Last night was the final meeting until fall for the Thunder Bay Quilters Guild.
The guild had arranged to have Rose Parr as a guest speaker. She spoke about Sew Smart-the Ergonomics of Healthy Quilting.
My cutting and pressing station are the perfect height for me, although I did realize that my chair was too low at my machine so tried changing it to the suggested height and experimented through the rest of the meeting with some crumb piecing and yes I prefer my chair higher!
I had started to sort through scraps while waiting for the meeting to begin and when I came across a little baggie of solid scraps I had a strong desire to play 😊 and by the end of the meeting this is what I came up with…
I was too late to send my Sisterhood swap block for last nights meeting however I do plan to use it for a bag at some point.
These wall hangings were super fun to quilt for Jennett, the appliqué pieces were so intricate and interesting. She did tell me after I quilted them that they were made from kits and that the appliqué was all precut.
It wasn’t lost on my quilt model that he has been to all three of the places on the small hangings…
We miss our quick drives to Minnesota and hope to visit again sooner than later!We also hope to visit Our Texas family again 😊And of course…home sweet homeThis one was so much fun to quilt and look at!
One evening almost 17 years ago, my Dad called me and asked if I had ever heard of a Longarm quilting machine. I had seen the adds in magazines and knew that as a single Mom of 4 young girls that owning such a thing was not possible. I was working full time with a lot on my shoulders.
Well, a couple of weeks or so later, my Dad called me at work. (My parents lived in Calgary at the time and I in Thunder Bay). He called me to tell me that he had ordered an APQS Millenium Longarm and that it would be delivered in 2 weeks!!!
My Dad, an artist himself knew something that I didn’t know at the time. He knew that I could use my love of quilts and my creativity to not only supplement my income but to grow in my art.
I met Lorraine around 2010 when she first contacted me about quilting for her. Like so many people who I quilt for a friendship evolved.
Lorraine made so many quilts and most were very large and always gifts she was so kind and full of wisdom. I always picked up her quilts and after quilting and attaching her bindings I would return them to her and enjoy a nice long visit.
This was one of the first quilts I quilted for Lorraine.
When she moved into a retirement home a few years ago she told me that she was finished quilting, not long after she called me and said all the people there ever talk about is how old they are and what was wrong with themselves. So she said that she had turned her utility closet into her new sewing room and would I mind quilting a few more quilts for her.
I delivered her final quilt to her on June 6th
This morning I read that she passed away peacefully on June 7th at the age of 89. I will miss her gift of friendship.
We have been busy around here the last few weeks. Putting in a new garden and working around the yard takes time.
I continue to quilt for customers and of course I have Liam most days of the week, we are both happy to see the end of this school year in sight!
This past weekend I felt the need to recharge, I went for nice long walks and spent a lot of time in my studio.
I often put either some music on or a show on Netflix to keep me company however this weekend I came across Karen Brown of Just Get it Done Quilts. http://justgetitdonequilts.com
She offers so much content on her YouTube channel from learning about colour, using your scraps, decluttering your sewing space and of course making scraps.
My pineapple blocks needed to grow in order to be added to my Long Time Gone Quilt… somehow I ended up making 7 more than I needed. This type of piecing is very relaxing for me.
The sky is rumbling this morning as it was yesterday morning. While I cut grass with the riding mower Friday evening I watched the sky as the clouds rolled in darker and darker and just as I was close to finishing the wind picked up to the point where you know it’s time to head inside! There wasn’t a lot of rain just thunder and quite the light show.
Our weather has been hot and humid the last few days a little unusual for this time of year. It’s also black fly and mosquito season and as careful as I have been I have more than my share of bites.
Now that Erik has retired we have added a couple of gardens and had a load of soil delivered and picked up a load of horse manure from a farm not too far from here. Needless to say there has been a lot of outside work lately.
Liam learnt how to use our dandelion puller though we gave up on controlling them years ago!
The government announced last week that the schools will remain closed until September so virtual learning continues until June 25th. Liam had mixed emotions about the decision, he does miss being at school but he also enjoys being here though he really dislikes virtual class. We have adapted and he works on some of the assignments that are posted independently.
We often head out for explores in our woods. There are mallards nesting by our pond.
Liam guessed that the robins were hatching, I went under the deck and took a few quick pictures so we could see what was going on…
Next time I will take a little more time to get a better picture. It was fun to see though. There was also a squirrel lurking about…I chased it off and so far it hasn’t been back.
On the quilting front I am currently working on a customers series of 5 wallhanging which I will share soon. I realized after the fact that I didn’t take pictures of Lorraines latest quilt which made me sad as she isn’t sure if she will get to the last two she has planned due to her declining health.
My Moda blockheads quilt is still on the wall as I wait for the Bella Solid to arrive for sashing.
So while I wait I have started working on my next quilt Long Time Gone by Jen Kingwell. I am planning to make it primarily from scraps.
On a fun note I added a little fabric to my stash…
Check out Fuelled by Fabric if you are in my area, Donna does deliver and does curbside as well.
This last week marked a new beginning! Not only was it Eriks birthday but also the beginning of retirement.
I had so much on my mind I meant to put Pappa not Erik on the cake.
Liam has been looking forward to Eriks day for months as it also marks his half birthday and he is really looking forward to being 10.
He and Pappa both have a deep love of Dairy Queen Cake so Liam was pretty pumped to go shopping for that. I had a few other errands to do and we both agreed that it would be best to pick up the cake last. I told Liam that it was his job not to let me forget the cake!
We grilled bison burgers on the green egg for supper. No pictures but they sure were yummy!
Liam spent some time with his Great Grandpa learning to sketch caricature faces. My Dad is an incredible wood carver and artist and it’s so nice to see him sharing his skills.
On a silly note Liam discovered the heat lamp in the sauna change room.
Elizabeth told me that she was inspired by a quilt that she saw while visiting a family member. Sometimes it’s just like that, we see a quilt, admire it and is stays with us.
This causes many a quilter to start collecting fabrics particularly when the quilt was scrappy! This quilt finished as a large queen. Her rules were white on whites with various blues and reds from depression era fabrics.
One word of advice when piecing such a quilt is to stay stitch as you go. What I mean by that is that when you have so many seams esp on your edges that if you stitch 1/8” from the edge it prevents seams from popping open either from handling or being loaded onto a Longarm frame.
I often will stay stitch a quilt for my customers if they haven’t. It makes loading and quilting much easier.
This was such a happy quilt to work on!
The backing really suits the front though working with it wasn’t always easy on my eyes.
There is a quilt on my Longarm ready for trimming and another ready to be delivered…
Today is Erik’s 65th birthday and last day of work! The long awaited and planned for retirement begins! We will begin it with a lot of fishing as we are still restricted in travel.
Today is also Liam’s half birthday which he is also pretty excited about. He and Pappa have been discussing ice cream cake for some time.
Liam and I went on a hike not far from here, yesterday…his first long hike with me and half way through he asked if we could start doing it more often. It’s an hour and a half and a good workout!
We were also testing out the new walkie talkies they worked really well.
The hike is in a conservation area which made for a great teaching opportunity.
Adding his InukshukHalfway Hard to resist!
When we got home, Pappa had discovered a mouse family in our boat…I went inside while Liam excitedly assisted in the eviction!
He thought bringing the evidence close to my face was pretty funny!
So our summer is beginning. I will still continue to Longarm Quilt as it’s just what I do 😊
One of the most exciting to Liam esp was this discovery under our deck which is in clear view from the pool. More to come on that I hope!
Wendy’s Quilting and Life 