Quilts – Page 41 – Wendy’s Quilting and Life

This week seems to have flown by, I was able to accomplish a few things in my studio as well as some very welcome walks out in the sunshine.

I finally have all 30 blocks completed for Emily’s quilt. Now I have to decide on sashing. I would probably use a muslin if I’d had enough but I don’t and I can’t find a perfect match. So my next idea is to use one of the prints beside the blocks. I’ll lay it out next week and share some pictures and hopefully get some opinions.

I’ve been quilting a custom job on my longarm that is taking longer than I like, so for a little diversion I started another project using my Beach House Layer Cake.

I’m ready to piece these 25 blocks which will be part on my next Schnibble.

While trimming my half square triangles, I was thinking that some people might not be aware of the Quilt in a Day Ruler that I use. This is a tool that makes trimming these a breeze:

in this example I used two 5” charm squares right sides together, and drew a diagonal line.

I sew a very scant 1/4 inch seam on both sides of the line and then cut along drawn line.

Using the ruler, in this case I’m making 3 1/2” squares so I line up the stitched line with the 3 1/2” line and trim

Press open and trim the dog ears if you desire.

In my opinion this ruler is worth more than its weight in gold!! I hope that it helps you too.

Quilting

Time to finish what I start

April 2, 2011 wendysquilting

I’ve spent several hours in the last two days stitching down bindings. I was so close to finishing this one last night but I was just too tired. I have learnt that things go so much better when I’m well rested.

I’m also almost finished binding Opening Day the rest are finished. (From top to bottom: Sunny Trails, Aviary Quilt (pattern from Heather Heather Mulder Peterson’s book Livin’ Large), Opening Day, and Finally Elizabeth is finished.

Well actually I have some sleeves to sew on some of these quilts as well as Megan’s Gypsy Rose as they will all be displayed at our upcoming Quilt Show.

I’m still working on Emily’s quilt, it’s taking more time than I’m used to and I’m constantly fighting the urge to start something else but I’m determined to complete this quilt before summer.

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Finished Sunny Trails and the Possibilities Club

March 29, 2011March 29, 2011 wendysquilting

Sunny Trails is quilted and bound and ready to hang in the new shop next month. (other than the label) I am so happy with this quilt, and I’m already thinking making another with scraps. I think this quilt has also been claimed once it’s finished being shown in the shop……more to follow on that.

Tonight was the second meeting of the Possibilities Club. This is a group that was started as a means to discuss different uses for pre cut fabrics as well as other ideas for using scraps that we all seem to accumulate. We meet once a month and each month one or two people will run the meeting by bringing in some ideas that they’d like to share. I’ve offered to take my turn in June.

There’s nothing like spending time with people who share your passion!

Quilting, Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

My Kind of Day

March 23, 2011March 6, 2021 wendysquilting

It was sunny out today, but surprisingly chilly I think I heard that it got to –17C overnight brrr considering its supposed to be spring.

Anyways I spent a good part of the day doing what I set out to do today and I’m happy to say I have all the blocks except 2 small parts completed.

The reason I say except for 2 small parts is that the grey pinstripe I chose to use is directional and I made a mistake in placement so I had to fix my problem and I’m now short 2 3.5” pieces. Thankfully I have a good quilting friend who has come to my rescue and I’ll be able to finish up the last block in the next day or so.

I know that this quilt is a copy of one that I saw, but I love the fabric and I love the pattern so I will now have one too. I highly recommend Sunny Trails and will make it again and probably with stash.

Moda Bakeshop, Quilting

Sunny Trails Quilt

March 20, 2011March 20, 2011 wendysquilting

I fell in love with the Sunkissed Collection (Sweetwater for Moda) and was doing really well restraining myself. That was until I came across this pattern on the Moda Bakeshop site

I love this pattern and esp the fabric. I am always drawn to yellow in quilts so this one drew me right in. I’m already thinking of other fabrics I’d like to see this pattern done in. If only I didn’t need to sleep, then maybe I’d have more time to to make all the quilts in my mind.

The pattern is by Corey Yoder and her blog is at littlemissshabby.com (I will warn you that her blog could be very dangerous if you are not looking for a new project to start!) but what candy for the eyes!

I think I ordered the fabric that very day, then I had to wait because I’d decided to have the fabric shipped to my house instead of the border, the wait was a little more than 3 weeks!! If I’d had it shipped to the border I could have had it in 3 days. (lesson learnt)

It is snowing here today…..so I’ll go spend the afternoon with my Sunny Fabric!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

National Quilting Day?

March 19, 2011March 6, 2021 wendysquilting

Did you know that today is National Quilting Day?

Pretty much everyday is a Quilting Day for me it seems. Even when I’m busy doing other things I’ll be pondering the next step on a project or a new project or some other plan related to quilting. I know to some it may sound like I have a quilting obsession but I was once told that I’m a Passionate Quilter. I like the sound of that so much more, don’t you?

I’m still working away on my Sunkissed Project, oh I love this collection. I really should have bought more of it, but I have to draw the line with myself more often than not.

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Floating

March 16, 2011March 6, 2021 wendysquilting

Do you remember the post when I showed you this?

Well inside those tubes were the new wheels for my longarm. I love my APQS Millennium and have spent many many hours quilting with it. One thing I wasn’t crazy about though was my machine felt heavy and I felt like it took a lot more of my strength to guide her than I though it should.

Then came my very favourite personal technician who is also my very favourite guy! Erik put my new wheels on my machine on Saturday. I don’t think my wheels have ever been as perfectly adjusted as they are now.

and let me tell you, my machine floats now, I love it! I could hardly wait to load a quilt and try them out!!!

So on Sunday that’s just what I did

After my oldest daughter took all her quilts to Texas, my other girls were complaining that there weren’t enough snuggle quilts for the living room. I used a flannel back for this quilt and oh my it was fun to quilt! What a difference!

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Hibernating

February 7, 2011March 30, 2011 wendysquilting

That’s a good word to describe how I feel these days. Sarah and Jerry have been in Montreal for the last 12 days….now it’s official, he has dual citizenship and she has her Visa approved. They’ll be back for a short while and then back to Texas.

I’ve sure enjoyed having them here, Jerry is such a fun little guy and being the Grandma is the best!

We’ve had no shortage of snow, and cold this winter. I’m hoping for milder weather for some cross country skiing.

I’ve spent a lot of time hiding in my studio.

The above picture is a recent finish. I’m finishing up the binding on my Elizabeth quilt, Katie’s quilt is ready for quilting and I’m working on Emily’s quilt.

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Moving Along

December 15, 2010December 15, 2010 wendysquilting

I remember learning about Lapland in school and thinking to myself I’d like to go there someday…

We stayed in this hotel in Rovaniemi, Finland. Even though it was July, it felt almost like Christmas, which is part of Rovaniemi’s claim to fame being so close to the Arctic Circle and of course the home of Santa Claus.

The room was a little different than in Canada or the US, twin beds to begin with, the room was much smaller as well. I am 5’1″ tall so I found the rooms in Finland suited me just fine but I would imagine taller or bigger people would miss the biggie sized everything that we have here.

The bathrooms were all compact as well.

This next picture was taken around 2am. The days were so long in July, they are the opposite right now of course.

We went exploring after dinner, what an interesting little town.

While we were in Finland my daughter and grandson moved to Texas….to live with my Son-in Law. While I am so happy that they are all together, I can’t help but wish that they would move up here. I called Sarah the other day to let her know she needed to come home and decorate our tree, she told me she had checked our weather that morning and our -35C with the wind-chill wasn’t much of a draw. Though she did tell me that her husband had warmed up his car that morning because it was chilly….

This will be our first Christmas apart; hopefully they’ll be able to join us next year for a white Christmas.

My second daughter and boyfriend are flying down today for a visit. Auntie Emily is so excited well so is Sarah, the sister bond is so special. I’m really looking forward to more pictures and stories.

Emily is delivering Christmas gifts. One is Jerry’s quilt that I was finally able to finish up. I thought it would be fun to get a few outside shots of it to share some snow with them.

I made his quilt using a layer cake of the Pure collection by Sweetwater (MODA) The blocks were shown in a recent quilting magazine that I’ve loaned to my Mom. I’ll add that information soon as it was such a fun block to sew.

Thank you to Jocelyn for commenting and refreshing my memory. Please check out Jocelyns blog post where she suggested that we run not walk and buy Quiltmaker Magazine because of a block that they had in that issue. She included a tutorial and link, and I that very afternoon went to Chapters and bought my own copy, and made a sample block that night. I also made a 1/2 version and is it ever cute!

Doesn’t this picture look so inviting with all the fresh show, no leaves to rake? I’m really looking forward to new pictures with Jerry on his new quilt.