Carli The Quilter

Finishing Hand Embroidered CQ Block Quilt Tutorial If you are a crazy quilter beginner and you've got a CQ block started somewhere, take it out and use my hand tutorial for finishing a CQ Quilt or Block with batting and messy background showing and its kinda bulky. Of if you are a new-to-sewing and want to get your stitching fingers tuned up, this is the tutorial for you too. This is the tutorial for you! And when you are done, please post your work on Instagram using  #thegreatcrazyquiltalong When you comes to sandwiching this bulky CQ Block, I always add more batting to the border for instance, like this as seen below finished and the 2nd photo of messy stuff backside. You can't quite tell from this photo, but the red border is quite puffy in between the machine quilting leaf meandering along is kinda like trapunto-ish. This Silver Linings Crazy Quilt was the first quilt win that got me so excited. This quilt has many unique featu...

I really love autumn colors, but when its summer, I love summer colors and about the only time I give in to the seasonal colors is winter and Christmas. Do you have favorite colors? These Dresden Plates are coming along and you can read this post if you like by clicking on this link.  I love to make a quilt 'pop', you know?  I lean toward the color most bright against the project I'm working on. I don't care a hoot for matchy matchy! In the quilt "Oranga Finished Yet?" I leave the rush of orange to take it to more calmer colors so the orange stands out and makes a statement of some sort. For example, this "Oranga Finished Yet?" is a freeform improvisational style of quilt. In my mind, improvisational work is just that, without a plan. I use all colors in my work, this is part of what makes my upcoming book so different from other Crazy Quilting artists in the world. I don't live my life by the book or craft my art ...

I invite you to think back to any time you've seen a crazy quilt? Most people are drawn to the 'crazy' way these special quilts look or maybe the hand stitched embroidery or the other multitudes of embellishments you can buy these days were the creativity that drew you in! Personally, I love the look of the old time crazy quilts with lots of bold colors, endless amounts of hand stitching that really spells out "hand made" and you won't need a rotary cutter etc! For those of  you who have already made one or more crazy quilts, this little tutorial can be a gift to a special friend.  Carli's Special Effects Supplies:  Used top quality evening wear clothing, even flimsy stuff upholstery fabrics of a light texture labels from clothing ribbons, lace, buttons Welcome to this first tutorial of four on how you can achieve a fabulous one of a kind crazy quilt! Starting point! Foundation muslin cut into 12.5 in.squares (Be...

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...