Carolanne is a sewer of quilts and a baker of pies. In both pursuits, she sweats the details and the process to make a final product that is full of substance and skill and love.

She started quilting in 1997 as an act of resistance. Resistance to her long commute, to her unfulfilling job, to a bad relationship. And resistance against fast fashion and our disconnection from the people and processes that make the things in our homes and our lives.

Because that process is what it’s all about.

There are so many ways to speed up a quilt, but for Carolanne, time and care spent making is never wasted. Her quilts are always made (and often even dyed) by hand. Like a handwritten letter, hand stitches leave the marks of the maker’s hand on the final product, which will stay with the finished piece forever.

Carolanne’s people are makers too. Her mother is a knitter, and her grandparents include a baker, a carpenter, and even a manufacturer of sewing machines. Quilts are handmade by Carolanne in Toronto, Ontario, where she lives with her husband Darcy and their one year-old daughter Faye. Second to sewing, the best job she’s ever had was as a camp cook for tree planters in Northern Ontario. Spending her summers with a crew of planters with incredible talents and stories is not unlike being a teacher of hand sewing, where Carolanne gets to spend time around a table with curious and interesting women.