Carli The Quilter

I'm having such a blast with this pattern of Midnight Over The Oasis from Jen Kingwell Designs and I'm really pumped about how its turning out so far. Here's where I started last night on the Orange Peel border. This is not the best photo, but it was late last night,  I turned off all the lights except the one behind me and I used a flash. Not  bad! So its complete and I'm starting immediately on the applique border coming up next. Hope you my fabric choices.  Its been years since I did any pattern made by someone else. This is one that is very special.  I did a hand applique on some of the blocks to further enhance this unique quilt layout. I did 11 OP blocks on my machine and then 9 by hand. Join us anytime, pop over this link below to participate.

I was rambling around trying to figure out upcoming posts and getting way more organized and all that jazz. Getting organized for upcoming classes is a joy to do and I wish it was already fall and ready for all of  you to join me in upcoming classes online. While I was trying to figure out all this stuff, I started on a little block or two of Victoria's blocks from Bumblebeans.  Her methodology is so freedom based that it really does work. Here's part of my play. Cute heh? Just a little.. Fun!

Unbelievable! Its already mid July, almost and soon fall will  be knocking on the door! But that only really applies to all of us who live in the northern hemisphere. So I've been taking advantage of camping trips on my days off.  Of course I've been working on last summer's crazy tropical project! I love the warm colours in this latest project. We took a trip to Stewart, B.C. a small port town tucked into the northern coast of B.C. The size of the Cow Parsnip was amazing! This photo is close up, but they are over my  head in height. The glacier was stupendous and its right there so close to the viewing area, which is a simple pull off the windy road. Little Stewart is a bit like a historic town with a small amount of modern conveniences available.  Here is the modern approach to my newest crazy quilting. I'll show you more as the project proceeds. Besides, blogging cannot possibly compete with fishing!  Off to more camp...

Sometimes a few words can say more. These are the words that will be on the top of the Smithers 2013 Centennial Quilt. Left alone, as is these words are quite  boring, so of course I had to play with them and I have these photos for you to see where or what could come of this 'play' The sketch above is par of the beginning of this quilt. Many parts have evolved and adapted into a different version as you'll see in the remaining two photos. I wanted a dark, maybe even black background, but as time went on, with numerous shifting and moving, I realised that black was just too  black. What I was really going for was a darker background to make all the artist scapes pop. This was taken a few months ago when I began playing with how to get acrylic paintings into the quilt. I've had some really positive comments and helpful tips on transferring artwork to fabric and I thank you all for those insightful comments. Learning new stuff is what q...

Sorry and many apologies! I hadn't written this giveaway in my daybook and so it goes, I forgot about it. I'm happy to report that last night, my faithful, loving hubby who rolls his eyes at my blog thing, did the right thing for me and chose between only three entries for Canadian Birds giveaway! We didn't do the random generator online to choose, I wrote the names of the three comments and then he did the 'eenie, meanie, minie, moe" choosing of our kindergarten years and came up with Mike! Congrats, Mike, you have won a meter of the remaining Canadian Birds fabric from the quilt posting here for my hubbies new quilt Canadian Birds.  All the best, Carli

A special hello to all my followers! Thank you so much for reading my  blog and being interested in learning more about how to be a green quilter! I'll be posting all the finishes I'm currently working on as they are done. This little quilt is actually my own quilt. Yep after the dozens of quilts I've made over the years, even before this blog, I didn't make any quilts for myself. You know how it went back then, I didn't think about taking photos, that was before I became a blogger! I started this quilt in the 1990's, hand sewing the various log cabin blocks from random scraps. I took this scraps along in a special back pack when I went bar fishing with my hubby.  Then we moved three times since starting this. Then the inner off white muslin border became stained, then I had to wash the unfinished quilt. Again, absent mindedly, I didn't think of the mess of snags from the fabric on the back side. So then I had to hand snip all those ...

I'm sure if you are aware, but some of the fabric that I'm using in my studio is from Cloud9 Fabrics. Without a doubt it is the texture of this organic cotton that I love and the colors and designs are stupendous. I made this Sea and Sand last year with mostly Cloud9 Fabric organic prints and organic solid cotton. This quilt is one of my upcoming tutorials. Its very easy and goes together in a flash.  I am a firm believer in using only organic cotton. It just makes sense to me that a certified organic standard cotton is the best to use.  For more information on why they are eco-friendly, click on the link below. http://cloud9fabrics.com/faq.html I really love the Miscellany collection of Cloud9 Fabrics.  I made this lovely little table runner with a Fat Quarter pack. Then when I heard that my husband's office was needing a donation item for their annual fundraising efforts for good causes in the community, I made this baby quilt. ...

Wow, spring is in the air, its been really sunny and its feeling like springtime! My hubby and I had a great day ice fishing recently and caught some awesome rainbow trout!  My friend Wanda is ooooing the giveaway I'm selecting for this Blog Hop Party that starts on March 17th.  I'll be posting more as the time gets closer, but to give a tiny hint, my give away is a selection of hand picked fabrics from my stash of enough fabric to make a quilt top! This crazy quilt above is called Beach House and its for sale.  More on this later, spread the word. Thank you so much for following me and I'm really pleased to tell you that soon, I'll be posting some awesome new patterns for you to check out.

I make my own templates. Its quite simple, trust is involved and careful storage of similar sized templates are essential. As you know from reading my blog, I like to be frugal with supplies and tools. I used the cardboard above decades ago and I still have it. I didn't have a template in the beginning. So I made my own. You start with making a straight line on cereal board. Placing a quilting ruler with the 60 degree line on the drawn straight line. Then draw a line upwards away from the original line. Repeat on the other side. Its your decision to decide what size of fan template you want?  In this photo above, you can see that I used a fabric fan piece to assist you in your fan development.  Here I used a template from a magazine wedge that I modified to fit my size of fan. This is a simple way to use something already made. You can even take another dresdent fan apart to discover the size of a finished plate. Its up to you. This is my sto...

Ok, I admit it, I was slightly distracted the past week and I missed posting at least one new post each week. But I had good reason! Our northern temperatures dipped wayyyyyyy down to -38 C and I was back and forth between the barns and the house all week! It was so cold, I couldn't just grab any old  jacket and check the chickens! I had to have: all over my face touque, with drawstring for the tiny opening so I can see then another touque over that my serious ice fishing insulated pants two sweaters under my big yard coat my double thickness work mits my two puffs on my puffer before I go outside at these temperatures So now, you can see why I was a little distracted. I had rest up in between just to do the next shift! But thankfully I'm able to report that we are back to normal winter temperature of -10 C so all I'm back to posting!  While it was so darn cold that going outside was an ordeal, I started into my favorite Quilt Mania magazines. Sure e...