Carolyn Forster's Quilting-On-The-Go

Amongst all the pictures I took of doors, knockers and door handles that I took in Nantes, there are pictures of drains, drain pipes and stair rails. All things that I find endlessly fascinating when I am in France. 

I also love the chance to see some old textiles, and this shop opposite the castle was not a let down!

I treated myself to a couple of paper patterns from around 1906, and a reel of thread. But these are the things I left behind:

So today with the rain coming down, there is plenty of time to stay in and have a good stitch!

One of the highlights of the Nantes show was that Kathy Doughty from Material Obsession in Australia was visiting.

She has a new book out with Quiltmainia.

Kathy's quilts just always contain such a wonderful selection of fabrics:

Talking to one of the many visitors to her Maison at the show:

And here in her class on Friday showing us how and where to place the templates for different effects the fabric would give:

These are a few of the completed blocks from the afternoon:

Left to Right- David, sorry don't know your name, me, lady from Hagen Waagenmakers, Holland.

We could choose from pre selected fabric packs, and as ever it was interesting to see how people put the fabrics together. David had the same pack as me. His block was great, it made me think of a New York skyline in his fabric selection!

And this was Kathy's quilt from a great Denyse Schmidt line:

And needless to say, the book is just great, get yours ordered now!

I am back from France, and ready to try to share with you what a great time I had!

I flew out on the Wednesday morning and bumped into Sue and Sue on the bus going into Nantes. I was so surprised to meet two English ladies, and then to realise that I read Sue's Blog! You can see what she has to say HERE.

The show has three main parts, the shops, the Rooms with the selected quilters in and then some quilts from a challenge in a gallery area.

Today I will show some of the shops to give you a feel of the place, and what to spend your Euros on.

There were lots of stands with knitting and crochet as well as patch work fabrics. This is something that the French seem to combine very well.

There was a lot of lovely linen fabrics by a company called Stof.

And there was this stall which had vintage motifs printed onto linen:

There lovely things from the English magazine Selvedge:

And there was a stall which had beautiful old linen and monogramed linen:

It is interesting to see what is popular in France compared to here. At this show there were vintage linens, and bright Kaffee Fassett fabrics and yarns to knit and crochet with, but not a Jelly Roll in sight!

The show is very stylish as many of the stalls have strong identity. They had tempting bundles and I loved the fact that 'Fat Quaters' were called 'Coupons'!

I''ll tell you more next time, but look at these blogs for some other views of the show:

Quilts in the Barn

Material Obsession

Davidscottage

Well, we are all back in one piece from our skiing trip to France.

I had time to relax and read and sew whilst the Men skiied. I took a few pictures of some carvings that might inspire some quilty designs:

And I went armed with some projects, and made good head way!

I put some surrounds on my Circle Game blocks:

So that's six down and only ten more to go! I think these will be worked on when I am away in the Summer. As much as I would like to surge on as the end is in sight, I have some other things that are taking my time at present. 

I was asked to do a book for an English publisher last year, and it is now at the proof reading stage. There have been glimpses of the projects in one or two posts, but more will be revealed when all is 'done and dusted'! 

And although I am only just back from France, I am off again next week to Nantes (hence the 'quick turn around') to the quilt show run by Quiltmania magazine! I am so excited about this. I have wanted to find the time to go for a few years now.

The other excitement will be that one of the teachers this year is Kathy Doughty from Material Obsession in Australia. Look on the above link and you can see the classes that are offered, and if you click on the books on the side bar, you actually get to see the quilts in the book!

So I have my supplies list for my class with Kathy to pack, and maps to print off so that I can visit La Drogourie the wonderful french knitting and craft shop!

Hopefully lots of pictures when I get back!

In the meantime go over to HERE to see a quilt I so wish I could have designed and made! Do you think Alicia would produce the pattern if we asked nicely?