Carli The Quilter

When I began to write this progress report on my "365 Circles" that began so long ago I suddenly realized that circles have been a huge part of everyday life. Bowls to holes and all in between circles are the way life goes, in a circle! This lovely table runner went to a local charity raising funds in an auction. Three Dresden Plate Fans made into this Modern Dresden Table Runner I made this upcycled bath mat way back into the 1990's and have not looked back on the upcycling front. This fire ball was an exercise in exploring Ms. Carlson book. Quilting hoops around my house are a constant distraction for my family as pins and needles managed to escape and no one drew any blood in this exercise. When you begin a project I don't usually have a plan, to be completely honest. I just usually start with some sort of vision in my head and if I don't get it onto paper soon, it goes by the way of the Do Do Bird. I have...

I'm so tickled to finally be nearing the half-way point of My 365 Circles quilt. A few years ago I made my husband a quilt of his own. This is a really special quilt because I used my favorite method of the Slice and Dice Dresden Plates from the fabric using all Canadian Birds that are going extinct. My husband is a bit of  birder, not a complete addict or anything, but he fell in love with the fabric and the project began there. I took a class with my good friend Louisa Robertson from the Okanagan. Anyway, this  Canadian Birds  quilt is really warm for those cold winter nights when a wool lined quilt is the best comfort going. But it's a little warm for other parts of the year. We needed a new king size quilt. I have fallen in love with circles. I love crazy quilting, but this simple circle, yet complex set of circle shapes make things happen. You know? Take the following "circles" google search and you'll likely stumble o...

I have a pile of hexies that finally found a home. They were just lonely souls until placed with these circles. I intend to do hand embroidery around the outside edges of the hexie blocks to make them circles. This quilt will become our new summer quilt. I'm using up all sorts of small bits and scraps of bright colors that just disappear in the bin. Hand embroidery stem stitch between the hexie edges to complete the circle. Happy Quilting quilty friends!

Making circles and applique them onto my squares is most enjoyable. Its slow quilting at its best. I'm using an old fashioned approach of cereal box cardboard circles as my template.

I'm using scissors and hand stitching for all the quilting I'm doing these days. Happy little squares cut from one cotton block is how all my squares are getting done. Circles with tin foil completes the easy circles.

I've been very busy these days and another fun project is coming along- my circles! I'm just not staying with the exact version of a circle. I am going to other versions of circles and I love the idea that someone else is doing this kind of free form circles in this Quilty 365 from Kaja of Sew Slowly Blog. I'm even mining all my photos not previously shown online. I am thinking about even photos into circles and placed in the quilt. I'm not sure on all parts of free form I'm leaning toward. I hesitate long enough to sleep on it. This family photo from decades ago show the potential. Even the simple wagon wheel goes doesn't it? This can easily be made into a circle right? Check out the patterns of circle quilts at Geta Gama. And you can see her almost daily post at her blog. The resulting quilt of your own ideas can be really special and why not make more quilts of your own design? Takin...