Tag: Family

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

October…Quilting and Life

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How lovely is my view from my long-arm studio!

We have been gifted, in my opinion anyways with an extra long stretch of summer weather! With that though the bears in the area continue.

As much as I love walking out here and especially on my own at my own pace…though I love running into my friends and visiting too…I know myself and an encounter with a bear would be hard to overcome.

Instead I am playing at other ways to work on my fitness and yesterday my Dad gave me a step!

For many years when my girls were small I took step aerobics 3 times a week and loved it! Now I have a step and found an instructor that I like on YouTube. We have a treadmill and I can use it but I find it boring…

I have always loved fitness and know how important it is as I age and if I am going to be able to do all the things that I hope to do in these next decades of my life I need to be fit!

I am also reading this book…which really encourages retired people to consider exercise their new job….though I am not retired!

My Dad has adopted healthy living and fitness into his life even more so these last years and at 88 yrs he has spent his summer actively enjoying golf and his bike and is always reading, learning and trying new things.

On another but related subject I had been on the fence about joining Tara Faughnans Block Studies Collective this season.

My biggest issue was the time as I am a full time longarm quilter and I love piecing and have no shortage of projects or fabric for that matter.

So what made me decide to jump in? At my brother’s 60th birthday dinner on Sunday I mentioned it and the response was so positive, have fun and keep learning, go for it! The Block Studies Collective is about play and exploration, playing with colour, all things that I love.

Also winter is coming and with that a lot more time for quilting! Tracking shows that my palette arrives tomorrow so last night I pulled some scraps out and played at the end of my day! So many ideas and so much fun!!

On last thing about this season…a friend and I were saying to each other how tired we feel making the what’s for supper decision these days… I have been making that decision for most of my adult life. She had recently started ordering Hello Fresh. Two of my daughters have used it before and enjoyed it so…

That one was a favourite among several favourites, it’s been a fun change. We only eat in restaurants and very seldomly when we travel, and this has added so many great prompts for future meals!

Life should be fun!!!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

A Christmas Quilt Story

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The story of this lovely Christmas quilt really makes me smile!

It was pieced by a longtime and expert quilter, which I could tell by her piecing. I have quilted other quilts of hers as well.

Sadly (and of course not why it makes me smile) she began developing dementia as this one was being completed and is no longer able to quilt.

The part that makes me smile is that her family has chosen to finish her quilts so that they will be used and enjoyed.

There was a lot of bulk in some of the areas where the corners met and I didn’t want to add any distraction to the piecing/design of the quilt with the quilting. I chose the pantograph Bayside for its soft flow…I also love how it plays so nicely with the candy cane backing!

This quilt was trimmed and ready for binding at pick up!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

August 2025…

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August felt like it passed in a blink of an eye…it really didn’t though and was a full and fantastic month of yes quilting but also family, friends, travel, fun, great weather and laughter!

This is one of the quilts that left the studio trimmed and ready for binding and in the busyness of August it wasn’t photographed fully. It was true eye candy so I am sorry to have missed its photo shoot as it’s always fun to share!

That said, it’s also a reflection of summer and allowing myself time to enjoy life!

Nothing shows more, how quickly time passes by than grandchildren! Those who follow me will remember Liam. Look at him now!

He is really going somewhere with his soccer…which is partly why I don’t see him as much. He has also just started high school.

Liam’s sister and our youngest grandchild celebrated her first birthday…

Liam joined us for our annual Wisconsin Dells trip. Two more families joined us this year making it a busier and fun filled week!…

After the Dells we had a solid week of grand-parenting!

Minka spent the last week of August with me…she is so creative so of course we had a lot of fun playing together!

That Friday evening was spent with Minka and her Sister Romee…after dinner we walked over to my Dad and brothers for a visit.

The next morning we were off to Lac De Mille Lac for a weekend at Erik’s oldest family camp. It was a fun and full weekend and great way to finish us a fantastic summer!

Grayson has been wanting his Pappa to come for a few years now to go fishing and finally this summer it happened! They caught fish and Grayson learnt to clean fish and I taught him how I cook it!

Now that the kids are back to school and this Grandma is rested up, I will start sharing more on the quilting side of life!

How was your summer? Our weather shifted this week from hot to needing the furnace on…

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Life versus Busyness and Balance

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I love waking up very early and I especially love very early morning walks esp in the summer!

Just before I woke up this morning I had a very realistic dream that my daughter who lives in Texas was suddenly here, we had such a nice visit in my dream.

After, when I woke up I of course wished she was here and could join me for my walk…and just as it was putting on my shoes guess who called and joined me!!

Life can feel so busy and it’s so important to remember to take time for oneself.

I have been really busy with quilting for others which I am extremely thankful for, I love my job!

Quilting is also my beloved hobby and I wasn’t finding time for me…my friend Louisa suggested that I carve out an hour or so a day just for me and my quilting and guess what? Not only am I more productive with my own projects but also my customer quilts as well!

I am currently piecing Small World by Tara Faughnan along with my Postage Stamp quilt.

I actually have 10 blocks finished now…

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Fishing and Quilting

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Our Grandson Grayson has really caught the fishing bug this summer much to our delight!

He and his sister Kaija were here last week and in an unusual turn of events Grayson asked to sew with me and Kaija asked to shoot targets with Pappa.

Grayson has sewn with me before and really enjoys quilting his projects. The project that he had in mind was to make a phone case with some fish fabric that he knew was in my stash.

We used a solid black cotton and after fusing it to the foam, he quilted it with a fun variegated thread. We used Heat and Bond to on the fish fabric so that he could cut out the fish he wanted on his pouch.

I attached the binding and he helped with the Velcro closure.

My favourite thing about sewing with our grandchildren, aside from the new skills that they learn, I love the one on one time which is a great opportunity to learn from them and listen to what’s going on in their life ❤️

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

My Studio Makeover

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While Erik was off on a recent fly in fishing trip, I used the first few days to make some changes and re-organize my Longarm Studio.

A big thank you to my Dad and brother who came over and put my new IKEA Alex cabinets together for me.

My pantographs now have a new home and are wonderfully organized! There is even room to add more!

All of my thread, rulers, and other long arm supplies are all organized and it looks all neat and tidy. It was all organized before however I had wanted a more streamlined look.

The drawer units that were replaced have a new home and purpose, they are now under the table of my long arm and they now hold a lot of my fabrics and are sorted by colour, these fabrics will eventually find their way into scrap quilts.

I spent some of the time cleaning, sorting and purging it’s amazing how things can accumulate. Though I will add that there wasn’t as much to purge as I suspected there were things that just needed new homes as in my daughter’s homes!

I am vigilant when it comes to caring for my APQS Millennium longarm and I spent a little time on her as well, the motor brushes were replaced. I love how well these machines are made and that they are designed so that the owner can maintain them themselves!

Of course as soon as I finished organizing another quilt was loaded and completed on the longarm!

While I did use my time alone to get a lot of quilting done on the longarm there was also some play time as well…the garden was planted and my JUKI and I spent many hours together playing!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

A Farmhouse Quilt

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I am so appreciative of all of my customers to entrust their quilts to me to be completed. I have many quilters whom I have been quilting for many years!

This customer has relocated to Manitoba and we have still found ways to work together!

We chose the quilting design Star-swirl for this King sized quilt. It measured 114” square which I was able to easily accommodate on my 12 foot frame! Have I mentioned how much I love my APQS Millennium before?

The backing is a perfect match to the pink in the batik fabric that is in the top and looks amazing together in person.

We had an extremely cold week here and I was grateful to have to spend some of my time hand stitching the binding on this quilt!

So not only was this quilt trimmed and ready for binding it was completely finished and ready for gifting with plenty of time to spare before the wedding is taking place.

I offer Professional Quality Longarm Quilting Services!! Let me help you finish your quilts!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Love and Quilting and Grands!

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Let me start with a Liam update…he is officially much taller than me and more so every time I see him it seems.

He is also a big brother to our youngest grandchild Lydia. He is an amazing big brother and absolutely adores his little sister.

I wanted to make Lydia’s first quilt pink as I have made for 3 of our other granddaughters. Kaija asked to help make hers and hopefully we will have time to work on that soon.

My daughter Mary, Liam and Lydia’s Mom has many of the quilts that I have made along with ones from my Mom. So I decided that her first quilt would have Minki for the backing so that it would be perfect for tummy time.

These quilts are super fun to make and in this case I also added a striped fabric for binding that I cut on the bias. (My kind of fun!)

I used the pantograph Two of Hearts for the quilting, it just adds so much more love!!

Sometimes I do slip in some time for personal quilting!

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!!