Carli The Quilter

Hand applique stitching with the time honored blind stitch. Its a stitch that my Gr. Eight Home Economics teacher, Miss Hepburn taught me along with many other girls. The stitch is simple and clean. Once you learn to do the correct stitch length, you are off to the races. I take roughly a 1/8 in. Stitch each new stitch. From then on its just repeat. I use this stitch a lot and enjoy the memory too. I find comfort in this little book of encouragement. I was given it last year and have been picking it up when I'm challenged to keep smiling while in pain.  My friends Dad has chronic pain and he found comfort in this book too. Do you have memory of a great Home Ec. teacher?

Since returning home, I've reorganized and found even more unfinished tops.

My sister is one of my best supporters. She loves my creativity! This little table runner started with a bundle of 11x9 cuts and who knows how long ago I purchased. The colors of this table runner are more fall colors. Happy Quilting!

One day I was shopping in the local V.I. Royal Park Country Grocer and saw this inviting smile. What a lovely woman Tracy Lydiatt is and what a story behind this remarkable healthy eating guru. Her journey starts in Perth, Australia and I met her in Saanich, B.C. Her main operations now based in Oliver, her web site is informative and inviting as well. Sorry, this close up is blurred, but you get the logo, really engaging don't you think. She invited me to try one and I loved them and tried the three brands she had on display. Wow, tasty, not too sweet, but pleasant and chewy. A bite of goodness and the best part is to come, read on. This Canadian company are really proud to be grain free, vegan and free of wheat-soy-dairy and nuts! (dairy = no butter/no eggs). They hold a gluten-free certification.  www.greatbearbites.com

Highway travel out of B.C.'s lower mainland was rainy as we drove into the night.

I fell right in love with hexagon quilts made by Karen over at Fairies and Fibres.  Karen is so generous and helpful, I'd just love to get in the car and do a road trip, really! But in the meantime, I needed to get some supplies. Alas, my supplies in my temporary studio are a tad lacking. So off I went down the road to this lovely little shop in the Cordova Bay shopping center called "Calico Cupboard" and wow, you'll be surprised when you walk in this shop! First of all, they use paper bags to package up your purchases! And then they carefully fold everything into this neat little package. Thanks Suzanne! And I'm carefully organizing some choice birthday gift for Mr. Goodearthquilting! Now, getting back to Karen's work with Hexie's. I really love the work she does by hand on the majority of her quilts. Karen has proven her worth with hexie quilts. I learned about her most recent quilt along Millefiori QAL over at Kat...

After the memorial quilt on Sunday, I took a look outside and it was pelting rain, so inside sewing was the course of events for me. I have started a string quilt. Yes, its not too complicated, which is what my brain is saying it needs! I pressed some of the chunks before cutting them into strips and I began. But I just had to share one more random shot of blooming flowers!! And cute driftwood bird houses, how cute is that. When I make a string quilt, I usually do the QAYG method to cover off the FAST way to a finished quilt. This might turn out to be a table runner, but who knows at this point. So do the QAYG method, you'd need to have squares of backing and batting pre-cut so you can just fly away making up pre-quilted blocks. Then I lay each new strip down and sew another right beside it until the whole square is covered, then trim to the size of your original square. Then when its all done on each 5 inch square, the...