Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

September and Life

Life was so busy in August with a trip to the Dells and a week with grands that my morning walks fell my the wayside and then this month began and it’s been busy with quilting and other distractions.

Finally yesterday morning I decided enough and was free to lace up and head out. I will admit to being a little leery beginning my walk in the fog…there was also something almost magical about it though and the air felt so soft.

The colours are changing…

The fog was lifting as I turned back onto our road…and then I was greeted by a neighbour who lives up the road from us who wanted to let me know their was a Sow and her 3 cubs in her yard (that I would be walking by on my way home).

The bears it turns out have been hanging out there and in that are for the last four days…enjoying her apple tree. The bears are hungry and not scaring off.

I did see one on my way home but decided not to stop, though I probably could have gotten a picture. Now to decide if I wait a bit before I resume my morning walks or add a bear banger or air horn to my walking pouch.

There has been an unusually high amount of bears in town lately, apparently the berries have not been plentiful this summer.

In other news a friend of mine shared a coupon to try out Hello Fresh…we both have been feeling a little more than bored with cooking. In fact one of my daughters has been using Factor meals and I love the idea of how quick and healthy those meals are!

Those are the first two that I have made and I am impressed so far. They were a little more involved than most dinners I make, so other than not shopping for supper ingredients it’s not a big time saver. It’s just a nice change for a few weeks I think…

Yesterday I picked Liam up from school…High School! It was a true de ja vous feeling from picking up one of my daughters from there when and before Liam was born! (At one point all four of my daughters attended different schools!)

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Storm at Sea

This is the second quilt from my customer who also made the Log Cabin quilt in my previous post. Her piecing is certainly inspiring and also encouraging as I too hope to be piecing well into my eighties!

We chose the quilting design Bayside. I have different sizes of this design and used the larger one for this quilt. It has a wave like appearance (playing on the storm at sea) with a lovely density for a quilt that will be snuggled under.

I absolutely fell in love with this quilt top and backing…I do love blue!

The binding was provided by the quilt maker and so her quilt was trimmed and binding attached ready for hand stitching at pick up!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Log Cabin Wall Hanging

It’s no secret to my family and friends that I love the colour blue and this blue and white log cabin really made my heart sing!

Not only was this quilt perfectly pieced, my customer proudly told me that she is 88 yrs old. Blue is also her favourite colour…she drove here in her beautiful blue Subaru…a very inspiring woman for sure!

I chose the quilting design Waterworld which added the density I prefer for a wall hanging … not only that it really adds fun visual appeal..

My customer provided the binding ready to attach so not only was her quilt trimmed but with the binding attached it was ready for some relaxing hand stitching to complete her project.

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

August 2025…

August felt like it passed in a blink of an eye…it really didn’t though and was a full and fantastic month of yes quilting but also family, friends, travel, fun, great weather and laughter!

This is one of the quilts that left the studio trimmed and ready for binding and in the busyness of August it wasn’t photographed fully. It was true eye candy so I am sorry to have missed its photo shoot as it’s always fun to share!

That said, it’s also a reflection of summer and allowing myself time to enjoy life!

Nothing shows more, how quickly time passes by than grandchildren! Those who follow me will remember Liam. Look at him now!

He is really going somewhere with his soccer…which is partly why I don’t see him as much. He has also just started high school.

Liam’s sister and our youngest grandchild celebrated her first birthday…

Liam joined us for our annual Wisconsin Dells trip. Two more families joined us this year making it a busier and fun filled week!…

After the Dells we had a solid week of grand-parenting!

Minka spent the last week of August with me…she is so creative so of course we had a lot of fun playing together!

That Friday evening was spent with Minka and her Sister Romee…after dinner we walked over to my Dad and brothers for a visit.

The next morning we were off to Lac De Mille Lac for a weekend at Erik’s oldest family camp. It was a fun and full weekend and great way to finish us a fantastic summer!

Grayson has been wanting his Pappa to come for a few years now to go fishing and finally this summer it happened! They caught fish and Grayson learnt to clean fish and I taught him how I cook it!

Now that the kids are back to school and this Grandma is rested up, I will start sharing more on the quilting side of life!

How was your summer? Our weather shifted this week from hot to needing the furnace on…

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Life versus Busyness and Balance

I love waking up very early and I especially love very early morning walks esp in the summer!

Just before I woke up this morning I had a very realistic dream that my daughter who lives in Texas was suddenly here, we had such a nice visit in my dream.

After, when I woke up I of course wished she was here and could join me for my walk…and just as it was putting on my shoes guess who called and joined me!!

Life can feel so busy and it’s so important to remember to take time for oneself.

I have been really busy with quilting for others which I am extremely thankful for, I love my job!

Quilting is also my beloved hobby and I wasn’t finding time for me…my friend Louisa suggested that I carve out an hour or so a day just for me and my quilting and guess what? Not only am I more productive with my own projects but also my customer quilts as well!

I am currently piecing Small World by Tara Faughnan along with my Postage Stamp quilt.

I actually have 10 blocks finished now…

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Crimson Christmas

This Chrimson Christmas (pattern and kit by Krista Moser) was taught at a local quilt shop.

My customer chose the quilting design Bayside, it is what I call a non descript design meaning it’s a perfect background allowing the piecing design front stage! The poinsettias deserve front stage don’t they?

Side note…I love my ikea cabinets

Her quilt was trimmed and ready for binding at pick up!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Yellow and Quilting…a sweet baby quilt

This sweet baby quilt recently left my studio quilted bound and ready for gifting!

A popular design with many of my customers Waterworld was chosen for the quilting. I was also tasked with providing the binding fabric which made for a fun dive into my stash! The backing (not sure why I didn’t get pictures) was a lovely soft pink flannel.

I love how happy and sunny this little quilt is and how happy I felt working on it esp knowing that it would soon be gifted to a little one.

It also brought back a memory of an early quilting instructor who said not to use yellow in your quilts or if you did to only use a small amount because it was a colour that could easily overpower the rest of the colours!

That bit of advice seemed strange to me as it’s one of my favourite happy colours!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Fishing and Quilting

Our Grandson Grayson has really caught the fishing bug this summer much to our delight!

He and his sister Kaija were here last week and in an unusual turn of events Grayson asked to sew with me and Kaija asked to shoot targets with Pappa.

Grayson has sewn with me before and really enjoys quilting his projects. The project that he had in mind was to make a phone case with some fish fabric that he knew was in my stash.

We used a solid black cotton and after fusing it to the foam, he quilted it with a fun variegated thread. We used Heat and Bond to on the fish fabric so that he could cut out the fish he wanted on his pouch.

I attached the binding and he helped with the Velcro closure.

My favourite thing about sewing with our grandchildren, aside from the new skills that they learn, I love the one on one time which is a great opportunity to learn from them and listen to what’s going on in their life ❤️

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Tulip Quilt

This customer quilt was pieced as a birthday gift for her daughter who loves tulips! She chose the pantograph Daisy Swirl. Such a beautiful addition to this already lovely quilt!

My customers fabric choices for her quilts truly make my heart sing! This was hers as well

Back to the Tulips adding a different flower instead of just looking for a Tulip design added more of a flower garden look along with some curves to help soften the angular lines. Just a personal thought of mine 😊

Her quilt was trimmed and ready for binding at pick up!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

A Sweet Winnie the Pooh Quilt

While recently reading bedtime stories to one of my granddaughters (3yrs old) I asked her if she knew who Winnie the Pooh was she said no so I read her one of the books…so much silly fun!

Anyways, this was a fun, happy customer quilt that was quilted by me this summer…

We chose the pantograph Popcorn for its fun light puffy like clouds appearance. Again as I have mentioned before, when quilting a child’s quilt I like a little more density which I feel adds to the durability of the quilt.

The backing as you can see it a delightful rainbow of colours, a wonderful compliment to the quilt top.

This quilt was trimmed and ready for binding at pick up!