Tag: Life

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…

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Disappearing Hourglass Quilt

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Monday…was my presentation of my Quilting Journey at the Thunder Bay Quilters Guild meeting. It is the last in person meeting until the spring.

It was really important to me, to show my quilts in person as I also like people to see and yes feel free to touch my quilts!

One of the quilts that I was asked about after my presentation was my Hourglass quilt. My friend Alva and I challenged each other to make them.

I made mine with Kaffe Fasset fabrics with a solid white background.

Alva’s in Batiks

Hers was quilted shortly after she made hers (using the pantograph Starswirl) this was the last quilt that Alva made, she had attached her binding herself, and it was the only quilt of hers that I hand stitched the binding for her as she was no longer able to.

I had to tuck mine away for a while.…

When I was ready, I quilted mine with the pantograph Rhododendron. it also began my run on Kaffe quilts that I made…which I did show some of on Monday.

We used the tutorial by Jenny Doan of Missouri Star Quilt to make our quilts. It’s a fun, easy quilt to make and one that really showcases beautiful fabrics.

Preparing for my presentation, was a journey for me personally as I decided which quilts to show. I hope that new quilters noticed my progress from beginner to where I am now in my journey and it encouraged them in their own journey.

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Getting ready…

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For Christmas that is,

How sweet is this snuggly flannel quilt!

It’s so much fun quilting for and seeing what other quilters are making or have made.

We chose a edge to edge design that would be subtle and not too dense with both top and back being flannel, this kept a nice soft drape.

The backing is a coordinated fabric and so Beary fun!

Trimmed and ready for binding this quilt will be ready for the holidays.

Do you like to make seasonal quilts?

Let me know if you are working on or have a project you might like to have quilted before the holidays. I always try to make a little extra time in my schedule to accommodate a few extra quilts this time of year.

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

A Few Days in November…Quilting and Life

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Sunday night I prepared my studio for Monday…the life of a Longarm Quilter…

The quilt on the right was ready for trimming and the one on the left for loading.

On Monday I spent most of my Day loading and quilting the customer quilt on the left in the above picture after trimming the quilt on the right.

After an early supper I packed up and joined the girls at the Rec centre for some relaxation, visiting and personal piecing… my postage stamp quilt project is perfect for these evenings.

On Tuesday after spending my morning quilting the customer quilt on the left in the above picture I gave myself the afternoon “off” to help Erik outside.

In November when the temperatures are in the double digit range on the positive side it’s a real treat! (Just a note that I am Canadian and I am talking Celsius) it reached 13 degrees on the 14th!

We loaded three truck loads of firewood to bring home along with a couple of other things. We also unloaded one truck load of firewood…let me tell you, our supper was well earned.

After a short rest after supper, Erik headed back outside and I to my studio to finish quilting the quilt on my Longarm… as a treat and to wind down from the day I spent a little time in my sewing room working on my postage stamp quilt.

Wednesday began with preparing the next quilt, I always like to press each quilts backing and top which gives me the opportunity to look everything over before loading.

This quilt will come off the frame today.

I was asked a question at quilting the other day… it was how I can sew all day and not have upper back pain?

I make it a habit to change activities through out the day, I take breaks to stretch and move around, sometimes hopping on the glider in my studio for a bit between rows of longarming.

In my sewing room, my ironing station requires getting out of my chair and standing to press what I am working on. When all else fails my back massager is a very good friend!!

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

Quilting and Winter…a quilt prepared

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This mornings view from the picture window…

We know it’s coming and this may not stay, but then again it might. It’s truly a sign of what’s to come.

Thankfully my quilting keeps me busy and warm, and to be honest for the most part I don’t mind the snow.

This quilt is now ready for winter! I won’t be trimming this one as it’s not finished. After piecing the super soft flannel backing, it was loaded onto the Longarm with butter soft wool batting. It was stitched in the ditch around all of the blocks, and borders in preparation for hours of hand quilting by its maker.

As a Professional Longarm Quilter I happily offer all kinds of quilting services and love to help others learn this wonderful art of quilting.

As a longtime quilter, I still love the fun of making quilts big and small and learning new techniques and trying new ideas.

A sweet little wallhanging. There’s just something about houses and quilting.

What projects do you have in mind to work on this winter?

I will be doing a presentation of my quilting Journey at the Thunder Bay Quilter‘s Guild this Month, November 20th if you are interested in checking out the Guild it might be a meeting to attend.

https://thunderbayquilters.org

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Free-motion Fun…Quilting

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I am for the most part a self taught quilter, I had never actually touched a Longarm quilting machine until mine arrived almost 19 years ago.

I have always loved to play with fabric and notions and very early on in my life with my Moms sewing machine…until she up graded and gave me her old one, I may have been 9 years or so at that point.

My love of sewing and then quilting has never deminished.

These two quilts are examples of trying out new to me techniques in 2013. They were inspired by the work and book by Angela Walters of Quilting is My Therapy.

This first quilt was one I designed myself wanting an opportunity to play with new ideas and adding piping as a detail in the piecing. The floral print gave me the opportunity to outline and showcase the flowers.

This type of quilting is a lot of fun, well for me anyways! I enjoy creating this density and variety in quilting when I can.

The next quilt was pieced using a pattern called picnic which I found on the Moda Bakeshop site from 2013.

Again playing with ideas from Angela Walters for the quilting. When learning to quilt it was suggested to use a busy backing which I did.

I have a customer quilt in my queue that I am planning to use different quilting fills on, it’s been good to look back on previous work alongside with playing with new ideas.

Last night I began quilting a placemat with my Juki Haruka, it’s a bright and busy mat and a beginning project while I work on this new to me skill.

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

The Shattered Heart Quilt

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Actually called Exploding Heart, for some reason I have always thought Shattered and it’s maker recently referred to this pattern with the same name.

Made using Laura Pilands pattern for Slice of Pi Quilts . Using vibrant Kaffe Fasset fabrics for the heart with a white backing this quilters quilt is gorgeous!

The quilt maker found and chose the pantograph Two of Hearts to be used on her quilt which is how this pantograph made its way into my collection and onto other quilts.

I am always happy to order pantographs that my customers request for their quilt at no extra charge to them as I add the design to my collection….if you haven’t been to my studio…it’s an extensive collection.

I am not always a fan of using a dark or contrasting thread when quilting an edge to edge design as it can leave areas with partial design showcased that looks odd. However in this case that was not at all an issue with all of the white background that really showcases the quilting.

Oh and the backing! It’s one of Kaffe Fassetts spectacular designs!

This quilt is trimmed and ready for binding…

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Freehand Quilting and Practice

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This picture of a customer quilt from 2014 always makes me smile. I love the look of freehand quilting. There are many sources for learning freehand quilting now and at the time I quilted this quilt Angela Walters of Quilting is My Therapy was promoting her early books and inspiring many quilters.

This particular quilt was a lot of fun to put to use some of the techniques that I had recently learnt.

For the most part my quilting is done on my APQS Millennium Longarm which truly is such a wonderful machine .

However, I have always admired people who also quilt on their domestic machines and in the last couple of years have set goals for myself to work on that.

Another quilter who has inspired me is Cindy Needham and I have taken some of her classes over the years. She has some on Craftsy that I really enjoyed.

Lately after I finish working on customer quilts I will spend some time quilting using my Juki Haruka playing and practicing freehand quilting. I have been playing with small squares with 3” grids and loving the texture. These are some earlier examples of playing.

Just like when I was learning to quilt with my Longarm it takes what we used to call PPP practice practice practice!

My friend Ana Paula teaches so many amazing classes and one of them is freehand quilting if you want to learn and want a fantastic teacher I highly recommend her! She has also inspired me to spend time playing and growing in my freehand quilting fun.

http://www.canadapaulabrasil.ca

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Dancing and a Quilt

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Having a couple of granddaughters who are enjoying dance classes this recent customer quilt is a little more than inspiring. Time will tell.

We chose the pantograph two of hearts, which has been a very popular choice recently. The hearts really convey the love the maker Mom has for her dancing daughter.

The pretty pink fireside backing is a perfect match and has made this quilt perfect for snuggling as our temperatures continue to dip below freezing.

This quilt is trimmed and ready for binding.