Carli The Quilter

This weekend has been such fun meeting new quilters photos of the group are later to come. I did a lot of hand applique in between laughing and eating way too much of the lovely food catered for us. More coming once I'm home and organized again. Happy Quilting everyone!

Last year I was invited to a "Ladies Luncheon" and of course, I went. Well it was truly the most fun I've had in years! We laughed so much some of us had to run to the bathroom! It was definately not a luncheon, but rather a sleep over party till you drop. The silly antics that happened still make me giggle, but it was all good clean fun "girls style."   This shop is located in Prince George, B.C. This year, the luncheon included a road trip and we had to stop at some thrift stores, right? I was looking for some awesome fabric and I found some awesome clothes. But the manager wasn't around and I couldn't take any photos. I've since cleared this up with the Manager who was very sweet and totally understood how wonderful thrift stores are for the variety of fabric in clothing.  Sometimes in thrift stores, you'll find a quilt top, made perhaps in BC goldrush years and is fine shape, It was found and purchased for $5 in the tren...

Thanks so much for following me. I'm a nut for new ideas and I'm fast becoming a convert of http://artisania.wordpress.com/ and her lovely paper pieced designs. I stumbled upon Sonya, the gal behind the designs about a year ago.   I like her designs because they are very different! I was so tired of the usual flowers and geometric one or the cutesy ones. I instantly liked her style and you know what? Her designs are coming out in the Nov/Dec Issue of Quiltmaker. Her quilt I think is called Winter Critters.  In the meantime, I'll keep you posted on how this turns out!

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...

You know, sometimes it just good to get together and play with fabric. Many of my friends agree. Some of my friends are pictured here with their quilts from a quilting weekend a few years ago, but  had not posted anything about it. What's with that, Carli? The first photo is Joanne with her crazy pieced quilt. Great idea to take the 'crazy star' and make it really crazy in her original style.  Nancy's quilt is part of the Round Robin exchange we did that year. We each started with a 12.5 in. block and sent along one prominent fabric and Nancy's quilt turned out really awesome. Her theme was Winter.  I was the instigator of the RR and so talking about it here, with the Telkwa Mayor's wife in the photo, I'm talking about how RR's can be done, swap blocks, swap rows, swap all sorts of things. My quilt is in the theme of Country Cabin. I'll post a better photo of this one now its all finished in another blog.  Joanne's lovely "...

Round Robin Quilt Exchanges are so much fun! I've done a few and I recommend you participate if you have the time to really put into it. This one started out with one block 12.5 inches square, then the next person put on one border, then the next another border and then you finish it. As you can see this version of border adding round robin, allows for tons of creativity in the work each quilt does on each others quilt. Mine in the top right, outdoorsey version with trees and lots of green. Participants added log cabin blocks, paper pieced tree blocks and it all came together into a great quilt. Its one of my 2011 UFO's still to complete. Nancy's quilt was sort of a winter theme, as you can see its come out fabulous. I did the last border on this and would love to see the finished version. The last border was the applique flowers, quirky technique that was so much fun to do. Joanne's lovely crazy pieced blue's quilt just says "love ya ...

Sometimes, I just want to add an embellishment to a quilt. For this T-shirt quilt I'm making ( www.goodearthquilting.ca )  I decided the small circles were calling for ric rac or something. I love using trims that add sparkle to a piece. Embellishing a quilt as you create or as you follow a pattern is easy to do and it might turn up your "Wow" factor. This little tip for using those fabrics that might not pop, try ric rac?  If you want to continue by adding beads, buttons or lace a whole new look starts to appear. When I'm wondering about something, I'll pin the embellishments on and then put it to the side. I will carry on wiht another part of the quilt or start a whole new project. For me, moving away, giving the change some time to jell in my head is important. Take for instance, this bass fish came to me through the mail when I participated with International Quilters round robin exchange. This bass was at the third installment, ready for me...