Carolyn Forster's Quilting-On-The-Go

This week I took the plunge and put some pictures on my Flickr site. 

It has taken me a while to be brave enough to do this, but in the end it is really simple!

So far I have just put up some work from BOM 's that lots of you have seen already, but it is a start.

I hope to put work up from classes and perhaps start a group with pics of students quilts. I often get sent shots, and think it would be nice to have them on view. Also I think Nicky wants another group to join!!

Thanks to Nicky for encouraging me!

Up to date with my Grandmother's choice:

I have also been on Facebook now for month or so. Again, feeling my way around this one, but quite fun!

Have you tried something new this week?

We spent some time in London over the last week. One of the things I wanted to fit in was a visit to the Fashion and Textile Museum.

It is a short walk from London Bridge Station. If you visit on Friday or saturday you have the added bonus of Borough Market being open and you can feast on the food and coffee there first! You can feast with your eyes too as I always think these markets look so great!

There are some interesting buildings and features to see in this old part of London:

The Museum is unmissable!

The exhibition was lovely, showing off the scope of Kaffe's talent in the field of art and textiles:

These are the some of the art work for the fabrics:

A wall of fabrics and knits to touch and feel:

Needless to say I then went and brought some fabrics in Liberty! The Cloth Store along the road was closed, and that was probably just as well !

Back home now, with more inspiration than time at the moment!

Well, I am back from Duxford. The quilts were lovely, and the exhibition space amazing amongst the aircraft!

Here's a shot of my 'home' for the three days. It was great to chat to people and sit and stitch.

There were loads of great shops there selling the fabrics and so forth. My special treat was buying from Fabrics Galore. I brought a whole bunch of Liberty prints as they sell that at a pretty good price. The two small pieces on top right are from  Sunflower fabrics . She sells beautifully co ordinated bundles to drool over.

And the other great thing that I discovered is that Fabrics Galore are now selling on line! So we don't need to wait for a show or trog up to London. You can buy the fabrics on line! Yeah!

It is still worth seeing them when you can in the shop though, as they have so much in there it is hard to get it all on line. And I also hear they will be selling 'Hello Kitty' fabric soon. You might want to get in touch to see when that comes in!

Having a Snow day here, hope you are cosy where you are. 

Firstly let me get this off my chest:

Phew! I am up to date on my Grandmothers Choice! 

Here are the two stragglers:

Now my other big news, well probably bigger news really:

Here's a magazine to look out for:

It's the Australian magazine, Homespun, no 117, Vol 14, no. 2.

I have mentioned that one of my quilts was going to be in it, and ta da da, here it is:

The quilt is still in Australia, and should end up with Lucy of Amitie Textiles for a while. If you want the templates to cut the pieces with a rotary cutter then contact Amitie. I will have some sets too, but I have to wait a while for them to come!

Isn't the quilting world a small world!

Look out for this quilt (finished) in the Australian magazine Homespun in the New Year!

Buy the templates to help make it from Amitie. Just email them !

Lots going on here house and Christmas wise.

Also due to a new (and better?) computer upgrade, I can't easily get the photos off my camera. Hopefully it will get sorted out!

As they say, I'm 'Keeping Calm and Carrying On!'

I have been keeping up with my Friend Victoria's efforts to help those badly effected by Sandy in New York.

Take a look  on her blog to see what is happening!

I sent off a quilt:

If you don't have spare quilt to send, some groups are collecting blocks. Have search through your things and see if there is something you could donate!

We all have too much stuff, so the odd block won't be missed!

My other task today was to sew the Grandmothers Choice block from Barabara Brackman. This is how I have gotten on so far:

There would have been this weeks offering, but I think I printed the templates wrong, so it won't go together

I will have to look into that when I get more time!

I was at Quilt Market last weekend to promote my books and especially Utility Quilting. This really seems to be hitting a chord with people, so if you think you want quick simple ways to had quilt, stitches and designs, then check it out! Have a look over at Karin's blog to see a picture of me in action!

One of the best bits of news from Quilt Market this spring was that Liberty cotton will be out in August! Yeah!

Just look at all of the clours. We are hoping for Charm packs, so let them know if you think that would work!

I had another chance to meet Marcia Derse and see her great fabrics:

Check out her website as you can buy directly from her, so no wondering how to get hold of the great fabrics!

And Lotta Jans Dotter had a new line, Bella! Had to have that. And so I thought you might like some too.

I  will do a give away for the bag and the 5 fat quaters  below:

I think this has a nice summery feel, so tell me your thoughts on sewing in the garden! I will do a drawing next Friday.

Enjoy the sun!

I must admit I am not big on gadgets, always adhering to the belief that all you need to stitch a quilt is needle and thread and a pair of scissors.

However, over the years I have still managed to acquire a (large) number of rulers and sewing machines (yes I know! I have more than one back up, and more than one Featherweight to take when I travel!) as well as having templates especially cut to go with some of my patterns and classes!

So when I was asked by Sizzix  if I would like to have a go of their machine, the BIg Shot that cuts shapes for patchwork I was a bit sceptical. Surely I had everything that was going to make life easier in the world of patchwork.

Well I was wrong.

This was delivered,

and duly unpacked. I had asked for the Apple Core template as I figured it was a hard shape to cut accurately and then sew together smoothly.

I layered the fabric in the template 'sandwich', inserted and wound the handle! And out came fabric cut perfectly. I was amazed! From chatting with other people over the years I had been led to believe that this winding the fabric through was a bit of a struggle with other makes of cutters. But not with a Sizzix!

So out pops the sandwich, open it up and take out your pieces. I started off cutting a single layer of fabric, but soon decided to move up to six! Still smooth and easy! 

I then sewed some patches together to see how accurate the piecing was, and you guessed it, it was great!

And in fact it was all going so well I just kept cutting. It wasn't until I actually sat down and thought about all the patches that I had cut from fabrics in my 1930's stash, that I realised I wanted to sew a project in different fabrics!

So due to my over zealous cutting, due to the user friendliness of the Sizzix, I am offering all the pieces I cut for an Apple Core top (well enough to get you started!) to anyone who comments on this post by next Monday. I will select a comment at random, but you must have commented on a patchwork gadget experience, (good or bad!)

I am happy to say that my comment regarding the Sizzix is that it is great! If you are looking for a gadget to make cutting easier, with no measuring and sharp blades, then go and look at a Sizzix Big Shot!

So, 'Happy Bank Holiday Monday', hope you have some stitching to keep you inspired!

 I was spurred on to finish this which has been on my floor all week.

It sort of makes me think about how the bits of colour are highlighted when the snow comes.

Rather than everything being white, you notice the colours you can see more.

After last weeks excitement of being talked about on a podcast, some of you might like to know that I will be talking in person next week on Mark Lipinski's radio show, 'Creative Mojo' !!!! Check it out over here.

I am going to be talking about the new Utility Quilting book. 

Mark always has so much energy, I feel sure I will feel it from across the Pond! I need to focus on the time difference though, to make sure I am not in my PJ's when the big moment comes!

(And Nicky , that is all I have to say!)

At the end of February there will be more great stuff to hear about the book, but not from me. Yes, I am sorting a small Blog Tour, so you can hear what some other people have to say about the book!

Hang in  there!

In the meantime go over to Barbara's blog to see how she is getting on with stitching the Court House Step quilt from the book! Great Job Barbara!

Thanks to Victoria over at Bumblebeans for telling me about the podcasts from Canton Village Quiltworks. She is always so on the ball!

She told me of this one, as they were talking and mentioned my book! It is great to hear it being spoken about by such authoritative people.

I have talked about Generation Q before, and if you want to see their great on line blog/magazine, pop over here.

They update daily so you won't be bored!

And as you can't have post with out a picture, here is my Big Baskets quilt out in the garden!