Tag: Family

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Spring Break and Life

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No actual quilting happened here yesterday!

It’s spring break here, and with that My daughter and family are here from Texas! I had been hoping that we would still have good snow for their visit and my wish was granted!

Jerry is almost 13 and hadn’t been here in the winter since he was a little guy. He and Liam made fast friends again and made the absolute most of yesterday,

The most quilty thing that happened was that I picked up my two rolls of batting from http://bordergiant and having both Liam and Jerry with me they each carried a roll into my studio for me.

The rest of my day involved food…and watching boys have fun!

Jerry is a fast learner and after a few runs through the trails with Liam driving he was off on his own machine. They snowmobiled for 4 1/2 hours!

After Bison Burgers for supper there were nerf gun wars, some serious rough house play, Jerry teaching Liam self protection moves and so much laughter!! It was a full, busy day ending with the boys having a hot sauna, hot chocolate and no complaints about heading to bed…the grandparents weren’t far behind.

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Scrappy Goodness!!

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Anyone who knows me knows that I love Quilts!

Todays Instagram Quilt Fest post is about scrappy finishes, so I spent a little time looking through my pictures and look what I found!

My adorable Granddaughters enjoying a summer day last year! I had forgotten about the quilt that they are on!

It was made using quilters candies from a once upon loved quilt shop in town called Patchworks! The owner had a candle jar of charms folded into 1” squares with a stitch to hold them together. When I shopped with my girls the owner Diana would pour them onto the floor and my girls were allowed to pick one to add to the collection…

I remember making the quilt to practice Longarm quilting when I first began my business.

One day last December we had a day with grands which always makes for a grand day! Kaija asked me if we could go to my sewing room and make something. Music to this Grandmas ears!!

We made a pouch with scraps and when I dumped out my in use scrap basket I was reminded of my initial love of scraps! She filled her little pouch with scraps and has had hours of fun!

I have made and quilted so many scrappy quilts and my customer quilts continue to inspire more…

I have an early memory of my Mom taking taking me to a neighbours house and this lady had a sewing room full of Raggedy Ann dolls all in bright dresses she also made Barbie clothes…that room was so full of inspiration that never left me I was probably 5 yrs at the time!

Hopefully my sewing room will grow inspiration in my granddaughter’s hearts and minds as well.

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

February

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Well the month has begun in the deep freeze! The feels like temperature this morning when I woke was -42C. I am extremely happy to be able to be at home all day today!

January was an extremely full and busy month and I am so grateful for all of the people who entrust their quilts to me to help complete. Other than finishing my Longtime Gone quilt top and a little sewing on Mondays at the Rec centre most of the month was spent working on the Longarm.

Just a peek at a recent Northern Lights Quilt…more to come.

The Thunder Bay Quilt Guild is gearing up for the long awaited Quilt Show in May so we quilters are all extra busy these days. I am planning to show some of mine and hoping to fit in one or two into my my Longarm schedule. (If you are wanting a quilt done by me for the show please let me know soon as my schedule is getting pretty full.)

On the life side… I enjoyed a full day this week watching Liam and his school team play in a basketball tournament with his Mom 😊

And today marks not only my 37th Anniversary of becoming a Mom …

It is my daughter Sarah’s Birthday!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Todays Morning View

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As the Grandchildren began arriving, we began a tradition of holding a Christmas brunch the Sunday before Christmas. My thinking was it would be nicer than the pressure for young families of trying to be with everyone over a two day period.

So todays our day. The tree is decorated, gifts under the tree. Liam has a new Fort built for the cousins. Cookies are baked.

Liam and I began a tradition when he was very small of baking his favourite chocolate cherry cookies together…

This year he and his Mom mixed the dough and last night he helped me bake them…

We have enough snow! Erik has the snowmobiles ready and made the trails yesterday through the woods for fun after brunch!

It will be a full but fun day!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

November Snow and Life

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Well we knew it was coming and we did make a point of savouring the last of the above freezing temperatures. This new view from the picture window will most likely be our reality for a while.

The hours of daylight are lessening with every day, making me increasingly thankful for my fun bright studio and the quilts that I am entrusted with to help complete.

This is one of the projects that kept me busy this week. I really do love the affect of a lot of background fill in this case circles and swirls…more about it in another post.

Liam will be 11 this month and is happily enjoying being in grade 6 and being in school. One of his latest accomplishments has been mastering the rubic cube! He was pretty proud of himself as he’s been working on that for several months.

In my free time I have continued to play with crumb piecing…

I have also discovered Minki Kim’s YouTube tutorials on her bag and pouch making. Have you checked them out?

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

A November Treat

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We have really enjoyed beautiful weather this last week which for the beginning of November is such a treat!

Knowing that it won’t last long, I made it a point to use the clothesline and also to bring the winter boots etc in from storage yesterday.

On the quilting side of my life, I currently have a queen sized quilt on the Longarm. I often will work in the morning into the early afternoon and then spend my evenings quilting.

I left off last night with one more row to quilt…

With the temperature in the high teens yesterday (Celsius) and the weather forecast showing that is the last of these temperatures for a long time an outdoor adventure was in order.

I joined Liam and his Mom…my daughter for an adventure at a nearby park.

We have a high of 6C today and rain and snow forecasted for tomorrow.

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

November

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At the beginning of every month it seems that Erik and I comment to each other how the previous month flew by…

October was no exception! It was a full month of preparing the yard for the upcoming winter while the weather cooperates. We did enjoy nice temperatures for the most part.

Somehow this summer we didn’t get out fishing! So early in October there looked like a promising day and Liam happily agreed to miss an afternoon of school and join us for some fishing! It was a fantastic day and we were rewarded with our limits of pickerel.

Jaxson came by for some driving lessons….

We even had some target shooting visitors!

October was a very busy month in my studio! My Longarm quilting takes precedence which has left little time for personal piecing. When time allows usually at the end of the day I have worked on my crumb blocks…I find it a relaxing way to play and to use up bits of fabric scraps.

Here’s a sneak peek at one of the last of the October customer quilts. It is one of two that will be fun to share after they are picked up.

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Last of July, Quilt Shop visit and Silver Islet

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The only thing that I really don’t like about summer is that it seems to fly by! Somehow August seems to be in an even bigger hurry than July was. This post is a catch up from July.

A customer requested that I pick up a backing for her quilt which I do periodically for my customers. This request gave me the perfect excuse for a day trip to Pass Lake and a visit with Donna Watson who owns Fuelled by Fabric! If you are local and haven’t been to visit and shop in her wonderful quilt shop do yourself the favour!!

There may have been more than just backing fabric that followed me home.

My Dad and Liam joined me for this adventure as I also wanted to go further down the road. We visited the Sleepy G farm and picked up eggs…Liam learned about the honour system of paying.

Also the new Amethyst shop in Pass Lake is beautiful and well worth stopping by for a visit.

Years ago I was invited to spend time with a friend and family at their camp at Silver Islet. Saying that I loved it there would be a huge understatement…if you haven’t been it is so well worth the drive.

Silver Islet has an amazing history and many of the miners cabins still stand along with the store that has been restored and reopened …unfortunately being a Wednesday the store was closed that day but we still found our fun!

Such a fun and interesting day. My Dad used to own a sailboat and like tho sail to Silver Islet and really enjoyed seeing the updates!
The fog hid the island, thankfully the picture captured it! A quick google search will take you to more information and amazing pictures by better photographers than I.
Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Mid July

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Well with a look of the calendar we are a little past mid July…it’s been a full month.

One of the best things about my quilting business is that I can work throughout the day and evenings instead of having to fit life around my job. I am currently working on a king size quilt and have some others to share.

One of the best things in the summer is extra time with Liam…something he and I both agree on. He has spent as much time as he can in the pool and the weather for the most part has worked in his favour. Our pool is solar heated.

He can spend hours swimming and playing in there at times just floating around looking so relaxed!

He loves it when I get in too and we have been working on perfecting our frisbee game.

My Dad’s 85th birthday was this month. Life is good and he has certainly role modelled to his family what a healthy lifestyle can bring to life! Sadly we missed his party that I had planned due to Covid, so we had a second party after taking extra time to be sure we would all be safe.

My Auntie Marie had sent one of her blueberry pies along with my brother when he stopped to visit enroute from Calgary. Dad saved the pie to share with us. It turns out that blueberry pie isn’t only Dads favourite!

Liam has been asking me to teach him to make banana bread this summer…the days have been way too hot to use the oven. That is until yesterday. I haven’t made bread in a really long time and have been meaning to replace my old loaf pans so we made muffins instead.

We watched a YouTube video first which explained the process and then got busy.

He had a hard time waiting for them to cool… and a hard time not snacking on them during the day. At ten and a half his appetite seems to be constant…and he loves that he is almost as tall as I am.

It rained much of the day yesterday, but we did manage to get out for a walk together. I usually walk first thing in the morning in the summer while the guys sleep. Today is looking promising for both my morning walk and Liam’s pool time.

I hope that you enjoy your day!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

It might just be spring!

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This mornings view from the picture window! There is still some snow on the ground most of it in the yard is what remains from plowing…aka snow mountains. The grass is turning green and there is that slight tinge of green leaves on the poplars. Spring seems to finally be here.

Erik and I walked the back paths to our pond yesterday, it is huge! Between the heavy rains this week and the snow melting and the ground still being frozen….

Our sump pump has been on constant duty for the last couple of weeks.

The robins have been busy rebuilding their nest under our deck…it’s always so much fun watching their process and can usually see the babies from the pool…. Summer is coming! Erik has taken advantage of our well being too high and has the pool almost filled!

We were also able to dine on the deck this week and Liam was more than happy to join us!