Carli The Quilter

Memory Lane Trip here! This young girl is me, I was sitting beside my Dad on the Safari train that goes around Stanley Park. This park located in the heart of Vancouver city was an icon at the the time. This photo was taken 1971, back when the park enjoyed popularity and I loved it. Seeing so many wild and exotic animals was a thrill. I remember the moment well. I had been afraid to go on the train alone. My parents didn't have a lot of money and my Mom was upset after she had paid for my ticket, I whined about wanting her to come with me. She was upset and wanted to yank me off the train in disgust, when my Dad settled it all with his ticket.  It was one of the happiest time I had with my Dad.  But the other exciting reason I share this photo is because I'm wearing a white and gold poncho made by me. Thinking back on it, making the poncho must have taken quite a bit of yarn. Money was always tight, but my parents bought that yarn for me.  It's nice to look ba...

These times are stressful for sure. I've begun restricting how much news I read and watch! I am feeling like I need to just get on with some special people quilt projects. We are living in times that the prey sought by this COVID 19 is US!!! So telling the most important people how you feel. LOVE can be expressed in so many ways. Crafting, sewing and quilting has always been the way I express myself. So Rail Fence done using Sujuta Shah's method outlined in her fabulous book. The cover quilt is my favorite! So here goes, the happy, heartfelt Rail Fence big picks of lights and dark fabric for what will end up measuring 116 inches square. And gor thise if you not following me on Instagram @carlithequilter will not know about the County Clair hand pieced blocks I've also begun in next post. Happy Quilting!!

As you know, this fun quilt began coming together in the early days of 2017. I did start hand appliquing the Dresden Plates on to their respective back ground fabric in early 2014. Having made these colorful Dresden Blocks many years before this as I wrote about back in a post I auditioned the potential backgrounds. Some of the background block fabrics were shirt material from nearly new men's attire at the thrift shop and the red print was organic cotton from Cloud9 Fabrics. Many, many hours of hand appliquing the Dresden Plates to their backgrounds. I did some with new fabric and others in vintage fabric. But slowly but surely, this quilt is coming along and its been a nice project to realize is actually close to being a flimsey, I carried on, determined to get the blocks out of my drawers and into a project.  These Scrappy Dresden Plates were more of the scraps I've used up over several decades. I began cutting and storing small scraps into...

When I was a wild Bohemian chick living on the West Coast of Vancouver Island, I was dirt poor. I worked, but the cost of living for a 'worker' in a tourist destination was heavy, food costs were even more, housing costs even more and basically, you have to go into the forest to live. I was leery of dark, wet forests with huge skunk cabbage with razor sharp stems. Mud is a dark chocolate with a squishiness not found anywhere else. I hiked along Long Beach, now a National Park, found two paralell giant Cedars long embedded into the the sand of the long beach facing the Pacific. I erected and secured a big tarp and settled in. Soon people discovered my little home and helped by using their chainsaw to cut out several flat areas, one became my bed and the other a seating area. Many a good time was had that summer, music, freedom and living off the land, it was a myth, but one I still aspire to today. What I learned from this way of life, was the everything h...

I am super charged like a wee bunnie! And I wanted to reassure my readers that I'm NOT going anywhere. You can be content that I will still be posting the projects I'm working on and give you all a progress report for my new adventures! I am back to working on the new details of Blooming Crazy which I started last year. And its given me a new perspective on what is actually crazy quilting. Stitching happy little trails and new pathways is about me finding the bliss I've wished for quite some time. New pathways and happy little trails are just where my steps will take me. I have begun to find my bliss and I'm determined to get back to fun! Fun stitching, fun sewing and fun life. This a long time crazy that is getting finished and will soon have a complete version for you. Do you find yourself singing while you stitch? I have a new friend who is helping me with gratitude. While she is working on my feet and I'm relaxing, I listen to he...

I love to read some of my favorite blogs and one is Sew Slowly by one lovely lady who could very well be another me. I know, who knew? I identify with her words and wished we lived closer.  It was her blog that I first found the 365 Circles  movement of sorts. Now, getting back to why Sew Slowly is my favorite blog is because her work speaks to using up the numerous fabric odds and ends we quilters accumulate. I am very aware of how many bins and boxes my husband has faithfully carried around for me, this being 32 years coming up for our 2017 anniversary so I know he really loves me! :) I made a new cell phone bag this summer before moving that hasn't been shared here. It was made after making my nephew's wedding quilt close up below. We also bought a Persian Rug for our new home and love it. As you can see this wee table runner with circles on it is becoming a new wedding present for good friends. Entirely hand sewn and slow as can be in making it. I a...

Hi everyone, I know its been an age since you've heard anything from me. I apologize for this tardyness, but as you know a move has been underway and I'm thrilled to be now living in Duncan, B.C. Its really like Christmas while unpacking at our new home. My new back yard and garden calls to me. But it has to wait till I have some room to move. Its really quite lovely, but really needs lots of TLC. Next year for that. We feel really lucky to have found a home that suited our needs and was a price that a normal person can afford on Vancouver Island. The high priced housing in Vancouver caused the government to impose a 15% foreign buyer tax just redirected those buyers to Victoria and the Saanich Peninsula. So we suddenly found ourselves in an extreme search to find a good home, which we did and we love the laid back cultural quiet of Duncan. No, my new sewing room is no bigger than I had back home in Quick. But I will get it all organized soon....

This happy little quilt is finally reaching a point where I can call it a quilt top, almost! For those of you just popping in to my blog, I've been working on the Scrappy Dresden Blocks for several years cleaning up scraps from my numerous boxes of scraps! Yes, its true, if you are frugal quilter, you acquire scraps from other projects and thousands of us are using the scraps in new projects or by donating the scraps to a local thrift shop. I am still working on 365 Circles Quilt top. Making bright and cheerful Scrappy Dresden Plate Blocks are not a new obsession to me, I've made a few quilts before. The quilt below is my "Canadian Birds Quilt" for my husband back in 2011 I think. Yeah, I was stumped for awhile over the early summer months of 2017 with what to do on the corners! I really like the striped scrappy approach used in Quilty Folks blog mentioned below. But was wondering about a crazy quilt corners and still thinking about th...

Hello quilters!  We are finally into a real springtime here in Victoria! Therefore, I was feeling springy on this past weekend and began working on these basket blocks again. I intend to have these Baskets for Sisters done by Mother's Day. I have so much more energy since loosing 20 lbs using the Military Diet and Power Water Walking at the pool. What do you think? What would you do with these, keep them as a sparce more modern style of quilt or use sashing between the blocks, maybe embellishment?  Tell me what you would do? And last weekend, while at a retreat, I did  some free-play to recreate my influence of Freddy Moran. I have started a new crazy quilt that I can share here because its not part of my ongoing book Artisan Crazy Quilts. I really am drawn to sunset colors! The bee print fabric is one yard I bought from Fabric Spark from Toronto. This new print from Jane Sassaman, Leaf Dance-Busy Bee-Golden is lovely. Thank...