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!
I am starting to really want to move on, however I am determined to finish this top and it needs to be soon… well not that I will rush it, I just am doing my best not to start something new until this top is completed.
I wanted to add a large block to this quilt and found one in the original block head quilt it was by Corey Yoder and finishes at 24” square. I wanted something that I could incorporate some pineapple blocks which this block fit the bill.
I began with the outside of the block
These were completed last weekend.
Of course life gets busy and play time gets limited.
Liam is here Monday to Friday and I help him with virtual school and try to come up with fun outside activities.
Customer quilts take precedence over personal quilts often though there are times when the ideas in my head need to come first!
I was finally able to finish my big block yesterday
I plan to lay out the blocks this week and decide layout and sashing etc
This extra large queen size quilt was a joy to quilt. We chose the pantograph Maple Syrup to go along with the theme of her border blocks which were pieced maple leaves with the addition of appliquéd stems.
It’s spring and this week Liam and Decided it would be safe to finally store the winter boots etc… We have been enjoying our walks in the woods looking at all the new signs of growth!
Carols quilt has a very winter feel with skiers flying down the slopes. We chose the snowflake pantograph which adds a windy, snowy look. The quilting really showed on the black and red checkered flannel backing.
This soft flannel adds such as cozy feeling to the quilt. Though we are hoping not to need very much flannel for a few months!
Wendy’s Quilting and Life 