Carolyn Forster's Quilting-On-The-Go

I had a fun day teaching at Shirley Quilters, Croydon on Saturday.

We were working on string quilts and blocks, which fitted in nicely with the Utility Quilting in my new book. Both give quick results, and are quite relaxed and forgiving in their working methods!

This is the array of work done by the end of the day:

In the meantime, Angela had brought along her Japanese Stars and Lanterns quilt which she made from the tutorial I did for Justhands-on.tv. It is a lovely quilt!

And Shirley brought along her spools quilt which she started on a class with me before Christmas. Quick work on these addictive scrap blocks!

Don't forget to catch up with the Blog Tour on Monday, and see what folks say about the new book!

Leave a comment, and you could be in with a chance to win the goodies bundle!

Well if you are here for the tour, let's get down to business!

Each day a great blog author will be telling you why they think my new book is a good idea for you to have on your book shelf.

At the end of the tour if you have left a comment on my blog I will be doing a drawing  for this bundle of goodies:

Utility Quilting

Valdani Cotton Pearl no12

Bohin Betweens needles size 5

and

a bundle of Makower's latest fabric line.

I will send world wide, so everyone will get a chance!

Here is the list so you will know where to go each day:

21st February, Elizabeth at Broderie

22nd February, Lucy or Jen at Amitie Textiles or Amitie Girl

23rd February, Lori at Humble Quilts

24th February, Kathie at Inspired by Antique Quilts

27th February, Mary at Molly Flanders

28th February, Nicky at Mrs Sew and Sow

29th February, Jane at  Sew Create it

If you have left a comment with me  by the end , I will do the drawing on March 2nd!

It will be fun to travel around the world to visit with these inspiring quilters!

What will you be sewing while we travel?

I have been working on a Quilting-on-the-Go Spools quilt, but no pictures just yet! Sorry for the tease!

I do however have pictures of a quilt I have been hand piecing for a little while, 'Boxed in Diamonds' I think it is called:

It has been growing from the centre outwards, and I am so surprised at how big it has gotten in a short space of time!

Well, I definitely had my 15 minutes of fame (or nerves!) this week, when I got to chat with Mark Lipinski and Linda Lum Debono on the Creative Mojo radio show.

Listen in HERE to see how it went. I am in the first half of the show.

Mark and Linda were both so nice, and I even had a phone in caller comment on what we were talking about!

After I calmed down from that we had five minutes of sunshine in the garden the next day and I took some pictures of a little quilt I made last autumn as a combination of both my books and one of my patterns… very creative mojo!

I used the block from Japanese Stars and Lanterns, added frames (as per Quilting-on-the-Go) and then Big stitch and Tied the top (as per Utility Quilting).

Have a look and see what you think:

I used the Valdani pearl cotton no12 for the stitching and the no5 for the tying. Have a look here at the cute box of threads they do to go with the book! And the needles I use are the Bohin Betweens size 5.

Stop by the blog on Sunday as it is the start of the blog tour, and I will let you have the schedule! There will a give away at the end, too!

While I sit and wait for the sleet to stop before I walk Bosco, I thought I would share with you some quilts Jill had on show last year at 'The Patchwork Dog and Basket.

I love this grid quilting over the tiny baskets:

Grid quilting again, all over a quilt from the same era:

Diagonal lines cover this striking quilt:

The boldness of this is great:

Look at the way the fabric for the baskets has perished. I wonder what colour it really was? Something strong to not be lost against those flowers and stems. And interesting quilting with those double lines in the background:

Check out their website for an exciting new range of workshops too. They have a new space, upstairs opposite the shop and full of space and light! It was a great venue for the quilt show they had last year, and will make a lovely studio for classes!

On March 1st I am doing a class there, so if you want to come and have a go and find out how useful Utility Quilting can be for you, give them a ring and get booked on!

If you want to hear me talking about  utility quilting and the book this week, then tune in to Mark Lipinski's Creative Mojo on Wednesday at 3pm (US EST) or over here it will be 8pm UK time.

 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!