Tag: Life

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Quilting and Life Autumn

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It’s official, the Summer has passed and our home is now filled with the sweet aroma of apples from our trees being made into juice!

We had to be a little creative and purchase a new canner that would work with the induction range and thankfully it’s all working!

My Longarm and I are busy as usual and as always I continue to accept tops for quilting.

My 2 1/2 squares project is almost ready to become a quilt top and has made a fun project to look at on the design wall.

And….playing with these squares has inspired me to start a new project to play with…a postage block quilt!

This one will take a lot longer…more to come!

Thunder Bay Quilters Guild held the first meeting of the 2023/24 season this week. Also the first in person meeting after 2 years! The meetings will resume on zoom over the winter months and back to in person in the spring.

Ana Paula http://www.canadapaulabrasil.ca and I have collaborated on a fun project for the Teddy Bear Quilts program for the guild this week. These quilts are small and fun and will be gifted with a stuffed animal from Santa Claus for Christmas.

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Welcome Autumn!

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As much as I love the beautiful soft greens of spring…the blazing reds, orange and yellows of autumn always amaze and inspire me!

Cathy’s fun Autumn quilt left this week, quilted using the pantograph Star Swirl played on the brewing storm in this moonlit scene. The fire orange fireside backing really showcases the quilting design as well.

I have some fun projects brewing in my studio, what are you working on?

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Quilting, Life and the Changing Season

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The leaves are changing colours and after a very full summer life is feeling quieter.

Its always a shock to the system as the days get shorter, well they don’t really get shorter of course, however the sun disappears earlier.

Living in Northwestern Ontario it takes us a split second to get used to the long days of sunlight beginning in June and the warmer temperatures.

After a deep clean of my Longarm studio, I noticed the light catching these two recent quilt jobs catching the light just right! Both quilts have fireside backings which will be perfect for snuggling under as the days get shorter and cooler!

Mummus Rug really adds to the Autumn feel doesn’t it!

Our summer feels like it flew by, though taking time to reflect it was full with many fun filled days with grand children, friends and family. Working on outside project (mostly Erik) and of course quilting.

I almost always allow for an hour of play in the evening after turning the Longarm off. Lately it has been with a large pkg of 2 1/2 in squares of scrap fabric gifted from a friend.

What are you working on?

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

August Fun!

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We have had a great summer filled with fun filled days of Grand Parenting!

One super fun activity has been when Kaija comes over and asks to sew! Her last visit involved making a card and gift for her Moms Birthday.

Kaija loves digging into my scrap basket and I love both watching her and letting her decide what to use. For this project she chose the outside fabric because Mommy loves rainbows! The bright yellow lining made her smile and she knows where my zipper drawer is and chose pink.

We spent some time looking through my threads and she chose an almost fluorescent pink for the quilting.

I of course took care of the cutting and most of the pressing…she loves to push the buttons on my sewing machine and push the pedal while we sew and quilt.

The soft wavy quilting using the walking foot is a great and fun way to show a child how to quilt. Some of the steps she watched and helped.

After adding one of her favourite stickers she wrapped her gift and card…

I am planning to find a platform for my sewing machine pedal for her next visit and will plan a simple project that she can sew on her own.

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Heading Home

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One of the things we really enjoy when on a road trip is staying off of the interstate highways as much as possible!

Driving home along the Mississippi in Wisconsin allowed for interesting sites and finding fresh corn for sale at the end of a farms driveway…no pictures but wow you can’t beat fresh corn!

The roadside stops were interesting and this was at one of them…the guys really enjoyed using it!

We stopped to explore and play in Hastings MN.

Liam really really wanted to rent the scooter…unfortunately there wasn’t time and it also requires riders to be 18 and over…

We did find some other fun though…

Erik found a play to play too!!

Liam likes to climb and tease me that he is going to jump!!

The next stop was Stillwater MN where we climbed the 150 step stairs!

The bridge we were standing on used to be for vehicles, now it’s pedestrian only and the new bridge is in the background.

Another rest stop just before Hinckley MN where we stopped to grill. Liam had a great time in the play area with his skateboard!

We stayed overnight at the Hinckley Inn…we all had a good sleep…

The next morning we were off to Duluth MN for a little shopping…

Liam loves his Lego!

All things that drive

And esp visiting Camping world where he likes to explore the Ice Fishing “Shacks” and travel trailers.

One last cookout of the trip was in Beaver Bay…the weather had changed to drizzly and cool but that didn’t stop the fun!

One last stop to play and explore!

I didn’t take pictures but I did visit the newer quilt shop in Two Harbours MN on the way home it’s called One Old Loon and is well worth visiting!!!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Wisconsin Dells 2023

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Our annual trip to the Dells happened again! Liam begins talking about next years trip shortly after getting home from the Dells.

He wasted no time getting up on travel day and is now a great help loading the truck.

Wisconsin Dells is such an interesting place and seeing it through the eyes of an 11 year old makes it even more fun!

I have taken a picture of Liam each trip in front of my favourite ride at Noah’s Ark. it’s the Black Anaconda…a water coaster. Both Liam and Erik don’t understand why I like it so much as they don’t really care for it! I just like it!

Liam’s first visit he was just over the required 48” to ride.

Liam and some new friends who joined the annual picture!

We spent a day and a half at Noah’s ark and a half day at Mount Olympus when the guys spent hours on the go carts and I enjoyed a nice cool relaxing spot in the shade 😊

We spent another day at Circus World in Baraboo.

Another annual picture, Liam is such a good sport!

This is the last season for the Elephants at Circus World, they are retiring and moving to a sanctuary to live out the rest of their lives.

Another Annual picture…Liam can no longer fit his head in the crocodiles mouth!

We almost always have pizza at Moose Jaw in the Dells! We prefer to have a table upstairs though if you don’t ask you get seated in the very crowded noisy lower level….if you prefer a quieter more relaxed setting it’s worth it to ask 😊

Liam put his antlers on as soon as we got to the table and really enjoyed his root beer and pizza!

I was there too!!

We played mini put that night…Erik won but it was a close match! Afterwards another annual picture with Captain Hook.

Sadly it began raining afterwards so our annual DQ and walk downtown didn’t happen this year, there’s always another time.

We drove home along the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi River this year with stops in Hasting MN and Stillwater MN before stopping for the night in Hinckley MN….the trip home deserves its own post coming soon.

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

A Special Pink Quilt

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When it was discovered that our newest grand would be a girl…her Mom requested a pink and peachy pink quilt! Music to my ears and the pictures that were shared with me were scrappy quilts…even more music to my ears!

I just had to use my pink Oliso iron for this project!

Erik and I had a lot of fun choosing the fabrics for this quilt, starting at Hannah Johnson’s in Duluth MN…thankfully Megan was working and she helped pull together a fantastic selection of fabrics for us! You can follow her on Instagram megface_makes

On the way home we stopped at the quilt shop One Old Loon in Two Harbours and added more pinks to the collection…and of course I shopped my stash.

Oh, one of the fabrics at Hannah’s that I fell in love with ended up not in the cutting pile!! Thankfully Megan was able to send me this super cute print!

Using 3 1/2” squares I somewhat randomly placed them onto the design wall making sure no two the same were next to each other. I didn’t tweak it too much as I find with this type of quilt you can play with it forever and still will find things to change.

The quilt was so much fun to both piece and quilt. I used the pantograph Two of Hearts and of course used Pink 40 wt thread (glide)

I love the backing! Those puppies are so adorable!!

I love hand stitching the binding, it’s a labour of love and an opportunity to sit and relax. Machine stitching binding is popular and for donation quilts that will be heavily laundered it is more practical but for my personal quilts I still prefer the look of hand work.

Of course the very best thing about making a quilt for a new Grandchild is meeting the baby.

Welcome to our family Olivia Lynn!!!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Children and Creativity

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Our house was full of activity this week! We are truly blessed with grandchildren! Our time with them involves a lot of activities from soccer, quad and dirt biking and even target shooting (and other adventures which I will write about in another post).

Music to this grandmas ears is when Kaija who is almost 4 yrs asks if we can go to my studio and make something! She loves my scrap basket, looking and checking out my notions and my sewing machine.

This week she pulled some crumb piecing from the basket and we added some fusible batting to them and spent time together quilting the two pieces…just nice relaxing stitching using the walking foot and pink thread…her choice. Her job was the foot petal and some guiding with help of the quilt sand which. She loves to push the thread cutter and needle up and down buttons as well.

She was pretty proud of her work!

When we finished stitching she decided to add some colour to the back and very carefully wrote her name on each piece and coloured in the squares with a highlighter pen. The original plan was to make another pouch and she had picked out a pink zipper and fabric for a lining…instead she wanted to colour the back.

She proudly took her art home 😊 it may or may not come back to be turned into a pouch and that’s fine. I think it’s more important that she had fun and enjoyed the process and was allowed to make her project into what she envisioned!!

Kaija also spent a lot of time examining several different notions wondering what they were and what they were used for! I remember playing with my Moms sewing tools, I much preferred them over toys! I hope that she will continue to ask if we can make something 😊

My friend Ana Paula is offering Sewing Camps this summer in her fun bright studio. If you have budding artists and creators who are curious or interested in sewing you might consider checking out what she is offering! I know that as a child I would have been overjoyed!!!

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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

June! and a Liam update

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Anyone who knows me knows that I love June! I always have for as long as I can remember!

The month started off welcoming and celebrating the grand opening of my friend Ana Paula’s new shop!

Two of my daughters share my birth month, the weather truly warms up and my world outside turns green!

Oh and Summer Solstice! Something else Liam and I share is the love of looking forward to and enjoying the longest daylight day of the year.

In the last years Liam delights in June looking forward to the first swim in the pool, barbecues (especially his favourite Bison Burgers) playing soccer outside and of course looking forward to summer holidays!!

This June for Liam marked a big milestone in his life! He graduated from grade 6 (grandma brag here…with an excellent report card!) on that note He had an amazing teacher this year and school really clicked for Liam starting in the fall, when he informed me that his teacher had a standing desk station for those who found sitting for long stretches hard. She also announced the snack table and that if you are hungry please have a snack! This woman clearly has a good understanding of 11 year old boys!! Liam will miss her and the elementary school but now moves onto Jr High in the fall.

This Junes ice cream cake was to celebrate Liam’s graduation!

He and his Mom spent well over an hour playing in the pool, the laughter was true music to my ears!!

Speaking of Liam and his Mom…she has shared her love of beading with him! The creativity in my family always amazes me and fills me with joy!!!

My Sister by choice and longtime very best friend came for a visit! Liam has met her before and when I mentioned something about her being a pilot and now is a captain he told me that he thought she was one of those people who bring you food! So we did some education 🥰 that those flight attendants are there much more for your safety than anything else!!

There was quilting happening as usual…though somehow I managed to pick up a flu bug and ended up spending quite a bit of the month dealing with that…thankfully that’s behind me!