Tag: North Western Ontario

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Pink Quilts for Granddaughters

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A few months ago my Granddaughter Minka 3yrs asked me if I could make her an all pink quilt. I had made a pink baby quilt for our Granddaughter Olivia’s arrival last summer.

I still had a fair amount of pink fabric left from that project to start another…I did purchase more fabrics when Minka’s Mom suggested a pink quilt for Romee as well.

Sometimes it’s just fun to make quilts with squares and to make them as scrappy as possible. These quilts are fun! I also added pink fabrics from my Moms fabric stash.

Minka’s

The quilts are similar, though they have different backings and bindings and Minka’s has some butterflies from fabric that she especially liked. Minka’s quilt was quilted with the pantograph Hearts and Blooms.

Minka’s backing…those paw prints on the binding are so cute!

I ordered the fabrics from the quilt shop https://road17n.ca for the backings and bindings…when I opened the package I was so surprised to find a gift of 5 good sized sample pieces of more pink fabrics so they were added into the quilts as well.

Romees Quilt

The adorable backing for Romees quilt made choosing the binding a little more of a challenge, I am really pleased with my choice. this quilt was quilted using the pantograph Two of Hearts.

Over the Christmas holidays Kaija came to visit a few times and has begun making her own pink quilt. Hopefully over the summer she and I will have more time to make her pink quilt! Kaija requested that we make hers together.

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Turtles

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Sometimes I am asked to find a backing for a customer quilt…this week my friend Betty and I went to Fix Sew and scissors to take her machine in for a repair. While there I noticed the fabrics that they are selling for a friend and they had a perfect fabric and at a great price!

As sometimes happens the quilt maker had planned to quilt this piece herself and had fused batting to the top and it wasn’t budging.

We decided to leave it attached and add another layer of Hobbs 80/20.

Adding the pantograph bubbles was a fun and perfect fit for the quilting!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Stars, Swirls and Plumes

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More often than not I am asked to choose the quilting design when quilts are left with me. In this case I had a few ideas and sent them to my client. She chose the pantograph Tickle Too…a fun to quilt design that adds swirls and feather plumes to dance all over the quilt.

This design has a perfect density for a bed quilt.

The quilting really shines on the back doesn’t it!

The quilt is trimmed and ready for binding.

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Sunshine and Butterflies!

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We have been experiencing normal deep freeze winter weather here for the last week or so ago. For the most part winter weather doesn’t bother me.

I do love a bright sunshiny January day and yesterday was one of those days!

I am over due in sharing this special quilt that was made during 2023 for my daughter Mary. It has a lot of significance personally and was a joy to make.

After quilting the quilt with the pantograph Butterfly Charm and a beautiful variegated thread, I added additional quilting with my domestic machine and wonderfil Glamore thread to add more glitz.

My daughter loves purple and butterflies and she told me that she had wanted a quilt with this quilting design from the moment it first arrived in my studio so many years ago. When she saw the quilt as a kit on a Keepsake Quilting Catalogue she quickly requested it.

Her son Liam asked to make the label for this special quilt and he did a fantastic job!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Starswirl Quilt

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Starswirl is a beautiful pantograph design, it has a really nice flow to guide my machine over creating a beautiful even density of stitches over the quilt.

The stitches are so pretty and really shine on the blue backing! The daylight was not overly cooperative yesterday, the first picture is a truer image of the green in this fun quilt.

The quilt is trimmed and ready for binding. This quilter is making quilts for each grandchild and saving them for when they are grown.

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Betty’s Polychromatic Quilt

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Betty and I have been friends for many years! I have always been so appreciative of her friendship and life guidance over the years, she is an encourager and cheers me on.

We first met when I was a young Mom, and I have been quilting for her for almost 19 years. At 89 yrs she is still making quilts!

Betty pieced the pattern Polychromatic by Elizabeth Hartman for her son. He and his wife chose the pantograph Belly Bop for the quilting design.

My pictures does not fully capture the beautiful brightness of this quilt.

The gray background fabric is Essex Linen which is made with 55% linen and 45% cotton. This fabric is a looser weave than regular quilting cotton and has a bit of a stretch and also frays very easily. Betty told me that it was a challenge to work with.

I kept a close eye for stray threads that migrated from their place to lay under the lighter fabrics as they really showed up.

Isn’t that backing pretty!

Betty’s quilt is trimmed and ready for binding.

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

January Quilting and Life

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My view this morning…I love the snow laden tree look!

I am almost finished binding the second of the two pink quilts!

A couple of posts ago I shared a picture of the backing fabric being prepared for this quilt.

In my opinion it is well worth the time to do things well. This includes pinning and making sure that my end result is a beautifully quilted quilt that lays flat without puckers or pleats. I know that there are short cuts, however I also know that shortcuts can result in issues that I am not happy with.

It’s a wonderful feeling when I finish a quilt that I know that my customer will feel proud of.

The backing:

Joan has been using her stash to create fantastic quilts!

I really enjoy a good splash of colour in my studio!

Her quilt is trimmed and the binding prepared and ready for pick up.

What are you working on? Do you use your scraps?

Most of my quilting time is spent helping my customers complete their quilts. I do however schedule in time for myself to piece.

I like to have a few projects on the go at the same time, do you?

My current fun is the scrappy postage stamp quilt which I will be working on for a while!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Winter Solstice (and a fun little project)

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Welcome December 21! The first official day of winter…I may come to regret saying this but where is the snow? The weather forecast for Christmas Eve and day are for above 0 Celsius. This might just be my first not white Christmas in Thunder Bay.

I am finishing up my Christmas projects this week. This little pouch along with another were my fun task last night. I love making these little projects and they make fun gifts.

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Marlene’s White Chocolate Quilt

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As we move closer to Winter solstice our amount of natural daylight hours become less and less add to that, that it seems that the sun is shy and hiding behind the clouds… making it really challenging to truly capture the true beauty of some quilts. I came close with this quilt.

Marlene’s White Chocolate quilt is absolutely stunning with its subtle soft colours and creamy backgrounds.

After looking at several options for the quilting, Marlene chose the pantograph Gravity. The fun oval design of this pantograph leans toward a modern look and really plays so nicely with this more traditional looking quilt.

The curves in the quilting soften the angular look in the piecing.

The backing fabric has a beautiful sheen to it and as it was brought to me as yardage, it was pieced by me, carefully matching the design. This is a complementary service that I offer.

Both quilt top and backing are always carefully pressed before loading onto my Longarm.

The quilt was trimmed after quilting and ready for binding when Marlene picked her quilt up.

Let me help you bring your quilting projects to completion.

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Happy Thanksgiving and life

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Today is Thanksgiving in Canada, it is a day widely celebrated in Canada though it seems like many things quieter than the American Thanksgiving that is celebrated in November.

Still it marks the changing of seasons.

The last week began with way above normal temperatures as in the 30’s Celsius which was a welcome treat though a little too hot for many mid week we experienced a thunderstorm with a lot of rain and hail and back to colder days!

The rainbow after the storm

The view from my studio window is constantly changing… I do love the spring and summer views, then the changing colours and the leaves falling is beautiful too, though a reminder of the colder days to come.

The grandchildren have been visiting and having fun. Last week Grayson had his turn with the knitting machine…

After making his own beanie with some help from Pappa…

Seemed funny to be making such a cozy hat on a hot day!

He got busy making another beanie for his Dad creating it himself from my yarn collection!

He was so excited and determined to make this really special gift for his Dad.

The knitting machines have been a fun addition to my crafting supplies and my hope is that all of the grands will enjoy using it.

I haven’t had as much time as I like for piecing…my postage stamp quilt will be something that I plan to slowly work on as my customer quilts take priority. Still it’s nice to have something I can spend time sewing as time allows.