Tag: Family

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Travel and Quilting (part 2)

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Spring in Thunder Bay has arrived and I always enjoy watching the greens evolve in our yard. We arrived home just in time.

We/ mostly Erik have been busy in the yard and I have been busy in my studio.

Jen brought me her first quilt, we chose the pantograph Forest Floor adding to its outdoorsy cabin look. (It is a gift meant to be used in her friend’s camp…( in Thunder Bay cottages and cabins are referred to as Camps)

Jen’s quilt was trimmed and ready for binding at pick up!

Now a little more about our recent adventure

St Augustine is known for being the oldest City in the US. We both drank from the fountain of youth!

We chose to stay in KOA campgrounds for the most part as it made planning the trip a little easier and also because for the most part you know what to expect.

Our next stop was in Bradenton Florida for a night. This KOA was on a farm and was so interesting to walk and cycle around.

Many of the campgrounds had cabins and covered wagons to rent for those without an RV.

The next morning we were headed to Bonita Springs where we had booked a one week stay at Bonita Terra. We have friends who spend the winter there and it was so nice to visit with them and to check out a 55plus resort.

We had the use of a golf cart!! I loved driving that around though I especially loved being able to walk my 10,000 steps in the morning on the shady sides of the canal roads.

The pool area and club house we are lot of fun!

We spent time exploring Fort Myers and Marco Island as well as Bonita Springs.

This Banyan Tree was amazing! I can picture children having a lot of fun playing around and climbing a tree like this.

I was sad to leave this area of Florida but also excited to experience and see our upcoming destinations.

On our way to our next Campground (Larry and Penny Thompson Memorial Park and Campground in south Miami) we drove through the Florida Everglades.

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Colour Confidence…Quilting

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This week I have been busy quilting a few quilts made by a long time customer of mine.

I have always admired her use of colour and how she plays with different layouts. Her quilts are often what are referred to as scrap quilts. When someone has been quilting for many years those scraps accumulate and seem to grow when stored away.

Some of her quilts such as this one is just a bounty of colour and prints, they are so much fun to look at and explore the variety of prints.

Making simple blocks and utilizing same colour families in individual blocks is another technique that plays with colour.

The variety of colour and prints against a solid or solid reading print in this next quilt would really use up some scraps and sure makes a fun quilt to look at. Many of the most fun scrap quilts have easily pieced blocks such as half square triangles.

Allowing yourself the freedom of playing with your scraps over time, will help to grow your colour confidence.

One of the most freeing decisions that I have made in my personal scrap quilts is that I let go of stressing over the placement of blocks.

When discussing some of my scrap quilts with this customer and long time quilter, we both agree that a simple rule of no two same fabrics should touch but it’s alright if they are close by.

Allowing yourself to play and make scrap quilts just for the pure enjoyment of sewing and creating will I believe help to grow colour confidence,

This quilt, made by my Mom was made in an attempt to use up stash and is a wonderful example of years of acquiring scraps from projects and putting them together into a quilt that will be enjoyed for years to come! Happy Birthday in Heaven today Mom!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

January 2024…Quilting and Life

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I love this picture of our youngest Grandson! It really reflects how he embraces life, he is a busy, curious, and joyful child. Who will begin school in the fall! This is the picture taken of him at an event introducing the children to kindergarten.

Maybe no matter what stage we are in life we should try to embrace each season in life with so much enthusiasm!

January 2024 has been an unusual Month weather wise, seeing only a short stint of bitter cold and while we did get some snow it wasn’t anywhere near our normal.

I have been very happily busy in my studio working on customer quilts and doing my best to schedule in some personal sewing time as well, even making it out to the Rec centre a few times to sew with friends.

Practicing and learning more about quilting on my domestic machine continues to be a goal this year along with playing with scraps …my postage stamp quilt is in progress but may need to be put aside for some other quilts that have been added to the list.

I have 20 blocks finished so far

Working with a ruler on a quilt for Betty has reminded me that I should return to some of my custom work!

Betty’s Globe Quilt

So far February is looking to be a busy and fun Month! What are you working on?

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Pink Quilts for Granddaughters

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A few months ago my Granddaughter Minka 3yrs asked me if I could make her an all pink quilt. I had made a pink baby quilt for our Granddaughter Olivia’s arrival last summer.

I still had a fair amount of pink fabric left from that project to start another…I did purchase more fabrics when Minka’s Mom suggested a pink quilt for Romee as well.

Sometimes it’s just fun to make quilts with squares and to make them as scrappy as possible. These quilts are fun! I also added pink fabrics from my Moms fabric stash.

Minka’s

The quilts are similar, though they have different backings and bindings and Minka’s has some butterflies from fabric that she especially liked. Minka’s quilt was quilted with the pantograph Hearts and Blooms.

Minka’s backing…those paw prints on the binding are so cute!

I ordered the fabrics from the quilt shop https://road17n.ca for the backings and bindings…when I opened the package I was so surprised to find a gift of 5 good sized sample pieces of more pink fabrics so they were added into the quilts as well.

Romees Quilt

The adorable backing for Romees quilt made choosing the binding a little more of a challenge, I am really pleased with my choice. this quilt was quilted using the pantograph Two of Hearts.

Over the Christmas holidays Kaija came to visit a few times and has begun making her own pink quilt. Hopefully over the summer she and I will have more time to make her pink quilt! Kaija requested that we make hers together.

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Sunshine and Butterflies!

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We have been experiencing normal deep freeze winter weather here for the last week or so ago. For the most part winter weather doesn’t bother me.

I do love a bright sunshiny January day and yesterday was one of those days!

I am over due in sharing this special quilt that was made during 2023 for my daughter Mary. It has a lot of significance personally and was a joy to make.

After quilting the quilt with the pantograph Butterfly Charm and a beautiful variegated thread, I added additional quilting with my domestic machine and wonderfil Glamore thread to add more glitz.

My daughter loves purple and butterflies and she told me that she had wanted a quilt with this quilting design from the moment it first arrived in my studio so many years ago. When she saw the quilt as a kit on a Keepsake Quilting Catalogue she quickly requested it.

Her son Liam asked to make the label for this special quilt and he did a fantastic job!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

New Years and Quilting

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Welcome to 2024!

We enjoyed welcoming in the new year quietly.

The second day of the year was spent with two of our Grandchildren. Kaija and I finished making her pouch from last weeks sewing first.

She found a small scrap of fabric with Olaf from the movie frozen and she chose her fabrics from my scrap basket to grow it into a pouch. She has so much fun with my basket of scraps!

Kaija loves to fill the bags and pouches with little bits of fabric that she finds in my sewing room to take home with her! 😊

Later she discovered left overs from the pink quilts and my empty design wall. She had so much fun with the squares and putting together 9 patches to put together to make a new quilt!

I love how interested Kaija is in my sewing, it will be fun to see where it takes her.

Grayson wanted to sew as well, his interest lately has been hand stitching, he worked on a little pouch last week and this week how to sew a button on. We had snow over new years so what he really wanted to do involved Pappa and a snowmobile!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

The Week Between

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Let’s start with my morning view!!! That looks more like it for this time of year ☃️

Somehow the week between Christmas and New Years has flown by! Not without a lot of fun. We had Grand parenting days. While there was no snow so no snowmobiling, Erik took the kids on Quad rides instead.

If I haven’t mentioned it before we have several trails throughout our property, we really enjoy them and visiting the pond as well. Well the Grandchildren love the trails!

Grayson decided that he wanted to learn some sewing and asked if he could learn to hand sew! Maybe this was inspiring

The second of two pink quilts

Grayson even got Pappa involved in the sewing!

Grayson is getting really good on the machine as well, working on the bag that he is making

Kaija discovered my newest scissors and enjoyed snipping scraps and cutting out the sloths from a trimmed piece.

Kaija and I made a bag together, she likes to use the foot petal while I guide the fabric. She loves choosing the fabrics as well. it won’t be long before she is using the machine.

She was really silly when I took the picture…how scary does that marker look. She is really careful about colouring though.

Minka and Romee joined in one afternoon! Grayson and Pappa built a fort for the girls. They made full use of it and had a lot of fun together.

I love this picture my daughter sent of Minka’s fort at home, she is inside with a quilt sleeping and using Romees quilt to cover the fort! I love to see the quilts I make in action!!

Today is the 19th anniversary of my Longarm quilting machines arrival, I also like to call it her birthday. My Millennium is an amazing machine and I have a special treat for her that I will share soon.

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Christmas 2023

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Christmas Morning…no snow and above zero Celsius temperatures! There isn’t any snow in the forecast and temperatures continue to be very mild.

Winter solstice was very welcomed, without snow the darkest days of the year seemed even darker as the snow does reflect what light there is.

The extra lights from the tree and other Christmas decorations are so welcome and add such a cozy feel to life!

Our family brunch which we host the Sunday before Christmas has become a wonderful tradition and this year was no exception. It’s a very busy fun filled day and one that I don’t have pictures to share but lovely memories to cherish.

Eriks Mom hosted Christmas Eve with a beautiful dinner that has become more of a potluck style meal as the grandchildren are grown, though she still roasts the turkey makes her famous amazing mashed potatoes, carrot casserole, salt fish sandwiches and moccasins as the children call this very traditional Finnish treat.

My daughter and son in law invited me to share their joy of Christmas morning with them and Joy it was watching my granddaughters see the transformation of their family room with tree decorated and lit and gifts and stockings from Santa.

I gifted myself with time to hand sew in the afternoon, as we were invited to my youngest daughters for Christmas Dinner. It was delicious and a truly beautiful evening!

It’s been a very busy season of quilting for my customers and making sure that their quilts were ready for gifting. I am so thankful for my customers that entrust me with their quilts!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

A Busy Day in December!

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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

http://www.janehawortth.com

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.

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

November

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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.

A night time shot of my design wall.

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…