Carli The Quilter

I have just decided that the time has come for me to start really altering some favorite shirts purchased recently that when laundered they shrunk up and became too short for me to comfortably wear. You know? And I have become inspired again! My time these days are less frequently allowed for working on finishing quilts is coming along too. I have made progress on two wedding gifts from one of the weddings from last summer. Love birds requested two table runners. This blue and red zig zag is coming along. I think its just about ready for machine or hand quilting and I haven't decided on which for those yet. And I've finally begun playing around with the Japanese 'Boro" form of quilting and big stitches that I new I'd to love to do. And my son's childhood sewing project that I have begun to crazy quilt around is on the table again with more improvements that is going well.  Photos on how that progresses is coming alon...

This year has been uplifting, heart felt, stressful and challenging. Moving causes change. And we all know that the only person who loves a change is a baby! When I made this baby quilt, I didn't know that sewing fabric strips together and cutting them into strings was called "Chinese Coins" or something like that. Quilting or not, we are constantly learning all the time. Playing with my fabric and threads are all I really need to be happy, but not healthy.  This post on Dec 31, 2017 is my New Year Eve reflection on 2017 and the last decade of my growth. Healthy lifestyle is just as important as what we play with to enjoy life.  I took the 2 week challenge of Low Carbs High Fat with Dietdoctor.com. I have started back to my routine of rising early, off to the pool and home again for breakfast. All, any of us can do is to go forward, not become stagnant.  Update on LCHF lifestyle change. I've lost 3.5 lbs and 7 inches on my waistline! I...

Let me tell you something funny. The bins and boxes of quilting supplies and fabric chunks of all kinds were going into the bins beginning in the summer and fall of 2015. I began culling the supplies I decided to pass on to others. On one of my trips into Smithers, I pulled up to the thrift shop back door unloading area and a helper came out. She took one look at me, turned around and closed the door.  I thought that was a little wierd reaction, but wasn't going to worry about it. I was far too busy to worry about a door closed in my face. I placed with my boxes onto the table at the back door and suddenly the woman reappeared with a few more ladies in tow.  She came out and explained to the other women 'This is the lady who made the centennial quilt' and 'look, she is giving more fabric away again!" She then went onto explain, that they started noticing an increase in their sales of fabric pieces and wondered if a quilter had died! We all had ...

I have always wanted to hand embroider this saying for years.  Then one day about 5 years ago I was thrifting around town, going to garage sales and there this was all crumpled in a box of numerous sewing tid bits. I'm sure it would have likely found its ways into the local transfer station garbage if I hadn't found it. I began with deciding to add borders of a random nature. I love to use up bits and pieces that have found a dead-end in their creation. I love the Cloud 9 organic fabric in the aqua puffs of treetops. I machine quilted it in 2015, but then it went into another bin as moving back up north, it came along with me, but didn't anything done again. Machine quilting on it was a breeze and I'm really glad to get this one done, so it can be hung in my new home. I'm having a blast setting up my kitchen. Its really fun to have boxes opened and slowly I see the pieces of precious items that I've collected and kept over three deca...

My sweet friend Miss Pat of Muddy Boot Prints educates youngsters in her outdoor learning program full days, outsidemostly. Rain or shine, they do have warm up spots for wet little ones out of the rain for brief times. This is where my two new quilts almost finished will go.  These are reused moving blanket from U-Haul, are onto a new life, giving warmth and comfort to red nosed children and two sweet ladies, Miss Pat and Miss Velma. This began as a way to reintroduce myself to being able to plan out my projects and realizing that I had way too many quilts that need desparately to be completed. But while completing those quilts which need my attention in my sewing womb. I began with an idea. I  began with reusing moving blankets for new quilts that can take the abuse of outdoor use. I pictured my friend and her business partner getting a wee bit chilly at times, I wanted to jump in and get busy on this project. When you have the means to buy fabric...

If you have followed my blog Good Earth Quilting for very long, you'll know I am a crazy quilter who loves hand stitching, Improv Piecing and crazy quilt embellishment, embroidery and crazy peicing! I embrace all forms of quilting, sewing, knitting and crocheting and I do most of my own machine quilting too. I love the "nest building act" of making my own "handmade" things to decorate my home.   I like the look of "running stitch roads" of a gentle running stitches meandering along the high roads and valley's of my quilts.  When I began "Blooming Crazy Quilt", I started it on a lark and soon this beauty began speaking to me in tropical colors. I began to really think hard about what I'm trying to say??  I think that the colors and prints choose the quilter. Yes, have you wondered how we choose what we have in our stash? Do you enjoy touching and feeling row upon row of bolts of fabric? Its kind of...

My attention taken with unpacking and culling, I find the moments of sorting and culling from my art supply stash brings me joy. But soon this whole box of brand new Organic Cotton Yardage is going to be sold. If you live anywhere near Duncan, yardage at $10/meter.  I remember sorting and doing our first cull in advance of our move and have since done this three other times until this recent sort and cull. So many others are on the move as well as well. Travellers relocating to my local area are posted everyday on our local Used.com classifieds . Many are looking for both, jobs and housing.  We now live in a real Earthquake zone called Pacific Ring of Fire.  The small town I live in is right overtop of this massive fault line that covers the population of hundreds of thousands other people, so I am not alone. The Ring encircles the whole Pacific Ocean. and the western part of Canada is on the Pacific Ocean.  But am I prepared to live for at least...