Carli The Quilter

I heard a knock on the door and we live rural, so when it happens and it surprises you, its rate. My WI friend Judy greeted me on the other side of our riverside cabin screen door. Smiling, she announced she was delivering a birthday present to my door from my QWI Secret Friends. This  beautiful bundle arrived wrapped in this colorful fabric wrap and its such a vibrant color group, its simply happy! I wondered what was inside. It took me by surprise and darn it, that is the idea of our rural women's club's way of bonding. Its total fun! These colorful wraps are made by a collective of rural Indian women who work hard and dream  big! The not-for-profit organization is self-funded social enterprise that promotes income for the collective of disadvantaged communities. The following statements is copied from the web site of  www.re-wrap.com Quote: "Established in 2002 re-wrap is a self-funded social enterprise. We are an innovative and...

Well, I'm working between outside in the garden and taking the time to rest my back in between. But sometimes its just as good to sit and stitch, this is what I'm working on for hand stitching and catching up on a few projects for friends. I am always looking for ways to reuse clothing or otherwise fabrics. I know some of you don't think its right to call "USED' cloth fabric. But I'm a free thinker and well, I'm writing this blog so everyone can enjoy working in reuse and this is one of my latest portable projects. This is my little "lap pad" that I was given years and years ago and so its kind of crumpled now. I once had a wonderful lady who was a champion hand quilter tell me that to be a really good  hand quilter, you must also hand stitch. Her theory was that the more hand stitching you do, the more you hand remembers the memory of rocking the stitches across the seam. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't but its what I do...

Sometimes, when a call comes related to friends with health issues, its like a 'call to arms'. That call came last year and the members of the Quick Women's Institute, gathered for a one day marathon of quilting! A former member needed the comfort of our love and respect wrapped and stitched into a quilt! Below member Bonnie is pinning the next set of sashing to the sewn row of blocks in preparation for sewing it down and proceeding onto the next row. Our fearless quilting related leader, mainly me, organized a fast quilt as  you go block by block quilt! This entails simply starting with any size of blocks, I prefer 12.5 in squares. Add a 13 in. square of batting and backing. I like to have the backing and batting slightly bigger to offset changes once machine quilting is done. This process is NOT your mama's hand made quilt! Its a fast version that is the one I turn to when time is of the essence.  You start with precut blocks, battin...

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...

I'm a member of a wonderful ladies organization called Women's Institute. Our Quick WI branch has been pretty active, with new members joining all the time. Recently, like many of us, one of our members has to begin cancer treatment.We thought of our dearest friend going through this process. We knew immediately what we had to do, make her a "friendship quilt" to snuggle under when at the hospital.  We all work outside the home or in the home studio and its so close to Christmas, but what the heck, we're on for two Sundays. We laid out the sandwiched 12.5 inch blocks, ready for quilting. We placed a random sewing machine drawing of a 'heart' in each block, then stippled inside the heart on each of the 42 blocks. As we went, we planned and talked, a real quilting bee!  This event was held at Nola's house and we used her husband's pool table to lay it all out on, thanks Ed! Nola was up and down the stairs, keeping us in...