Tag: friends

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

Jeanne‘s Quilts

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I have been blessed with friends who were well ahead of me in this journey of life!

Having friends who had raised their children and were cheerleading me on as I raised my daughters on my own. Having also worked and raised her family on her own she knew full well what my life was like, my friend Jeanne.

Jeanne was also a quilter and had me quilt for her. Two quilts that I have pictures of hold especially special memories.

Her Alpine Wonder Quilt was an early custom quilt job for me, I remember her delight in seeing it quilted and ready for embellishment! It was quilted before one could find many other similar quilts online for ideas. It still remains after all these years a popular Pinterest image that leads others to this blog.

Many years later after attending a wedding one of my daughters asked if I knew Jeanne. The wedding was at Jeanne’s home and my daughter recognized my quilting.

This next quilt, also an early custom… Jeanne’s Star Quilt.

Jeanne’s Star Quilt

Jeanne’s reaction to this quilt was pure joy and excitement! I wish that I had thought to take a picture of her with this quilt…however this was before I always had a camera (aka smart phone) in my purse. You see I delivered this quilt to Jeanne and visited her at her beautiful home on Lake Superior.

I loved visiting with Jeanne at her house, she had a wonderful sewing room beside her husbands room that was dedicated to his model train hobby.

Jeanne also loved to meet for lunch at Applebees for Asian Salad…she always insisted on it being her treat. She knew that at that time with 4 young daughters to raise, a lunch out was a huge treat!

The back of Jeanne’s Star Quilt

The last time I saw Jeanne was at the Quilt Show before Covid. She came up to me and said that she couldn’t remember names anymore but she was very sure that she knew me. I told her that yes indeed she did and that I quilted her quilts…and then she knew.

I learnt yesterday that Jeanne has passed away at the age of 91 on November 6th.

I am so thankful for my time with this special friend 💗

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Suddenly Sixty!

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I have always loved my birthday as a child and young Mom it was almost always the first day of summer holidays! I loved having my daughters out of school and with me in the summer…though I did share them with my parents for part of several summers so they had time in Calgary being Grand Parented.

I wasn’t expecting anything big for my special day, I always just enjoy that I have as they say made another trip around the sun. This birthday was different and my girls family and friends managed to completely surprise me with a party.

My daughter Mary’s birthday is the 25th and she had told me that my Dad was having a brunch for her on her day…which is something that usually happens so that’s what I was expecting.

If you have Instagram you might be able to see this Reel that my friend Ana Paula made for me sh really captured it well!

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Ct7BdYMAcvn/?igshid=ZmZiYTY5ZDNhOA==

With three of my daughters and three grandchildren! My eldest daughter and grandson live in Texas and were there in spirit 💕

Jaki (my sister by choice) helped make it all happen and flew in for the surprise!

Liam knew all along…as in from March when the planning began!

My Dad hosted the party, Romee used the opportunity for a sweet snuggle with her Great Grandpa!

Every detail of the party was amazing, my youngest daughter, Katie made most of the food, my Dad grilled and smoked the meat. So much food art!!!!

Emily and her sweetie pies took care of the decorations and Mary organized and together my daughters made it all happen….

I am not capturing it all, it was such a special day with so many special and near and dear to my heart people. Everything was perfect.

Using a favourite quilt that I made years ago, the girls hired Heather from @sayitwithcookiesrm and she replicated my quilt with these amazing cookies!! She is a true artist! They were incredible and so delicious as well!!

I am missing pictures here of everyone, but so touched and appreciative of the whole day it’s one I will never forget 💕

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

My Friendship with Leila

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As a young busy single Mom I was blessed to have many friends who were ahead of me on this life journey we are all on.

Most of these women I met through the Quilt Guild and by quilting for them. When I first checked out our local guild, I only peeked in the door and didn’t stay…I wasn’t quite 30 then and it looked like most of the women there were a lot older than I was. I mistakenly thought to myself that they wouldn’t welcome me.

Oh how wrong I was, and when I ventured back I was so welcomed, and mentored. I loved sitting with these women and watching and listening to them at guild meetings.

When news got out that I was getting a Longarm they were truly excited for me and supportive! That’s when I started quilting for Leila. She at the time was the local Elna dealer and she was determined that I needed the Quilters Dream Pro sewing machine. She kept inviting me over to try it, I kept declining, knowing that I would most likely love the machine and also knowing that it was priced way out of my budget.

Still she persisted and one day when I dropped one of her quilts off to her she insisted that I sit down and try out the machine…so I did. Of course I loved it. Well she had a plan, she said that she knew it was beyond what I could afford but what if I just quilted her quilts for it!

She sent me home with that machine and I love it to this day! She also sat me down and taught me to service my own machines a gift that has served me well many times.

A couple of months ago Leila called me to let me know that she hadn’t been well and was moving to Southern Ontario to live closer to her family. We had such a nice visit.

Leila passed away this week.