Tag: Family

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

2025 Happy New Year!

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There are so many things to be grateful for as this new year begins to unfold!

Family and friends to begin with! Erik and I were gifted with time with both over the holidays!

Grand days as I like to call our days with caring for and spending time with the youngest members of our family are full of fun and adventures. Our weather wasn’t cooperative in a lot of our normal outdoor activities so we found other ways to have fun, Erik turns the garage into all kinds of fun and of course there is always crafting in the house!

I enjoyed a wonderful visit with my dear friend Betty! She is an amazing role model and might I say Model as well.

She turned 90 in November (Liam shares her birthday) unfortunately due to the postal strike her gift from her daughter in law was delayed … however it has arrived and Betty looks awesome in her new Jean Jacket!!!

Betty continues to sew and quilt almost daily, she encourages and cheer on her friends and family! She and I always have the most amazing conversations too 🥰

I wish all of my friends, family and customers the very best this new year!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Merry Christmas!!

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Our day will be quiet and relaxing followed by dinner at my Dads.

Our big celebration was held on Sunday, a tradition that I began as the grandchildren began to arrive.

We host our Christmas brunch on the Sunday before Christmas… this year we had 21 of us together 9 children it was a fun filled day of yummy food, opening of gifts and snow play!!

It was our newest granddaughters first Christmas.

Missing were my eldest and her family who live in Texas, and my youngest daughter and husband who are away for Christmas this year, also Eriks middle daughter who was working out of town they were all here in our hearts though!

I wish you all a lovely day and am so thankful for those who visit and read my blog as well as my wonderful customers who entrust me with their quilts and allow me to share them with you!!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Winter! A snow day and quilting!

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It’s looking very promising that we will have a white Christmas!

Erik plowed the driveway and yard last night and this morning our driveway has disappeared. Thankfully my commute to work is down the stairs!

My great start to the morning! This pretty quilt will be trimmed and ready to go this morning!

This project for a customer is almost ready for pick up! It’s a treasured tree skirt make by its owners Mom years ago that needed some updating, repairs and quilting and of course binding. I chose the backing and binding, and absolutely love the red and white stripe fabric cut on the bias for its binding!

It’s so beautiful where I work, play and live! We are located within City limits and yet have an out in the country feel. There is always plenty of parking for my customers and never ever any parking meters to deal with 😊

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Elegant Star Quilt

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All this Christmas gift needs now is the binding!

The Pantograph Ground Cover was chosen as the quilting design by its maker and it flows so beautifully over the quilt top and compliments the backing as well.

The batting is Hobbs 80/20,which I always carry on the roll and sell just what’s needed for each quilt to my customers. Thankfully I have a fantastic batting source that continues to offer the best price that I can find and am happy to give my best price to my customers.

Choosing the right thread colour can be a challenge when there is a lot of contrast, in this case I went with white as I knew that it’s contrast with the dark fabrics wouldn’t be as distracting as it would had I chosen a darker colour.

The backing fabric is a lovely match! There are so many wonderful wide backings to choose from!

This quilt was picked up this week trimmed and ready for binding!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

November…

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We have enjoyed an incredibly long stretch of good comfortable weather. Last winter was a very mild one the first Christmas in my memory without snow! The snow arrived just after we left for our big trip on March 20th so we missed that and spent the next 6 weeks enjoying more summer like weather. Returning at the beginning of May we didn’t have long to wait for summer and that stretched into a beautiful and long Autumn…

Well winter has arrived, and I want to rebel! I have spent a lot of November busy in my studio and December will be much the same however it time to pull on my boots and jacket and bravely face the snow and cold 🥶

That’s a sampling of what happened in November however the very best part of November was celebrating Liam’s 13th birthday!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

A Grandmas Sampler Quilt

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This Sampler quilt was added in with my customers group of tops that she brings me once a year, sometimes more. Anyways she included this quilt and said one wasn’t hers and she was sure that I knew which one it was.

The quilt belongs to her niece and was pieced by her Grandma. It’s a beautiful example of talent and some blocks that take advanced skill.

This type of quilt was popular when I first began quilting almost 40 years ago. They were a great way to learn different skills without making a whole quilt with the same block.

I chose the pantograph Here and There for the quilting design. Some of the blocks had a little fullness that this type of design helps to flatten without causing puckers.

It also could have been a candidate for custom quilting however it won’t be a show quilt it will become a cherished gift from a grandma.

This quilt was trimmed and ready for binding and returning to my customers niece.

You can see a glimpse of the quilt on my Longarm that I was working on when suddenly the lighting from my window was cooperating for a photo shoot!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Pouch Fun!

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Sometimes it feels good to focus on a smaller project that I can finish in one or two evenings.

The Holland Pouch pattern is really easy to follow and there are tutorials on YouTube As well. Once I had made a few of these it was easy to play with sizes and make those as well.

These ones were made with the left over fabrics from My Aunty Mary. She had recovered her dining room chairs with it. These pouches are for her.

A peek at the inside.

I had so much fun making the next one, the sparkly fabric was gifted to me by my friend Betty and my Granddaughter Minka now owns this pouch. How fun are all of the zipper pulls and zipper by the yard to play with!

Kaija and Minka love to look through my zipper drawer and choose what they love best.

And another sweet little pouch to match!

These pouches were made weeks ago. My Longarm and I are very busy.

Enjoy your day! 💝 it’s a gift!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

The Daughters Quilt…(part 4)

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The previous 3 posts were quilts pieced by my customers Mom, this quilt was pieced by my customer. She told me that she decided that since she inherited her mom’s sewing that she should make a quilt.

It was quilted with the pantograph swirls.

When the sashing in a quilt are dark as they are in this quilt, using a 60 weight thread and a colour that blends with the lighter fabrics works well. You can still see the partial spirals in the sashing however they don’t jump out as they would with a heavier thread.🪡

The backing fabric was a fun find, it works so well with the quilt top and using the same fabric only cut on the bias for the binding added more interest.

I was such a pleasure to work on these four quilts!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Finishing a Mothers Quilts part 3

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Framing scrappy 16 patch blocks with a unifying colour clearly ties all of the random fabrics together in this quilt. It is the third of my customers Moms quilts.

It always amazes me when I am working on scrappy quilts how many different prints there are out there! I recently read where a quilter asked if any others look at scrap quilts to see if they have any of the fabrics!! I admit that I do and am amazed at how many I don’t have!

I chose the pantograph Here and There with its heart like shapes it has such a nice soft flow with great coverage and the hearts of course make one think of a Mothers love.

Look at this backing!! I admit that it was fun shopping for the backings for these quilts and this is one that just makes me smile.

I again chose a very dark green binding to frame the quilt it matches some of the fabrics in the 16 patch blocks and is very close to the dark green in the backing.

It’s a wonderful feeling to have completed another quilters work for her in order for her daughter and other family members to enjoy 💗

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Sarah’s Star Quilt

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It’s so wonderful when I meet a younger quilter and see in them the excitement for quilting that I found in my early twenties for this amazing craft!

The Paper Pieced stars and chain blocks in this quilt really pop against the black background.

Sarah chose the pantograph Belly Bop, this design added to the modern feel of her quilt.

Her backing was so nice to work with, it was 60” wide so only required one seam for this queen size quilt. I asked Sarah where she purchased it and she told me it came from Ana Paula Brasil’s shop.

Sarah’s quilt was trimmed and ready for binding at pick up.