Carli The Quilter

Hello everyone, I bet you are wondering what has happened to me right? Well, we decided to take a little trip to Vancouver Island and see if we can establish a winter home in a temporary sense. Its been lovely weather and windy/rainy weather, so hence no photos of the nifty shops, museums and restaurants that we've eaten fabulous food. The balmy, warm days of the south coast of Vancouver Island. Victoria, B.C. is really the Canadian version of the warm seas of more tropical parts of the world.  Without the swimming on warm beaches, we can take long walks on shell strewn cool beaches, where you can watch the placid Strait of Juan de Fuca loll your mind into total relaxation.   Except, we need a place to hang our hat instead of the spare bedroom. Our Rusty girl is down right confused with the all day eating schedule of the dogs here and without exception has gained a few more pounds that will have to come off our aging female Shepard/Labrador cross.  ...

When I proposed the idea of a Smithers Centennial Quilt, I had a dream. I envisioned a group of Bulkley Valley quilters, working together like the descriptions in the book "Hands All Around-Making Cooperative Quilts" by Judy Robbins and Gretchen Thomas .   This book published in 1984 by Prentice & Hall Inc. became my stand by book for when I have a cup of tea in the morning. You know what I mean? I recommend it if you are planning a centennial quilt. This is a post to tribute another one of the collaborators on this special quilt. I'd like to introduce the work of fellow quilt artist Nicole Tessier. I'll miss her as I've recently been told by Nicole that she and hubby are moving to Ontario.  Nicole Tessier of Telkwa, made time for the block Old Church she submitted to be included in the Smithers 2013 Centennial Quilt.  Her choice was to make a scene of the Old Church Building in Smithers, its has been restored and serves as a community gather...

The Centennial Quilt Project has taken a hiatus for a few weeks before heading down the steep slope to completion of the quilt. A few weeks ago I asked a good friend of mine, Terri of Bulkley Cleaners is she could help me with this challenge for the quilt. She was tasked with coming up with this on a moments notice and under a deadline as well. She exceeded my expectations! For sure, the notion of community spirit is never more truthful when taking on a big project. Community spirit for the Smithers 2013 year of celebration is high and many projects are going on through out the year.  Terri's unique professional embroidery machines are top of the line and created the following words for the quilt. These letters are about 2-3 inches in the tallest letters. The letters that will grace this auspicious quilt will not appear to be so 'large' when their final position is found in the finished quilt. In the corner, you'll see the Glenwood Women...

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...

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...

Sometimes, life is so fragile and so lively all at once! The phone rang, I picked up the receiver and heard my fellow Quick W.I. member's voice. Auktje is on the other end of the phone and has something to show me. I decided that is must be important as this 89 year old wouldn't call just to chat. Its not her style.  Our matron member Auktje Oosteroff, her years of active involvement with Quick W.I. dates back several decades, she was a member in Holland before immigrating to Canada.   I dropped what I was doing and drove over on a sunny day to have tea and gluten free cookies in her lovely country home. This lady may look elderly, but we are all going to be there someday. I missed a prime photo hung on her wall, her prize she pointed to on the wall, a lynx rug! The photo of her holding her prize and the dead lynx speaks volumes of the kind of life many W.I. women live in rural Canada. Auktje is a crocheter extraordinaire, her home is well...