Carli The Quilter

I'm on a UFO busting assault on the blue bins. I have reached a point in my life where what's around me must reinforce my life in a positive way. Part of me feels that if I'd really wanted to finish them I would have done so long ago. I'm designing behind the scenes and writing stuff that makes me happy.  Some of these UFO's are just going to have to find their way without me. You know what I mean? I'm really serious quilters, my UFO's must go out into the universe.  I've left those memories aside along the path I'm on now.  My life is my own and I can share what I want to do, even if its a bit of a rant! I am not seeing a clear path, but a path has opened up for me and things that don't simply move me forward with new ideas just cannot stay any longer. Read about this lead up here  as I tried to convey how many beautiful half done or almost done projects. Oh my Lord, I need some Blogger Love quilters. This long

Hello my dear followers and friends, its such a hot day here in the Bulkley Valley that I just had to stop and do a little blogging!  The fan is on and I'm grooving on another UFO.  You see I was on the hunt for my Pretty Petals small wall quilt when I discovered another bin of more UFO's.  This is the "Super Tote" by Noodlehead, I purchased this a few years ago and completely forgot about it. I was almost finished this bag when it went away to deep bowels of another bin. But I'm glad I got it complete, even if it doesn't look as sleek as the pattern photo. I like a bag with internal compartments, I need somewhere to put stuff. I must admit I found the insertion of the zipper a bit of brain banger, read that section over at least a dozen times, then still made errors in understanding what the author meant. You can read more about how it came to be here. here. I do like it and will use for an upcoming wee trip. I

When my chenille denim pot holder pattern was published in the summer issue of the Canadian magazine Quilter's Connection it reminded me of the fine tailored look that goes on behind any magazine cover page and content.  Heather McArthur as a publisher is something special.  She is open to new ideas, lives no stone unturned in her search for accuracy. And I've spent a weekend with her and associates at a weekend retreat in 2010. She and her crew were so organized. We spent so much time laughing and enjoying great food, even for those of us with food challenges that it made me feel comfortable with sharing any of my patterns with a magazine. Heather is incredibly easy to work with, she articulates herself well and smiles all the time. She encouraged me to take the step to get my pattern "Snow Town Folk" published and I'd love to see anyone's version of this quirky ice fishing portraits. And I asked if she would give me an interview with the f

I'm really glad that this quilt along came along. This little wall quilt has been so much fun and was fairly easy to make.  I fell in love with Jen Kingwell's pattern "Midnight Over the Oasis" purchased the pattern and started my first quilt along.  I've finished my first Quilt Along! The Elven Garden was an awesome host for this quilt along. I chose fabrics from my stash, many of these were found on the online shelves of Mad About Patchwork. I really enjoyed the process of hand sewing the triangles together. I posted about my hand sewing of the triangles in the corner blocks . I could have machine sewed them, but really wanted to give my hand sewing fingers a good work over. If you are like me, and do a tonne of hand work, then keeping the fingers nimble is essential. You see the plaid  blue print in the center, this was a beloved plaid blue from an older shirt I found at the local transfer station Free Shed. But I didn't re

I'm not going to say  "where"  on the block you should start. But I choose to start in the middle almost 100%. Then I decide on another color for the 2nd piece. I place good side down on top of one side of the original center piece. Pin it down and sew, clip threads not too close. Then add another good side down, etc. But this one adds a little pizazz to the block. sew down until you are happy with the new potential shape is created. The fold over this new section so you can see that a "V" has been created. See where I've put a sticky "STOP" and then you take this yellow section, fold over and see where you are. The I decided to go to the other side of the new CQ piecing expedition and placed the blue piece in, sew it down, making sure to always cover ANY raw edges. After the blue is sewn down, pressed, onto the next flowery fabric, again cover all seams, sew it down and press. I am a total believer in sewin

T-shirt quilts are such a pleasure to make, really, they go together quite fast, once I finally had to time to get to work on these two.  Two brothers will be the recepient of these t-shirt quilts and I'm so grateful to my client who was in no hurry for them and for that I thank you! When you make a t-shirt quilt, you get to know that person just a tiny bit. Its such a proactive way to relive the memories of the t-shirts themselves. Some shirts have 3-D parts to them and you must find a way to incorporate these features as well. Sorry these are so crappy I was under pressure to get this photo  before it rained again. The backs are not the same and offer different affects to each. I was really proud that this past post on the giveaway was so popular and its reminds me that I really do have followers. And while I'm on that point, I didn't realize this earlier but my settings were  wonky and if you didn't have a Google + accou

My giveaway winner is Michelle and she wrote this: That is awesome That yoU were published twice!! You must be on cloud nine!! Yes, Michelle, I'm on cloud nine! This experiment was a lot of fun seeing how to use Rafflecopter. Plus, I've got more patterns to share in the coming months, but shush, its a secret! Thank you so much to all who entered my giveaway! This was so much fun and interesting to see the exposure!! I'll be contacting Michelle via email for her snail mail address. And before I leave you all, I just wanted to say its my birthday today.  My hubby and I are taking a day trip to Froncoise Lake to sight see only and have a little down time. Happy Quilting everyone! I've got a little stitching along with me too! Carli

I follow an organization called the Canadian Women. I started doing this a few years ago because I have learned alot. I've read dozens of great posts and their site has loads of resources for anyone searching for help or those searching to help. But the topic I'm writing about today is about sex trafficking in Canada. Its a very serious threat to us all, but paticularily young women are the most vulunerable. So please educate your daughters or neices about this topic. And the worse of it is that trafficker's in Canada can earn $280,000 per women they abduct.  How can we help as individuals? Join a local Prevention of Violence Against Women community Organization. Help promote the work of Canadian Women Foundation by joining. Help your local organization by asking what kinds of things do shelters need in terms of what you can give or do. Start a non-profit national organization that would facilitate the distribution of hand made quilts made in Canada.

In Canada, we are thankful to one of the daring and innovative quilter/publisher gals in the country. Heather McArthur who started up this full size glossy paged magazine. I've had my Denim Potholder pattern published! (Top left of cover shot) Its so cool to actually see your work in a magazine. This is actually the second pattern to be published. The first was my "Snow Town Folk" pattern of quirky snowmen ice fishing in Canada. I just love denim pot holders and will follow this story with another great idea for denim that I've not seen out there but its coming soon. Denim potholders are just the beginning! Here's the giveaway! Quilter's Connection magazine has donated one summer edition of Quilter's Connection magazine to this giveaway. And Good Earth Quilting is donating 4 fat quarters in Organic 100% cotton from the "The Lorax" collection.  These are really fun to make into children's quilts.

I n an effort to get some projects done, I've decided on these for June, wish me luck! These little cuties were intended for project and didn't quite get done yet. I have several crazy quilted projects on the go. This was the project I participated in with Paper Pieced Bowls and my salmon. This at least has a name, Pretty Petals but yet unfinished. This is winter crazy block that does need to be done. This is a recycled wool wall project. This is my version of Midnight Over the Oasis of Jen Kingwell's pattern. I'm off to give this bunch a good go at completing these for June. Happy Quilting everyone! Carli