The Land of the Chair - My Birthday Surprise!

I may have mentioned that it was my birthday a couple of weeks ago, and that I was being whisked away for a few days, but had no idea where. My husband is such an old romantic, and had planned this trip months before, only telling me that I would need my swimsuit and a winter coat… I knew we were flying somewhere for a couple of days, so it had to be Europe, but when we got in the car and drove south down the M1, we obviously weren’t going from Newcastle, then we passed Leeds Bradford airport, then East Midlands airport… it soon became clear we were heading for London, Luton to be exact!

We stayed in a nearby hotel that night, which obviously meant an early start the next morning - looking at the departures board gave me too many options, Gdansk? Brno…?? I literally didn’t know until we headed towards Gate 2 – Copenhagen! Yay!!! So happy!

After an easy flight, and short train ride into the centre of town, we dropped our bags off at the Tivoli Hotel (4 star no less!!) and headed off for a mooch. We both love ambling around European cities taking in the architecture and design, always remembering to look up as well as around! Justin had a few visits planned, the first of which was to the fantastic Design Museum. Before we looked around though we needed sustenance and a chance to catch my breath, this meant a gorgeous hot chocolate with lots of cream, followed by some traditional Danish open sandwiches, the salmon and beef were amazing, not too sure about the herring though!

The Denmark Design Museum is amazing and well worth a visit if you love modern design and crafts as much as we do. Collections include the works of famous Danish designers such as Arne Jacobsen, Jacob Jensen and Kaare Klint. One of the current exhibitions, Danish Design Now was particularly inspiring and featured a selection of modern pieces from all areas of design – furniture, graphics, fashion and product design. 

As you can see, a predominant feature of Danish design is the chair – I’ve never seen so many, or so many beautiful pieces! We have always loved the curves and style of these Arne Jacobsen chairs, and it was wonderful to see them in person. 

From what I can gather from the museum’s website, there is normally an exhibition dedicated to the Danish Chair, but sadly we either missed it, or it’s not on at the moment.

There were also some very interesting textile designs that caught my eye, most of these were print designs, these cushions I thought were quite pretty. And this wall hanging was actually velour! How striking are those colours!

A new permanent exhibition is Fashion and Fabric, a chance to discover 400 years of the history of fashion and textiles in Denmark. One of the main themes is Handicraft and Industry, and it was great to see this beautiful English hexagon quilt dating from around 1800. There was also an accompanying film showing the process of EPP which ended with an interesting 3D technique, once I've had a go myself, I'll share it with you.

The museum is also home to the largest library in Scandanavia dedicated to the decorative arts and industrial design, and the shop includes an impressive number of books on crafts and design as well as a wide selection of industrial design, ceramics, textiles and of course postcards.

After this design feast for the eyes and soul, we returned to our hotel room where the lovely girl on reception had left us a bottle of fizz to celebrate my birthday! The Danes aren’t called to happiest people in the world for nothing!

The next day was all about architecture and food… more about that next week!

This week I'm linking up with Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts, Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication and Needle & Thread Thursday over at My Quilt Infatuation.

Folksy Friday - The Humble Hexagon

I have to admit, I'm quite addicted to this six-sided little gem, and it seems I'm not alone! So to celebrate my latest Hexy Cushion Kit release, I've dedicated this week's Folksy Friday to the sexy hexy.

I made a Pinterest Board of hexies on Folksy a while back, so I was very happy to find so many new items to include here...

1. Handmade Wired Hexagon Necklace – Gingercatbeads - £4

2.  Hexagon Fused Glass Bowl – Granary Glass - £20

3.  Art Deco Handmade Hexagon Papercut – Kartegraphik - £35

4.  Waterproof Aztec Hexagon Print Purse – Jiggle Ma Wiggle - £17

 5.  Geometric Hexagon Stud Earrings – MUKA Studio - £18.99

 6.  Set of four Hexagon Placemats – E Inder Designs - £32

 7.  Hexagon Crochet Granny Blanket – Loop By Loop - £48

8.  Bee Hotel & Insect House in Blue & White – Wuddl - £21.95

9.  Hexy Cushion Kit in Dashwood’s Cotton Candy – Sewmotion - £22

Folksy is the UK online marketplace for modern British craft - please go and browse through the beautiful items for sale made by some of the country's most talented makers.

Sewing for Pleasure 2016

Yep, it’s March already, and the first big craft show of the year. As you may have realised by now, even though I no longer actually work for Doughty’s in Hereford, I am what they like to call an ‘associate’ – basically someone who they can bring back for shows without having to close their shops due to lack of staff!

So starting with set-up on Wednesday, I’ve been lifting, folding, shelving, smiling, cutting and bagging fabric for five days solid at the NEC, and man do I ache?! Something tells me I need to do some more exercise before Festival of Quilts in August!

Pain aside, I did have a great time, working with some wonderful people and sharing the common joys of fabric addiction with our customers. The only gripe I had were the roadworks on the M5 (geat timing) and the general bedlam at the NEC with four or five shows going on at the same time. I did enjoy seeing the odd superhero wondering around for ComicCon though.

As ever at these shows, I rarely get a chance to look around, but I did manage to take a couple of pics on my way to the loo. One that did catch my eye after seeing an MC Escher exhibition earlier in the year was this beautiful piece by a member of the Royal School of Needlework. One day I will get round to designing a quilt inspired by this tessellation….

Another exhibition was Images of Egypt, part of a private collection owned by Sandra Hardy, who as an enthusiastic Egyptologist has been collecting handmade ceremonial textiles and decorative artefacts for many years now. In 1998 Sandra introduced the quilting world to the amazing work of the tentmakers, who have now inspired many to include beautiful symmetrical applique designs in their own creations.

During my uni days, I remember trips to the V&A Museum in London, where I would sketch out the decorative Moorish and Islamic mosaic designs thinking these would make great quilt blocks…

Meanwhile, back in Sewmotion world… we have another Hexy Cushion Kit on the horizon, available after Easter. I thought I would make a softer version in more neutral colours which I’m sure would fit into many modern day interiors, grey is absolutely everywhere right? And this gorgeous dusky pink is so elegant.

As with all the kits in the collection, you get all the fabric, paper pieces and thread, plus glue pen and instructions to make up the top, you just need the cushion backing and pad. These kits make great portable holiday projects, and come together pretty quickly.

We’ve also just taken delivery of some Dot & Dash fabrics from Riley Blake, and I’ve been playing with Kona co-ordinates – this strip set and charm pack with also be available soon. In fact, why not sign up to our monthly Newsletter to hear about all our latest product releases and recieve discount codes for the following month.

We're going on a much needed Easter break to see our dear friends in Hamburg, so please forgive me, but after tomorrow orders will not be posted until Wednesday 30th March. Happy Easter to you all!

A Springtime Hexy Kit

Do I feel spring in the air?? Though this morning's weather mentioned snow, so maybe this bright sunshine is just fooling me. What better way to coax springtime from under winter's shadow than to make a bright and cheerful new cushion... such as our new Hexy Cushion Kit in fabrics from Michael Miller's gorgeous Sea Holly collection.

As with our other Hexy kits, this one contains all the fabric strips, pre-cut papers, glue pen, thread and wadding you need to complete the top, plus full instructions to help you every step of the way. There are also handy links to our online tutorials for even more help. You will just need thread for quilting, and then a cushion back and pad. These kits are great portable projects for your hollibobs or a long car journey - EPP definitely kills the time on a long flight!
These kits are available in our Sewmotion, Folksy and Etsy shops, priced at £22 with free UK shipping.

Elsewhere in the quilting world...

It seems I'm not the only one feeling spring-like, The Village Haberdashery have some beautiful new ranges in stock including organic collection Park Life by Elizabeth Olwen for Cloud9 Fabrics - aren't these gorgeous!! Not only would these make amazing quilts, but also the cutest little dresses!

Meanwhile over in Hereford, Doughty's have just revealed their latest collections from Lewis & Irene, this first one is Bunny Garden and you can't get any more Springtime than cute bunnies, ditsy florals and pretty butterflies in a gorgeous modern colour palette.

Another new arrival from Lewis & Irene is The Botanist collection, an elegant range featuring delicately drawn plants, butterflies and insects.

I do recommend subscribing to Doughty's Newsletter to be kept up to date with their ever-growing fabric collections, as well as following them on Facebook where they share these gorgeous pics of their new arrivals.

Talking of Newsletters, if you would like to be hear about Sewmotion's latest news, products and special subscriber offers, you can sign up below to recieve our monthly email. If you would like to follow my weekly blogs, you can follow me by email or Bloglovin in the right-hand column.

If you're looking for more quilting fun and inspiration, why not pop over to Sew Fresh Quilt's Let's Bee Social linky party and say hello.

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!

My first movie!

I must have a hundred different ideas floating around my head at the moment, what with more samples for John Louden (more about that next week), my new Hexy Cushion Kits to get into the world, and the patterns, kits and designs begging to be put to paper, my brain can get pretty overwhelmed! So this week, as it was my birthday, I decided to learn something new just to add to the madness!

Here is my first attempt at filmmaking! Haha! Not the best quality I know – I used an old digi-camera I’d forgotten we owned, and an even older version of iMovie. Still, I’m quite pleased with how it turned out, though that tune now drives me insane after hearing it so many times!

In my first film venture, I wanted to share my favourite technique for glue-basting shapes for English paper-piecing, a method that features in our new Hexy Cushion Kits – great gifts for Mother’s Day (6^th March) – click below for more details.

There’s still time to enter our free GIVEAWAY – for a chance to win a Hexy Cushion Kit of your very own – you’ll be addicted to EPP in no time – leave a comment below telling me which craft you find the most addictive – entries close at midnight, Friday 5^th March, and a winner will be chosen at random.

The Hexy Cushion Kit

I am happy to finally introduce the newest additions to Sewmotion’s collection of pre-cut kits – the Hexy Cushion Kit. There have been glimpses of these two cushions on Twitter and Instagram over the last month, but I now have the kit together and available to buy. Yay!

These craft kits are a great introduction to the wonderful world of hand-sewn patchwork. English paper-piecing is a traditional skill that harks back to the very beginning of the history of quilting, where quilters would sit for hours cutting out their shapes, then thread basting them onto papers before sewing them together. They would then unpick all that basting before the quilting even began! Phew!

Thankfully, these days new techniques and clever short cuts make this method a lot quicker than it used to be... not that you have to rush it of course, this is a project you can take with you wherever you go - a long car journey, to your quilt group, or even on holiday, anywhere where you can relax and enjoy this slow(ish) and therapeutic craft.

Each of these kits are £20 with (with free UK postage!) and include:
* 10 fabric strips - four in Robert Kaufman's Essex Linen, four in Kona Pomegranate & two in Kona Heliotrope (this includes two binding strips)
* 80 paper hexagons
* one Sewline Glue Pen
* one grey Aurifil 50wt thread for piecing
* one 20" square of wadding
* full, easy-to-follow instructions.

I have included the square of wadding in these kits for those who haven’t yet got a stash of wadding off-cuts, and would need to buy a ridiculous amount just for one cushion. 

However, I haven’t included the panel backing that you need when you come to quilt it as it depends on which method you use. If you choose to machine quilt, I suggest using a square of calico as your backing, however if you choose to hand-quilt, I would use a square of butter muslin or something equally as thin so you can stitch easily without putting too much pressure on the needle, or your fingers!

I have also left it up to you as to which backing you would like, though I do have a tutorial on inserting a zip here. For the invisible zip method I used one piece 7” x 16½” and one piece 14” x 16½”, with a 18” zip. I trimmed any excess fabric before attaching the binding which I did in exactly the same way as I would on a quilt, you can learn more about this in my Beginner’s Quilt – The Binding tutorial.    

I'm really excited about these new kits, and what better way to spread my excitement than to host a Giveaway! So if you would like to delve into the joyful and highly addictive world of English paper-piecing, or if you're like me and just can't get enough, simply enter by leaving a comment below telling me which craft you find the most addictive.
For an extra chance to win, you can subscribe to our newsletter to hear all about our latest products and special offers. 
As it's my birthday week, I've decided to extend this Giveaway offer - a winner will now be picked at random at midnight on Friday 5th February!

This week I'm linking up with Lorna's Let's Bee Social over at Sew Fresh Quilts, and Crazy Mom's Quilt's Finish It Up Friday


If for any reason you are unable to comment on here, you can leave a comment and enter on my Facebook page.

Selling online is not as easy as it looks!

I love to quilt, I love reading, writing and eating everything quilty… well, maybe not eating… but you get the general idea. Sometimes however, I feel the need to set aside large quilting projects and pattern writing, and instead work on smaller items – not only do these come together quickly, but they’re also much more manageable in this muggy heat we’re currently enduring!

One of the greatest things about patchwork and quilting is that there are always new techniques to learn, new fabrics to use and new patterns to collect. It’s these techniques and fabrics that inspire me to create my handmade gift items – purses, glasses cases, cosmetic pouches, cushions and so on, many of which I sell through my Folksy and Etsy shops.

I have been a seller on Folksy since its Beta years and I have watched it grow

while selling the odd item now and again. However, it’s only recently that I’ve started  making an effort to learn more about selling online through marketplaces such as these, and let me tell you, there is a lot to learn!

There are many out there (I was one of them) that think selling through these outlets is simple - you just create a page, upload a few items, add a brief product description and a couple of photos, then sit back and wait for the orders to come flooding in! Well, I assure you, it’s not that easy at all!

Not only do you have to make quality products that people will want to buy, (let’s face it, not everyone is as obsessed with hexies as I am!) but you then have to think creatively about how to photograph it, how to describe it to make it attractive to a passing visitor, what tags to use to help buyers find you - and that’s after you’ve decided on an eye-grabbing name and the sensible price of the thing! (And don’t get me talking about pricing, that’s for another blog, let me just say – there is a HUGE difference between hobbyists just wanting to cover their costs to designers and crafters needing to make a living!)

Anyway, back to this blog… I have also recently opened an Etsy shop, mainly because I wanted to sell PDF patterns for instant downloads which Folksy doesn’t currently offer, but also to tap into the US market - quilting is so big over there. I have sold one item so far, with no marketing at all on my part, so we’ll see how that goes. I do have a lot of reading and learning still to do, and thankfully both Etsy and the lovely people at Folksy have amazing databases of useful articles and guides on everything, from taking great product photos (I'm getting the hang of cutouts now!), writing descriptions and using tags, and how to use blogs and social media to share your creations with the world. I’m not by any means intending to take over the world, but reaching more of it and spreading my obsession love of quilting would do nicely.

Finally, I have a little announcement… patchwork and quilting specialists Doughty’s of Hereford are now stocking all six of my quilt patterns – these are the printed versions, available in the shop or over the phone at £6.95 each.

This week I'm linking up with Late Night Quilter's Tips & Tutorials Tuesdays and Let's Bee Social over on Sew Fresh Quilts - come and visit some truly inspirational quilters.

Thank you for stopping by, as always your comments are very welcome.