As many in North America are also in a cold snap we are no exception. This weather makes me so very thankful for where I live and that I am able to work from home!
This mornings weather snapshot…
The days are getting longer and brighter and the sunshine is more than welcome…warmer temperatures would be as well.
This recent quilt was a lovely burst of happy colour! On both sides!!!
The top was pieced using the Chandelier pattern.
The quilting design Shasta Daisy was chosen purely for its loveliness.
The backing was pieced making this a truly double sided quilt.
This amazing quilt graced my frame last week! It was beautifully pieced and thankfully with all those seams its maker Donna took a Victory lap around it when she completed her piecing!
For those who don’t know a victory lap as some call it is stay stitching a seam around the tops edges about 1/6”. This secures the seams and prevents them from popping. I sometimes do this when I have heavily pieced blocks or sections of a quilt.
We chose the quilting design New Wave, with its soft flowing curves it really accentuates the movement in her quilt!
I offer complementary trimming to my customers which is almost always requested. I have the space that many don’t have especially for these really large quilts! I do send all of the trimmed pieces home with the quilts.
A long time quilter and customer of mine was concerned when she called about bringing me her quilt. She has been having issues with her eye sight. She told me she still loves and wants to make quilts and hoped her work was still good enough… yes it had a few areas that told me that it had been a challenge for her to piece.
Still it turned out beautifully! I often choose a fun quilting design like Popcorn for these critter quilts. I love both the density and soft cloud like appearance.
Her quilt was trimmed and ready for binding at pick up!
And my customer was so thrilled to see another one of her quilts so near to completion.
Years ago when I took my first yoga class the instructor asked why we were there and what we thought the purpose of learning yoga was…of course many answered fitness and stretching but she said it’s so much more than that…it’s also about relaxation.
Quilting is the same for many others including many of my customers and myself.
I do love to attain beautiful points and matching in my piecing, I love playing with colour and design and lovely stitches and density in my quilting, however what I really love is the joy and fun this craft adds to life!
When my customer picked up her sweet quilt her reaction and excitement to be able to succeed in her craft truly brought joy to my heart.
I spent some time looking over the last year of pictures on my phone this morning, here is what I noticed…
First of all and this is on a personal side, I ended 2024 making some big changes and choices in my health and wellness journey. I changed my diet and removed most processed foods and pretty much all ultra processed foods. I made a no food after supper rule as well.
After reading the book Younger Next Year for Women, I also made exercise a higher and daily goal for myself. The book encourages retired people..which I am not but maybe getting there, I am going on 63…to make daily exercise your new job.
The main goal of course is for longevity but not only that but active and healthy and happy longevity.
In this very recent picture I had tried on a top that belonged to my eldest daughter that she bought when she was about 18, it was fun to slip it on.
Some favourite books along with Younger Next Year for Women, include Thinner this Year, Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert and The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins.
In a future post I will share some of the podcasts and you tube videos that have really resonated with me this year. We are so fortunate as Women to have so much more information about our health at our fingertips!
2025 found us travelling in the Motorhome to Arizona and area…I absolutely loved the Bike Loop that our campground in Tucson was beside and I keep thinking it would be great to be back there for a few weeks or so…the fresh citrus was definitely a bonus!
Travel wise we had a fun trip to the Dells with some of the kids and grands this year!
Speaking of Grands…I spent a lot of time with the younger Grandchildren. The pictures really reflect that as they take up a large portion of the albums.
My Dad and I have especially enjoyed having my Brother living here. He retired this year and moved here in the spring.
Quilting wise….
On my own Quilting Journey I continued to work on the Postage Stamp Quilt and Started and am getting closer to completing my Small World by Tara Faughnan Quilt.
This shows some of the blocks…
I have almost all of the blocks made to finish the Postage block Quilt.
I have also been playing with blocks from Tara Faughnans block studies..
I clearly need to spend more time on personal projects.
Though and thankfully and I am so appreciative of my wonderful customers, many who have also become friends…they are the reason why most of my quilting time is spent with my Longarm and finishing other peoples quilting projects! Just a small sampling…
Thank you to all of my customers, friends and of course family who are all so important to me in this wonderful life and for sharing 2025 with me!!
There are so many amazing Panels available now and this one is no exception. I absolutely love my customers borders and colour choices that she used to grow the panels and add her person touch to them.
She is a longtime quilter and at 86 yrs she is still going strong! A fantastic role model.
When choosing the quilting design I was considering one pantograph that really adds to the movement and look of the Northern lights however feel it didn’t do anything for the lake.
When the design Ripples came to mind I knew that it would perfectly fit the bill.
Thread weight and colour make a big difference in the final outcome. When I don’t want the thread to steal the show I choose a 60 weight which sits beautifully in the background for the most part. I chose a very soft blue that does show up minimally where it contrasts.
Her quilts were trimmed and ready for binding when I delivered them to her…(both complementary services)
My days do seem to fly by, I spend several hours most days working on customer quilts. As much as I love that I also really love piecing quilts.
Joining Tara Faughnans block studies this season has been a fantastic addition to my quilting practice with both learning a new block and playing with a palette of her choosing it really does make for great fun in my life.
I will share more but for now these are a couple of my blocks from the first month that I plan to mount on canvas.
Other samples that I have made are earmarked for some other fun ideas.
My Small world quilt blocks almost fill my design wall and my postage stamp quilt continues to have a few blocks pieced and is slowly being completed.
A friend of mine suggested trying an eye pillow at bedtime made with flax seed and lavender…so I did make myself one and a few more for others…
With the winter months approaching there should be more time for studio play.
We are so wealthy in Grandchildren and have had the pleasure of their company and all the fun and joy that they bring with them!
On a personal note and adding to what I have written in previous posts…. A year ago tomorrow I made a decision to remove certain things from my diet. Alcohol was one and following that dispite for the most part eating a healthy diet I have made changes and tweaked it to better match my health and wellbeing goals.
There is so much to learn about food and it’s not always easy to navigate away from ultra processed foods but it is worth the effort. The Yuka app has been very helpful.
Adding more exercise and learning more about what we women need at my stage of life for bone,muscle and heart health has been enlightening as well! I have so much fabric and so many ideas that healthy longevity is a big time personal goal.
I have often thought about making myself a design board. Tara showed us how to make easy ones as part of the introduction to her block studies and I had planned to make simple and fast ones like that.
Then…the other night I came across a YouTube video by Gina Tell and I just couldn’t resist giving it a try!
I already had some foam board, and oh so many batting scraps and left over bindings.
Gluing the batting to the board and sewing on the binding was easy. I did use a glue stick to hold the binding onto the back as I used the duct tape to finish the board. The white duct tape came from the dollar store as did the foam board.
Yes I am having fun playing! After spending my day working on the longarm and preparing today’s quilt for loading, the evening was mine!
I had initially only cut a couple of strips from each colour that I am working on, so had to start with some prep work!
We have been gifted, in my opinion anyways with an extra long stretch of summer weather! With that though the bears in the area continue.
As much as I love walking out here and especially on my own at my own pace…though I love running into my friends and visiting too…I know myself and an encounter with a bear would be hard to overcome.
Instead I am playing at other ways to work on my fitness and yesterday my Dad gave me a step!
For many years when my girls were small I took step aerobics 3 times a week and loved it! Now I have a step and found an instructor that I like on YouTube. We have a treadmill and I can use it but I find it boring…
I have always loved fitness and know how important it is as I age and if I am going to be able to do all the things that I hope to do in these next decades of my life I need to be fit!
I am also reading this book…which really encourages retired people to consider exercise their new job….though I am not retired!
My Dad has adopted healthy living and fitness into his life even more so these last years and at 88 yrs he has spent his summer actively enjoying golf and his bike and is always reading, learning and trying new things.
On another but related subject I had been on the fence about joining Tara Faughnans Block Studies Collective this season.
My biggest issue was the time as I am a full time longarm quilter and I love piecing and have no shortage of projects or fabric for that matter.
So what made me decide to jump in? At my brother’s 60th birthday dinner on Sunday I mentioned it and the response was so positive, have fun and keep learning, go for it! The Block Studies Collective is about play and exploration, playing with colour, all things that I love.
Also winter is coming and with that a lot more time for quilting! Tracking shows that my palette arrives tomorrow so last night I pulled some scraps out and played at the end of my day! So many ideas and so much fun!!
On last thing about this season…a friend and I were saying to each other how tired we feel making the what’s for supper decision these days… I have been making that decision for most of my adult life. She had recently started ordering Hello Fresh. Two of my daughters have used it before and enjoyed it so…
That one was a favourite among several favourites, it’s been a fun change. We only eat in restaurants and very seldomly when we travel, and this has added so many great prompts for future meals!
With a request for a baby quilt this one began with a cute but older baby print with baby blocks, rattles and such. Adding the read solid prints to the mix that played nicely with the print resulted in a super cute baby quilt! With the added bonus for my customer of using up fabrics from her stash!
She also pieced the backing from her stash adding more sweetness and fun!
Her quilt was trimmed and ready for binding at pick up!
The story of this lovely Christmas quilt really makes me smile!
It was pieced by a longtime and expert quilter, which I could tell by her piecing. I have quilted other quilts of hers as well.
Sadly (and of course not why it makes me smile) she began developing dementia as this one was being completed and is no longer able to quilt.
The part that makes me smile is that her family has chosen to finish her quilts so that they will be used and enjoyed.
There was a lot of bulk in some of the areas where the corners met and I didn’t want to add any distraction to the piecing/design of the quilt with the quilting. I chose the pantograph Bayside for its soft flow…I also love how it plays so nicely with the candy cane backing!
This quilt was trimmed and ready for binding at pick up!
Wendy’s Quilting and Life 