Professional Longarm Quilting Services
Liam and I spent part of Monday afternoon working on his quilt. The rows are all together and he was pretty pleased with the results.
Now to choose the backing and we will slip this quilt onto the Longarm once I finish the current customer quilt.
All of the rows are sewn! Liam really mastered the 1/4” and towards the last rows he was edging up closer to the rabbit setting on the machine and really controlling the foot pedal.
He was really proud of how well the first two rows came together.
Liam joined me in my studio yesterday afternoon and we decided that it was time to use up the fabric left over from his baby quilt.
It was announced that the schools won’t open again until April 19 so we decided to start a new project.
Our project started out when he found the stuffed puppy below and wondered why I had it. It will be part of a donation for Christmas Cheer through the Thunder Bay Quilters Guild called Teddy Bear Quilts.
Thankfully I still had a good stash of the Max and Whiskers fabrics along with other coordinating fabric. Liam mastered ironing. We worked on using the rotary cutter but both agreed that this time Grandma would finish the cutting.
And made a practice piece…machine set to turtle mode as he tried out the hare and it was a little too fast!
By the time we were finished for the day he was already talking about his next quilt!
My Grandson Liam is 9 years old and has been spending his weekdays with me due to schools being closed and the students doing virtual classes.
He emerged from the office and asked if we had a pencil sharpener so I took him down to our utility room where we have ours… I asked him if he had one like it in his classroom at school. He said no, so I asked if he knew how to use it…Yes Grandma, I saw one on a YouTube about the Olden Days!
I guess that says something. However, that sharpener is one of my often used quilting tools not only for pencils but I also sharpen school chalk (white) for when I need to mark quilts for longarming.
White chalk is another great tool as it is simple to remove by using my compressor when the marks are no longer used. It leaves no residue.
Our area is on week two of virtual learning. My grandson spends his days here, last week went well. This week has been a little more of a challenge. So I made a point of getting outside and into the bush. We have trails behind the house and as soon as we headed toward them I could see the happier mood.
He pointed out a lot of the animal tracks and knew what most were. Also the different paths, mostly from the deer. School was much more manageable afterwards.
On the quilting front I was able to finish the sunshine quilt.
It’s always nice to reach this point however I always unwind the quilts and inspect the stitching on the back. I monitor as I go though it’s always wise to check one more time before removing the quilt. I trimmed it afterwards and prepared the binding. This customer has me bind and finish her quilts.
So I started some practice pieces for the sisterhood swap. I haven’t done any paper piecing in years so it was a practice in patience. I also realized that It will be easier to use my printer instead of tracing so this morning I ordered Carol Doaks papers.
That will make the project a little easier. Also by the magic of online ordering the paper should be here on Friday just in time for some weekend sewing.
I am also contemplating making the 12” block to add on to my Moda Blockheads 3 quilt. I am very close to calling that project done and moving on.
On the quilting front…I am currently working on a customer quilt that is of her own design. She has been using up some of her Mothers stash to make her quilts. This job makes me smile and because it’s large I really get into the zen mode while running my machine over it.
I have my grandson with me during the days, due to virtual learning so I quilt while he is in school. This week seems more challenging for him and he is not as happy to do school as he was last week. I suspect it’s not as much fun as being with classmates and teacher in person and also not easy for a 9 year old boy to sit for so long.
We made plans to go out on our trails this afternoon and check for animal prints in the snow … and maybe use up some of his built up steam. then some pizza for lunch 😊
With a hard to resist weather forecast, Erik decided to take a day off work so we could go fishing.
Megan decided to take the day off too and join us. The fishing wasn’t too great but the weather and scenery was beautiful and if was fun to have one of our girls with us for a whole day!!
We had a little friend greet us when we putting the boat into the lake. People must have been feeding him this summer because he sure wasn’t shy about coming close to us.
Moose Hunting season opens tomorrow morning, this hunting shack had been set up and left waiting for the weekend. I have a feeling that’s why the fox was hanging out. When we returned with the boat the door to the shack had been opened just enough for someone the size of a fox to get in.
Its been extremely quiet here this last week, all of my girls have been away. Of course Sarah is always away now that she lives in Texas. Emily, Dave and Katie drove down for Jerry’s first birthday. I’m waiting for more birthday pictures…
This was one of Jerry’s first pictures as a cowboy
and a year later at his party!
Yesterday I finally re-quilted my original Summer Wind quilt. I really wish I’d taken some pictures of it to show why I decided to re-quilt it. I had used a panto that wasn’t as dense as I like and also used a wool batting, when it was washed it just did not like it. It is my summer quilt for my bed so I use it and I still love it so it was worth re doing. Thankfully I have a friend who offered to un-quilt it for me. I had been a bit concerned about the stitch holes from before but they have all but disappeared.
I used a Robyn Pandolph backing that I absolutely love and suits this quilt perfectly.
a little sneak peak of some quilting for the Circle of Friends Quilt Shoppe (opening soon)
more to come…
That’s a good word to describe how I feel these days. Sarah and Jerry have been in Montreal for the last 12 days….now it’s official, he has dual citizenship and she has her Visa approved. They’ll be back for a short while and then back to Texas.
I’ve sure enjoyed having them here, Jerry is such a fun little guy and being the Grandma is the best!
We’ve had no shortage of snow, and cold this winter. I’m hoping for milder weather for some cross country skiing.
I’ve spent a lot of time hiding in my studio.
The above picture is a recent finish. I’m finishing up the binding on my Elizabeth quilt, Katie’s quilt is ready for quilting and I’m working on Emily’s quilt.
I remember learning about Lapland in school and thinking to myself I’d like to go there someday…
We stayed in this hotel in Rovaniemi, Finland. Even though it was July, it felt almost like Christmas, which is part of Rovaniemi’s claim to fame being so close to the Arctic Circle and of course the home of Santa Claus.
The room was a little different than in Canada or the US, twin beds to begin with, the room was much smaller as well. I am 5’1″ tall so I found the rooms in Finland suited me just fine but I would imagine taller or bigger people would miss the biggie sized everything that we have here.
The bathrooms were all compact as well.
This next picture was taken around 2am. The days were so long in July, they are the opposite right now of course.
We went exploring after dinner, what an interesting little town.
While we were in Finland my daughter and grandson moved to Texas….to live with my Son-in Law. While I am so happy that they are all together, I can’t help but wish that they would move up here. I called Sarah the other day to let her know she needed to come home and decorate our tree, she told me she had checked our weather that morning and our -35C with the wind-chill wasn’t much of a draw. Though she did tell me that her husband had warmed up his car that morning because it was chilly….
This will be our first Christmas apart; hopefully they’ll be able to join us next year for a white Christmas.
My second daughter and boyfriend are flying down today for a visit. Auntie Emily is so excited well so is Sarah, the sister bond is so special. I’m really looking forward to more pictures and stories.
Emily is delivering Christmas gifts. One is Jerry’s quilt that I was finally able to finish up. I thought it would be fun to get a few outside shots of it to share some snow with them.
I made his quilt using a layer cake of the Pure collection by Sweetwater (MODA) The blocks were shown in a recent quilting magazine that I’ve loaned to my Mom. I’ll add that information soon as it was such a fun block to sew.
Thank you to Jocelyn for commenting and refreshing my memory. Please check out Jocelyns blog post where she suggested that we run not walk and buy Quiltmaker Magazine because of a block that they had in that issue. She included a tutorial and link, and I that very afternoon went to Chapters and bought my own copy, and made a sample block that night. I also made a 1/2 version and is it ever cute!
Doesn’t this picture look so inviting with all the fresh show, no leaves to rake? I’m really looking forward to new pictures with Jerry on his new quilt.
