Tag: Life

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Thunder Bay Quilt Guild Quilt Show 2025 (part 1)

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It was an amazing Quilt Show last weekend! It’s always fun to see all of the quilts and so many quilters at the shows.

Our city and area have so many talented quilters and it never ceases to amaze me how many different quilts there are!

Ana Paula Brasil is always a delight to spend time with! Her incredible talent of not only quilting but also her ability to teach and share her talents and Joy in the art is contagious!

Visitors were greeted a very fun quilt which was made in collaboration with Janette Dann another amazing local Artist! How fun to have a picture in front of it!

I am sharing a small sample of the fun!!

I had so much fun Quilting Maureen’s quilt for her, I am a scrap quilter myself and I loved this one! Some quilts are so hard to part with and this was truly one of them!

Evelyn’s version of a Bonnie Hunter Mystery was another one that was full of small pieces…another joy of mine as I love working with tiny pieces!

Karen is an increasingly talented artist and her quilt was a true show stopper with both piecing and her quilting that truly made the quilt! She tucked in all kinds of little surprises throughout the quilt…butterflies, dragonflies etc…all on her domestic sewing machine!

Gayle was beginning her quilt journey when I met her many years ago, her talents have continued to grow and her quilting is no exception! I was mesmerized by her domestic machine quilting!

Cathy’s quilt was so beautifully pieced and a true joy to quilt for her! I wish that my photography was better to truly capture her quilt!

Another quilt of Evelyn’s. She quilted this one herself. I love her colours, quilting and especially her border!!!

Cathy A. Had me quilt her sampler for her with the design Daisy Swirl. This was a quilt that APQS asked to feature on their IG after I posted it. It’s a wonderfully pieced quilt and was a lot of fun to work on!

The show was so well done and so full of inspiration!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Debs Quilts

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I have long admired my friend Debs quilting and artistry. The quilts that she entered into this weekends quilt show, (put on by the Thunder Bay Quilt Guild) along with her demo on Improv piecing at the show were so inspiring!

Debs Improv Demo

I love her use of colour and her quilting. She quilts on her domestic machine.

Her backings are so much fun to see!!

This quilt is classic Deb! When I first saw it at a guild meeting I just knew it was hers and that she was at the meeting!

Of course I wanted to see the backing and an amazing quilter and artist and teacher as well founding member Jackie Black was there with white gloves to show me.

Last summer Deb enjoyed a 5 day retreat taught by Cindy Grisdela and the resulting quilt amazed me! I noticed Deb walking by

We were so excited to see each other and when she asked if I wanted to see the back of the quilt…well we had a pretty good giggle!

After restoring the quilt to its hanging position…we still dared to look at the back!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

A Quilty Surprise (part 3)

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So after being immersed in the mesmerizing exhibit of quilts at the Iowa State Quilt Museum…I entered Piece Works Quilt Shop. Oh My!!!

As soon as I opened the door I was amazed at what I saw…

Continuing to walk deeper into this amazing shop…

It is brimming full of fun and inspiration, and then…

In the back of the shop was the owner Joyce Franklin who greeted us with a smile and I instantly knew she was my kind of artist!

Wearing her amazingly ice dyed dress, she also showed me the dress that she has made for their upcoming Quilt Festival in June.

As if I wasn’t already brimming full of inspiration…she asked if I would like to see her latest endeavours which of course I did!

I find myself drawn to improv piecing more and more…I think it’s because it’s so freeing. The pictures don’t fully capture all of the eye candy in the fabrics!

And then…

She has been painting fabric and shared that story with me…her piecing and her quilting!!

I absolutely love to see creative spaces. Hers made me want to dive right in.

I am formulating in my mind how I will return to this little town during their quilting festival, hopefully sooner than later!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

A Quilty Surprise (part two)

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On a beautiful sunny day in a small town in Iowa a big surprise was waiting for me!

I really didn’t know what to expect when I first stepped through the doors of the Iowa State Museum, after all I was in a very small town… the gal working there told me that it was a brand new exhibit and that I was welcome to take pictures as long as I didn’t use a flash…not a problem.

The artists!

I kinda felt like I was in Wendys Wonderland! The quilts and quilting were absolutely amazing, spectacular and incredibly inspiring. I have been quilting making for 40 years and have dabbled in all kinds of techniques and types of quilts, then adding my Longarm to the mix 20 years ago I was able to add a whole new layer to my passion.

I am very drawn to Modern quilts and this show was full.

All of these quilts involve small piecing, which I have always loved.

Niraja Lorenz
Susan J. Latham
Deb Cashatt
Irene Roderick

Those are only some of the quilts that I loved!!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

A Quilty Surprise! Part One

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For those who don’t know, I recently returned from our annual spring RV trip. There is so much to share about our amazing trip, however today I want to share one of my personally most exciting days of the trip. This says a lot considering all of the adventures!

The day began with the plan to visit the John Wayne Birthplace Museum. Erik researched most of the trip…

On the way into the little town where it’s located, I noticed a quilt barnboard sign and thought to myself maybe there’s a quilt shop….

The museum was interesting and I do really recommend it to John Wayne Fans or if you are interested in learning more about him.

Well the tour of the little house where he was born was very interesting…his family only lived there a short time, but the house stood strong over many years and owners. When the final owner a bachelor passed away his family offered the house for sale to the state…

Seeing quilts, always makes my heart sing! When I asked the tour guide if there was a quilt shop in town she lit up! Winterset Iowa is the home of the Iowa State Museum! Not only that but three doors down from that was a quilt shop! It is also the home town of Marian Fons of Fons and Porter Fame!

This is all located in one on the nicest towns that I have ever visited, and was really nice to walk around in!

I found a perfect bench for Erik!

The Museum!

The Museum is a story of itself so I will share that in Part 2!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

The Yard Moose

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Yes it’s been awhile 😊 and with good reason. I will share that with you soon.

First things first to catch up on some quilting…

The Yard Moose was such a fun quilt to work on! We chose the pantograph Ground Cover… after all moose are often in the bush just peeking out…or maybe hiding.

How perfect is this backing fabric with splashes of colour matching the quilt top!

Jan’s quilt was trimmed and ready for binding at pick up and it wasn’t long before she sent me this picture of her finished quilt.

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

McKenna Ryan Quilt…

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What a fun pleasure to quilt my customers quilt made with the pattern Said the Night Wind by McKenna Ryan!

I absolutely adore this designers work especially all of the amazing details. My customer carefully stitched around each appliqué and added gold glitz to the star!

I chose the quilting design, Star Swirl, it is a fun design that adds soft swirls and movement to this wonderful winter scene.

I love that Father Christmas is cross country skiing!

Of course her quilt was trimmed and ready for binding at pick up!

I do love the North, no I am not crazy about being outside in bone chilling -40C especially when the wind is blowing…that to me is perfect make a pot of soup and stay in and quilt weather.

There is something so magical though watching the snow fall and breathing in fresh crisp air!

My view from the Longarm room this morning…it didn’t capture the snow-falling though.

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

Quilting Makes a Difference!

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When this quilt was picked up, my customer exclaimed how much the quilting makes the quilt! It truly does bring the elements together.

Choosing the pantograph Rhapsody played on the florals in this quilt along with having curves and swirls against the straight lines in the piecing added a softness to the appearance of the quilt.

I love the elegance of this quilt, that really showcases some of the beautiful floral prints that can accumulate in our stashes over time. Of course you can use any prints to crest a similar quilt.

Her quilt was trimmed and ready for binding at pick up. Which is always a complimentary service that I offer and is never refused.

Let’s talk about finishing your quilting projects!

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!