Carli The Quilter

"I've got it, Carli, put crazy quilted center piece into these bags!" my friend Nola is a recent crazy quilt addict and typical of most who discover the joy of crazy quilting. This is the bag she was referring to, that I placed an orphan Dresden plate block in the center area of the bag!   We become addicted!  As I started to get organized for this posting, I started checking all my little  parcels of UFO's that I am constantly working on throughout years sometimes. The photos are all the various bits and pieces of various crazy quilting blocks and projects that have been started, worked on and still yet incomplete!   I take heart that all will eventually be complete and this post will document my process and progress.  Some experimentation by incorporating recycled denim in this one, yet a full concept of my discovery. This is my progress on a green quilt for a family request.  What follows are the close up progre...

I'm had a bunch of things on my plate lately. I'm an active long time member of British Columbia Women's Institute, I reside in the Bulkley Tweedsmuir District and I'm VP of our rural Quick WI. Having said all this, what does it all have to do with my plate being full. 1. I am the lead and chair of the Smithers Centennial 2013 Quilt Project, which is 11 artists collaborating on a block of all different sizes which will form the center area of the Centennial Quilt. It takes planning to keep all the balls in the air for this one. Its the big mega project that I eluded to earlier in the year. I have one completed block turned in to me which I'll share just bit of it so you can get the gist of what we are doing. http://www.smithers2013.com/ 2. Annually, each of our BC Women's Institute districts hold a Spring Conference around this time of the year and this year ours is in the lovely little town of Hazelton, BC. Delegates and members from the Sout...

I'm so excited that our community has finally grown to want to an actual real quilt guild. Our community really is spread out so far that its actually takes in 7 communities Fort Fraser , Fraser Lake , Burns Lake , Houston , Telkwa , Smithers , Moricetown and Hazelton . Our fledgling start up guild is holding it second "Quit In" in Telkwa on March 31, centrally located, at the Telkwa Christian Reformed Church, across from the One Stop in Telkwa. We'll start at 9:30 and play with fabric until 4 pm. Its a brown  bag lunch, so we're not making extra potluck stuff that usually is too much for all of us and its takes more work.  Reuse is a  big deal with us. We all were really focused to figure out how to hold a mini workshop for 3 hours at the upcoming Farmer's market on June 16th? Fortunately, we have received funding to hold such an event like this and we're moving ahead. This pink quilt is one such example of a baby quilt made from sweaters,...

 In 1997 I began thinking about writing a book. By this time I'd had so many interesting experiences with quilting with recycled cotton harvested from shirts and dresses, I'd become quite good at it! This little pillow above is one and you can see the beginnings of a modern quilter with all that abstract negative space. But that darned addiction of mine to crazy quilting began sending me off in all directions! But still my need to express myself with different ideas about quilting took me back and forth for the most of the last decade! OMG I'm dating myself, but oh so what, anyone can find me on Google if they really have a burning desire to know more about me. My desire to express innovative ways to reuse kept me on track for becoming a modern quilter. I didn't even know what a blog was in 2003 when this Butterfly Ring took shape on a scrap of graph paper. I was deep into learning about blogs when in the summer of 2008, our little hamlet had two dev...

This fun bag was made with reuse in mind. I had a bunch of medium sized chunks of various fabrics from a quilt I'd made reusing clothing and this bag wanted to take the stage just as well! I made the hexagon flower for the center, the broken petals around the hexagon are vintage hand pieced parts of a Wedding Ring pieces. The yellow bottom is a small piece from a jacket, quite tough and sturdy. Its about realizing the value of recycled clothing in quilts.  This little quilt is almost entirely reused cotton from dresses and shirts. I donated this to a good cause for an auction. It sold! This quilt is an wool/fortrel table runner. Hand quilted. I called it Poppy Lane. This quilt has become my car quilt, for when its cold outside like today, I'll put it over my knees while the car gets warm as we travel into town. Its made from recycled blue jeans and corduroy, the biege is denim also and the butterflies are recycled cotton from shirts. ...

Wow, views have been quite outstanding on the previous posting on my jean potholders. I thought a little tutorial would help you make a few of these for fun giveaways at retreats, party's or when you suddenly have an unexpected guest. Or make a bunch and donate to a great thrift shop that is non-profit. They are so fast, you'll forget the time of day and keep sewing! Now that is my kind of sewing project! Fun and Fast! This was not my idea. I know, you can't believe it, but its true, I didn't even attend the workshop were these lovely's were taught! Sadly, I was away at the time, but the person who  brought and shared it with the Bulkley Tweedsmuir Women's Institute was Faye Van Horn, of Smithers, BC who was at the time our district President, so thanks Faye! Awesome job! Faye is the one standing in the photo below of our 2009 Spring Conference held in New Hazelton, BC. This is the Quick WI banner made in 1936. The following is my way o...

Jeans are a nice clothing item to begin reusing and this is one sure fire way that is a great little gift item. My favorite reuse project is pot holders made from jeans. Here's how you get started! 1. Cut various good sized pieces from the legs of jeans or other denim clothing. 2. Then pair them up and resize so they are the same.  3. Cut two reused or new cotton pieces the same size as your jean pieces. 4. Assemble Process: denim square good side out, down on the table over top, place one cotton square good side down, place one cotton square good side up, then the last denim square good side up. 5. Pin well, sew diagonal seams right over top the  four layers of cloth, leving about 1/2 inch apart. Then before finishing the edges, take scissors and cut alternately a slice through the first layer of denim. They are quite simple, but have a real nice, proper  binding edge with a loop for hanging. Enjoy! Send me a link if you ma...

I first started playing around with sewing with corduroy in the late 1970's. I did most of my sewing by hand because my transient lifestyle didn't allow me to pack my sewing machine. So to start with, its much easier for me to work with corduroy if I sew it by hand, its amazing what you can do with an ordinary needle and thread.   I made several hats, no pictures of them and sold a few to freinds. Then I made a skirt which was well admired by my hippie friends and then came the first corduroy quilt. I don't have any pictures of that either  but it made me start using more corduroy in general. All the corduroy I had been using at that time was completely all reclaimed from clothing. This quilt above is the one I made for a book I was writing in the early 2000's and its combined with denim, the biege, blue colors are denim with the butterflies cotton reclaimed from clothing. The backing of this really toasty quilt is an emergency blanket from one of those car k...

 We started here on Wed Morning August 24th. We had to sweep and vacuum the whole booth. Unloaded and moved around several times as cleaned. We really like the booth we had this year and will secure it for next year. On Tuesday night, I was inspired to make "Mr. Rooster" and determined that the back of the Bulkley Valley Fall Fair Guide Book was just right for me to start.  I began with free hand drawing the chicken's head parts on the paper side of fusible interfacing. I had turned it over from the side you iron it on with.  As I began cutting, the shapes of his comb and wattles took shape. This photo was really a hen, but I went with gusto into a larger, more prociding kind of demeanor, he who rules the kitchen  house wins, kind of thinking to really get into the head becoming transformed onto the background. This comb and wattles shape on the red fabric "Nature" collection from Cloud 9 Fabrics . He's coming along nicely.