New Fat Quarter Bundles and Mammoth Curved EPP sewing!

This week I've finally uploaded some lovely new fat quarter bundles into the Sewmotion shop. When I buy these ranges, I have all the best intentions of designing and making them into kits and pre-cuts, but then time runs away from me and I find them collecting dust on the shelves. So I thought it was about time to get them out into the real world and share them with my customers! As you can tell, I've fallen for Makower's ranges in a big way at the moment - those Christmas ranges are so cute!! You can click here to find out more and to see the whole collection of fat quarter bundles.

I've been making great progress on my latest curved EPP mammoth quilt. For my Rainbow Rings I turned to my stash for some colour inspiration, and using my favourite EPP method, designed these four concentric circle designs. Now the piecing is complete, I just have to appliqué them onto the grey background and quilt it - should keep me busy for a while!

I'm also developing some new cushion designs to make into kits, including this Overlapping Circles cushion in those gorgeous Blue Sky fabrics from Edyta Sitar.

I have so many new kits and patterns in the pipeline, all in preparation for August's Festival of Quilts. I have worked this amazing four-day quilt show (Europe's largest I think) for my old employers Doughty's for the last eight years, but this is the first one I'll be doing for myself, and I won't lie, I am starting to panic at the amount of work I need to do!! Not only have I lots of existing kits to make up, but my brain won't stop coming up with new ideas - really annoying!! Anyway, you'll find me buried in pre-cuts and kit boxes for the next two months, with some curved EPP thrown in for good measure :)

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

Fabric joy and new projects

I am so lucky to be surrounded by beautiful fabrics and amazing colour every day. My workroom (spare bedroom) is also south facing so I get bright daylight flowing in, and even sunshine some days! This week I finally made time to photograph and upload some gorgeous new fat quarter bundles into the Sewmotion Shop... there's some 1930s feedsack prints, a little Riley Blake and Michael Miller and of course some Alison Glass. Each bundle has a different number of fat quarters and is individually priced, click here to see my whole collection.

For those subscribers who started my Curve Motion Medallion BOM in January, their third instalment has been sent out this week and features this cute chubby Dresden Plate block.

If you're a fan of English paper-piecing and would like to join us for 16 months of hand sewing joy, click here to find out more. I also got the chance last week to photograph the full quilt in some 'nearly northern sunshine', I find it hard to capture the grey background in all it's gorgeous glory, but I think I'm getting there!

Meanwhile, I've also been working on a couple of new projects, one of which is this Curved EPP cushion which I'm planning to be a free tutorial on the website, and in video!! I have learnt so much this week and can't wait to share it with you.

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

Quilt Show preparation, a new kit and North Star Quilting

For the past few weeks I've been cutting, folding, glueing, and pricing like a mad woman, in preparation for my first show of the year, the Spring Quilt Festival at the Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate. This 3-day event is held in a smaller hall than the one in Autumn, which I must say does make for a more much relaxed show. Talking to visitors last year, many commented on how nice it was to wander around the stalls at a leisurely pace, have time for some lunch before having a second look around and actually remembering where they saw that something that caught their eye!

As you can see, I've added some lovely individual fat quarters to my show stock, these boxes look so inviting don't they! And I've a few new kits not taken to shows before, including this gorgeous new Mosaic Garden Quilt Kit in Michael Miller's Wildflower fabrics.

You may recognise this quilt from a pervious Pre-Cut Party pattern, I've increased the number of blocks to thirty to make this double-sized quilt finish at approx. 67" x 80". The kit includes 120 pre-cut 5" squares, 3.10m of Makower's Ivory and eight binding strips, plus thread and full instructions. This new kit will be available in the Sewmotion shop early next week, priced at £68.00.

Did you notice the beautiful quilting on my new quilt above? Most of the time I love to quilt my own tops, but this quilt begged for something special, so I decided to give it to my friend Bryony Liddle to longarm. Bryony and her husband Luke run North Star Quilting, a longarm quilting service up here in the North East of England. I let her have free reign on my quilt, and she didn't disappoint! Keeping with the grid-like pattern of the patchwork, Bryony went to town with some truly stunning quilt designs in block formation. Fine Art trained, Bryony is a joy to work with, incredibly enthusiastic about her work and is very talented indeed! For more details on North Star Quilting's services, including prices, click here. 

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

New Kits, Bundles and Secret Projects

I finally had a bright enough day to get photos of these two new Quick & Easy/Beginner's Quilts and now have the kits available in the shop. Each kit includes pre-cut squares, borders, binding and thread, plus full instructions and links to my free online tutorials, making them ideal for newbies who are maybe a little nervous about fabric selection or cutting. With these kits, they can just get stuck in and start sewing.

The first kit features Dashwood Studio's Confetti and Twist fabrics, while the second is made in these lush red and white fabrics from Red Rooster's Coonawarra Red collection.

New products also include these gorgeous fat quarter bundles and a charm pack in Michael Miller's Let's Play collection, aren't they cute!! I used these fabrics in my Novelty Nine Patch quilt kit, and they do make a lovely gift for a new arrival.

Meanwhile, in my sewing time I'm currently working on two 'secret' projects for magazine submissions, the first is developing my love of curved paper-piecing, with a little fussy cutting of these gorgeous Norrland fabrics from Dashwood. 

And the second is a larger version of my Wonky Squares block using Riley Blake's Gingham Girls fabrics, I'm really loving how these fabrics look together!

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

Happy New Year!

Wow! I can't believe it's 2017 already! As a kid, this was surely one of those years so far off into the future it wasn't worth thinking about! Didn't Tomorrow's World predict flying cars and space travel for all?! Even so, we have seen a lot of changes over the years, especially in the patchwork and quilting industry. Who would have imagined 20 years ago that using a mat, ruler and rotary cutter would be the norm, that there would be so many acrylic rulers in all shapes and sizes, and die-cutting would open the world up to the incredibly versatile fabric pre-cut?

So what does 2017 hold in store for you? Is there a technique you've been desperate to try out, a fabric range you can't wait to get your hands on? Or are you new to this wonderful craft and need a little help to get started? Whatever your creative plans are for the new year, Sewmotion is here to help. 

Looking for some inspiration? Check out my growing collection of quilt patterns, including the free tutorials for All Squared Up, Fox in the Nine Patch and Novelty Nine Patch patterns. If you're stuck in a quilting fix, maybe one of my tutorials can help you out. If you can't find something you need, why not drop me a line and I'll see if I can help.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have huge plans for 2017, including continuing my free patterns in my monthly Pre-Cut Party, available to my Newsletter subscribers. This month's free pattern is for a 60"sq quilt above using good old 2.5" fabric strips, otherwise known as a jelly roll. For this and many more free patterns, plus shop news and special offers, subscribe to the Newsletter here.

I'm also currently cutting, taking pics and uploading some new fabric pre-cuts, including this gorgeous FQ bundle featuring Henna Garden from Michael Miller, I'm desperate to make something with these beautiful colours!

Looking for more quilting fun and inspiration? Why not visit these Linky Parties and say Hi!

Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts

Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication

Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

 

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