the point, hence the music and the subtitles. If the music annoys you, (and I wouldn’t blame you after hours of listening to the same track myself) you can turn the sound off and still get what’s going on – perfect for viewing in public!

If you’re inspired by these movies and want to try EPP for yourself, or maybe you’re looking for a portable holiday project, these lovely cushion kits are available to buy in our shop. Each kit includes all the fabric, papers, glue pen and thread to make the top, plus full written instructions.

In other news… I’ve just had a delivery of these gorgeous prints from Michael Miller’s Sea Holly collection by Sarah Campbell, don’t you just love that teal and grey! I plan to mix these with a couple of Kona Solids for some new pre-cut kits, so watch this space!

Finally, just a gentle reminder for us all, Mother’s Day is just around the corner (Sunday 6^th March) so why not treat your dear mum to a gift as unique and special as she is with a handmade gift from Sewmotion! We have purses, pouches, make-up cases and cushions in the Sewmotion Shop, our Folksy shop and of course on Etsy. My latest additions are these cute polka dot cases and pouches made is a gorgeously soft linen, and I’m just finishing these glasses cases now and will be available at the weekend.  

Don’t forget if you would like to follow my weekly updates and ramblings you can follow me by email or Bloglovin in the column on the right. We also publish a monthly Newsletter which not only tells you about our latest, news products and pattern releases, but also has some great discounts and offers only available to subscribers. To subscribe click here.

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

Small Business Saturday Offer

How on earth did December come around so quickly!?! I guess I’ve been so busy lately concentrating on Stockton Sparkles Christmas Market, that I didn’t have time to think about what came after that! But then, before you know it, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are upon you, and suddenly it’s nearly Christmas.

I have to admit, I share many crafters’ and makers’ opinions on these two American phenomenons and feel I would be demeaning my handmade crafted items by offering discounts just to follow the crowd. I spend many hours designing and making, usually one-off items, that I think are worth the money I ask, I’ve often have very tight margins anyway due to the time it takes to make them. So I don’t think offering money off on big marketing days to people who think they’re getting a bargain would really show my handmade items the love their deserve.

However, having said that I do support another American invention, Small Business Saturday, which is happening this weekend.

This event is very different from those other two in that it is held to promote small businesses like Sewmotion and to encourage people to shop with us rather than with large multi-nationals on the high street. Thanks to E-shopping this event is larger than ever and is promoted on every social media platform imaginable. Of course, there are also bricks and mortar shops all over the UK taking part, to find shops local to you visit Small Business Saturday’s great search facility on their website.

To show my appreciation to you lovely people who do shop with us small businesses, Sewmotion is offering a 10% discount on everything across all three of our outlets – sewmotion; Folksy & Etsy. 

 

This offer will run from Saturday 5^th December to Monday 7^th December (midnight). Just enter the discount code SmallBizSat10 at the checkout. I have some different items in each shop, so it’s worth looking at all three. 

If you would like to take advantage of this offer to order one of my cushions in colours of your choice, contact me here.

 

There is also still FREE UK POSTAGE by 2^nd class Royal Mail – the last postage date for this service to be safe for Christmas, is Saturday 19^th December. If you wish to pay for 1^st class postage, the last date before Christmas is Monday 21^st (as recommended by Royal Mail).

On another note, I would just like to thank everyone who braved the weather last weekend and showed their support for Stockton Sparkles – I met some lovely people, many as addicted to quilting and fabric as I am, and others on the verge… with a little help from me of course! As requested I will be working on more pre-cut quilt kits and patterns in the New Year, I can’t wait to spread some quilting love.

Looking for some quilting inspiration and fun? Why not pop over to Sew Fresh Quilt’s Let's Bee Social and say hello to some very talented people.