Tag: Quilting

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Inspiration, Quilt Backs and Fuelled by Fabric

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Have you ever come across someone’s quilt that not only the top caught your eye but the back as well?

Early this winter my brain really needed a break from all of the world happenings and so I started reading new to me blogs. There were some that I ended up reading from their start to their most recent posts…oh the inspiration out there!

One blog that caught my eye and interest is this one https://louisaenright.com

Louisas design wall when I found her held two scrap quilts that looked like a lot of fun to piece. One was her gaggle of geese, she has a tutorial on her blog to make these geese one at a time which is very helpful when using scraps.

Gaggle of Geese by Louisa Enright

“A Gaggle of Geese” Quilt

I really love the top and those who know me know that I love piecing flying geese and have a wonderful collection of scraps…so this style quilt is on my to do list. I also couldn’t help myself but to source the backing that she used.

I started by checking with my friend Donna who owns and runs a Quilt Bus that she named Fuelled by Fabric.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/fuelled-by-fabric-quilt-bus-1.4759406

Donna normally travels with her bus/quilt shop all over North Western Ontario with her wonderful bus full of fabric and goodies! She found the fabric and ordered a bolt which led to a trip to her shop in Pass Lake…

While ordering backings, Donnas husband wanted to choose one and below is the result…it is interesting I can’t wait to see the quilts it ends up on!

Longarm quilting Thunder Bay, Quilting, Thunder Bay Quilters Guild, Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Wolves and Quilts

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One morning while sitting quietly having my coffee something caught my eye out the window…a wolf sauntered out of the bush and for a short time stood in the yard before me…all I could do was sit and look, it didn’t occur to me to take a picture. I was just in awe.

I recently finished this customer quilt. I loved the colours in the panel along with the piecing. It called for northern light type of quilting which is why I chose the pantograph, Kindling.

This quilt that I pieced and quilted in 2013 was a gift for one of Eriks daughters who loves wolves. It was a kit that I found online from a shop in Alaska. I remember that it was fun to make and that I entered it into our guilds quilt show that year.

Customer Quilts, Longarm quilting Thunder Bay, Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

North and Star Swirl

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I have always loved Betty’s quilts, her piecing is amazing! Her quilts are usually challenging projects sent to her from her family and she always proves that she is more than up to the task.

When she started piecing her North Star Quilt by Elizabeth Hartman she also reminded me of her integrity that I also really respect about her. She understands the hard work that designers put into their work and encourages others to purchase their own copies of patterns.

This quilt was such a joy to quilt and I chose the pantograph Star Swirl as it added movement and reminds me of the night sky.

Betty chose a soft solid grey for her backing which really shows the quilting. I pieced the back from her yardage as I do for many of my customers.

Moda Blockheads 3, Wendy's Quilting

Moda Blockheads 3 (Block 26)

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I was able to enjoy a slower weekend and after finishing a really fun customer quilt that I will share more about soon, I spent hours playing and finished a few more blocks.

Yesterday’s block was all half square triangles that finish at 1”… right up my alley for those who know me!

I love blue! When Olfa came out with their navy blue cutting mat I had to have one so no only did I order the full size but also the smallest ones. I really like the contrast when using light colours.

The large mats are a pretty big investment and when trimming many small units it makes sense to use a smaller mat instead of wearing out sections of the large one, at least for me as I tend to piece at least a little bit every day.

I use my bloc loc ruler often, I really love the accuracy it affords. I have not tried the different papers that are available yet.

Moda Blockheads 3 block 26

Green isn’t a colour that I normally reach for in my quilting life so having it in many of my blocks for this quilt has been a stretch! I do like this little block it was fun and easy to make!

Quilting, Wendy's Quilting

New Years Eve

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Last December 31st I spent the day working on my Winter Village quilt adding the Silhouettes. With the plan to quilt the top New Year’s Day. I actually met that goal. 2020 was off to a great quilting start!

Winter Village

Like most years I had some ideas of what I wanted to work on over the coming year and was looking forward to a couple of retreats I had planned to attend.

Retreat meals are the best, it’s like being a child called to dinner! No decisions of what to make, food is ready and no dishes afterwards. Just yummy food and good conversations.
The morning view from the retreat house looking over Lake Superior.

do hope 2021 will once again allow for retreats!

The best part of course is spending time with other quilters and hours upon hours of sewing and being inspired and encouraged by like minded friends!

If some one had told me that the spring and early summer would involve making hundreds of masks!!!
One for Erik!

Due to heavy duty mask making, a machine a friend had mentioned she wanted to sell was added to my collection

I love having a truly heavy duty machine that sews through many heavy layers without pause!

As a treat this machine also joined in!

I have been wanting a Juki for years and this one just happened to find her way here!

Most of my 2020 sewing/quilting was spent on baby quilts and masks some Moda blockheads 3 which I will continue to putter on and see where that takes me.

My Longarm has been busy this year. As always I have been so thankful for the ability to help others finish their quilts!

Wendy's Quilting

Minka’s Quilt

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Do you use a design wall? I am fortunate to have space for a couple of them and they are never empty. My daughter chose the pattern and fabric that she wanted for her soon to be baby and we worked together on the design process.

The pattern that my daughter chose is Delight by Zen Chic, the fabrics were a combination of Zen Chics Spotted and Paper collections along with some pulled from my stash. A big thank you to Shari at Road17n quilt shop in Winkler Manitoba for her help and fantastic service. I have now ordered many times from her shop, the orders always go out the same day and are here before I know it!

The backing fabric is just to cute. It was ordered from the Fat Quarter Shop thankfully before the border was closed. I live fairly close to the Minnesota border and we do miss our quick trips to pick up packages.

Minka’s Quilt before quilting

Life was still pretty normal, I was busy with quilting, work and family…I had my Grandson Liam a lot over the March Break and he kept telling me that he wished that March Break was longer….be careful what you wish for 😊

Wendy's Quilting

Winter 2020

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January and February continued on as the winter months here do with perfect quilting weather and many opportunities to shovel snow and to drive in less than ideal conditions.

I was able to keep up with the Moda Blockheads 3, though this project really pointed out how quickly a week flies by! I have a quilting group that meets at our local Recreation Centre every Thursday which allows me hours of relaxed piecing time, so my plan had been to work on a block every Thursday.

Audrey’s Quilt

This beautiful quilt was Audrey’s own design. It was so perfectly pieced and a pleasure to help her bring her vision to completion. The size made it difficult to capture in one picture.

It looks like some of the blocks were paper pieced however they were made using templates that she made herself. The centre was pieced then appliquéd onto the pieced top.
It’s always a pleasure and privilege to be entrusted with someone’s work and allowed to add my touch to the quilt!

Towards the end of February I began planning a very special quilt for my Granddaughter to be.

Wendy's Quilting

The Year Not According to Plan!

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In my previous post I shared that I had plans for the year and one was to keep up with my blogging. Well I had good intentions and with busyness social media is so much faster and easier… but let me take up where I left off.

This quilt by Florence was the first customer quilt of 2020. Florence is also a longtime and good friend of mine. Her quilting hobby began with a small quilt class that I taught about 25 years ago!

I also made time to quilt some of my personal quilts which isn’t always an easy thing to do.

Disappearing hourglass was a really fun quilt to piece with some yardage and a layer cake. I had a little fun photo shoot on a nice January afternoon.
A small quilt that I used up some charm pack squares and also tried out a new to me pantograph.
Such a pretty quilt again making use of a layer cake and yardage. Half square triangles are so versatile and easy to make. I made really good use of my bloc loc ruler making this quilt!
I call this quilt my spicy one, I just love all of the fabrics in it. It was made using a roll of 6 inch strips and my 60 degree ruler.
How perfect is this backing fabric!

The year was off to a great and fun start. I even started the Moda Blockheads 3 quilt. Not that I really needed another project. However I have a quilt group that meets on Thursdays at our rec Center and I allow that time for piecing so it seemed like a doable project.

Wendy's Quilting

January

wendysquilting

Welcome to my site, it is a work in progress so hopefully you will see changes in the next few weeks.

2019 was a challenging and interesting year that brought me to a point where I knew that it was time to make some changes. One was to resign my position at work and become a casual worker. The shift work is hard to juggle especially the nights. As much as I love what I do at work… caring for people who are waiting for long term care…I also love quilting. I needed to find more balance and by the end of 2019 I had attained just that.

My quilting for Customers is a joy and now that I have more time to focus on my quilting my turn around is much faster and so much more fun!

Another change that my decision has afforded me is that I am able to spend my Thursdays at our local Rec Centre. If you are in Thunder Bay, it is the North McIntyre Rec Centre. I spend my Thursday afternoons there and am available for new quilters or quilters that are working on a project and would like to learn or improve their skills. Contact me at wendysquilting@gmail.com for more information

I had set some goals for myself for 2020. One was to complete my Winter Village Quilt. A pattern, fabric and silhouettes by Edita Sitar. I fell I love with the quilt when I first saw it online, it was the appliqué that really caught my eye.

I reached my goal and quilted this with a windy Pantograph on New Year’s Day!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Proud to be a Canadian Quilt

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In 2012 I quilted this quilt for a customer who had pieced the top for her daughter who is an RCMP officer. I have had so many comments and messages regarding this quilt that I thought that I would re visit it.

Unfortunately I have never been able to find the pattern and any leads led to information that said that it was out of print.

I used a combination of a Pantograph for the background and freehand custom quilting for the rest of this beautiful quilt.