Carli The Quilter

You know I live in the boonies and I love the simple life of raising our chickens, tending to and mucking out the layers three times a year, its about being close to my food! I'm a modern quilter and really excited about our upcoming September start back at quilting with other members of the BV Modern Quilt Guild in Smithers/Telkwa and my friend and one of our members is Kirsten, who's  fish biologist by day and damn great cook by night! This is her second quilt and one of her modern ideas, can hardly wait to see how this turns out.  I like basic food, without preservatives, raw is preferred except mea t and potatoes. A view of our garden.   My  hubby Rick, with a 27 lb spring salmon, caught moments before this photo in the Skeena River. But what about cooking in the boonies. Which when you live northern life, often the boonies where you live and cooking has to be superb and gourmet, even in the boonies. I recommend you check out the

Our local community of Smithers , B.C. is a busy, energetic place in the summer. Our local BV Farmer's Market opens on the Saturday before Mother's Day each year. Families, locals and tourists enjoy the Highway 16 location rain or shine! Once every two years, our local Smithers Art Gallery hosts a local quilt show. Locals this year will gather to drop off, help out and celebrate in the wonder of local talented quilters on June 30th with meeting and handing over families heirlooms and recent completes.  No one really cares what your level of quilting competency, just so long as you've made a quilt, we're good. We're a lively and laid back group of people who inhabit this region. Multicultural and first nations live side by side. We're miners, loggers, business people, artists and sport enthusiast alike.  We don't hold too many airs of our thriving community in the midst of changing environments, threats to  habitat, sluggish economy or glo

Hello everyone, so glad you dropped by to see what's  happening in my studio! Just a few little things are on the go and some really big things too!  I've called this new pattern "Wood Walk" and its the quilt that it will be the 2nd installment of online workshops starting in September.  This is just the starting photo and this new design that reminds me of the woodsey feel I get when I walk along our very rural road. You can hear the birds just singing away, the green lush leaves on the poplar, willow trees. The saskatoon shrubs are in full bloom, my freezer is waiting for their lovely berries for winter goodness.  Also, what's happening is my tutorial on Camper Curtains. I chose "Chain Links" from the Shades of Grey collection of Daisy Janie. I married the Daisy Janie fabric with an older outdoorsy print of Sue Marsh from Marcus Bros. Inc. Of course, I should have known that I had not recently cleaned my sewing machine and

I stand with my hands on my hips, the garden is in and organized, the sun shone all around me, as I listened to the sweet sound of songbirds.  1. I'm hand quilting a king size quilt, with a deadline of June 30 to add it into the local quilt show! As of today, I've still got three borders and two corners to go. I started in late December 2011. 2. As the leader of the pack of artists who have rallied around making a once in a lifetime quilt, the deadline for all the artists to have their block handed in to me is June 30th also!  I'm not showing the blocks yet, just the one I'm making and this is it. Its a bust of Sir Alfred Smithers who our  main town of Smithers is named after. He was in the employ of Grand Trunk Railway and assisted in the completion of the railroad which helped promote the growth and development of Smithers in the Northwest BC region. For more information, you can visit our local http://bvmuseum.com/  I'm not a 100% happy wit

I made a comment recently on Debra's blog . I highly recommend it, she is "most def" an addict to crazy quilting. Talent beyond the door for sure and a pleasure to read her posts on my favorite theme. I made a comment about how much I love to use black and very bold colors.   Most of my work in crazy quilting has been reaching back in time and finding those colors that make a quilt pop and I think black is one those colors that makes a quilt pop. Its like this crazy quilt below, its yet unnamed ? As of earlier in 2012, I didn't have a name, but its now its called "Tropical Sunset" Working on this crazy quilt blocks keeps my fingers well used for the hand embroidery involved with the Smithers 2013 Centennial Quilt. I don't like boredom in any way, shape or form. I like to have changing colors, textures and highlights that make my mind reel with more ideas! In fact, upon reflection of my photo collection, I can see my Mexac

How does one find the time to do everything in life? The "girls" don't seem have a problem with this. They are just as happy to dust in organic soil and carry on with their life! I'm thinking they are right! About 2 months ago, our neighbors took a 4 week vacation to Australia. I was asked if I could watch over their house and take care of their two cats, Hecate and Seven. I'm sorry I don't have a photo of these two cats because they are slightly photo shy and run everywhere. But I can share with you, my lovely Cloe, who was a stray and now resides with us! I have a special interest in Australia! I've always wanted to travel there, maybe even live there for a while, but alas, Australia has escaped me. I read several blogs that originate from the sandy shores or hot baked dry parts of Australia and thought this was perhaps the best time to say 'Hello from Canada" The first one is www.littleecofootprints.com where mo

 My quilt is done for the Pipeline Art Exhibit around the protest of Enbridge's Proposed Pipeline through pristine wilderness, farms and communities, rivers are our life blood!  My home  is located on the beautiful Bulkley Valley. The rich, alive and responsive Bulkley River runs alongside our river campsite, at our home. I'm so lucky to have such a peaceful, tranquil place to live. We are surrounded by wilderness, ranchers, miners and families. We have plenty of open space, wild areas minutes from downtown Smithers, BC. We have lots of industry, mining and forestry and tourism. We have a few unemployed folks, but most are employed and moving ahead with their lives in the beautiful Bulkley Valley. Unfortunately, The Bulkley River is one of those rivers that you might have heard about that is threatened  by potential spills from crude oil being transported from Alberta tar sands to the BC coastline by Enbridge for freighter trips across the Pacific Ocean. What