Carli The Quilter

 In 1997 I began thinking about writing a book. By this time I'd had so many interesting experiences with quilting with recycled cotton harvested from shirts and dresses, I'd become quite good at it! This little pillow above is one and you can see the beginnings of a modern quilter with all that abstract negative space. But that darned addiction of mine to crazy quilting began sending me off in all directions! But still my need to express myself with different ideas about quilting took me back and forth for the most of the last decade! OMG I'm dating myself, but oh so what, anyone can find me on Google if they really have a burning desire to know more about me. My desire to express innovative ways to reuse kept me on track for becoming a modern quilter. I didn't even know what a blog was in 2003 when this Butterfly Ring took shape on a scrap of graph paper. I was deep into learning about blogs when in the summer of 2008, our little hamlet had two dev...

I achieved a measure of performance this past summer that my business counselor would be proud of. I was organized, ready to learn more and then realised I didn't have any proper signage for the booth. It was two days before the fall fair event.We were really pushed for time with opening dates for the fair, just around the corner. We had everything organized when I realised my business sign was still unresolved. This is how I came to be in this pickle. I had asked a local wood signmaker to make me a wood sign for my business. She agreed and I carried on with custom quilt making and organic cotton retailing. This was way back in July and when I went by her house in early August, she had  been away, had forgotten all about making the sign and was going away again! I swallowed hard, thanked, told her it was my fault that I hadn't followed up on her earlier. I'm glad now that it happened. Otherwise I'd not have made 15 quilts in one day.  I decided on Dr. Sue...

I love a fast and easy way to sew strips and make interesting blocks. This tutorial is a short demonstration of how we can make the process of block building in a modern, fast way. This tutorial will help you step out of the box of traditional thinking about always having everything straight and even and time consuming. This tutorial is just the beginning of using this technique to make fun bags, quilts, table runners and gifts of all kinds. Step 1: Start with three fat quarters, don’t trim, just lay them on top of each other on a cutting mat. Step 2: Using a long enough ruler to reach both sides of the fat quarters, make two off center kind of cuts in the way I’ve done in this photo. The secret to this technique is about going out of the box. Step 3: From the first stack on your left, take the top piece and put it under the same stack. Then on the next stack, take the top two pieces and put them at the bottom of the pile. Leave the third stack intac...

On this past Sunday, women met at the Multiplex Centre in Moricetown to learn more about how to turn clothing into quilts. I arrived, set up and got busy as the women filed in with their gear!    Charrine worked hard on her new bag, applique, pressing so carefully, measuring, all the things we do as designers. Her cape which I forgot to take photo of is gorgeous!  Betty sizing up her new feasting  bag!  Lucy, got right into it and began following my instructions so well, she was done by the end of the day. Making a sweater baby quilt in this manner is so fast, its incredible! Lucy Gagnon, Band Manager was so kind and donated many new fabrics to blend with recycled clothing and donated the lovely conference room for the day. Thanks Lucy! One man Todd Lace, joined us to learn how to make a custom drum bag. This was a first for any man to show up at any textile recycling workshop. I was real  happy to have Todd al...

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 ...

 While I'm designing, I often get lost in the moment. I find this to be a great asset to creation of a new design. Over the summer, I've been perfecting this technique. This mixing and mashing kind of construction is freeing in all aspects of designing. Its a technique that leaves you thinking about further adjustments that might be beneficial to the end product. The quilt police are likely to pick up that the seams don't match or that the piecing looks not coordinated or straight or whatever. I am not concerned about that. I'm concerned with developing a fun and fast way to piece and then create from there.  Again the technique is so simple but leaves a complicated look at the end. Here's how to start: Decide on your background color. I like to use solid colors, but I've had good results with a print as you'll see in further postings. Then pick 5 colors for the complementary strips. Then cut (1) 10 in. square from each complimentary color. Lay ...

 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 ...

A baby girl was born recently and the parents want a custom hand made baby quilt. Its such an honour to make custom quilts for folks who value a local product, hand made, original.   Little pieces, colors custom picked from my studio stash. This quilt retails for $325, custom orders are made with the person who is receiving the quilt in mind. The answer to the colors chosen, Purple! Under a pear tree sits the purple quilt and I. Here is the alternate colors for this quilt.   And the  back of this little baby quilt was a print of cartoon like kid stuff.