Carolyn Forster Talk - by Viv

Our April meeting was an open meeting, Quilt As You Go, a talk by Carolyn Forster. It was very well attended and we all sat there as notices were given admiring the huge amounts quilts that were behind the speaker.

Notices were given by Deirdre.

Cats and boat blocks to be in by next month.

Please submit any questions for the AGM on line so the committee can prepare them for the AGM next month.

Our birthdays this month are Sarah, Rosie and Eileen. Happy birthday.

The Ronald McDonald quilt blocks were available to be collected from Huda and the finished blocks to be turned at the May meeting please

Then what we had been patiently waiting for, Quilt as you go talk. Carolyn gave a resume of her quilting life. Carolyn is a renowned quilter and has published articles in Today’s Quilter magazine, American Quilts magazine, runs teaching sessions and takes part in Stitchcopia holidays. The holiday brochures were available. She has also written 16 books on quilting. Carolyn then went on to explain that there are at least a dozen different methods to quilt Quilt-as-you-go and that you only need a space the size of a cushion cover to quilt as you go. Carolyn was quite a character and full of energy and enthusiasm. She has a great interest in American quilts and showed us some old American quilts made in the late 1800s and early 1900s. She explained that these were called coverlets as there was no batting used in the quilt as this was not needed in the heat of the Southern States.

Carolyn then went on to show lots of quilts that she had made, All Quilt as you go, using different techniques including log cabin blocks, crayon box blocks, Irish chain blocks, sunburst pattern, Siddi/Kawanda quilts from western India, Japanese folded patchwork quilt, Korean pojagi quilt, rag type quilt, Orange peel quilt, Cathedral window quilt and Suffolk puff quilt plus many more. In total we saw over 35 quilts. Carolyn explained that the quilts she had brought with her were tip of the iceberg of her collection.

Everyone in the audience was spellbound and completely absorbed by her talk, It was amazing. Carolyn brought with her some copies of her Quilt as you go books which sold out and some other books which also sold. Her next book, Chicken Scratch Quilts, will be available in 2026.

Thank you to the committee for organising this brilliant evening.