Making a start on this year's Handmade Christmas

Well we certainly seem to be living through some strange times, and they don't look to be getting easier any time soon. I am very lucky that I am able to keep myself busy with my online business, and also feel privileged that I am helping my customers keep themselves occupied and grounded through our wonderful craft. If there was ever a time for some immersive hand sewing or EPP then this is definitely it!

In the last month I have been concentrating on getting my Christmas Kits published and available for purchase on the website. My Picture This table runner has been a favourite over the years, and looks particularly good in this year's festive prints from Makower, in both the Yuletide and in the Scandi collections. Each of these kits comes with all the fabric you need for the front, including binding, the full amount of templates you need for the easy half-square triangles foundation piecing, and full comprehensive instructions. You can find out more here.

My second festive project is my Christmas Wreath Table Mats kit, these kits again come in the two collections, Yuletide and Scandi, and include fabrics, pre-cut paper pieces for the EPP wreath, and full instructions. You can find out more here.

My last Christmas project is a lovely hand sewing EPP project, my Christmas Star Bunting. These kits have flown out this week to customers looking for a relaxing project to lose themselves in while the mad world carries on around them, what a wonderful thought eh? You can see my Star Bunting Kits here.

I do hope this has inspired you if you have started your festive makes yet, it's never too early right? :) Wishing you all a peaceful and creative week. 

Linking up with Midweek Makers and Needle & Thread Thursday

My Latest Free Pattern & Christmas Wishes

For December's free pattern to my Newsletter Subscribers I have returned to my favourite EPP to make these adorable Star Pincushions. I made one for myself years ago which you may have seen on my video tutorials. This is also when I first discovered crushed walnut shells, not only does using this as stuffing give them added weight, but the shells are also a great abrasive so they keep your pins nice and sharp.

You can subscribe to the Newsletter here to receive this free pattern and you can also purchase 200g bags of crushed walnut shells in the online shop here.

I have also put together three kits to make these star pincushions, each includes the fabric, pre-cut paper templates, two buttons and full instructions. You can find out more here.

So we're coming to the end of yet another year... I have no idea where this one has gone, yet a lot seems to have happened, my TV appearances on Sewing Quarter for one. As you may have seen on social media posts and the TV Channel, Sewing Quarter is sadly closing at the end of the year. It was been a wonderful opportunity to work on such an inspiring project with a team of amazing people, and I'm sure this will be the start of many creative ventures and collaborations to come, so watch this space - you can also follow my fellow guest designers' latest news on the new Facebook group SQ Designers Chat 

This year has also seen many new pattern and kit releases, my Curved Motion Medallion BOM is still going strong - you can join this at any time by the way - not to mention the house and business move - and through it all I am still loving what I do. 

I still wake up with amazing plans for each day, and can't wait to get up and get on with making. I know I am very lucky, but I also know this takes damn hard work as well as the love and support from my loved ones and my wonderful customers. So thank you so much, thank you if you have bought something from Sewmotion this year, if you have subscribed to the Newsletter, if you have left a lovely comment on social media, or even if you have just read my (ir)regular blog posts, every one of these is so much appreciated and I know I couldn't be living my best life without you.

I wish you all a very happy and loving Christmas and a peaceful and creative New Year. xxx

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

A Late Happy New Year and a TV debut!

I can't believe we're into the second week of January already, so much for trying to ease up my busy schedule in 2019! Anyway, I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a peaceful New Year. We spent ours travelling the length of the country visiting family, I think we did over 1,000 miles in the end, and went through who knows how many counties - Justin does like to count them off and will even take the odd detour to add an extra one to the list!

I came home to not only a pile of orders, which was very nice, but also to a box of fabric goodies for preparation of two projects that I will be demonstrating on the Sewing Quarter TV channel later this week! I'm pretty nervous but also excited, on making my TV debut! 



I have already had the chance to make up a sample quilt using Lynne Goldsworthy's Maiden Voyage pattern. Being my first project for SQ I was a little daunted that it featured curves, bias edges, matching points and setting-in the inner circle - talk about jumping in the deep end! But I was overjoyed to find that it all came together really easily, even the inner circle! It's been so long since I've followed someone else's pattern and I really enjoyed it. This quilt was featured on the show on the 31st December, and you can see it again on their YouTube channel here - it's on at 2hours in.

I will be on at 9am and 11am on Thursday 10th January and will be demonstrating two of my own designs, my Sun Spell mini quilt which features, of course, curved English paper-piecing, while the second will be my Picture This Table Runner using HSTs and on-point blocks. Kits will be available for both on the show and Sewing Quarter's website.

I'm also overjoyed to have my Stars & Flowers block-of-the-month quilt featured in British Patchwork & Quilting magazine. This pretty quilt is made up of 10 different blocks featuring my fave curved EPP as well as more traditional machine piecing. I made my version in Liberty's Cottage Garden fabrics, and I'm offering 10% off the 7pc fabric bundle in peach and blues on the website, just use the code P&QBOM10 at checkout.

During the Christmas period, I received a lovely email from a customer, Alison who sent me a pic of her Stag Christmas Wall Hanging - isn't it beautiful?! That stunning quilting really makes the stars shine! She also went on to say;

 "I’m really pleased I ordered the kit, working full time, having the pieces ready cut so I could start sewing straight away really made a difference for me".

Thank you so much for sharing Alison! What do you love about kits? Do you like having everything prepared to save you precious sewing time? Do you like the fact you're not left with lots of leftovers to add to the mounting stash? I would love to know your thoughts!

Wishing you all a lovely creative week, and linking up with Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers and Needle & Thread Thursday

Merry Christmas - and the colours of 2018

I would like to say a big Thank You to everyone who has supported me and Sewmotion over the last year. 2017 has been a busy year, with lots of great quilt shows (steep learning curve!) more patterns than ever before, and the chance to develop new kits with some truly gorgeous fabrics!

And 2018 promises to be even better, including a booked (and deposit paid!) stand at the Festival of Quilts in August! Eek!! I don't even want to think about how much stock I have to make! 

Plus of course, there's the Curve Motion Medallion BOM to look forward to - you can read more about this 16-month programme here, to make this glorious 90" quilt.

It seems that I'm not the only one looking forward to 2018, both Kona and Pantone have announced their colours of 2018... looks like it's going to be a fabulously rich year - I do love that Tiger Lily!

May I wish you and your loved ones a wonderful joyous Christmas, and an amazing 2018 full of quilting discoveries, fabric-stroking and creative wonderment.

I am off on a much-needed break, so while shop orders can still be placed, they will now not be shipped until Wednesday 3rd January.

All the best, Louisa x

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

The Big Sale Is On This Weekend!

I'm having a huge sale in the Sewmotion shop, and in my Etsy shop on this mad, frenzied big sale weekend - though hopefully sitting in the comfort of your own home, maybe in your PJs with a cuppa at hand, won't be frenzied at all! In fact I'm looking forward to some online browsing and shopping myself, I may even get ahead on some gift shopping, unheard of for me!

As you can see above, there are some great offers on including 10% off all quilt, cushion, wall hanging, table runner and pincushion kits, 15% off all fat quarter bundles, charm packs and strip sets (jelly rolls), 20% off all fabric by the metre including Michael Miller, Dashwood Studios, Makower and Riley Blake, and finally 25% off all my patterns, both in printed form and PDFs.

So if you're gift shopping for a fellow crafty friend, or maybe you need to give someone a nudge in the right direction for gift inspiration, why not send them to the Sewmotion Shop for a good old browse, and thanks to that little padlock in the web address, you know your shopping will be completely secure.

Finally, Happy Thanksgiving to all my lovely friends across the water - I hope you all have fantastic weekends surrounded by love and family.

Linking up with Let's Bee Social, and Midweek Makers 

Merry Christmas from Sewmotion

Wow, what a year 2016 has been! This year was all about developing my collection of kits and patterns, experimenting with sales and finding my market. This started with working on my range of quilt and cushions kits, which now include eight quilt and five cushion kits, one table runner, as well as seven quilt patterns!

I’ve also loved playing around with gorgeous new fabrics to make up my quilting pre-cuts, then coming up with designs and patterns to use those fabrics. This led to me launching Sewmotion’s Pre-Cut Party, offering free patterns to my Newsletter subscribers - you can see some of the patterns below. If you haven’t done already, you can join for free and get a free pattern every month, straight to your inbox, the Newsletter also includes subscriber-only offers, plus Sewmotion’s latest product news and events.

And here's a sneaky peak at next month's free pattern, this time based on the good old 2.5" strip. 

In the second half of the year, after a couple of disastrous craft fairs, I decided to try exhibiting at quilt shows, and did Harrogate in September, then Duxford in October - I loved every minute! Not only were these my kind of people, we could ‘talk quilting’, but my kits and fabrics seemed very popular, and I met some really lovely people!

So I just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported me and Sewmotion over the past year. I know how very fortunate I am to be able work in this craft I love so much and to get up and design or sew every day. This is partly down to my wonderful Justin who works hard to pay the bills and never complains, and also to my amazing mum who is forever supportive and encouraging. But all of this couldn’t be possible without my lovely customers and newsletter subscribers, from those who have taken the plunge to learn a new craft and bought my beginner’s kit – I love seeing your progress – to the more experienced quilters looking for their next projects. Thank you all so very much. 

And as a thank you and a festive gift to you all, I would like to offer you a 20% discount on everything in my Sewmotion shop, simply use the code above at checkout, though please note, I am now taking a much needed break over the Christmas period, traveling to see family and friends, so won’t be posting anything out until 3^rd January. This offer will run until the 31^st December, so plenty of time to browse, and hopefully get inspired!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful creative New Year.

Linking up with;

Main Crush Monday on Cooking up Quilts
Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts

Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication 

Moving house means Sale time!

After five long months we're finally moving into our new house! I'd be lying if I said it's been an easy process, I always forget how long these things take! Anyway, we're moving into a 1930s 3-bed semi in the lovely area of Linthorpe Village in Middlesbrough - complete with wood chip wallpaper and the most expressive artex I have even seen. It's strangely growing on me, much to Justin's annoyance! One thing we do agree on though is the beautiful log burner in the front room and these wonderful door knobs - aren't they cute!

With no time or budget to tackle the wood chip, for now I've decided to just whitewash the second bedroom which is to be my studio, I'm sure once I've got shelves of fabric adorning the walls and some pictures and hangings up, I'll forget all about what's lurking underneath.

While packing up my room, which seems to be taking forever, I've realised how much stock of handmade items I actually have... and I really need to make room for 2017's creations. So I'm having a little pre-Christmas sale, it is now December after all. I've reduced my Teessider Cushion Collection by 30%, this is a great opportunity to grab a one-off gift for someone from, or maybe living away from, the North-East. Maybe you've got a homesick student who would like to be reminded of home now and again. Click below to see the whole range.

Amazingly moving house has made us get ahead with our gift shopping just to get it out of the way, and I know I'm not alone! So I've taken 20% off selected smaller gift items in the Sewmotion shop, including coin purses, pencil cases and make-up pouches, perfect stocking fillers, gifts for school friends, or secret santas. Click below to see the collection.

This month's free Pre-Cut Party pattern is for this cute Bargello Make-up Pouch which uses 2.5" strips and a clever tube technique to create this staggered squares pattern. I also show you how to make up your quilted panel into this pouch to hold all your everyday essentials - also great for last minute gifts!

For this free pattern, just subscribe to the Newsletter for the link to this and past patterns based on quilting pre-cuts.

For more quilty fun and inspiration, why not pop along to these linky parties
and say Hi!

Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts 

Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation  
Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication 

A Handmade Christmas

I love giving handmade gifts at Christmas, though I do tend to give them to people who I know will appreciate the love and work gone into making them. I remember when I rang mum on Christmas Day a few years back so she could open her handmade quilt over the phone… there were tears, which was wonderful! Last year I made my nephews some very bespoke cushions – they’re both Games Workshop mad – and they were over the moon to say the least… I have no idea how I’m going to beat that this year!

When you give handmade, you’re giving much more than the item, you’re also giving the love and hard work that went into making that gift. You chose the colours and the design and always had the recipient at the forefront of your mind while making it. Isn’t this what gift giving is all about?

I know we’re not all makers and creatives, but I think the same could be said about buying handmade – with so many one-off beautiful gifts available on Etsy, Folksy and Notonthehightstreet, it’s much easier to find the perfect gift that will be treasured for what it is – and what’s more, you can shop from the comfort of your sofa! I’ll be sharing some of my favourite finds in weeks to come.

But for all you sewists out there, there’s still time to make something unique and beautiful for that special someone, so below I’ve listed some of my go-to blogs for inspiration and free tutorials for small weekend or evening projects that you should be able to get done before the big day.

I think I love every project on Svetlana Sotak’s blog – from cute zip pouches, to plant pot cosies and drawstring bags, these are great small projects for last minute makes – perfect for stocking fillers or Secret Santas.

Another great source for larger makes such as these gorgeous bags is Noodlehead. Anna is a fabric designer, teacher and blogger and I just love her fabric choices in her beautiful designs. Why not make yourself her duffel bag for your trip to see family this Christmas?

My final lovely blog and a new find to me is Sew Delicious. Ros, like me is mostly self taught and I like reading about her new adventures and discoveries in her sewing life. This HST pouch would make a great gift for a teenager!

And of course, there’s always YouTube for some great tutorials, such as this one by the Missouri Star Quilt Co. Perfect for those gorgeous fat quarters in your stash, these pouches always come in handy for something!

I hope these projects have inspired you to get creative. However, if sewing isn't your thing, and you just love buying handmade, I'll be sharing some of my favourite gift ideas with you next week.

This week, I'm linking up with;

Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts

Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrications

Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation 
Main Crush Monday at Cooking Up Quilts

A Christmas Pre-Cut Party

We're celebrating the Fat Quarter this month with this free pattern for a fun and quirky Christmas table runner. Made using partial seams and HSTs (half-square triangles), this pattern includes a list of fabric requirements, cutting and piecing instructions, plus ideas for quilting your finished top. To get your hands on this fun festive free pattern, simply subscribe to our Newsletter, and you'll get a link to this and past pre-cut patterns you may have missed. 

As well as these free patterns, as a subscriber you will also hear about our latest products, events and news, as well as our subscriber-only offers. This month's offer is £5.00 off this complete kit to make this month's free project! 

The kit includes fabric from Dashwood Studio's Festive Friends range, including binding, plus wadding and backing, in fact everything you need to make this runner, just in time to adorn your festive table on Christmas Day. Priced at £35.00 (free UK p&p) you can purchase the kit here.

Click above to subscribe to our great Newsletter and get your £5.00 off discount code for the table runner kit!

In other news, we had a great time at the Autumn Quilt Festival in Duxford last weekend. Housed in an aircraft hangar next door to the museum itself, you can't help being in awe of the huge planes and jets hanging from the roof. Can you see the fighter jet in the background? It's always nice to meet new people, and also to talk all things quilty! Can I also add a big welcome to my new Newsletter subscribers - thank you all for signing up!

Looking for more quilty inspiration? Check out these great Linky Parties;

Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts 

Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Mid-Week Makers at Quilt Fabrication 

A Hint of Summer from John Louden

Once a year I am asked to design and make a collection of quilt samples for fabric company John Louden & Co. Based in Leeds, this third generation family company sells a huge selection of apparel and craft fabric throughout the UK and Europe. In the quilting world, they’re probably currently best known for their gorgeous Scandi Christmas range which includes cute reindeer and penguins and festive stars and hearts in red or blue on a soft calico base.

Even though Christmas is thankfully way off, I thought a wall hanging would show off these Scandi designs well and that large baubles would make the most of the featured animals in each of the fabrics, and of course they just had to be hexagon baubles! Each one is attached with Bondaweb, then machine appliquéd and quilted with blanket stitch.

The other fabric collections I had to work from were far more summery, in particular this Summer Pastels range, from which I made a lap quilt/wall hanging and a table runner. 

The A Summer Bouquet lap quilt is based on a favourite technique of mine, the stitch-and-flip method used to make snowball or half-snowball blocks. I particularly like how the two plain blues used in the corner triangles seem to pop out. The A Wave to Summer table runner was made using a wedge ruler, and rather than going round in a circle, every ten wedges I flipped the next one to make them go in the other direction, hence creating a wave-like design.

The next range, the lovely Trailing Vine collection, has some directional issues! This one took some thinking about, and after a while I came up with this four-pointed star that I thought, with some careful fabric placement, could emphasise the directional nature of the vines. This range actually comes in nine colours in both negative and positive colourways, but I decided to stick to purple, pink, green and grey to create this foundation-pieced Star Jumps lap quilt. I then had some fun with free-motion quilting in the negative spaces.

 

The final collection, and possibly my favourite, is Pretty Posies which comes in four colours, again in both negative and positive colourways. I decided to take the blue and red, together with the same blue and red from Trailing Vine and make this very Americana looking table runner. Not only are the colours reminiscent of the American flag, but I think the small squares in this half Trip Around The World pattern evoke memories of old hand-pieced quilts made by the pilgrims on their search for a better life.

 

Each of these patterns and fabric collections will be available at your nearest Louden stockist, for more information, contact John Louden.

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 products and pattern releases, but also has some great  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 Christmas Project

I started working for myself over a year ago now, and while I’m loving every minute of it, I still can’t get used to when the holidays come round. With Christmas just over a week away I know many people are counting down the days until they ‘break up’ – obviously not everyone is lucky enough to have the week off, I used to work in publishing AND retail! Never again! And this may well be the reason why I feel guilty giving myself time off, am I an awful boss??

I know my body seems to be slowing down and not stressing as much as it usually does, so after a year of learning everything I know (up to now) about blogging, social media, designing and writing patterns, writing tutorials, designing a website and doing some actual quilting, I think I deserve a few days off…

Of course, when I say ‘off’, what I actually mean is finding something to do in front of the Christmas films on the TV! At this year’s Festival of Quilts, my treat to myself was Willyne Hammerstein’s wonderful Millefiori Quilts 2 book, which I bought along with the papers I need for the first project, from Lina’s Patchwork.  This young and growing business produces paper pieces in every shape you can imagine for English Paper Piecing. The paper is a slightly heavier weight so you can get those nice sharp points in your shapes. I was lucky enough to pick up the book and the papers set in one go, but since then it has sat on my shelf begging to be opened and tried - this is the plan for the next couple of weeks. 

I am using glue rather than thread basting, it's so much quicker, and I have checked that the glue does unstick! I’m also so glad to be finally using my Essex Linen from Robert Kaufman, so yummy, and what else to use with it but my Kona Solids… I still think it a little weird, if not magical, that I just happened to buy this Aurifil set in exactly the same colours as my Konas, how bizarre is that!?! These 50wt threads are absolutely perfect for English paper piecing. Will I ever get sick of these colours, I don’t think so!

During the last year I have met lots of lovely people both in person and online, and many have helped my on-going quilt and social media education, for which I am forever grateful. I did have big ideas of creating a lovely little stop-motion gif thing for my festive message, but sadly I think my efforts need a little work so I’ll leave you with the last pic in the stream… have a happy Christmas and a wonderfully crafty New Year. xx