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...

When I walk by a thrift store or see a garage sale sign on the side of the road, I have to stop! I pick up all sorts of discard pottery and make new things with it. Yep, that's it, no real plan of it, just to reuse a reclaimed item into a new life. These little pincushions are just that, hand picked finds of pottery that I've remade into a pincushion. I encourage anyone to do the same, they make ideal gifts and are a great seller at a craft table. Plus, there is just no end to what is out there to reuse. Let your imagination go!  I'm sure that these pottery finds are in your area and what an original gift for a quilter or sewer? I came across some of these cute little egg cups that the potter wasn't too happy with and I bought them all from her. What do you think?  This tea cup and saucer sets were discards at the Reuse Shed. Not cracked, chipped or wrong in any way, so they found a new life!  All of the fabrics used are reclaimed from ...

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.

 T-shirts can go into a quilt and its all quite simple. Here is an example of what I do with t-shirts, logo from sweatshirts, and other personal items a customer want in this quilt. This location is the Tyhee Provincial Park and Campground.  My client called me about 2 weeks into the project and said "Carli, I've got this other T-shirt that I'd like in the quilt" I had to tell her the planning had been done and I could make an awesome cushion for the quilt from the T-shirt.  I am very grateful that all my clients let me decide how things will look in the finished quilt. I like to make the quilts reversible, so this is the back side. Colors chosen and prints are matched to what I know about the client and usually they turn out scrappy and completely different. This location was the Quick Bridge near my studio. Check my studio web site for more information. www.goodearthquilting.ca I'm so lucky that my hubby doesn't mind holding the quilts up for me ...