As promised Liam really enjoyed his breakfast yesterday.
We spent time outside in the woods practicing with the sling shot…he really has this figured out now and was really excited that he can skip stones on the pond with it! We also had fun navigating the deep water on some of the roads in the back of the property due to the large amounts of rain this week. Our rubber boots were well used!
When we came in he enjoyed a bowl of his most favourite thing for lunch…Lipton Chicken Noodle Soup…I don’t tell him but I buy the low sodium version which make me feel a little better about it. He loves crackers and ice cubes in this soup.
Then it was time to head to the studio!
We spent the afternoon making and attaching the binding…I think that I will sit with him and do the hand stitching while we watch a movie.
Thank you Donna from Fuelled by Fabric for donating the fun fabric for the binding and backing!
This week is what was supposed to be March break for Ontario schools it was changed to April due to Covid…with a plan to reopen schools on the 19th. Plans change and now the schools will remain closed and students are to continue with virtual learning until further notice.
Liam and I made a plan yesterday for how we will approach virtual learning when we start again. It has been a very real challenge to keep him in front of that laptop for learning.
Erik taught him how to use a slingshot over the weekend, so we went for a walk in the woods so that he could practice his shot. No critters were involved.
On our walk to the mailbox Liam reminded me that we spent last March break together so now it’s a tradition. He assures me that he will always want to hang out with me.
The mailbox contained a big envelope that caught his attention and he opened it as soon as we got home and read a lot of it!
We took Liam to the Dells in 2019 with a plan to return the next summer…that didn’t happen. Liam still loves to talk about that adventure and we have promised that when it’s safe and we can that we will go again.
We spent the afternoon quilting his quilt.
It was a challenge at first and then I decided to try standing behind him with my hands over his and help guide the machine. By the time we finished he was the driver and had really gotten the hang of it! This morning we will trim it and make the binding.
Liam requested and had his favourite supper.
Years ago my Auntie Marie suggested that we had blueberry pie for breakfast…I mentioned that to Liam so guess what’s for breakfast today! We are making the most of these days together and hopefully get also making lots of great memories!
I love Saturday mornings not that they are really any different these days from other mornings…I love to start my day slowly with a fresh cup of coffee.
Did you know that you can buy a smart coffee cup and that you can set the temperature on your phone? The coffee stays the same temperature until your last sip!
I still love my coffee in my special to me mugs…but someone is retiring in 6 weeks and has always wished that his coffee would stay hot…
Onto my stash…I have been slowly re organizing my beloved collection…one of my daughters who loves to live minimally suggested not long ago that I purge my sewing room! I told her that I am still regretting the fabric that I parted with when I moved!!!
My friend Marlene recently gifted me with fabric that I have always wished I had bought more of! It just makes me smile.
Quilting has been one of my main passions for most of my adult life however most of that time was full of responsibilities of caring for family and earning our living.
Sometimes a couple things need to be added to an order to reach free shipping 🤓
My Longarm quilting has been and will continue to be for others and occasionally myself…all of those quilts have added to the non stop inspiration!
So my stash stays, it grows and I happily and excitingly accept gifts of peoples scraps that would otherwise go to waste…because I can see that as seasons change so do seasons of life and I am finally at the stage that I have been preparing for!
Life was full and busy this week, Liam really enjoyed our field trip and kept me on my toes keeping him fed! He tells me that I make the best food!
I really cherish these days that we share together. He will head back to the classroom the week after next. So far anyways as Ontario is closed to all but essential…
I had planned to buy cards to mail my swap blocks with however…that was a cannot buy item when I was out the other day. I have cards here to use and thankfully we could still buy stamps!
Sisterhood Quilt Swap blocks ready to go.
It’s been a rainy several days …not a lot of sunshine. This customer quilt has reminds me of our colours soon to be out the windows!
Today I am taking a class with Daisy Aschehoug of https://warmfolk.com ….more on that soon.
Liam was here for a few days this week and will be back next week. He loves to use his IPad so I have been having him research areas around Thunder Bay.
I wanted him to choose the backing for his donation quilt so we made an appointment to visit Donna and her shop Fuelled by Fabric in Pass Lake. I will share a picture next week of the perfect backing that was chosen. No pictures were taken as he was much more interested in going up their Mountain and exploring outside. It was a fun Day for us all.
Some fabric followed me home…
This backing has been on my mind…it’s a little too much for what I have currently been working on but when I saw a 6” strip by 100” I knew that it need to come home!
Donna’s husband has been given credit for adding this bolt to her shop.When I finished in the Longarm studio I decided to play and see how it would play out with the pineapple ruler.
When Joan brought me this quilt she said that she wasn’t overly excited with it, she had a huge amount of fabric for the backing. A large beautiful print that deserved the extra time to match. I piece many of my customers backings.
I chose the pantograph Flying Paisley and a 40wt linen glide thread.
Quilters are often so surprised at the difference the quilting makes to their tops. In this case we both agreed that the quilting really made it sing!
How sweet is this customers quilt. She used a Dick and Jane panel along with fabric purchased and saved from a trip to Prince Edward Island.
It will be for a grandchild and I am sure will be cherished.
This quilt arrived with the backing pieced and the exact size of the top. Thankfully my customer also provided more fabric and I was able to expand the backing. In this case I added a strip of the gingham fabric by cutting the existing back 1/3 rd if the way top to bottom and also added borders to the top and bottom.
All of the rows are sewn! Liam really mastered the 1/4” and towards the last rows he was edging up closer to the rabbit setting on the machine and really controlling the foot pedal.
He was really proud of how well the first two rows came together.
He said to make sure to send these pictures to his parents!Grandma’s brag haha…well look at those matched seams! We started with pins however changed to clips which worked much better. He is really looking forward to trying out Grandma’s Longarm!
Liam joined me in my studio yesterday afternoon and we decided that it was time to use up the fabric left over from his baby quilt.
It was announced that the schools won’t open again until April 19 so we decided to start a new project.
Our project started out when he found the stuffed puppy below and wondered why I had it. It will be part of a donation for Christmas Cheer through the Thunder Bay Quilters Guild called Teddy Bear Quilts.
Thankfully I still had a good stash of the Max and Whiskers fabrics along with other coordinating fabric. Liam mastered ironing. We worked on using the rotary cutter but both agreed that this time Grandma would finish the cutting.
We laid out the blocks together
And made a practice piece…machine set to turtle mode as he tried out the hare and it was a little too fast!
He mastered the 1/4” and sewed 3 rows.
By the time we were finished for the day he was already talking about his next quilt!
Today will be an at home all day kind of day. The last two days involved helping family with appointments along with my grandson and school. I read this morning that the schools will not open next week. That’s life these days…I am very thankful that I am able to be there for family when they need me.
I will soon have more customer quilts to show. The sunshine quilt is finished, as I bound that one by hand for my customer.
Hand stitching really is relaxing and I should make more time for it. I have been on the lookout for a good floor lamp for evening sewing.
My friend Betty gifts a lot of her scraps to me which bring me back to my childhood sewing and the excitement of a bag of scrap fabric to create with. So with a recent large assortment given to me on top of what a I already have and a new to me creative grids pineapple ruler…it started with making a block for my blockheads quilt.
It is not one of the official blocks and although the mistake glares at me I have left it for the time being or maybe for all time.
The ruler is fun at least for me to use. So over the weekend I let myself play…
It amazed me once I got started, how many scraps of fabric I have!Those kitties left over from Minka’s quilt keep popping up!These are at the point where I decide to stop and make the blocks finish at 4” or to grow them another inch which I am considering for a quilt that is on my mind. How cute is that little mouse, I did cut into a Fatquarter for that but other than a few Fat-quarters so far the rule has been only scraps…
Wendy’s Quilting and Life 