Carolyn Forster's Quilting-On-The-Go

Although a lot of my time is spent looking back at old quilts, every now and then I have to look forwards. This is when I am taking bookings for future teaching and talks.

I usually do this when I have purchased the appropriate diary, but this year I was sent one. And it is one with one of my quilts in! How exciting!

And I won't have to wait too long to view my quilt as I am in January!

The diary is from David and Charles, so look out for it as these things make great gifts!

And amongst all the sewing and school holiday chaos, I have subscribed to another BOM. I cannot believe it myself!

Those of you who were privy to such admissions know that I was receiving the Sue Ross BOM from Material Obession, and I loved the blocks and their fabric choice. At around the same time Amitie Textiles had a lovely one going too, but I figured I was only capable of getting behind on one BOM at a time!

But this time I have enroled on the Amitie one. Here is a picture I borrowed from Red Pepper Quilts:

So now I will be storing these blocks, as I did the last ones in a special box, because as I said I recieved the BOM, but haven't actually sewn them !!!!

Whoops!

But I'm not alone, am I?

I spent some of my weekend picking the cherries from the tree Tracey and I had 'rented'. The weather was good, and we picked soooo many cherries!

Now I am spending my time stoning and freezing bags of them and today I will have a go at some jam.

We made cherry pie in the evening which was lovely and I have a few other recipes lined up, but my pile of cherries does not seem to be getting any smaller!

On the drive back from the orchard we stopped off at a garden nursery that was new to me, and was absolutely lovely. It is called The Walled Nursery and is in Hawkhurst. If you are close by you must go to visit. The plants and old glass houses are all in an old walled garden. It is just charming to wander through. Needless to say I came away armed with some plants, and some pictures in my camera!

I am often asked about the number of quilts that I sew, and the answer is really that I love the process.

Yes I love the finished quilts, but really I like the whole planning, fabric selection and the stitching part of the quilt! And the other day I came across a button over here. Which is for people like me to proudly admit that we like the process!

And although I am busy stitching here I don't seem to have been very handy with the camera!

So here are some very good shots (not taken by me, but by Colin!) of my Kaliedoscope Hexagon quilt that will be my new pattern in the Autumn.

Enjoy! Whether it's the stitching or the looking!

Some days I find it harder to knuckle down than others . So today I broke myself in gently with a bit of Amazon.com browsing!

And look what I found!

These are coming next year, and I am so excited as I just love the work of both of these quilters! And now I have an incentive to get working, when these do come out I will need lots of free time to read them!

Here is a book from Yoshiko Jinzenji:

Here is a new book from Joe Cunningham:

I have written this post 3 times now and it keeps disappearing! Lets hope this one works!!!!

Sometimes I really wonder who benefits from my classes the most, me or the students!

Many a time I will leave the class at the end of the day with my mind buzzing with ideas inspired by the work that the students have created! A point in case was last Saturday when I taught Kaliedoscope Hexagons at 'Just Between Friends' . And I saw this lovely post by Angeliki, one of the students. She was inspired too!

My beginners class had their last lesson this week and it was great to some of the quilts that they had sewn inspired by the ones I made. They are always all so different.

This was Nics:

And this was Catherines:

And if you would like to see lots of quilts this weekend , go along to the show  at Sandown Park Race course in Esher, Surrey.   You will also see the quilt from the front of the current Fabrications magazine, which I made, inspired by the quilts from the Perkiomen Valley area PA, USA.

It doesn't really matter if you are inspired by the quilts of the past , or those of the present, just so long as you sew quilts!     

And if you are able to spare some minutes to help in the feild of discovering why we quilt and what is inspiring us, read on, and click to fill in the survey.

Dear colleague,
As a quilting and/or patchwork enthusiast, you are an integral part of the textile community. As the national body representing quilting and patchwork in The British Isles, it is important that The Quilters’ Guild of the British Isles understands your expectations and needs to ensure we are providing the best possible service to that community. To help develop this understanding we would appreciate it if you could take a few moments to complete a short online survey.The answers you provide will be totally anonymous. Should you choose to disclose your identity this will not be associated with any of your responses. The answers provided will only be used for the purposes of this research and will not be divulged to any other bodies. You will not be under any obligation to join the Quilters’ Guild of The British Isles, however if you would like to find out more please visit the website: www.quiltersguild.org.uk
The responses from this survey will inform a body of research which will be used by The Quilters' Guild of The British Isles in their future work. Jacqui Corcoran, a postgraduate student at Sheffield Hallam University, will undertake the research, which will form the basis for the dissertation element of her MA Cultural Policy and Management

The survey will be available until Wednesday 30 June 2010 and can be completed here: http://www.kwiksurveys.com?s=KNHDHO_c46e71e6

Thank you for your time

Kind regards

Jacqui Corcoran
     

This Tin Man quilt that I have made ( a while ago, you can tell from the embedded creases in it!) is a favourite of mine, that is waiting to be quilted. I have had it out recently and now I look at it I am inspired to sew another one, but in blues. Maybe I should wait until I've quilted this one first though!

In the meantime if you are looking for some background reading for the up and coming quilt retreat in France that I am teaching on in September, have a look here at a great article by Barabara Brackman on these quilts.I can never read enough about quilts that I want to sew!

Things have been busy this week, what with the school holidays! Whilst trying to do some work I have taxied my Son to a sailing course, taken the dog to puppy classes and hosted a sleep-over with cooked breakfast in the morning!

School is back again on Monday, so one day to sort stuff out, and then I am off to Dublin with my Husband until Friday. It will be a very short week next week.

During the sunny weather I took some shots of my quilts that do not often come out the cupboards.

This is a favourite one from the 1930's. I brought it in Vermont about 14yrs ago.

I love the simpicity of the 9-patch and especially the horizontal lines of quilting.

Well, this time last week I was in Minneapolis MN, and it was great! I can't believe I have been back almost a week, as although there is a lot to do before you go, then loads to do when you are there……. There is so much to do when you get back!

Lots of folks take loads of pictures at Market, and I took some, but not as many of people and parties as others did. Just Google and look under blogs to get the idea!

I did take pictures of the carpet in my hotel hallway:

So obviously quilts just waiting to happen!

I got some fabrics at Sample Spree (goes without saying really!):

My buying trends were in a taupe and brown phase! These are a selection from Clothworks and Red Rooster studios.

Although I have some of Dalene Zimmerman's 'Dear Betty', Lecien's 'Isso Ecco and Heart' and some great Flannels from Windham and Maywood Studios to add to the mix!

Let's hope I can find room for it in the stash!

I read this in a email to me today and thought ‘Couldn’t that be the name of some sort of dessert?’

Unfortunately it isn’t.  It is just a phrase to let each other know that things still need doing for Quilt Market next week, and time is running out!

I sent a quilt off this week for Makower made from thei new Katie Hana range. This will be in their booth, and I made some little pincushions which will look good on the desks of the booth with the quilt hanging in the background. If you are coming to the show, or have local shop owners attending, tell them to look out for it!.

And as neat and tidy as this picture may look, the other end of the table looks like this:

Yes, I still have a bit to do for my School House and demos on the Landauer booth! And I have lots of lists to keep me on track as things pop into my mind. But I know from experience that it all works out in the end!