Carli The Quilter

I didn't think I had properly posted the full story of my journey on the Smithers 2013  Centennial Quilt.  Here are more photos close up so you could see some of the fine details of this quilt and some of my thoughts of taking on a huge project. It began because I had a dream.  I just couldn't fathom that our largest community in the Bulkley Valley would not have a centennial quilt when celebrating 100 yrs. We live very northern lifestyles. If we want opera, we must fly to Vancouver paying lots of dollars to get there. I felt we have so much to celebrate in our community that it was only fitting that we have an awesome quilt to represent the growth in the last 100 years of Smithers. I originally had discussed this idea with Heather Gallagher at our local Chamber of Commerce and she was inspiring, telling me of her idea of a train barreling down a line. Hence, the train became the lower focus of the entire quilt.  I took the projec...

As you know, I'm moving along with a deadline in place. April 26th, I have to have this whole quilt done.  I really want to see this quilt hung at the Smithers Trade Show on April 27th, 2013 in our arena! So that is only  few more weeks, but its all good! Its all OK, I'm not stressed or worried about anything now! I had to just tidy up a few details before beginning to Free Motion Quilt is quilt.  Yes, I'm doing the whole quilt in Free Motion Quilting! I really am having a hoot of a good time playing, creating, improvising and experimenting with the progression of Train portion of the Smithers 2013 Centennial Quilt. This one is for Heather Gallagher, our awesome Smithers Chamber of Commerce Manager. She inspired me with her image of what she imagined,  "I see an awesome big old train steaming large and beautiful into the quilt. Can you do that Carli?" Yes, Heather, I can do that! Just for you! Here we go... hold on, its a bunch...

I'm on top of the world with the progress of my own quilt art style and incorporating local artists work into a quilt, I think is for the first time, maybe? I'm so excited about the whole project that I'm now counting down the days till completion. I've edited this post several time now to include the links of the special artists who have inspired the latest work in the Smithers 2013 Centennial Quilt.  I was inspired earlier in the year with artists that are doing some very interesting thread painting. One artist in first place for influencing my recent work is Monika Kinner-Whalen of My Sweet Prairie . Her natural landscape thread scapes are so beautiful and original. This is my first tender step towards stitching landscapes. In the Smithers 2013 Centennial Quilt I toyed with all sorts of political statements in art, in the end my ideas stayed firmly planted in the awesome panoramic views we live with everyday of glacier topped mountains in every direc...

Working on a quilt that celebrates the history and development of a community in British Columbia cannot be complete without the recognition of the first indigenous people who called the Bulkley Valley their home, their territory. I'm talking about our Aboriginal neighbors, the proud Wet'suwe'ten people, who without their peaceful acceptance, the Town of Smithers would not be here today. These lovely people are the original inhabitants of this country. The Wet'suwe'ten Nation still populate a large area from the modern day communities of Hazelton to Burns Lake and beyond, they live, fish, go to school and are growing as a nation.  The modern day name of Wet'suwe'ten really means "People of the Wa Dzun Kwuh River" and different spellings of this name, history and so much more, can be found on Wikipedia's site here. The elders of the Office of the Wet'suwe'ten, who have an office building in Smithers, graciously gave...