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#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
#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 , 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
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
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