Carli The Quilter

I tried  how to take an acrylic painting and put it directly into the quilt. This one to be exact. My poor little Janome was beside herself with my request. First the walking foot didn't like it under foot.  It stuck, snagged and generally didn't want to move with the the surface of the painting. I stopped. I pondered the consequences of loosing my machine. I didn't like that image in my mind. So then I trimmed this next painting that my friend Martha painted and is holding, to more the size of the block I needed. My trimming allowed the opportunity to play with the 'trimmings' from Alpine Al  block that Martha depicts in her acrylic painting. I tried placing voile between my walking foot and the surface of the painting strip. Its sputtered and created an uneven kind of gait in my machine. Then I noticed my needle. I was too aghast to grab a photo of it. I immediately realized my folly was not with the foot,, but rather I was gu...

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 ...

Wow, views have been quite outstanding on the previous posting on my jean potholders. I thought a little tutorial would help you make a few of these for fun giveaways at retreats, party's or when you suddenly have an unexpected guest. Or make a bunch and donate to a great thrift shop that is non-profit. They are so fast, you'll forget the time of day and keep sewing! Now that is my kind of sewing project! Fun and Fast! This was not my idea. I know, you can't believe it, but its true, I didn't even attend the workshop were these lovely's were taught! Sadly, I was away at the time, but the person who  brought and shared it with the Bulkley Tweedsmuir Women's Institute was Faye Van Horn, of Smithers, BC who was at the time our district President, so thanks Faye! Awesome job! Faye is the one standing in the photo below of our 2009 Spring Conference held in New Hazelton, BC. This is the Quick WI banner made in 1936. The following is my way o...

I first started playing around with sewing with corduroy in the late 1970's. I did most of my sewing by hand because my transient lifestyle didn't allow me to pack my sewing machine. So to start with, its much easier for me to work with corduroy if I sew it by hand, its amazing what you can do with an ordinary needle and thread.   I made several hats, no pictures of them and sold a few to freinds. Then I made a skirt which was well admired by my hippie friends and then came the first corduroy quilt. I don't have any pictures of that either  but it made me start using more corduroy in general. All the corduroy I had been using at that time was completely all reclaimed from clothing. This quilt above is the one I made for a book I was writing in the early 2000's and its combined with denim, the biege, blue colors are denim with the butterflies cotton reclaimed from clothing. The backing of this really toasty quilt is an emergency blanket from one of those car k...

I worked for a long time in the public school system. I saw all sorts of children with mild to severe allergies, teachers with constant runny noses, always attributed to their allergies. Over the years, I began questioning the status quo on things like cotton. Why were alternatives being discussed? Why had the market for organic food grown to the point that even in our small town of 5-7,000 we have a health food store, 3 supermarkets that sell organic food, produce etc. I found this link very interesting! I hope you do too! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_cotton Organic Cotton Solid Collection-Hazelnut, check out my other solids that I'm playing with here

As many of you, who know me personally, know of my love of crazy quilting! This one started as an exercise to see how many little snippets and big chunks of purple I could use in a crazy quilt. I've used cotton, silk, upholstry fabric, satin, slippery lingerie fabric mostly from recycled clothing in my own closet.  I went through a purple faze in my life, thank goodness it just one color I love now. I don't always start in the middle or the side or have a five sided block start as done by others. I just start with something that grabs my attention, like this African print fabric in the center.  I had a birthday that year and still working on the hand embroidery over a couple of years this quilt was made. Here, our neighbor Dave Gillespie sends off my birthday candle float on the river and we sing to till the wee hours. This quilt was sold to Leslie Crane last year.

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 ...

 We started here on Wed Morning August 24th. We had to sweep and vacuum the whole booth. Unloaded and moved around several times as cleaned. We really like the booth we had this year and will secure it for next year. On Tuesday night, I was inspired to make "Mr. Rooster" and determined that the back of the Bulkley Valley Fall Fair Guide Book was just right for me to start.  I began with free hand drawing the chicken's head parts on the paper side of fusible interfacing. I had turned it over from the side you iron it on with.  As I began cutting, the shapes of his comb and wattles took shape. This photo was really a hen, but I went with gusto into a larger, more prociding kind of demeanor, he who rules the kitchen  house wins, kind of thinking to really get into the head becoming transformed onto the background. This comb and wattles shape on the red fabric "Nature" collection from Cloud 9 Fabrics . He's coming along nicely.

Congratulations to Undomesticated Scientist for entering our little fat quarter draw. Your help was invaluable in assisting me make a decision to use brown as the background color. We're really pleased with all the entries for this competition and please check back for more as time goes on. Happy Quilting!

 I'm in a quandary! I just can't choose from these backgrounds of organic cotton for the placement of my new Dresden Plate Flowers. As you know I'm all about 'blending' old and new, modern and traditional, ugly or bright and now I need help!  I won't tell you my favourite, but then again I have other favourites, so help me out? Please me know what you think? Is your choice the brown pin dot, the brown, the turquoise or the orange cotton? You could also forward this request to anyone you know who's a quilter, its more fun with more people participating and giving me the help I need? For each and every comment that is posted, your entry goes into the random generator for a lovely bundle of 5 Fat Quarters of both certified organic cotton from Daisy Janie and Cloud9 Fabric and Kaffe's flowery fabric. You can earn a second entry by linking this blog request with your Facebook and/or Twitter and then returning to ...

I've been going crazy with making my favorite hand work project-Dresden Plate Fans. I take along my special camera bag that includes this wicker basket. I keep all the important things in there for "Road Stitching" These fans are going into a new quilt soon! Have you tried taking "Road Stitching" projects along where ever you travel? Drop me a comment. I love to hear from the many folks who are passing through my blog. Say hello?

 My friend, who wishes to remain anonymous has a collection of her families antique quilts and I caught a rare viewing for a family gathering. These date back to the mid 1880's when her Great Grand Parents began farming in New Brunswich, Canada. The hand embroidery of the one above is a Redwork done by various men and women of the family. I think they are done on 6 inch blocks of white cotton.  The Wedding Ring quilt is my favorite and is just divine, tiny little hand quilted stitches patiently walk you across the surface like a dream into the past. Beautiful work, patient timeless talent is raw and so welcoming.  Dresden Plate Fan quilt is so special, I would love to have wrapped myself up in it.  Hand applique and hand quilted. The quilt I think she called the "Bells of the Ball" is also hand appliqued and hand quilted. So lovely, with such minute detail in the hand embroidery is stunning!