Tag: Scrap Quilts

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

2025 Quilting and Life

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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!!

I wish you all the best in 2026!!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

A Very Special Gift of Love

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One of my customer finishes in December, this quilt was pieced by a long time friend of mine. She was the one who first encouraged me to use my sewing talents to supplement my income while raising my daughters.

She often shared costume lines with me when she had a whole studio of dancers to sew for before their spring recitals! This was before studios started ordering ready made costumes.

Unfortunately due to some health issues my friend was unable to finish this project that she pieced for her sweet granddaughter.

She had pieced her quilt with the batting so it was a bit of a challenge re longarm quilting as there was a considerable amount of bulk where the points meet. We solved that by adding a thick layer of polyester batting, which also added a lot of poof to the quilt. (The thicker areas are nestled into that batting and less noticeable)

My longarm sewed through this extra thick quilt beautifully. I am a hand guided quilter ie no computer.

We chose the quilting design Rhododendron giving fantastic coverage without density.

When I was shopping for the backing fabric, I just knew this one with the fairies would be a perfect choice! It absolutely delighted my friend and her daughter and granddaughter!

Her quilt was finished at delivery, I chose the binding fabric and love how beautifully it plays with the top and back of this quilt. I hand stitched the binding down after attaching it to the top.

We also added a label so that her Granddaughter will have the information on her quilt.

Pictures were shared with me of the gifting and that the quilt was absolutely loved at first sight!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Northern Quilts

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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)

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Life and Quilting

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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.

So to that some personal progress gifts!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

A First Quilt! An Extra Special Gift 💝

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A first quilt made as a very special gift!

Its maker chose the quilting design Forest Floor as the recipient loves the outdoors.

This pantograph has such a wonderful density and is such a perfect Autumn design.

It’s always fun to flip over the backing and see how it looks as well! In this case the indentation and not the stitching is what shows up more.

The quilt was trimmed and ready for binding at pick up!

The quilt was made by the Bride and presented to Her Groom on their Wedding Day this past weekend.

Photo taken by Zach Baranowski

Such a wonderful gift Congratulations to the Bride and Groom!!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Design Board…and Block Studies

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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!

https://youtu.be/lfmrpN_vHfg?si=1lqEwisZwXgvuh9g

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!

Then…

Yes I am having fun!!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Disappearing Nine Patch Baby quilt

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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!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Yellow and Quilting…a sweet baby quilt

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This sweet baby quilt recently left my studio quilted bound and ready for gifting!

A popular design with many of my customers Waterworld was chosen for the quilting. I was also tasked with providing the binding fabric which made for a fun dive into my stash! The backing (not sure why I didn’t get pictures) was a lovely soft pink flannel.

I love how happy and sunny this little quilt is and how happy I felt working on it esp knowing that it would soon be gifted to a little one.

It also brought back a memory of an early quilting instructor who said not to use yellow in your quilts or if you did to only use a small amount because it was a colour that could easily overpower the rest of the colours!

That bit of advice seemed strange to me as it’s one of my favourite happy colours!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

A Sweet Winnie the Pooh Quilt

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While recently reading bedtime stories to one of my granddaughters (3yrs old) I asked her if she knew who Winnie the Pooh was she said no so I read her one of the books…so much silly fun!

Anyways, this was a fun, happy customer quilt that was quilted by me this summer…

We chose the pantograph Popcorn for its fun light puffy like clouds appearance. Again as I have mentioned before, when quilting a child’s quilt I like a little more density which I feel adds to the durability of the quilt.

The backing as you can see it a delightful rainbow of colours, a wonderful compliment to the quilt top.

This quilt was trimmed and ready for binding at pick up!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

A Robot Quilt

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Elizabeth Hartman has many fun children’s quilt patterns and this one is definitely a winner.

Karen pieced it for her 2 year old grandson and it’s sure to be part of many fun adventures, with that in mind I chose the pantograph Waterworld not only for its playfulness but also its density will add durability to withstand hopefully years of use!

The backing, is another fun robot print!

This quilt was trimmed and ready for binding at pick up.