Carli The Quilter

Alberta Blue quilt is ongoing and without a goal for a finished date. Not much to talk about, just applique and machine sewing and more applique. But having fun anyway! Happy Stitching everyone! Carli  

I've made some good progress stitching through Suzuko Koseki's book "Playful Patchwork." I'm really feeling a change in myself while working through hand piecing of 'set in seams' and finding I return to her pages for greater clarification of how its done. Very fine stitching for sure. I'm not sure any of my stitching is that fine as two meet the 1/8th stitch length on both sides of the work.  Moving houses isn't a fun event, is it really? I lost my camera for a whole 8 weeks! I had unpacked everything while in pain. This is never a good plan. I completely forgot where it was. That is what pain does to a perfectly good mind. We are impressed with our realtor Jesse Butler . Many special thanks to my husband and sons who made the days and weeks of agony somewhat livable as they made me food and brought me pain killers. My 365 Circle, came to a halt. My family needed me and I needed to get my home in order aga...

Hello and welcome to this very popular series! This week, I have a Canadian fiber artist who hales from Saskatchewan. I've been following her blog and enjoying her growth and success with admiration.  Let me introduce Monika Kinner-Whalen! I started hand embroidery at the age of 40.  That's not very long ago.  My mom was a landscape artist who did not sew or hand stitch.  I just never grew up with fibre art!  Sometimes I resent that.  For the most part,  it still feels new and terribly exciting!  I bask in it. 2.  teaching I don't even remember how I learned my first French Knot.  I guess it was either a youtube video or an embroidery instruction book.  For the most part, I am self taught.  I began with free machine threadpainting, and added my own 'freestyle' hand stitches for the parts that needed to be hand stitched.  I quickly discovered how handwork - even just a l...

I love to find new people doing some extensive work in embroidery. This next guest is very special indeed, let me introduce Penny Berens of Tanglewoodthreads blog. What age were you when you began hand embroidery stitching? I picked up needle and thread many, many moons ago before the age of seven.  I used to have to embroider tray cloths and tablecloths and napkins as birthday and Christmas presents for the women in our family. What teaching did you have when you started?    It was my two grandmothers and my mother who were my first teachers.  My paternal grandmother was a home economics teacher, though it was probably not called that in her day.  I still have and treasure some of her linens and darned sheets.  My maternal grandmother used to make my dolls dresses beautifully embellished with shadow embroidery.  By the age of seven my mother had instilled in me a love of crewel work which was the type of embroidery we used to ...

I just love hand work of any kind. When I considered participating with Sew Sisters Blogathon Canada, I wanted to invite anyone who wants to sew, anyone who sews into the joys of quilting. I aspire to become a slow quilter. For me this is where sewing is best empowering to anyone, even those who don't have a sewing machine can sew. Simplicity is where my mind spends time. Using up fabric from clothing, from antique blocks hand sewn by another and miraculously find their way into my hands. Many of you follow this blog and the hand work of embroidery that I do to inspire your own work in whatever form that takes.  This inspires me and around we go. Sew Sisters shop located in beautiful Toronto, Ontario is a shop that is bricks and mortar as well, its an online shop for our pj's shopping experience. For me, living so far from everything, I drool over the kits and fabric supplies offered at their shop.  It takes a bunch of time and effor...

Wow, I am amazed!! I'm continuing on with this great way to lose weight. The fabulous fat burning soup is without a doubt the easiest way to lose weight for me. I'm on day 5 of the second week, no cheating, no craving and I still have three more days of the diet and I've already lost another 5 lbs. Its been a wee  bit cold lately in North Western BC, with our daytime temperatures sticking to -15 and its been a chilly at -21 C. So this diet has made me feel even cooler, but with my hot flashes, it has evened things out! No kidding, I'm running hotter than usual. I'm also feeling so light that its actually easier to walk and walking has been very difficult of late. Cold and ice don't help this and I just stay calm and decided its the best time to actually lose weight. Its something I can do while waiting for  doctors appt for possible surgery on my back. I've begun reading a blog written by Abigail who has some serious health issues go...

Garage sales are fun, they provide a welcome little look into a person's life. You are laying out things that were once important. And the rain didn't stop anytime soon. More tarps just went up and the wind played havoc with our tarps. The puddles grew larger. By 8 am, we were wondering what kind of a dismal display of 'garage salers' would even come by. We are located 31 km's from Smithers and this is a long way to go. But people came and laughed and talked, lots of stuff went off our property. Lucky for us, our karma swarmed with interest in both our garage sale items and our property. It was awesome fun to give away things, just because and to accept a lower price just  because you knew they couldn't afford anything more.  :) You know? Its not always about how much money is made from your garage sale! Its about community, talking, joking, selling to friends and letting things go. Letting the past wash away into the...

My blog now has 50 members!! Unbelievable to a 50-something female who hardly understood what the Internet was until about 1997! Now, look at me, I'm growing, I'm learning and interacting with my world. I decided that what I write about, others could make use and its kind of like being a teacher of a digital craft gathering. Where I set the agenda, my goals, how they relate to my world and why what I say matters.  Who would have known we'd hang around and listen to each other. So welcome my fifty follower's!  Sit back and listen to my ramblings and we'll see who else wants to know what I say in my blog. I'm singing in the rain.  Writing this while listening to Michael Jerome Brown, Canadian Blues Singer who satisfies my musical groove. My old man in the pale yellow is singing and playing with his good friend Derek. Grooving this past summer, in the warm summer nights when the sunlight lingers across the north later into the day. I th...

Everyone has to take a  break now and then, don't you think? After all, the Centennial Quilt won't fall apart if I do something else a wee bit, right!  So we gobbled down our breakfast and we went into Houston, BC to pick up a new kitchen range. City Furniture in Houston . Great price, simple without all sorts of gizmo's that require passwords kind of kitchen stove. You know what I mean? Every quilter has to take a break! I insisted that we stop at Houston, B.C.'s mall on Highway 16. Its the only one in town and has an interior walking area  between stores.It a great place for crafters of all kinds to set up a table and sell their wares.  My friend Cindy is off to Africa soon, working on a mission and  helping with many good deeds while there. Cindy and I have a strong bond around recycling, the beaded necklaces are handmade from a women's collective in Africa. She works with A Rocha , an International organization for environmental conse...