Carli The Quilter

I didn't think I had properly posted the full story of my journey on the Smithers 2013  Centennial Quilt.  Here are more photos close up so you could see some of the fine details of this quilt and some of my thoughts of taking on a huge project. It began because I had a dream.  I just couldn't fathom that our largest community in the Bulkley Valley would not have a centennial quilt when celebrating 100 yrs. We live very northern lifestyles. If we want opera, we must fly to Vancouver paying lots of dollars to get there. I felt we have so much to celebrate in our community that it was only fitting that we have an awesome quilt to represent the growth in the last 100 years of Smithers. I originally had discussed this idea with Heather Gallagher at our local Chamber of Commerce and she was inspiring, telling me of her idea of a train barreling down a line. Hence, the train became the lower focus of the entire quilt.  I took the projec...

Yes, its that time of the year and even more attention has to be paid to finishing up my numerous UFO's and this is the list.     Above is my long awaited Mexacali Quilt. I've designed an awesome border for it and can't hardy wait to get to this one first!   Then below, I hand sewed these cute little Dresden plates for a mini quilt from Quiltmania magazine and has been calling me for several months.       I love Dresden Plate quilts and so I have a few to finish and this one is on the list.     I love the randomness of true scrap quilts. I know that the popular versions out there are to pick fabrics from your stash that can become " scrap quilts" but are not really using up your scraps, so I'm holding the line on that with this quilt.     More Dresdens are hiding in the UFO bin.     They actually got this far on the journey to completion. So this what I'm quietly working on while ...

I began my Mother's Day with a phone call with my oldest son who called at 7:45 am and I was still sleeping. How nice before I was even awake! Then shortly a few hours later, my youngest called and it is REALLY nice when they call their ol'mama! After breakfast of an egg omelet, thanks to my sweetie!  I began to play with solids from MAP and thought maybe there was some discussion going on between the rail fence blocks and the solids Pam had sent me.   I love solids. You can do so many things with them if you allow yourself to be committed. I decided here with this grouping of colours. Then I cut blocks to fit the measurement of each block created with the rail fence blocks. My squares of solid purple were 6.5 in. squares cut in  half and placed on either side. This is where I cut off the little wee tail that forms on the second triangle added to the new block. I've beens spring cleaning and painting our home and getting into...

I've been recuperating, painting and spring cleaning and getting ready to make a move in my room. I've  been filled with pain for the last 8 months, struggling along getting the centennial quilt done. I'm am not sad or complaining or anything, its just what's on my mind. I've acquired a pinched sciatic nerve. If you've never experienced it, mine is awesome in sudden and stabbing pain, which grabs your attention and then is gone again. We've sorted it out and now medication helps keep me focused on living the happy life I live. I decided to tackle my scraps as a start to 'de-briefing' myself from the high times of creation in a big way. I have loads of scraps and they must go, so I am scrapping many kilograms of scraps into our upcoming garage sale. I am realistic and judicious in my culling that I'm doing and do I decided that an easy way to cull is to make rail  blocks with mostly only one print strip in the bunch. I fear I may have...

Earlier last month, I was deep into the piecing of the night sky that forms the backdrop in the Smithers Centennial Quilt and I quickly realised that I was pretty much out of the light colors of snow! I quickly drove into Smithers and found that both of my local sources for fabric were not able to help. "We don't get much call for white or white backgrounds one person told me" so I came home quite despondent. I really hated the idea of another revision of the design and when you are 1/2 done on the piecing and you had miscalculated how much white my own stash had, I was an unhappy camper. I retreated. I made a cup of Earl Grey tea and settled into my favorite distraction, my computer and reading the blogs I follow! Such as Stitched in Color . Rachael must have ten legs and thirteen helpers, otherwise, I am stumped for how she gets two shops, umpteen projects and has a cazillion sponsors happy on her blog. But darn it if she isn't just the most pleasan...

Yes, you've heard it all before, but really this time its really done!! It was actually a hard feeling and a good feeling today when I dropped off the Smithers Centennial Quilt to Heather Gallagher at our local Smithers Chamber of Commerce. My mind ran over all the little details of how this piece came together, how many revisions I made, how many times I pulled out stitches and I even bled on the quilt ~ last night! Someone asked me how many hours I had put in, well, I just laughed! I started out trying to figure that out, but as deadlines approach, the details of tracking became fuzzy to say the least. The little gold colored threads are not threads, they are metal wire! I learned a thing or two from artists who don't normally work in textiles, their mind went somewhere else completely. These cute little curly cues were a #%*&@ to work with and to machine quilt around. But alas, I mastered the challenges one by one.       And like any good l...