Sewmotion Makers' Gallery of 2020

Well, what a year! I won't go into the stresses and strains of 2020, but instead focus on being grateful. Thankfully, my family and friends, up until now (fingers crossed, touch wood and all that) have all stayed safe and well, even though this has meant not seeing them as much as usual. But as we know, this time will pass and these sacrifices will be worth it as there is finally an end in sight. It may take another few months and even more sacrifices to get there, but things will return back to normal and we can restart our lives again. 

I know I can't wait to get back to exhibiting at quilt and sewing shows, I have really missed the in-person interaction I have with my customers, having a good old chat about quilting, as well as meeting up with my fellow business owners. Since March I have relied solely on online sales, and have been overwhelmed by the support and kindness from my customers who really have kept Sewmotion going this year. As well as placing orders, many of you took part in my block-of-the-fortnight quilt along, and shared some lovely pics of your progress. I have also received some very lovely and often timely emails with such kind thoughts and encouragement - thank you so much.

So to show my gratitude, I thought I would host an online gallery of Sewmotion makes to end the year on a high. I am also offering a prize bundle of Sewmotion goodies - the winning participant will be drawn out of a hat on Friday, 1st January by my glamorous assistant Justin :)

Having put a call out to my Newsletter subscribers and on Facebook, I have been inundated with photos of some truly gorgeous makes, I'm sure you'll agree. Many of us have kept busy working through the stash or finishing that pile of UFOs, and of course working through all those kits bought over the years. So without further ado, enjoy!

Clockwise from bottom left: Lynda, Sue, Naomi, Ven, Ven (again) Jan and in the centre Jill

As it's still the festive season, I thought we would start with a collection of Christmas EPP Hoop projects, aren't they beautiful?! I just wanted to mention Jill's hoop, she made this for her daughter Joanne, who sent in the photo and explained that even though she couldn't see her mum this Christmas, receiving this beautiful gift felt like she had some of her mum with her, how wonderful is that!? Well done Jill ;)

Continuing the Christmas theme, next we have the Table Runners and Placemats, one of the great things about these projects is that they can be brought out year after year, so even though you may not have used the whole set this year, they will still be there for 2021 :)

Clockwise from bottom left: Naomi, Suzanne, Dileas, Karen, Jacquie, Carol & Laura.

Finally, a little more Christmas with some fabulous bunting... 

From left: Fiona, Lesley & Theresa

Alison

Rather than making a string of bunting, Alison made these individual stars to send to friends and family around the world who she wouldn't be seeing over Christmas, another wonderful example of how craft has brought people closer together during these times of separation. 

Many of you have spent 2020 making cushions, and even better, discovering new techniques such as EPP and my fave, curved EPP. Starting with the ever-popular Diamond Star...

Clockwise from top left: Carol, Ven, Janet, Kay, Lynda, Christine, Debby & Pamela.

And then there were the gorgeous curved EPP cushions...

Clockwise from bottom left: Lesley, Lesley (again) Pamela, Sue, Joanne, Julie, Debby, Shirley, Jacquie, Kathy & Carol

Some of you went tiny with your EPP projects and made these beautiful pincushions - you can never have too many right?!  I love Helen's embroidery to remind her of her day out at Duxford quilt show where she bought the kit :)

Clockwise from top left: Michele, Kay, Kay (again), Patricia, Helen & Naomi 

Some of you got creative with machine quilting, while others found their own projects to make using my designs and fabrics...

Clockwise from top left: Patricia, Pamela, Katy, Tess, Naomi & Lynda

And then there are the quilts, so many glorious projects...

Clockwise from bottom left: Fiona, Anne, Joanne, Karen, Jan, Naomi, Pat and in the centre Margaret

Clockwise from top left: Barbara, Joanne, Sally, Sally again, Ellen & Jan.

And finally, I would just like to end with these glorious Hope in the Stars quilts - this was my quilt-along offered free to my Newsletter subscribers earlier in the year using traditional hand piecing, a technique that was new to many of you. I also sold sets of templates, raising over £400 for the NHS Covid-19 charity. Thank you all so much for taking part, I know there are many more half finished quilts out there, and I look forward to seeing them in 2021 ;)

Clockwise from top left: Ven, Helen, Shirley, Joanne, Laura, Samantha and in the centre Gracie

I love every one of these quilts, and it makes me so happy to see my design created in so many different fabrics. I don't have favourites of course, but I would just like to mention Gracie in the centre, who decreased all the templates so she could make an English paper-pieced version, this finished mini quilt is just 14inches square, isn't it stunning?!

Thank you to everyone for taking part in this celebration of the Makers, we will be announcing the winner of the prize draw on a Facebook live tomorrow at 1pm (Friday 1st Jan). The winner will also be announced on a future blog and the next Newsletter. 

With all the best wishes in the world for you and your family to have a much happier 2021, keep on sewing, sharing and inspiring xxx

PS if you have been inspired by the wonderful makes above, click here to visit the Sewmotion shop for quilt, cushion and EPP kits, fabric pre-cuts and patterns.

New Kits and my Next Big Show

Where has this month gone, where has this year gone come to that? I can't believe it's nearly Christmas again! It's been all go at Sewmotion HQ lately where I have taken delivery of the beautiful new collection of quilting cottons from Liberty of London, Summer House. I have the Purple and the Pink colourways, and started off with a making up a couple of strip sets (aka jelly rolls), aren't they pretty! You can see my whole collection of quilting fabric pre-cuts here.

I then decided to make up a new Diamond Star Cushion using a couple of these fabrics, and I especially love how the fussy-cut centre star has come out. I do love this cushion design, and with enough fabric to make one of three different layouts, this kit really does make a lovely hand sewing project. You can find out more about my cushion kits here.

My latest project in these fabrics is my All Squared Up quilt kit - this design has always been a firm favourite, and was originally designed as the next step in skill level after my Beginner's Quilt kits. However, it has proved popular with both beginners and the more experienced quilter as it shows off the fabrics so well, and these Summer House prints are no exception! 

I have hand-cut all the 2.5" strips in both the Liberty prints and the grey background, as well as the borders and binding, though you will still have some cutting to do to piece the blocks. The kit also comes with thread and full instructions. I have added my favourite pieced backing to this quilt - I do love a pieced backing, not only can you use the fabrics used on the front, but you also get two quilts in one! This backing set is also available on the website.

I am also busy preparing for my first Knitting & Stitching show which takes place at Harrogate's Convention Centre next week. The four-day event is huge and attracts all types of crafters as well as quilting, so it should be a really interesting show. You can find out more by clicking here.

Before all of that busyness however, we are celebrating my lovely Justin's 50th birthday with a weekend in Newcastle, which promises amazing food, sampling his favourite IPAs and a visit to the amazing Biscuit Factory gallery. 

Wishing you all a happy, warm and creative week, linking up with Midweek Makers and Needle & Thread Thursday

2018 Online Quilters Meet & Greet

Benita Skinner of Victoriana Quilt Designs is running the 2018 Online Quilters Meet & Greet during the month of September, and asked if I would like to join in. Of course I said yes, I love any opportunity to meet fellow quilt addicts from around the world!

Throughout September you can visit Benita's page where you will find links to lots of wonderful quilt bloggers, some you may already know, others will be completely new - what a great chance to make new friends and be inspired!! Benita is also running an amazing competition open to all who take part - you can learn more and enter by clicking below.

So let me introduce myself, I am Louisa Goult, I live in Middlesbrough in the Northeast of England, though I am originally from London, and I run my own quilt business, Sewmotion. I have always been fascinated by colour and geometry, particularly symmetry in design, and what better way to express this than through designing quilts! I started quilting in my teens, then had a break in my 20s where work/career took over. Then when I and my husband were both made redundant, we decided to embark on a round-the-world trip which included the US, New Zealand and Australia. It was on a rainy day in Australia, hunkered down in our campervan where my love of quilting was reignited thanks to some wonderful Aussie quilting mags.

When we eventually got back from our travels, I had a couple of jobs in craft retail to learn the ropes as it were, then in 2014 I decided to take the plunge and set up on my own (eek!) Having worked in a quilt shop for four years, I knew how the craft was growing in popularity, I had so many people come in looking for classes where they could learn this great skill, and this is where the idea for my first quilt kit, the Beginner's Quilt kit came from. I also provide free tutorials on the website, including how to make your first quilt which can work in conjunction with the kit if people prefer to follow photographic instruction.

From that first kit, I now offer around 50 kits which include quilts, cushions, runners, purses and hoop art projects, as well as a growing collection of patterns. I have also developed a curved English paper-piecing technique, which seems to be taking over my life at the moment. This method is used in my block of the month quilt, Curve Motion Medallion, which is also a quilt-as-you-go project. You can learn more about this 16-months of hand sewing joy here. I have also made my first YouTube film, a four part tutorial on how to make my EPP Flower Cushion, hopefully there will be more of these in the future!

Having just exhibited at the Festival of Quilts in the UK, I also entered a quilt for the first time, another curved EPP creation, using scraps from my stash. I then big-stitched quilted around the rings in the grey background space.

I also send out a Sewmotion Newsletter, which includes a free pattern every month based on my love of quilting pre-cuts, though it does seem to be whatever inspires me at the time! You can learn more about that here.

Well, I think that more or less covers me and Sewmotion. Working on my own from home everyday, I love meeting fellow quilters online and sharing experiences and ideas, thank you so much Benita for running this great event, hopefully this will be the first of many! Don't forget to enter the competition - the more blogs you visit the greater the chance of winning those amazing goodies!

Festival of Quilts Preparations

Following on from last week's positive vibes, I'm getting excited for the biggest show of my life, the Festival of Quilts which is only a couple of weeks' away now, eek! I'm well into the kit building as you can see above, and the printing I out-sourced to a local firm came back yesterday. So the for the next few days you'll find me folding, packing and sticking these and many more kits and trying to fit them into the tower of banana boxes my father-in-law kindly found for me.

And then it's on to the strip, charm pack and fat quarter bundles - phew! It's going to be a busy few weeks, and in the hottest summer we've had for years! Haha!  If you're coming along to this year's Festival of Quilts in August, I will be on Stand F16 so pop by and say hello. As well as all these quilt, cushion and EPP kits, I've also had many more patterns printed up, some of which will come with the relevant pre-cut papers. These will also be available on the website after the show.

Meanwhile, I wanted to share this adorable quilt, again made by Gillian who has been busy! Gillian made this cute four-patch quilt from my Let's Play fat quarter bundle - I love the mix of four-patch blocks with the larger squares that really show off the fabrics, and that stripped backing takes pieced backings to another level - this really is two quilts in one! Thanks for sharing Gillian.

Right, let the packing commence...

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 

Concentric circle quilting for my new Snowballs Around the World Quilt Kit

For my second new quilt kit of the month (!) I decided to develop one of my existing patterns, Snowballs in Spring, this time using these gorgeous Papillon fabrics from Makower. I've named this kit Snowballs Around the World as the blocks are laid out in an off-set Trip Around the World - can you see the centre snowball five rows down, three in? This quilt finished at approx. 52" x 61" so will sit comfortably on top of a single or double bed.

Each of these kits contain 104 pre-cut 5" squares, plus 2.10m of solid ivory for the corners and borders, so you'll have some cutting to do yourself! The kit also includes a 50wt thread, six binding strips in that cute stripe and of course, full colour instructions.

To accompany this new release, I thought I would do a quick tutorial on quilting concentric circles to accentuate the off-set Trip Around the World layout. I know Twiggy & Opal wrote a similar tutorial last week which you can read here, mine is more or less the same, I just start differently.

To create my first circle, I use freezer paper as a guide. Draw around something circular - a cup, glass, use a compass - onto the paper side of the freezer paper and accurately cut out. Use a hot iron to press this into place where you would like your circles to grow out from, in my case it was the centre square of my Trip Around the World pattern.

This quilting is done with a walking foot and with the machine's teeth up as normal, so no clever free-motion business here! The trick is to just take it slowly and to gently manoeuvre the quilt around to create each circle. This gets easier the larger the circles become.

When you wish to start quilting anywhere on your quilt that's not off the edge into the wadding, you need to bring up your bobbin thread to the top so you can move both top and bottom threads out of the way before you start stitching. So, holding onto your top thread, place your needle down where you want to start sewing, bring the needle up and pull up your bobbin thread, tuck both threads under your foot and out of the way.

How you secure your threads is up to you, on my Snowballs in Spring quilt I left all my ends long and like a good girl, stitched each of them into the wadding at the end - hard work! Luckily my Janome machine has a 'locking' stitch so I decided to use that this time at the beginning and end of each row. This basically just sews a few tiny stitches on top of each other to secure the thread, which you can still do yourself if your machine doesn't have this function. Just take the stitch length down to say 0.6, sew three or four stitches, then take it up to your chosen length for the main stitching, I think I had mine on 2.8 - you don't want them too long else you'll lose the smooth curve in the circle. 

Moving slowly, stitch around the outer edge of the freezer paper, when you come to where you started, Jayne of Twiggy & Opal had a great tip, if you hold your starting thread ends in front of the foot, you will be able to see your starting point and where to stop sewing. Secure and break thread, and remove the freezer paper.

To start your second row, move your quilt so the left edge of your walking foot is sitting against your first line of stitching which you're going to use as your new guide. Secure your threads as before, and slowly sew your second circle. Try to move your quilt round in small increments to avoid getting sharp angles in your circle.

Carry on sewing circles - when you get to an edge you'll be able to start and end your threads into the wadding which makes life so much easier! As long as you keep that edge of your walking foot against the preceding line of stitching as a guide, your concentric circles should be nicely evenly spaced.

This is a great quilting pattern for so many quilts and always looks impressive!

If this quilt kit takes your fancy, get 15% off by subscribing to my Newsletter 

I'm also having a fat quarter bundle sale this weekend, with all these new fabrics flying in, I want to share the fun! Use the code Bundle20 until midnight on Monday (24 April) and get 20% off all fat quarter bundles.

This week I'm linking up with Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers, Needle & Thread Thursday and Main Crush Monday

Tiling inspiration

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

New Quilt Kits Coming Soon

I've dedicated this week to quilting, and getting some more quilts finished to make into kits, and boy do my shoulders ache! The new house sadly doesn't have a bath, but we're definitely now making that the priority job, oh, how I've missed a long soak... anyway, back to the quilting.

Having more or less sold out of my All Squared Up kits (I have one left in the American Patch fabrics) I'm working on replacements, and couldn't resist these Sun Prints by Alison Glass with this sumptuous grey from Makower, it seems to make them shine doesn't it!?

I seem to be addicted to this wavy line quilting, it may take a while, but it really is so easy, and so effective, and going from my experience at recent shows, it really sells the quilt. And of course, I couldn't resist a pieced backing...

You know when you love the back as much as the front?! You can see the instructions for this backing here in my free tutorial for this All Squared Up quilt.

For new quilt kit ideas, I've turned to my quilt patterns for inspiration, and decided to make a slightly larger version of my Snowballs in Spring pattern using this gorgeous Papillon range from Makower along with a couple of their blenders.

This one is now basted to ready to quilt, my job for today. I hope you're all having a creative and productive week, if you have more time for quilty chat and inspiration, why not pop along to these linky parties and say Hi:
Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts, Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication and Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation.

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

New Strips & Kits

Wow, what an incredibly busy couple of weeks! What with the quilt show in Harrogate, then the next weekend in Duxford, I'm a little worn out, and getting very low on stock!! I've completely run out of my Japanese All Squared Up quilt kit, and have only one left in each of the American Patch All Squared Up, the Monochrome Sunset and the Charming Vintage Rose... I think I best get sewing up some new patterns and kits!!

And what better place to start than with these gorgeous new fabrics from Alison Glass, her Sun Prints range comes in these beautiful jewel-like colours - I'm thinking maybe an All Squared Up kit with a dark grey as the blender... for now I have made up this 24pc strip set, available on the website for £20.

Another plan I have is a new zigzag quilt made in this bright and fresh 40pc strip set in Basically Hugs fabrics from Red Rooster. These colours just remind me of springtime - this strip set is also available on the website at £35.

If you attended either of the recent quilt shows, you may have seen my new EPP Diamond Cushion Kits. Similar to my Hexy Cushion kits, each one includes the fabric, templates, thread, wadding and full instructions to complete the cushion front. These make great portable projects, and are also a great introduction to English paper-piecing. Both are available on Sewmotion for £23.00.

Right, I better get on with some sewing - for more quilty chat and inspiration, check out these linky parties;
Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts
MidWeek Makers at Quilt Fabrication
Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation.

March's Free Pre-Cut Party Pattern

As predicted, February has flown by! Which means it's time for my next free pre-cut pattern! This pretty charm square quilt is called Mosaic Garden and uses a 48pc charm pack, or a 42pc with a feature fabric used for the centre squares of each block.

At a finished size of approx 43" x 55", this project would make a lovely baby or child's quilt, or maybe if made in a smaller version, say 3x3 blocks, you could make a wall hanging using those precious fabrics you bought on holiday! What a lovely momento!

To get this free PDF, and many more patterns, simply subscribe to my Newsletter below. 

This quilt is also available as a full kit which includes the 48pc charm pack made from Michael Miller's Henna Garden collection, a solid white for the sashing and borders, a 50wt thread and six binding strips. This kit is available at £35.00, (£30.00 to Newsletter subscribers).

We had a great time at the Spring Quilt Festival in Harrogate last week, it's so lovely to meet my subscribers and hear how much they enjoy getting their newsletters, thank you all for your kind words! And also a huge welcome to my new subscribers, I look forward to inspiring you on your next project!

Looking for more quilting chat and inspiration? Why not pop along to 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

The Pre-Cut Linky Party will be back soon, so if you've been inspired by a fabric pre-cut to make something beautiful, get ready to share!