I have finally named my English paper-pieced block-of-the-month quilt - the Curve Motion Medallion Quilt - I really wanted to use the word 'curve' as this is what it's all about really, and then I thought of 'motion' as in Sewmotion. And even though it's not really obvious, this quilt is constructed in a medallion style, and even better, it's quilt-as-you-go, so all the individual rings are appliquéd onto grey squares, then quilted, before they're sewn together into a finished quilt approx. 90" square.
So if you're coming to the end of a 2017 BOM and in need of a new challenge, or maybe you're a lover of hand-piecing and looking to enjoy a slow sewing project, why not join us on this curved EPP adventure?
Each month you will receive instructions, full size templates to cut out, the relevant Alison Glass Sun Prints fabrics and a grey background square from Makower to make up to four blocks at a time.
The cost is £40.00 up front, which will secure your place and cover your first month, followed by eleven monthly payments of £28.00 to be taken by direct debit. This subscription programme will open on Thursday 7th December, there are limited spaces, so be sure to add this date to your diary!
Linking up with Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers and Needle & Thread Thursday.
When designing and making up my quilt and cushion kits I buy small amounts of fabric, which makes these creations limited editions. If you see a kit at a show or online, it's unlikely that it'll still be available in six months time. And I like this, it means not only do I have to move onto to a new design and new fabrics, but I also get to sew and quilt a new product, what's bad about that (apart from time!) However, it also means that if I run out of just one fabric in the range and I don't want to re-order, I am left with the remaining fabrics I can no longer use. So to make room for new fabrics, I thought I'd have a Bolt End Sale! Click here to see the collection, they are based on £15p/m with a huge discount of 25% off. Enjoy!
Meanwhile, I've been making great progress on my English paper-pieced block-of-the-month design, hoping to be released early next year. I've been having some great feedback from fellow quilters, and I can't wait to start sewing the blocks together using the quilt-as-you-go method.
This BOM will feature Alison Glass's Sun Prints fabrics with that gorgeous Linen-look grey from Makower for the background squares. Each month you will receive the fabric and paper templates you need for the EPP, together with the grey background square to appliqué the shape onto, and of course full instructions for each block, including the quilting. If you might be interested in this program, which at the moment looks at being around £30 per month, though this could change slightly, sign up to my Newsletter and keep up to date with progress and news on its future release.
This week I also had an exciting meeting with a like-minded sewist who has been dreaming of setting up some kind of sewing hub in the centre of Middlesbrough where we live. While she's more into dressmaking, and I quilting, we thought it would be great to join forces to offer workshops and classes, and to also provide a large workspace with sewing machines and tables for groups and individuals to use. This is obviously all in the planning stages, and we have lots of ideas, I would just appreciate some feedback from you... do you go to somewhere similar near you? What do you like about it? If you live in the Teesside area, would you come along? Any thoughts below would be greatly appreciated, thank you.
More exciting news - I was chuffed to be asked by Popular Patchwork to write their Patchwork Of My Life column in October's issue which is out now.
We're taking a much needed break next week, off to our favourite land of the Netherlands for some great food, walking, and maybe even cycling, so I'll see you in a couple of week's time. Meanwhile, don't forget to check out these great Linky Parties - Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers and Needle & Thread Thursday.
As I may have mentioned, we've recently moved into a new house, well an old house really by today's standards, a 1930s semi complete with artex ceilings and wood chip wallpaper! Joy! We're slowly making progress on the wood chip - eucalyptus oil works wonders - but after a day of stripping I was really missing a bath. The house came with a large walk-in shower, which while nice, didn't come close to a long hot soak. So this week I'm very pleased to say we now have a bath! Yay! Originally we planned to try and fit it ourselves, however, one look at the pipework and weird boiler, we soon decided to get help. While they did all the complicated stuff, we thought we'd at least have a go at the tiling, I've done a bit before, though they were large tiles with a normal layout... this time, we went for the small 'metro' tiles in a brick formation... hey, I'm a quilter used to lining up seams and points, how hard can it be right?? Famous last words...
Wanting to get the plumber back to finish the job before he forgot us, we were under a little pressure to get the tiling done, so I decided to start on my own - let's just put it this way, everything I could get wrong, I did wrong - I was so paranoid about getting the verticals lined up with every other row, I forgot to check the horizontals - you would think I'd know better! Then we'd picked the wrong spacers, way too big! When I realised I'd gone wonky, I tried to readjust, so we have a nice curve now! Justin helped finish tiling the second wall that night, then I went on to the grouting... into those huge spaces! Thank goodness I didn't go for the grey grout in the end. Having pulled and strained every muscle in my body, I left Justin to grout the second wall. I suppose with the white tiles and white grout, it doesn't look too bad.. but never again!
Anyway, why should I mention this in a quilting blog you may ask. Well, it seems that the brick-like design crept through the pain and into my subconscious and while I was struggling to come up with a design for some new directional prints, this one sprang to mind.
My original plan for these Coonawarra Red prints from Red Rooster Fabrics was another version of the All Squared Up quilt kit, but I thought the directional patterns may cause problems, so thought they would be better kept in one largish block. I then added some simple sashing between each one and laid them out in this brick pattern. I then worked out how to make sure the horizontal sashings all lined up and I think the effect works really well! This will of course soon be a quilt kit and is much larger than my other kits - I had so many people at recent shows ask for double or king size quilts!
Today I've been sewing a meandering free motion design over the whole top, and hopefully I'll get the binding on tonight in front of the tele.
I've also uploaded these pretty Coonawarra Red fabrics into the Sewmotion shop to buy by the metre, as well as some additions to the lovely P&B Blenders collection. Why not go and have a mooch - while you're there, you could treat yourself in my Easter sale! Simply use the code Easter20 at checkout to get 20% off everything in store (offer ends at midnight on Monday 17th April).
I do hope you all have peaceful and creative Easter weekends, I have a feeling mine might involve painting the bathroom... Happy Easter to you all. xx
Linking up with Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers and Needle & Thread Thursday
Doing these monthly free patterns certainly makes the year seem to fly by! April - sunshine and showers, and flying geese? This cushion is inspired by the ever useful fat quarter, though you can also use long quarters for this one. If you've been tempted by a gorgeous FQ bundle at a show, brought it home, then thought what on earth am I going to make with that?... then this is the project for you. Or of course, you could go for brights as I did - these Spectrum Solids from Makower are now available on the website.
The PDF pattern includes a quick and nifty way to make four geese blocks at once - it did make me smile to see Angela Walters using this same technique in her latest Midnight Quilter episode (total coincidence, promise!) If you've missed these YouTube shows for Craftsy you must watch them, totally hilarious, and definitely my kind of quilter!
Anyway, for your free pattern, simply subscribe to the Newsletter where you'll find the link for your free download, plus news on latest products, events and special offers.
Talking of new products, here is the latest version of my All Squared Up Quilt kit, this time featuring these glorious Sun Prints fabrics by Alison Glass for Andover Fabrics. I've paired these with a lovely dark rich grey that I think makes the fabrics shine so beautifully!
The kit includes all the pre-cut 2.5" strips, border and binding strips you need to complete the quilt top, plus a reel of 50wt thread and full instructions. I have also put together a fabric pack to make the back pictured above. The layout and instructions are included in the kit anyway, so now you can also grab these fabrics, which include a grey blender from P&B Textiles' Bear Essentials collection and nine Sun Prints strips.
Fancy a 15% discount off this kit and backing? Subscribe to the Newsletter now for the code!
Linking up with Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers and Needle & Thread Thursday
Well I think spring might be here, though they were talking about snow this week so who knows! What I do know is that the cute little garden at our new house is full of buds - I have little idea of what most of the plants are or what they'll do, but that's all part of the fun! I did plant some spring daffs and tulips so there's some colour for now at least.
So with spring comes more quilt shows, yay! I've just booked Sewmotion into the Stitching, Sewing & Hobbycrafts Show at the Harrogate International Centre on 11th - 13th of May. This is a new venue for this show, but with impressive events at Birmingham's NEC and London's Excel, I'm sure this one will be as successful - and it's also nice to have some more creative events happening up here in the north! For more on this show and to buy tickets, click here.
A week after this, the 18th - 21st May, we'll be at Quilts UK in the beautiful town of Malvern. I've worked this four-day event before for Doughty's, but this time I'll be there with Sewmotion! For more details and tickets, click here.
I've then got a little rest until we're at the National Quilt Championships at Sandown Racecourse on 23rd - 25th June - for more info and tickets, click here.
As you can see, I'm going to be very busy in the next few weeks...! As well as cutting and folding pre-cuts, I'll be working on some new kits and patterns to add to my collection, including this funky take on my All Squared Up quilt kit, this time in Alison Glass's Sun Prints collection, with a lovely rich grey, and don't forget, I know have a gorgeous fat quarter bundle of these fabulous prints in the shop.
Then there's a bright and summery new Hexy Cushion Kit to finish...
...and of course, more free patterns for my Newsletter subscribers - April's pattern will be this funky flying geese cushion - to get this free pattern and more, why not sign-up? It's absolutely free, you get a pattern based on my love of pre-cuts every month, with access to previous months' patterns, and you also get to hear about my latest news, events and products with special discount offers! To subscribe, click below.
So, I best get on with some sewing/cutting/folding eek!!! If you're looking for more quilty chat and inspiration, why not visit these fab linky parties!
