HALFBRITISHSALE 70 items 50% off

Hello all,
I know it has been a while. I have been busy and not complaining about it.

But another things has happened which I have not shared with you yet. As of 11/9 I am a British Citizen. I arrived in the UK exactly 17 years ago, to the day of my citizenship ceremony, so it was just about time I become British and get the right to vote. I have been in this country contributing to society, paying my taxes and welfare contributions for 17 years and could not vote in national elections, no way could I go on like that for much longer.

So yay, I am British now and am celebrating it with a HALFBRITISHSALE in the shop where 70 items, mostly quilts, are 50% off.

Also worth mentioning is that all quilts shipped in the UK get free shipping.

Now let's celebrate everything British (I think it's time I make a Union Jack quilt, no?).

Bottoms up!

Happy Birthday, Etsy. SALE

Hello all,
it has been crazy over here, with so much to do. I can't wait to have some time to share some exciting news with you and to show you what I have been working on. Some secret sewing in the works over here. :O

But today just a quick Sale announcement. It is Etsy's Birthday and you can find many items in the shop with 10% off.

So go have a look and treat yourself or a loved one. Oh, and remember, there is always FREE UK shipping on all quilts.

Lots of love,
Nadine

Black and White

Hello everyone,
I know, anyone who knows me might think I've gone bonkers as I have always made extremely colorful quilts and have been known to throw the most bright colors together. But you know what, I think although I still love color and will always make colorful quilts, I have really grown to like crisp black and white or neutral monochromatic color schemes lately and I think I will go more in that direction in the future.

Color palettes have been on my mind constantly and I will post about some ideas soon, but for now here is one of my recent black and white quilts. This one is a lap quilt or maybe large baby/toddler quilt or playmat.  I used a number of different black and white prints with some Kona Ash, my go to neutral shade, and I love the result.

I have also started to use black and white a lot with some minor splashes of color, like in this baby quilt. 

And I LOOOOOVE this quilt which used lots of Kona solids with some splashes of black and white. I think I really need to explore this a bit more as I love the effect and I can imagine this in a number of different color palettes.

What do you think? Do you like monochromatic color palettes or black and white quilts?

I have also started a number of other black and white quilts so watch this space.

Love of love,
Nadine

MAYSALE because it's SPRING

Hello everyone,

I know we are all a bit depressed and the weather has been causing havoc for so long we are all desperate for some sunshine and blue skies. Well, it currently isn't looking too good and the heavens have opened up again to drown us in cold windy buckets of water.

So if this isn't the best time for a sale to brighten our spirits then I don't know what. So to celebrate May and get the sun to come out finally after such a long winter I have added a lot of colorful items, especially baby quilts, to the sale category and they are all 10% off. 

You won't need a coupon, the discount is automatically taken off.

I hope this brightens your spirits a bit and fingers crossed for some Spring weather soon.

Lots of love,
Nadine

I love machine binding

Hello everyone,

how do you bind your quilts? Do you hand stitch the binding or do you machine bind? I used to do my binding by hand for many years and never even considered trying machine binding. I have to say I used to be quite snobby about it and considered it cheap and lazy.

Wow, how my views have changed and I now only do the binding on the machine. I really prefer the added safety and I love the process of stitching on the binding. It is one of my favorite steps in making a quilt.

What do you think? Do you hate it or love it?
N

Here are some photos from my first machine bound quilt now quite some time ago.

Quilt challenges - What's on your To Make list?

Hello everyone,
today I want to share with you what's on my To Make list and what patterns and designs I really want to try this year.

I have to say, I am a creature of habit. I always end up making the same sort of designs, with slight variations, and I rarely try something I consider difficult or where I am just not sure how to go about it. I guess most of the time I really just don't know how to sew those things and I find instructions often quite unhelpful. So here is my list of projects to tackle this year:

I really want to make a Spiderweb quilt (here some inspiration by Jenner Sampou).

I am also determined to try Foundation Paper Piecing soon and I have bought the pattern for the Cadence Court quilt by Sassafras Lane.

Curved piecing is also something I wanted to try for ages but have been shying away from. And I really want to make the Glam Clam Quilt by Latifah Saafir.

What is on your To Make list? Are there projects you always wanted to try and have been shying away from?

Lots of love.
Nadine

What do babies want?

Hello everyone,
as you might know, I have been on Etsy (https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/QuiltedBlissByNadine) since 2011 and love it. I can spend hours snooping around and checking out amazing shops and items. Sales have been sporadic but that is to be expected with the amount of  competition and the way Etsy seems to be changing algorithms constantly and it's so hard to keep up with all the requirements.

 I am adding a few examples of quilts that either have sold or that are still in the shop.

But it's fair to say Baby Quilts sell the most in my shop and I need to maybe do some more market research about trends and what buyers actually want.

So now the question is of course "What do babies want?" or maybe it should be "What do new mums want?" or maybe what do people want who buy gifts for new parents?

Should it be lots of cute fabrics with animals and toys etc.?

What about colors, very colorful and bright or rather muted baby pinks and blues? My tendency is to go with very colorful fabrics as that is what I like but maybe that is not what buyers want. I have seen how the quilts that have sold over the years have been fairly colorful but then my sales are quite sporadic these days so maybe colorful is just not in anymore.

I have also joined Mumsnet.com and tried to find out what people want but have not had a lot of responses. The ones who did respond said they don't actually use quilts at all, they all use those little onesies for baby to sleep in. I am not sure how representative that is and whether that is only a specific group of mums. They also said they prefer muted pastel colors, so is that the trend now? I have made some quilts in greys and peaches just to see but they have not had much attention yet so maybe those are not quite right either.

Any advice? What would you want? Sorry, of course I know you are not a baby :), but maybe you are a new mum, or a mum to be or you have friends who have a baby. What would they want? Or maybe you know what works well with babies and toddlers? What would a toddler like? 

If you know how I could get some more information on market research and how to find out what buyers want I would also really appreciate it.

Lots of love,
Nadine

Ready to ship or custom baby quilts?

Hello all,
I have been wondering what my customers really want and what products I might make to appeal to the new mum/baby shower/new baby gift market.

All my quilts are ready made ship next day but I have noticed many customers say the baby is still on the way and they are not even bothered about quick shipping. So I am wondering whether custom baby quilts would appeal to more buyers.

I could offer modern baby quilts using mainly solids and I could let them choose form a number of different options.

So for instance they could choose Half Square Triangle quilts like this one (but smaller).

Or they could choose the stripes option like this one:

Or other shapes like crosses for instance.

And then they choose the color scheme and I would probably provide a number of options as I can't possible have all colors in.

What do you think? Do you think that would appeal more to buyers of baby quilts? Or do you think they prefer ready to ship quilts? I really need to do some market research but have no idea how. Any advice would be very welcome.

Lots of love,
Nadine