Carli The Quilter

Bags are really fun to make and I've got a few on the go in my studio. I'm preparing for some shows for the summer at various festivals in B.C. A friend called and needed some help with a bag she is making, so we got together and quilted!! This is what I call the All Round Great Bag and I'm writing up a bag tute for you in a later post. Myrtle has picked out some awesome colors! And I made my first rhubarb crumb bars in 3 years. Now that I'm not limited to gluten free foods, the door has opened again to some awesome family recipes. More on why I'm not gluten free anymore in another post. The recipe below. As our sewing day whined down, I caught some awesome evening photos of my flowers and lilacs. Then later on I visited another friend of mine and we made cute garden aprons from donated upholstery fabrics. I sat down last evening to start on my some great jean bags and found this nice surprise in a pocket. I checked ...

Sometimes, in my neck of the woods, I feel alone on the Internet. I discuss many wonderful things with folks all over the world, but locally, we are little bit behind. But recently, I discovered this local shop and she has a blog online. Pam has this delightful shop "in the back forty of her property " walking along a raised dirt path along the frog pond is super natural! This little shop is not far from my home! Go to http://institcheshouston.blogspot.com/ Then I thought Then you must meet up with Sonja at http://artisania.wordpress.com/ this gal is a paper piecer extraordianaire! Fabulous gal with much talent, I think she's just getting off the ground really, even though she's been working away for several years, she is a must check! http://cathy-blueberrypatch.blogspot.com/ This  new blog to me is pretty interesting, Cathy has a real nice way of putting things together. She's a BC Mom of two grown kids and has some really nice links on her bl...

I am digging into my stash and finding sultry vintage fabrics, solid colors and soft pretty petal styles of fabric to go with this collection. I have an awesome new pattern on the drawing sheet! This is what got me excited; imagine these fabrics together in one quilt?  These lovely fat quarters are what I've been waiting for to arrive. Its a great little bundle from Miscellany. I've got some ideas, like maybe pinwheels or applique something? I work with the pattern in my head & on paper until I'm ready to proceed! What do these selections make you think? But then I think piecing might be just the cat's meow for these and the vintage fabrics I'm picking out. Its the start of a brand new idea and you never know for sure until you are well into it as to whether you've got something special. I use snippets of the prints and copy them into my pattern. See if I like it, see if it does it for me, then I send it out to my girl friends for ...

Life has been up and down, all around, spinning sometimes and lost in the wilderness of life at other moments. I never know when something good is going to enter my life. I can plan well, execute focused attention on those plans and even sleep well too. Sometimes my world is touched by light and goodness. I can see dark clouds coming and I take shelter. This little quilt came into my life one of those times I sought shelter. The rain poured for what seemed like weeks as I played inside with the technique of stacking and whacking, slicing and dicing whatever you call it, in a totally different way. Designing; whacking and joining away I went. My task was "purple" the favorite color of Jennifer, Violet's Mom.   Playing with stacking and whacking is almost second nature because as I play with integrating recycled fabric from clothing into quilts its takes a different frame of reference to work with even the most challenging of recycled fabrics. 100% cotton ...

Dolls and little girls still go together despite some ideas that girls are bored with being girls. My sons played with dolls, they just didn't think anything of it. Because we didn't make a  big deal about it. Our sons are kind and compassionate men and proud of it. I made this one for a nieghbor who has this darling little playhouse on their property and grandchildren to play with too. Just thought you might like to see it, its so cute!