It's Pre-Cut Party time... again!

Where on earth is this year going!?! I seem to say this every month, but how did it become August already?? Anyway, a new month means a new Pre-Cut Party pattern. For those new to Sewmotion, I offer a free pattern to my Newsletter subscribers every month, based on my love of the quilting pre-cut, be it jelly roll strips, charm squares, a layer cake, or even scraps from the stash.

This month I have taken inspiration from one of the many strip sets I've been making up for next week's Festival of Quilts - my Rainbow stripper made up of Makower's Spectrum solids. They are so bright and cheerful and I wanted to show how the most traditional of quilt blocks can look amazingly modern in the right fabrics. So here is my Rail Fence Quilt...

This quilt finishes as approx. 53" x 65" so would make a great lap quilt or a child's bed quilt. It uses just 20 strips and around 2m of background fabric. 

For your own free copy, and more free patterns every month - subscribe today! You also get special subscriber-only offers, including 20% off the jelly roll used in the quilt.

Meanwhile, I have a winner on my latest Instagram Giveaway... congratulation Jacqui, I know you're going to love making your Rainbow Overlapping Circles cushion!

As you may have gathered by now, I'm off to the Festival of Quilts next week where you can find Sewmotion on Stand F16. As well as many, many boxes of quilt, cushion and EPP kits, I'll have lots of gorgeous fabric pre-cuts just begging to be stroked and a large collection of printed patterns including some Pre-cut Party gems - so if you're coming along, come and say hi! 

See you on the other side :)

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

New Jelly Roll sets and Rainbow Rings progress

In more preparations for this year's Festival of Quilts in August, I've been creating some gorgeous new fabric strip sets, and have even managed to upload them into the Sewmotion online shop! I am feeling pretty productive this week haha!

These collections are all from Makower and include Sky Blue and Sequoia, both designed by Edyta Sitar, Sundance by Beth Studley and finally Makower's brand new collection, Bloom, which I have to say is my new favourite - those teeny weeny florals are so cute!

These sets contain forty 2.5" strips, four in each of the ten fabrics included in each set.  I think these are my favourite pre-cut as they are so versatile, if you need inspiration, why not check out my Pre-Cut Party PDF patterns. What's more, if you subscribe to the Sewmotion Newsletter, you can get 10% off these sets over the next week.

Meanwhile, when not cutting I've been working hard on my Rainbow Rings quilt, my latest mammoth curved EPP, hand appliqué and quilting project, and it's coming along nicely - although this weather isn't the best to be sat under a full size quilt! Now I've hand sewn the four rings onto the dark grey background, I'm now hand quilting around each of the segments using an Aurifil 12wt cotton.

Wishing everyone and happy sewing week!

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

New Strips & Kits

Wow, what an incredibly busy couple of weeks! What with the quilt show in Harrogate, then the next weekend in Duxford, I'm a little worn out, and getting very low on stock!! I've completely run out of my Japanese All Squared Up quilt kit, and have only one left in each of the American Patch All Squared Up, the Monochrome Sunset and the Charming Vintage Rose... I think I best get sewing up some new patterns and kits!!

And what better place to start than with these gorgeous new fabrics from Alison Glass, her Sun Prints range comes in these beautiful jewel-like colours - I'm thinking maybe an All Squared Up kit with a dark grey as the blender... for now I have made up this 24pc strip set, available on the website for £20.

Another plan I have is a new zigzag quilt made in this bright and fresh 40pc strip set in Basically Hugs fabrics from Red Rooster. These colours just remind me of springtime - this strip set is also available on the website at £35.

If you attended either of the recent quilt shows, you may have seen my new EPP Diamond Cushion Kits. Similar to my Hexy Cushion kits, each one includes the fabric, templates, thread, wadding and full instructions to complete the cushion front. These make great portable projects, and are also a great introduction to English paper-piecing. Both are available on Sewmotion for £23.00.

Right, I better get on with some sewing - for more quilty chat and inspiration, check out these linky parties;
Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts
MidWeek Makers at Quilt Fabrication
Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation.

Zig Zag Pattern Release and a Sneaky Peek

When I was setting up my stand at the Harrogate quilt show, I knew I had to have my most striking quilt on display to catch the eye, and sure enough my Monochrome Sunset quilt did just that. Not only did I sell out of the kits, (now back in stock) but many people asked if I had it as just the pattern - which I now do!

I called this kit Monochrome Sunset because of the black and white fabrics, with a splash of yellow and orange used in the quilt. However, I do think this zig zag design would look beautiful in so many colourways, rainbows for instance - I do love a rainbow! This quilt only takes 18 patterned strips to make, plus a light solid/blender that makes up the rest, so you could use any of my 20pc strip sets here, or half a traditional jelly roll that's been sitting on the shelf for ages. 

You can purchase the paper pattern here, (£6.95) with free UK postage, or if you prefer digital downloads, you can get a PDF from my Etsy shop here (£6.60).

For the rest of this week, I've been in sewing heaven, it seems likes ages since I've sat at my machine and enjoyed some quilting - and I've actually finished something too! Here is a sneaky peak at next month's Pre-Cut Party pattern, this time based on charm squares. 

If you would like to receive a free pattern straight to your inbox every month, why not subscribe to my Newsletter. Not only will you be inspired to get cutting into those treasured pre-cuts, but you'll also hear about my latest products and events, as well as subscriber-only offers. Click below to sign-up.

For more quilting fun and inspiration, pop along to these linky parties and sat Hi.

Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts

Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts

We have a Giveaway Winner!

Congratulations to Sarah J who has won these fabulous Vintage Rose quilting pre-cuts - I can't wait to see what you make with them Sarah! I have emailed you for delivery details.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I'd like to thank everyone who entered this fabulous Giveaway, and to welcome my new subscribers - as promised I'll be letting you know about my latest products, new projects and events as well as inspiring you with free quilt patterns and tutorials.

As a thank you for entering, I'd like to offer you all a 20% discount off my entire range of Pre-Cut Strip Sets and Charm Packs in the Sewmotion shop - simply add the code Giveaway20 at checkout to get your discount (offer ends midnight, Sunday 31st July) What's more I offer free UK postage, prefect timing for that summer project :)

Something To Replace The Missing Sun

Where did the sunshine go?!?! Just when I thought it was springtime… ah well, maybe another dose of colourful butterflies and cute daisies will cheer us up. As you can see below, I’ve been busy playing with my Sea Holly and Kona fabrics – I do love how these blend with my greys and yellow.

My first project with these gorgeous fabrics is a new Beginner’s Quilt to add to the collection, I’m just waiting on a bright day to take some decent shots for the kit, but this will be available soon.

Then I made a jelly roll or two, you know how I love a stream of colour, and these are no exceptions - the Sea Holly Strip Set includes four prints from this Michael Miller range, which blend so well with Kona’s Graphite, Tomato and Banana. 

And I just had to play with some of my new Kona Solids to create this gorgeous Purple Haze Strip Set, for true lovers of ‘the purple’! And doesn’t that graphite work so well again?

Both of these stripper sets contain twenty 2½” x 44” cotton strips, which together with a base colour such as white or a pale cream, you could come up with so many designs. Why not start with our free All Squared Up pattern? I've worked out some layout possibilities below... With this simple piecing, and then maybe some straight-line quilting, you could make a gorgeous modern and fresh quilt, ideal for a wedding gift, or a treat for yourself.

 

Just a little note about these variations: as you have seven different designs in these fabric rolls and not eight as in the pattern, your cutting will be slightly different. As in the pattern, take two strips of each colour, and make eight blocks from each - you will get 56 blocks in all. To make up the remaining eight blocks, take two extra strips from the strip set and make 4 blocks in each design, two positive, two negative to make up to 64 blocks.

I hope I have inspired you to indulge in some fun with colour, as always, I'm linking up with Lorna's Let's Bee Social over at Sew Fresh Quilts, and Needle And Thread Thursday over on My Quilt Infatuation - come and say hello!