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How can a whole month pass so quickly? I know that it’s not quite over but it’s getting there.

I don’t think that I’ve mentioned that I was recently hired by Wesway, as a casual respite worker. This month I’ve completed my training and also worked with my first family this last week. It feels like a perfect fit so far.

I will still be Longarm Quilting for my customers! This is the latest quilt to come off the Longarm. (more pics to come) This quilt is 104”x94” and is made completely with 2 1/2” half square triangles. Marilyn’s piecing is incredible and this quilt is perfectly square and was a dream to quilt!

I also taught the first class in my new sewing studio, Tuesday night.

Update on my new sewing room, my ironing station needs a few tweaks that will happen tomorrow. I will share pictures when it’s finished, but I will say it’s exactly what I’ve envisioned for several years now.

The floors and baseboards are all finished and look awesome, thank you to Taylor and Josh for so much help. They are also the twin power pack and moved a lot of heavy furniture as well as my elliptical for me and made it look almost effortless.

Anyways last night I finally put my design wall up in my new studio

I bought 2 sheets of 4’x8’  1” thick rigid foam insulation. I cut them down slightly to accommodate the baseboards and a little off one side to make a perfect fit between two electrical outlets.

I taped the two pieces together using Gorilla tape and also attached the batting with the same tape. (worked like a charm)

I attached it to the wall with screws and upholstery washers. Last night while visiting blogs I came across Katie’s which is very close to what I did. By the way her blog is so worth visiting regularly!

My finished project:

I have wanted a huge design wall for so many years, how much easier will this be when laying out the blocks for  queen size quilts. My knees are already thanking me!

I know this is late and somehow that last month just moved along faster than I was able to keep up!

One thing I love about January is the calm that seems to take hold after the busyness of the Holiday’s

I’ve been busy with a few things lately, one being painting and preparing my new sewing studio.

I will still have my longarm studio downstairs but I’ve been transforming my Master Bedroom into my sewing room/classroom.

The lighting is excellent, night-time sewing will be a breeze which is a wonderful thing this time of year when it’s dark so early in the day and on those grey cloudy days.

I will have a larger ironing station/cutting station and an 8’x8’ design wall, as well as an area I can finally hang finished quilts for photographing.

I’ve painted the room a soft and lovely yellow and now I’m just waiting for the baseboards to go in and the furniture moved. Oh and there will be so much more storage room for my stash.

I’ll be sharing pictures as well as more about what my plans are for this year.

Ann called the other day wondering if I could quilt these table-runners that she had made. She had originally planned to quilt them herself but changed her mind.

They posed a slight problem in that they had already “been pillow-cased” with the backing so I couldn’t attach them to the longarm leaders as I normally would. No problem, I just pinned additional leaders to them.

I first remember seeing this quilt in a Keepsake Quilting Catalogue and thinking wow that is a cool quilt.

When Jeannie asked me if I could quilt hers this week instead of her quilt that was waiting next in line here, I was excited to work on it.

(excuse the chalk lines, I use school chalk to mark guidelines for myself, they are easily removed with the help of my compressor)

The tree was made using trapunto and both the tree and sky were made with gradient fabrics for a wonderful 3D affect.

Do you want to learn the basics of how to piece a quilt, while having fun? I have an idea,Have you heard of Craftsy? If you haven’t you should go for a visit. They have offered a free Block of the Month class that was created for beginners and the instructor is wonderful! (Amy Gibson is super busy these days having just given birth to twin boys (brothers for their 2 daughters).

So what is my idea? If you have a few friends who want to learn to quilt how much fun would it be to work on this fun quilt at the same time perhaps as a small group?

I couldn’t resist Octobers block..why I start with the last block I’m not sure but I just had to make this today. What do you think?

I’ve really enjoyed being re inspired by another Longarm Quilter/Teacher Angela Walters. She writes a great blog and she really makes the modern quilts sing!

After I’ve spent my day working on customer quilts, I will often unwind by sewing a block or trying something new. Angela’s book inspired this little quilt and quilting.

My love of quilts and quilting has grown over the years from miniature quilts and custom jobs for others and for the last 8 years Longarm quilting for others Using my APQS Millennium.

I offer a full range of quilting from edge to edge designs also known as Pantographs, to Custom quilting as well as Freehand quilting. I have a full range of thread to choose from and if I don’t have what you desire I will find it for you. I can use your batting, or you can purchase Hobbs 80/20 in both black and natural or Quilters Dream batting from me. I sell my batting on the roll by the inch so you only pay for what you need.

As a added service I will piece your backing for you at no charge.

I’m located in Thunder Bay, Ontario and can be contacted through this blog or

wendysquilting@gmail.com

I’ve been busy with customer quilts which I love doing.

I’ve recently been reading some new books and taken a few classes over at Craftsy. Do you ever feel so inspired that you feel like your brain just can’t contain anymore ideas until you start to try some out?

Last night, my Longarm machine was empty and I really didn’t want to load the next job until I could devote the full day to it. So I just started with a piece of backing left over from a friends quilt and just started to play..

Then I decided to quilt a small Convergence quilt I’d pieced last year.

maybe you can see a bit more of where I was going by looking at the back.

and a little something I made to practice some ideas that I’ve gathered from reading Angela Walters book Free-Motion Quilting. The pattern for this top can be found on Moda Bakeshop and is by Angela Walters. I hope to play on this one next weekend.