Professional Longarm Quilting Services
Welcome December 21! The first official day of winter…I may come to regret saying this but where is the snow? The weather forecast for Christmas Eve and day are for above 0 Celsius. This might just be my first not white Christmas in Thunder Bay.
I am finishing up my Christmas projects this week. This little pouch along with another were my fun task last night. I love making these little projects and they make fun gifts.
December like November seems to be flying by! We had a dusting of snow overnight however with the projected temperatures it will disappear by noon and now we have unseasonably warm temperatures for the rest of the month and no sign of snow! It might not be a white Christmas this year.
One of the quilts that I have finished is a fantastic example of using colour values in piecing a quilt top along with the value of saving and using scraps.
Marilyn has made several of these quilts, one for each of her grands I believe. I have met two of her granddaughters that absolutely treasure their Grandma and also her gift of quilts.
As a professional Longarm quilter for almost 19 years and a quilt maker for close to 40 years I know how much time and love goes into making quilts for others. (Along with the expense)
I have always strived to give each quilt job my full attention and providing my customers with quality workmanship.
I was recently asked how many quilts I work on a month, following me on social media she is able to see many of the quilts that I am entrusted with.
My response is that it depends!
It depends on the size of the quilt as well as what that particular order entails.
I spend time preparing each quilt before loading onto my Longarm. I sew yardage for backings for some and also carefully press the quilt top and then the backing in order to prevent issues afterwards. Such as puckers and pleats.
This isn’t a race, I like to give each quilt the time and attention that I give to my own.
I absolutely love quilting and spend an average of 8 hours most days quilting. (I enjoy a short commute to work).
This is a busier season and most of my customers let me know in advance if they are working on a quilt for Christmas and so have their quilt placed in my queue.
If someone asks to fit one in before Christmas who isn’t in my queue I will do my best to work a little overtime and fit them in. 🎄
Marilyn’s quilt is trimmed and ready for binding.
Let me help you bring your quilting projects to completion.
Monday was such a fun filled busy day! Late in the afternoon I received a call confirming my address because he had a delivery from a local florist. Having no idea who would be sending me flowers I felt a bit confused maybe that’s the word definitely curious!
My Aunt and Uncle sent them! When I called to say thank you and that I was shocked and so surprised! My Aunt told me that she and my Uncle like to surprise someone each Christmas with flowers and that I was chosen this year. She later told me that Uncle Gary was just thrilled that I was shocked!
This memory popped up, Liam has always enjoyed quilts and quickly crawled into the middle of this customer quilt just as she arrived to pick it up! Thankfully she was delighted to see how much he liked it. (Liam is now 12yrs old)
I am currently quilting another half square amazing quilt by Marilyn… I have lost count however this may be the 5th or 6th this was taken on the weekend I did get a few more rows quilted after this picture…however….
Yesterday we had a fun filled day with our grandson 3 yr old Jaxson!
His Mom sent us this picture she took on the way home. He is big into dinosaurs and the puppet in his hands was a gift we bought last summer but when he first saw it, it was scary…yesterday he told us it’s not scary anymore.
After supper, I attended our local Quilt Guild meeting, we had 3 in person meetings and have now resumed Zoom meeting for the winter…I was thankful for that after such a full day.
We enjoyed guest speaker Jane Z Haworth
She did a wonderful and informative talk about her Collage Quilting…she was very inspiring.
The day also held a big surprise which I will share a little later when we have some daylight. Our hours of daylight are noticeably shorter each day right now, making me look forward to the Solstice.
This Christmas tree quilt was made using a pattern and fabrics by Edita Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts. It was such a pleasure to quilt and enjoy having in my studio!
We chose the pantograph Rhapsody which played on the theme in many of the fabrics.
I like to choose a design that compliments the quilt not necessarily one that echoes the design. Thread colour and weight of thread also make a big difference in the outcome of the quilting.
I personally find it very difficult not to be inspired by the quilts that I work on! Edita’s quilts often have the small piecing that I love to do and the appliqué ❤️
I love the way the quilting shows on the back of the quilt!
Trimmed and ready for binding!
Let me help you to complete your quilting projects!
I usually only post about my quilting on my blog, this post is not about quilting. I will say though that my quilting certainly helped enable me in raising my family.
When I first became a single parent of 4 young children, I needed to get my education and an income to support them. The court ordered child support very rarely transpired.
We had to move weeks before our first Christmas on our own and I was also busy at the time attending College. One of my budget stretching techniques was to stock up on staples the weeks before Christmas during sales, knowing that in January prices would be higher.
I had always made it a point to teach my children to be kind and generous…well that December their school had a food drive all month with the incentive that the class that gave the most would be treated to a pizza lunch.
My heart sank when I realized that my carefully stocked pantry was almost empty! How could I explain to my girls that they had given away what we really needed? Well the lesson was on me as we received hampers that year that more than filled my pantry.
I remember while in one of my college classes being asked to write life goals, one of mine was that I would raise daughters who would make a positive difference in this world. My girls are all grown now and I am so proud of them all as they do make a positive difference.
This link will take you to one of my daughters who is helping others not only to learn how to save money on their food shopping but also with budgeting their money.
http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2289972803613
As we move closer to Winter solstice our amount of natural daylight hours become less and less add to that, that it seems that the sun is shy and hiding behind the clouds… making it really challenging to truly capture the true beauty of some quilts. I came close with this quilt.
Marlene’s White Chocolate quilt is absolutely stunning with its subtle soft colours and creamy backgrounds.
After looking at several options for the quilting, Marlene chose the pantograph Gravity. The fun oval design of this pantograph leans toward a modern look and really plays so nicely with this more traditional looking quilt.
The curves in the quilting soften the angular look in the piecing.
The backing fabric has a beautiful sheen to it and as it was brought to me as yardage, it was pieced by me, carefully matching the design. This is a complementary service that I offer.
Both quilt top and backing are always carefully pressed before loading onto my Longarm.
The quilt was trimmed after quilting and ready for binding when Marlene picked her quilt up.
Let me help you bring your quilting projects to completion.
The Nebula Quilt designed by Julie Herman of Jaybird Quilts with fabric designed by Tula Pink is a glorious party of Colour!
Suzanne chose a soft flannel backing and Wool for her batting. A good quality wool batting from companies like Hobbs and Quilters Dream are wonderful to work with and add more loft to a quilt.
Wool is warm in the winter without added weight and also cooler in the summer. It does require a little more care when washing and I personally would not ever put a quilt with wool in the dryer. I actually hang all quilts to dry but that is a personal preference.
After looking through several options for a quilting design Suzanne chose Belly Bop, it is a fun and medium dense design that plays so nicely over these modern prints.
The super soft flannel backing has such a soft flowing design and really showcases the quilting.
The quilt was trimmed and ready for binding when it was picked up.
Let me work with you to bring your quilting projects to completion!
I am not entirely sure how December has arrived when I was just getting used to it being November!
The very best part of November in my books is that it’s Liam’s Birthday…he turned 12 last week.
My Dad hosted a family dinner in Liam’s honour, he smoked a turkey that Liam’s Mom provided and the rest of the dinner was made by my daughter Katie and I. Family dinners are so much easier when everyone helps!
I wish that I had taken a picture of his gift and reaction to opening it. You see he had requested money for an upcoming trip in February…this request was made in the summer. So to make it fun, I put 4 $1. USD bills in a peanut butter jar as a liner to look like the label…then filled a third of it with coins and wrapped more bills into the centre of the coins and topped the jar up with our remaining Halloween treats. The gift was a total success.
As his Grandma I have enjoyed his childhood so much, we have spent so much time together and he has truly brought so much joy in my life. These last months I have noticed how much he has grown and is definitely less of a little boy. I am sure by his next birthday he will be taller than I am, his life is busy with soccer and school and friends as it should be…though he has told me he still plans to be here in the summer and our annual trip to the Dells.
When my 3 year old granddaughter Minka let me know that she wanted an all pink quilt, I happily got on that…I am also making one for her sister. Pink is Minka’s favourite colour right now. The quilt is similar to Olivia’s baby quilt that I made last summer.
I have been collecting pink fabric for awhile now, I took advantage of Road17N’s Black Friday sale and ordered backing fabric and a couple more metres of pinks…what a great surprise to find more pink fabrics inside the parcel a few days later!
I really try to allow for an hour of piecing every evening after I finish working on the Longarm. I may have to add an extra hour in the morning in order to finish both quilts.
My presentation of my quilting journey went well at the November Quilt Guild meeting.
Welcome to December…
Last year when some of my customers saw this table runner that I had quilted they were inspired!
The pattern is Those trees by Zen Chic.
Melissa chose Kona Sheen in Arctic Ice for her background fabric, it truly has the sheen of ice with a very subtle sparkle to it.
Backed with a silver grey Fireside fabric and quilted with the pantograph Windswept, trimmed and ready for binding….her quilt that she made for herself will soon be ready to snuggle under.
Wendy’s Quilting and Life 