Pre-cuts for the Boys & Merry Christmas!

I have recently taken delivery of two new fabulous collections that I ordered with the boys in mind. I know I have many fabrics and kits which are far too floral and pretty for the men in our lives, so these new sets of pre-cuts are for them!

The first is the Quantum Bygg collection from Andover Fabrics, designed by Giuseppe Ribaudo, also known as Giucy Giuce in the social media world. These richly coloured fabrics feature geometric prints inspired by quantum physics diagrams, with no flowers in sight! The 40pc strip set (aka jelly roll) includes two strips each of twenty designs, while the 42pc charm pack has two 5" squares in each of 19 designs and four squares in another. 

This second new collection is from the company Dear Stella and features the cutest seagulls dressed in wooly jumpers and hats, ditsy fish and crabs, mermaids and lighthouses and even the odd shark!

In bright and modern blues and orange, this is another great collection for quilts for the often neglected men in the family - or what about a quilt for that seaside getaway or for a day at the beach? The 42pc Charm pack contains six 5" squares in seven different designs, while the fat quarter bundle is made up of seven fat quarters - more than enough to make a baby or even lap quilt - add a blender and you could make a single or even double bed quilt.
Click here to see my whole Pre-Cut Collection. 

I had a lovely email from a regular customer this month who sent me pics of her latest creation. Gillian bought one of the Connewarra Red Strip sets along with the last fat quarter bundle and took inspiration from my Fox in the Nine Patch free pattern to make this glorious quilt. She used the jelly roll for the front - isn't that pieced border wonderful! And then used the fat quarters for a great pieced backing, this really is two quilts in one! Thank you so much for sharing your quilt Gillian, I look forward to seeing your next one ;)

Meanwhile, I've actually found some time to sew this week - here is a new Hexy cushion kit in progress, and I also had this commissioned quilt back from the longarmers, North Star Quilting, who as ever did a wonderful job. 

I'm taking a break over the festive period and looking forward to getting down to my mum's and helping her to enjoy my husband's amazing cooking as well as the odd bottle of red. So for now, I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Peaceful and Creative New Year! 
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 

Pre-Cut Linky Party Time

It's been a while since we've shared some pre-cut love, so let's have a party!! Before the sharing begins, I just wanted to show you a couple of pics I've recently been sent by Sewmotion customers, funnily enough based on the same pattern, my disappearing four-patch quilt, Square Dance.

Kath is a lovely lady and fellow quilter at my local quilt group, the Village Quilters in Middlesbrough. A prolific quilter, if she's not making beautiful quilts for family and friends, she's making the cutest Christmas items, in fact, we call her Mrs Christmas! This is her version of my Square Dance quilt, complete with the linear quilting, isn't it beautiful!!

My second project is from another lovely lady we first met at the Harrogate Autumn Quilt show last year. Jan bought my Charming Vintage Rose quilt, sadly now out of stock. I love how she changed the layout so the colours run diagonally across the quilt. Jan also made this gorgeous cushion to match, those stars are so cute!

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

So now it's your turn... 

An InLinkz Link-up

Duxford Autumn Quilt Festival

I'm currently away working for Doughty's at an annual quilt show in Dublin. However, next week Sewmotion will be at the Duxford Autumn Quilt Festival held at the amazing Imperial War Museum in Cambridgeshire. I remember visiting this show last year and was amused to see a group of quilters having a well needed sit down with a huge plane towering over them (can I find the pic now!?!) 

Having had so much fun at the Harrogate show, we thought we'd venture further afield while also getting in a visit with a dear friend who lives nearby. We'll have our fabulous pre-cut quilt and cushion kits, quilt patterns, and of course our gorgeous pre-cuts and bundles.

So if you're in the Cambridge area, why not pop along to see the gorgeous collection of quilts on display, and have a good browse among the many stands - this is also an ideal opportunity to get some Christmas inspiration for those festive makes! The show runs from Friday 28th to Sunday 30th October, 10am-4.30pm (4pm on Sunday). We hope to see you there!

Our First Quilt Show

The beautiful North Yorkshire town of Harrogate was the venue for last weekend's Great Northern Quilt Show. Even though I have done a few of these shows now, I’ve always worked for Doughty’s, so could rely on someone else to think about the stand structure, layout and how to catch buyers' eye. This time, it was all me, and boy was I nervous, but also really excited. 

Starting with an empty shell, I moved quilts and tables around and around until I was happy, then started playing with the FQ bundles and strip sets. I’m so pleased I made the to effort to fold the bundles like this, they were certainly a talking point over the weekend. 

I met some lovely people over the three days, many from up in the North East, begging me to open a bricks and mortar shop in Middlesbrough, Haha! One step at a time….

Thankfully, I had Justin on hand to help over the weekend, and he soon learnt the ropes, sounding like he’d been quilting for years by the time Sunday came! Having his help and support meant I could also have a quick zip around the quilt display, some of which are below – note, these ARE NOT my quilt - apologies for not catching the makers’ details, I was rushing.

I would like to say thank you to everyone who came along and said hello, it really is wonderful to meet quilters who share my passion for modern fabrics and quilt kits, and to just have a good old chat. I would also like to say a big thank you to everyone who subscribed to my Newsletter, which will include a free pattern every month based on pre-cuts, the first one of which will be out this week! If you haven’t signed up yet, click below.

If you would like to browse through some more quilty goodness, with not pop along to these linky parties and say Hi.

Main Crush Monday at Cooking Up Quilts

Handmade Monday at Lucy Blossom Crafts

Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts

Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation 

 

Festival of Quilts 2016 & Middlesbrough

Another year, another Festival of Quilts over, I can’t believe this was my seventh working for Doughty’s! I had a fantastic time working with some old friends, and saying Hi to familiar faces…. Though don’t get me wrong, setting up five stands, trading for four days, and then doing Sunday breakdown is very hard work – you can read about the prep, sweat and tears involved to putting on such a big show in my post from last year here.

As ever, I didn’t get much chance to look at the quilts, I just managed to snap a few that caught my eye on my travels, including this EPP masterpiece, isn’t it stunning! You’ll have to forgive me for not noting all of the makers’ names.

Another amazing creation was this one made from teeny EPP hexagons – absolutely beautiful!

 

I somehow managed to miss most of the new section of Modern quilts, though the winning quilt below, Office Doodle 1 by Sarah Humphreys is beautiful! For a more thorough round-up of the modern quilts that featured this year, check out Jo Avery’s blog post at My Bear Paw.

A style of quilting that has always amazed me by the amount of work and planning involved has been the wholecloth quilt, and this year didn’t disappoint. The winner of the Traditional Quilt category and overall Best in Show, was Sandy Chandler with this beautiful quilt called Infinity – apologies for the picture quality, I have an old phone! 

 

The winner’s of this year’s Visitor’s Choice award was another stunning wholecloth, Pearl Princess by the enormously talented hand quilter Sandy Lush, the stitching and beading is just exquisite!

One quilt that did make me laugh was on Fabric Galore's stand - in full view of people walking in, was my Scandi Heart quilt that I made for John Louden - I can now say I had a quilt at the Festival of quilts! Haha!!

 

While wolfing down my lunch one day before joining the loo queue, I managed to meet the lovely Liz Betts, editor of Popular Patchwork, who kindly gave me a copy of their latest edition featuring my Let’s Visit Middlesbrough article. It’s always great to see your own writing in print, and I was even more chuffed to see my contributor pic next to the amazing Lynne Goldsworthy of Lily’s Quilts! This is the September issue, which should be out now.

 

Back at Sewmotion, I’m desperately fighting my aching bones to get as much prep done for the Great Northern Quilt Show as possible, before we nip off to the sun for a week – I've been promised a week of lounging, resting and eating with not a bicycle in sight!

At the show in Harrogate, (2^nd-4^th Sept) I will have my range of pre-cut quilt and cushion kits, as well as a growing collection of quilting pre-cuts. Need ideas and inspiration for these gorgeous pre-cut packs? Why not subscribe to my Newsletter and get a free pattern every month straight to your inbox? As well as quilts and cushions, there will be smaller items such as bags and purses, plus free turorials on cutting and stretching those precious pre-cut pieces. Click below to sign up.

Looking for more quilty fun and inspiration? Why not go visit these linky parties and say Hi!

Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts

Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatutation

Finished Or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts

I’m having a Pre-Cut Party!!

Don’t you just love a good pre-cut! Fat quarter bundles, cutesy charm squares, and those jelly rolls that you just can’t bear to unroll! I don’t think I’m alone in being tempted by these beauties, only to get them home to just stroke! Well, I’ve decided it’s about time I got cutting and sewing, and would love for you to join me. 

Starting this September, I will be sending out a free pattern every month with my Newsletter, sharing a project for one of these incredibly versatile pre-cuts. As well as patterns for quilts, there will be cushions, table runners, purses, pouches, and anything else I can imagine! At the beginning of each month, you will be emailed a link from which to download your free, full colour PDF pattern, and not only that, but you'll also get subscriber-only offers on Sewmotion’s collection of pre-cuts available on the website.

I will also be encouraging you to share your makes on the Sewmotion Makes Gallery – coming soon!

So what are you waiting for? Subscribe to my Newsletter and prepared to be inspired! 

Talking of pre-cuts… having finally received the final bolt to make my curated collection complete, I’ve been able to make up and upload these gems featuring Karen Lewis’ Blueberry Park fabrics. I came across Karen's fabrics back when she was printing them herself and selling them in small quantities on Instagram. Wonderfully, she has now been asked to design for Robert Kaufman, starting with this gorgeous Blueberry Park collection.

I can’t wait to get stuck in and make something gorgeous with these… alas I think it may have to wait until after The Festival of Quilts… yes, it’s that time of year again! So forgive me if I’m quiet next week, not doubt I'll be found cutting, folding and packing up fabric on one of Doughty’s five stands at the NEC – I will try my hardest to take some pics this year! If you’re coming along, stop and say Hi!

Today we're linking up with;

Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts

NTT at My Quilt Infatuation

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 :)

A Vintage Rose Pre-cut Giveaway!

Well, it looks like summer is finally here, and we have two new quilting pre-cuts in the shop - so I thought I'd celebrate with a fabulous Giveway! 

I introduced my new Charm Pack a while ago, and I've just added this gorgeous 20pc fabric strip set to the collection. This strip roll features 14 strips from Riley Blake's Backyard Roses collection, together with three in Kona's Banana and three in Peony. 

I think this set would look fabulous in my All Squared Up quilt - find the free pattern here - and used together with the 42pc charm pack, there really are so many possibilities! If you're stuck for ideas, why not have a browse through my Pinterest boards?

To win a pair of Vintage Rose Pre-cuts (one strip set and one charm pack), simply subscribe to Sewmotion's Newsletter. To enter, click on the down arrow in the box below, click on the link and subscribe - this only takes a minute - then come back here and type VintageRose in the box below to be entered into the Giveaway.


I will not bombard your inbox with daily emails trying to sell you things you didn't know you wanted! Instead, around twice a month I'll let you know about my latest products, including quilting supplies, patterns and kits, upcoming events where you can meet me in person, plus I'm currently planning a whole range of freebie patterns, templates and other goodies, only available to Sewmotion's lucky subscribers.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

This Giveaway is open internationally. The lucky winner will be chosen at random and be announced on Wednesday 27th July, 2016, when I will contact the winner for delivery details. 

Today we're linking up with;

Handmade Monday at Lucy Blossom Crafts

Main Crush Monday at Cooking Up Quilts

Mop Monday at Tweety Loves Quilting

Sew Cute Tuesday at Blossom Heart Quilts

Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts

NTT at My Quilt Infatuation

Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts 

What can I do with a charm??

Last weekend saw a double whammy of Doughty’s Roadshows, and I can safely say, fun was had by all!! This was their first visit to my local quilt group, The Village Quilters in Middlesbrough, and I think my fellow quilters were knocked out by the amount and choice of fabric that Doughty’s bring with them! Rest assured, Doughty's will be back next year for all you fabric addicts who were unable to make it. I’d also like to say a huge thank you to those lovelies from my group who helped so much, bought loads and were just a joy to work with! 

Meanwhile, back at Sewmotion, I’ve just taken delivery of some real beauties from Riley Blake’s Backyard Roses. As you may know by now, rather than buying full ranges, I buy a selection from a collection, mix them with some co-ordinating solids or blenders, and then make them up into pre-cut strip sets, FQ bundles and charm packs. I then go on to design quilts for patterns and pre-cut quilt kits using these sets – this is the dream bit of my work… but leaves me ever so busy!!

Well, as you can imagine, I couldn’t wait to get stuck into these gems, and soon decided to use this charm pack to make a larger version of my Square Dance quilt for a new kit. I do love this disappearing four-patch block and enjoyed a mammoth day yesterday sewing, cutting and resewing to my heart’s content. I now can’t wait to get them all sewn up and bordered…

Then my mind started wandering… we all know how versatile the jelly roll/stripper set is, but what else can be done with a 5” charm square? Well, quite a lot actually… 

You could start off with some simple snowballing, such as my Snowballs In Spring pattern, or what about this cute Road To Tennessee block – this tutorial by Andie Johnson Sews is excellent, and shows you the different effects simple variations can create.

Or maybe just go for the half snowball with this gorgeous Charming Stars pattern from Moda BakeShop - as ever this is a great tutorial with lots of pics. 

Then there's always the half-square triangle (HSTs) - this Fresh Diamonds quilt by Samelia's Mum is beautiful, clever placement creates such a pretty design.

Then there's the disappearing nine-patch block - like the four patch above, I love this method of sewing a block and then recutting it to create a whole new block. This pattern tutorial, complete with a great little movie, from Sewn Up is fantastic, just imagine those blocks in solids, or even tones of the same colour... 

Finally, you could go really simple and just use the squares with sashing, for this Contact Print Pillow Amanda of Crazy Mom Quilts has quartered the charm squares and added a simple white that makes those scrappy squares just pop! I would love to make a whole quilt like this, maybe with my Backyard Roses... mmmm....

I would like to thank these very generous quilters who have offered these beautiful patterns for free - please go and explore their blogs and say hello.

Do you know about our Newsletter?

As well as these blogs, we also have a Newsletter to keep you up to date with our events, new patterns & products plus special subscriber offers. Subscribe today and get 10% off all our FQs bundles.

Today we're linking up with;

Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts

NTT at My Quilt Infatuation

Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts