#igquiltfest2024 , favourite colour. I’m going with blue. Although lots of my quilts are multicoloured, I do love a good blue quilt 🧵. This is the Envelope Quilt from my book Layercake Quilts and Gifts, but a multicoloured version is in my QAYG book. It could also be yesterday’s prompt, quilt of significance. When I show this quilt at talks, it probably gets the most comments and enquiries as the technique for making it is so different from most🤓. #patchwork #patchworkquilt #quiltinprogress #qayg #quiltasyougo #quiltingonthego #blue #carolynforster #carolynforsterquilts #handquilting #bigstitchquilting
#igquiltfest : favourite book. As much as I am huge fan of books about old quilts and books of blocks, I’m going to have to blow my own trumpet on this one. String Quilts @searchpress @searchpress_na came out last month and is my current favourite 😊. I love all my books and the information we pack in them. They are extensions of the classes I teach and I pack as many hints and tips in each one as we can, alongside quilts and projects to inspire 🤓. And I’m forever grateful to those of you who brought my books since my first self published one many moons ago🙏. And I’m always thrilled to see what you create using them! #quiltbook #stringquilts #stringquilt #stringquiltblock #quiltasyougo #quiltingonthego #igquiltfest2024 #booksdontwritethemselves #bookauthor #patchworkbook #booksinstagram #booksinspire #carolynforster #carolynforsterquilts #searchpress
#igquiltfest , best tip ever. Use the good fabric. I buy fabrics and occasionally they are too nice, and just get folded away, too nice to cut up. Eventually with this Liberty cotton, the right quilt came along, but I could have enjoyed this sooner in many other quilts that it was auditioned for over the years, and I mean decades 🤣. ( The Liberty cotton is the paisley and the other print from a @nathalie_lete collection). Is it better filed and put away, or enjoyed in a purposeful quilt? 🧵 ( quilt design based on a Annie Albers sketch). #patchwork #quiltinprogress #quiltersofinstgram #usethegoodfabric #vintagelibertyfabric #carolynforster #carolynforsterquilts #igquiltfest2024
This month’s new edition of @todaysquilter has one of my latest finishes so fits in nicely with #igquiltfest2024 😆. This quilt that lots of you commented on when I was stitching it has its pattern in issue 112, out now! And the bonus this month is a reissue of my booklet , 36Blocks! Again I have folks often asking me for this, so it’s great chance to get hold of a copy! I’ve seen so many lovely quilts sewn from this booklet 😍. Run don’t walk to get your copy 🧵😆 #todaysquiltermagazine #todaysquilter #patchwork #patchworkquilt #quiltersofinstagram #scrapquilt #scrapquilts
#igquiltfest, WIP storage . My best bet for this is to keep them out and in view. The pile does mount up though, and sometimes the spurts of enthusiasm dwindle 😂. Three currents in this pile include a complete top that may or may not need a border, but does need pressing 🤦🏽♀️, blocks that I whipped up really quickly, and now need sashing, and my on going hand pieced top from the @libertyquilting Garden Party fabrics, that need a press and a few more blocks stitched. It’s sort of a system and I’m sticking to it 😂😂🧵. #patchwork #workinprogress #quiltinprogress #quiltsinprogress #patchwork #carolynforster #carolynforsterquilts #quiltersofinstgram #igquiltfest2024 @amyscreativeside
I’ve popped a how to on my Stories today on how to make this pincushion 🧵🤓. Lots of people commented when I showed it a while back, and it’s a fun stitch, so here we are! If you flick through here there’s an over view, and I’m hopping it’s all saved in my highlights, but it might be as two folders 🤦🏽♀️😂. Details to share, I’ve used @ashmeaddesigns Hexie forms as my papers, @libertyquilting Garden Party are my fabrics and @clovermfg mini clips are sooo useful in putting this together! And my button is from @theoldhaberdashery , but anything I’ve missed that you want to know, just ask! #pincushion #pinnies #libertyquiltingcotton #handstitching #handstitched #carolynforster #carolynforsterquilts #libertycraftclub #quickstitch
#igquiltfest , quilt backs . I’ve always used the quilt back as a place for even more expression in fabric, or just using up odd bits. Some of my quilts get Tana Lawn as I love the feel of it, and others create new quilts in themselves. Lots of my backs are pieced and I wrote a column on that a few years ago for Todays Quilter Magazine, who knew there was so much I could talk about 😂. The first quilt here is a mid century one from my collection and amazing as it is on the back, the front is even more quirky! The others if you swipe are typical of my quilts, even including a checkered QAYG one 🤓. #patchwork #quiltbacks #patchworkquilts #scrapquilts #wastenotwantnot #carolynforster #carolynforsterquilts
#igquiltfest2024 , upcycling. I think the most obvious thing I use in this sense is vintage embroidered table linens. Although like lots of you scraps feature heavily, along with old shirts, I do love a bit of old embroidered linen in a quilt. It takes a long time for the right quilt and embroidery to click and for me to commit to cutting into it. Lots of my finds are from charity shops and bulk buys from the internet auction sites, so they are all discarded. One or two do sneak back on to the table as their intended use, but they get more use in my house as quilts 😊🧵. #reusereducerecycle #sustainability #sustainablesewing #vintageembroidery #vintagetablecloth #vintagetablelinens #patchwork #patchworkquilts #carolynforster #carolynforsterquilts #igquiltfest
#igquiltfest2024 hosted by @amyscreativeside , fabric storage. To be honest, it’s really haphazard. Mostly it’s by colour, then it’s by genre (1930s has its own tub). Then there’s special fabrics, then the ones that are new and haven’t been allocated yet. Then there’s the stack near the cutting table which just seem really useful 🤦🏽♀️. You can broadly call this storage, but often it’s just heaps, like this one sneaking out from under this quilt being photographed as a reference shot … let’s see what tomorrow brings 😆 #fabricstash #fabricstorage #quiltsinprogress #carolynforster #carolynforsterquilts
#igquiltfest2024 , scrappy finish. There’s probably nothing more scrappy than a proper sting quilt🤓. Ironically from all the quilts I made that appear in my book String Quilts, @searchpress @searchpress_na , I photograph very few actually finished 🤦🏽♀️. So here is one of my favourites as a bit of a WIP, so you’ll have to look in the book to see them complete 😆🧵. #patchwork #scrapquilt #scrapquilts #stringquilt #stringquilts #patchworkquilt #wastenotwantnot #reusereducerecycle #sustainablesewing #searchpress #searchpressbooks #carolynforster #carolynforsterquilts
#igquiltfest2024 , live and learn. Make your quilts your own. You might love a pattern and the fabrics in that quilt, but if you want to stitch one, make it yours with your choices of fabrics and quilting. Use it as a starting point, a spring board if you will. Even if it’s based on a fabric collection, add something from your stash, a little spice to give it your signature 🧵🤓. After listening to folks talk about my quilts on display with @grosvenorshows this spring, I know you all have opinions 😆, so make sure you put them in your quilts! I’ll be at the Duxford show on Saturday and I’ll be happy to talk about my quilts, and I’ll be book signing with @ladysewandsewhenley , so lots of chances to chat with me ! #igquiltfest #patchwork #patchworkquilts #makeyourquiltsyourown #quiltersofinstagram #quiltshow #duxford #grosvenorshows #carolynforster #carolynforsterquilts
Today on #igquiltfest2024 it’s about Charity quilts. Quilts are meant for giving , and over the years I’ve donated quilts to various groups including women’s shelters and @siblingstogetherquiltgroup . I still donate to Siblings( more info over on their Facebook page, or just google!), and any quilts that I’m moving on will continue to go to them. I’ve also shared ideas with groups who find making the blocks to donate the simple part, but putting them into a quilted quilt, the slower part. Needless to say, this is where any of the many QAYG techniques will quicken that quilt to its recipient 🥳. The pictures today are from a group quilt that I put together for said donating 🧵🤓 , that was then a pattern for @todaysquilter so you could all make your own ! Quilts, it’s all about the sharing 😊. #igquiltfest #quilts #quilting #patchwork #patchworkquilt #scrapquilts #quiltsaremadeforgiving #shareaquilt #donationquilt #carolynforster #carolynforsterquilts #siblingstogetherbee
Excited that my book Hand Stitched Quilts from @searchpress received a Highly Commended in the Creative Book Awards 2024 🙌🧵. #quiltbook #searchpress #handstitching #handsewing #handstitchedquilt #handstitchedquilts #patchwork #carolynforster #carolynforsterquilts
Playing catch up with #igquiltfest2024 hosted by @amyscreativeside , ergonomics of quilting and today, why do you quilt? On the ergo side, wear thimbles 🤓. It doesn’t matter what sort, or how long it takes you to get used to them, they will be your friends in the end. These are my staples, and I can’t count how many of these I have in my various different sewing sets. The dimpled thimble is for middle finger on my right hand for pushing the needle, and the @clovermfg ridge topped thimble is for the hand underneath my work, on my index finger. This is the thimble I make my stitches against when I piece or quilt 🧵. And why I quilt? I’m going with the flippant today. I buy fabric, l love buying fabrics, and patchwork allows me to use them. As I expect many of you have read, buying fabric and patchwork quilt making are two completely different hobbies 🤣🤣, and this is me vainly trying to combine the two 😂. #quiltersofinstagram #sewingnotions #thimbles #patchwork #mindfulstitching #carolynforster #carolynforsterquilts #igquiltfest
#igquiltfest2024 , sewing machine. Like many of you I do have more than one machine. If you see me at classes, it will be a different one to this. But this is the one that I am lucky enough to keep out all the time in the room where I sew. I’m a big believer in that if I put this away, I would sew so much less. It’s a Juki HZL-F600 for those you who like the details 🤓. I chose it to replace a Bernina that I loved, but burnt out 🤦🏽♀️, and I then ended up buying an old Bernina minimatic which I love too . My Juki however does so much more than all the other machines and I brought it with that in mind. I’m also lucky to live in a town with @world.of.sewing who keep me on the straight and narrow with the maintenance ☺️. I’m currently chipping away on the machine at the #tinyninepatchchallenge , and you can see some of that if you swipe! #igquiltfest #sewingmachine #jukisewingmachine #jukisewing #patchwork #quiltinprogress #quiltersofinstgram #scrapquilt #carolynforsterquilts #carolynforster
#igquiltfest, my first quilt. The one patch EPP of 1in squares has popped up here before, so today I’m going with my first curved pieced quilt! And I was teaching with it today, so it was out 😂. I chose the Snowball block and used lots of scraps. It was machine and hand pieced, then I hand quilted it. This is still one of my favourites, especially for the ric rac cable quilting in the border 🧵😊, and that there are so many great designs based on this block 😍. #patchwork #patchworkquilt #curvedpiecing #scrapquilt #handquilting #handquilted #carolynforster #carolynforsterquilts #igquiltfest2024
Morning ! Today is the start of the #igquiltfest hosted by @amyscreativeside 😃 #introductions. It’s a fun way to share who we are and what we do on here. I’ve participated before, so I’ll be trying to give the prompts a little twist this year, as lots is happening and it’s good to keep things up to date! I’m Carolyn and I am a compulsive quilt maker. This has led to me writing books (@searchpress @landauer_publishing ), magazine articles and projects (@todaysquilter ), teaching, and getting to travel all over the world (@stitchtopiauk ) to some wonderful places in the name of patchwork and textiles! I live in Tunbridge Wells, in the SE of the UK, where I am lucky enough to have LQS, @pincushion_pantiles ! It was Jenny, the owner who took this sweet picture of me recently on her booth with the lovely @notjuzahuswife quilts behind me 😍, at one of the quilt shows where I have a travelling exhibition this spring ☺️. Looking forward to sharing more with you over the month of March 🧵. #quiltmaker #quiltteacher #quiltersofinstgram #carolynforster #carolynforsterquilts #igquiltfest2024
So , 29th February 😊, an extra sewing day that we get once every four years 🧵. But if it’s your Birthday, then you enjoy your day, as it doesn’t come round often enough 😆🎂. #patchwork #handstitched #handstitching #extrasewingday #sewwhatyoulove #lovestitching #libertyquiltingcotton #redworkembroidery #carolynforster #carolynforsterquilts
I do hope you will be joining me on Wednesday at 8am on @sewingstreet when I’ll be talking to you about my love of String Quilts 🤓. They really are the quilt for everyone! Some of my inspiration is here if you swipe, so if you’ve pre ordered a copy (🙏), you’ll be first in line to start stitching, and if you’re still pondering, join me for some quilty talk and all the quilts that I can manage to show you! Fun whichever way you look at it 🧵. #stringquilt #stringquilts #patchwork #patchworkquilts #scrapquilt #scrapquilts #wastenotwantnot #sewyourstash #buildyourfabricstash #sustainablesewing #searchpress #carolynforsterquilts #carolynforster
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