Tag: Scrap Quilts

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Disappearing Hourglass Quilt

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Monday…was my presentation of my Quilting Journey at the Thunder Bay Quilters Guild meeting. It is the last in person meeting until the spring.

It was really important to me, to show my quilts in person as I also like people to see and yes feel free to touch my quilts!

One of the quilts that I was asked about after my presentation was my Hourglass quilt. My friend Alva and I challenged each other to make them.

I made mine with Kaffe Fasset fabrics with a solid white background.

Alva’s in Batiks

Hers was quilted shortly after she made hers (using the pantograph Starswirl) this was the last quilt that Alva made, she had attached her binding herself, and it was the only quilt of hers that I hand stitched the binding for her as she was no longer able to.

I had to tuck mine away for a while.…

When I was ready, I quilted mine with the pantograph Rhododendron. it also began my run on Kaffe quilts that I made…which I did show some of on Monday.

We used the tutorial by Jenny Doan of Missouri Star Quilt to make our quilts. It’s a fun, easy quilt to make and one that really showcases beautiful fabrics.

Preparing for my presentation, was a journey for me personally as I decided which quilts to show. I hope that new quilters noticed my progress from beginner to where I am now in my journey and it encouraged them in their own journey.

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

A Few Days in November…Quilting and Life

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Sunday night I prepared my studio for Monday…the life of a Longarm Quilter…

The quilt on the right was ready for trimming and the one on the left for loading.

On Monday I spent most of my Day loading and quilting the customer quilt on the left in the above picture after trimming the quilt on the right.

After an early supper I packed up and joined the girls at the Rec centre for some relaxation, visiting and personal piecing… my postage stamp quilt project is perfect for these evenings.

On Tuesday after spending my morning quilting the customer quilt on the left in the above picture I gave myself the afternoon “off” to help Erik outside.

In November when the temperatures are in the double digit range on the positive side it’s a real treat! (Just a note that I am Canadian and I am talking Celsius) it reached 13 degrees on the 14th!

We loaded three truck loads of firewood to bring home along with a couple of other things. We also unloaded one truck load of firewood…let me tell you, our supper was well earned.

After a short rest after supper, Erik headed back outside and I to my studio to finish quilting the quilt on my Longarm… as a treat and to wind down from the day I spent a little time in my sewing room working on my postage stamp quilt.

Wednesday began with preparing the next quilt, I always like to press each quilts backing and top which gives me the opportunity to look everything over before loading.

This quilt will come off the frame today.

I was asked a question at quilting the other day… it was how I can sew all day and not have upper back pain?

I make it a habit to change activities through out the day, I take breaks to stretch and move around, sometimes hopping on the glider in my studio for a bit between rows of longarming.

In my sewing room, my ironing station requires getting out of my chair and standing to press what I am working on. When all else fails my back massager is a very good friend!!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Joan’s Quilt

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This quilt left the studio yesterday. I love Joan’s quilts, every one of them is different and fun!

I chose the pantograph Tickle Too, it has some feathers and swirls that just added more visual interest in this scrappy quilt. I really enjoy hand guiding my Longarm Quilting Machine, after quilting for so many years it has truly become a friend.

Joan couldn’t remember the pattern that she used, other than she found it on Pinterest. Does any one recall the name of it?

The quilt was trimmed and not shown but the binding was also prepared and ready for binding at pick up.

The beautiful fabric with the large Hibiscus blooms deserved…in my opinion…for the be pattern matched.

It does take a little extra time to match the pattern when preparing the backing, however I feel that it is time well spent. This is a service that is complimentary for my customers.

Taking a little extra time to prepare a quilt for loading onto the Longarm helps me to achieve the beautiful results that I am happy and proud to show my customers.

Let me help you bring your quilting projects to completion!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Scrappy Fun

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My design wall is loaded with blocks made with Betty’s 2 1/2” squares. She gifted me a large bag of left over squares from a project she started and after one quilt she was done, and passed them to me. After several years I finally just started sewing them together with a loose rule of light and dark.

I will play with the placement of the 16 patch blocks before sewing them into the top.

It’s been a wonderful project for playing with my sewing toys as I find the process very relaxing…I hadn’t really been thinking of a what’s next project until I came across a picture from Gigi’s Thimble http://www.gigisthimble.com/2021/12/postage-stamp-quilt.html

When I first began making quilts…almost 40 years ago…I was first drawn to quilting by scrap quilts. I also remember wondering how I would ever accumulate enough fabric to make something like the above quilt!

Well after almost 40 years of quilt making I now know how and I have enough to make many!

And so this project began….first I made a smaller block with 1 1/2” squares…

Which would be ok but would take a lot longer than I think I want this project to take.

After watching some tutorials on postage stamp quilts I have decided on a variation of Kimberly Jolly’s tutorial on youtube.

And so it begins!

This will take some time as I have other projects on the go as well. My piecing time is usually limited to an hour or so in the evenings as my customer quilts come first.

It will be an easy project to take and work on at the Rec centre on Mondays which my plan is to add back into my routine…

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Bubbles and Quilting

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Most of my customers ask me to choose the quilting design for them, when I first began my long-arming career…almost 20 years ago this would often cause what was referred to as the stand and stare!

Back then I was a member of a chat group called LACHAT and we used to joke about how we would clean house instead of settle on a design. We also really worked together sharing ideas with each other and would post quilt pictures for suggestions.

It didn’t take long before I learnt to trust myself and my creativity to make my decisions.

This recent quilt of Joan’s was so much fun to work on! I decided to let the circles in some of the fabrics guide my choice and quilted it using the pantograph Bubbles.

The solid backing really showcases the quilting doesn’t it?

I usually prepare Joan’s binding for her and this quilt was no exception.

Let me help you finish your quilting projects!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Quilting and Life Autumn

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It’s official, the Summer has passed and our home is now filled with the sweet aroma of apples from our trees being made into juice!

We had to be a little creative and purchase a new canner that would work with the induction range and thankfully it’s all working!

My Longarm and I are busy as usual and as always I continue to accept tops for quilting.

My 2 1/2 squares project is almost ready to become a quilt top and has made a fun project to look at on the design wall.

And….playing with these squares has inspired me to start a new project to play with…a postage block quilt!

This one will take a lot longer…more to come!

Thunder Bay Quilters Guild held the first meeting of the 2023/24 season this week. Also the first in person meeting after 2 years! The meetings will resume on zoom over the winter months and back to in person in the spring.

Ana Paula http://www.canadapaulabrasil.ca and I have collaborated on a fun project for the Teddy Bear Quilts program for the guild this week. These quilts are small and fun and will be gifted with a stuffed animal from Santa Claus for Christmas.

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Quilting, Life and the Changing Season

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The leaves are changing colours and after a very full summer life is feeling quieter.

Its always a shock to the system as the days get shorter, well they don’t really get shorter of course, however the sun disappears earlier.

Living in Northwestern Ontario it takes us a split second to get used to the long days of sunlight beginning in June and the warmer temperatures.

After a deep clean of my Longarm studio, I noticed the light catching these two recent quilt jobs catching the light just right! Both quilts have fireside backings which will be perfect for snuggling under as the days get shorter and cooler!

Mummus Rug really adds to the Autumn feel doesn’t it!

Our summer feels like it flew by, though taking time to reflect it was full with many fun filled days with grand children, friends and family. Working on outside project (mostly Erik) and of course quilting.

I almost always allow for an hour of play in the evening after turning the Longarm off. Lately it has been with a large pkg of 2 1/2 in squares of scrap fabric gifted from a friend.

What are you working on?

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

A Special Pink Quilt

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When it was discovered that our newest grand would be a girl…her Mom requested a pink and peachy pink quilt! Music to my ears and the pictures that were shared with me were scrappy quilts…even more music to my ears!

I just had to use my pink Oliso iron for this project!

Erik and I had a lot of fun choosing the fabrics for this quilt, starting at Hannah Johnson’s in Duluth MN…thankfully Megan was working and she helped pull together a fantastic selection of fabrics for us! You can follow her on Instagram megface_makes

On the way home we stopped at the quilt shop One Old Loon in Two Harbours and added more pinks to the collection…and of course I shopped my stash.

Oh, one of the fabrics at Hannah’s that I fell in love with ended up not in the cutting pile!! Thankfully Megan was able to send me this super cute print!

Using 3 1/2” squares I somewhat randomly placed them onto the design wall making sure no two the same were next to each other. I didn’t tweak it too much as I find with this type of quilt you can play with it forever and still will find things to change.

The quilt was so much fun to both piece and quilt. I used the pantograph Two of Hearts and of course used Pink 40 wt thread (glide)

I love the backing! Those puppies are so adorable!!

I love hand stitching the binding, it’s a labour of love and an opportunity to sit and relax. Machine stitching binding is popular and for donation quilts that will be heavily laundered it is more practical but for my personal quilts I still prefer the look of hand work.

Of course the very best thing about making a quilt for a new Grandchild is meeting the baby.

Welcome to our family Olivia Lynn!!!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Children and Creativity

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Our house was full of activity this week! We are truly blessed with grandchildren! Our time with them involves a lot of activities from soccer, quad and dirt biking and even target shooting (and other adventures which I will write about in another post).

Music to this grandmas ears is when Kaija who is almost 4 yrs asks if we can go to my studio and make something! She loves my scrap basket, looking and checking out my notions and my sewing machine.

This week she pulled some crumb piecing from the basket and we added some fusible batting to them and spent time together quilting the two pieces…just nice relaxing stitching using the walking foot and pink thread…her choice. Her job was the foot petal and some guiding with help of the quilt sand which. She loves to push the thread cutter and needle up and down buttons as well.

She was pretty proud of her work!

When we finished stitching she decided to add some colour to the back and very carefully wrote her name on each piece and coloured in the squares with a highlighter pen. The original plan was to make another pouch and she had picked out a pink zipper and fabric for a lining…instead she wanted to colour the back.

She proudly took her art home 😊 it may or may not come back to be turned into a pouch and that’s fine. I think it’s more important that she had fun and enjoyed the process and was allowed to make her project into what she envisioned!!

Kaija also spent a lot of time examining several different notions wondering what they were and what they were used for! I remember playing with my Moms sewing tools, I much preferred them over toys! I hope that she will continue to ask if we can make something 😊

My friend Ana Paula is offering Sewing Camps this summer in her fun bright studio. If you have budding artists and creators who are curious or interested in sewing you might consider checking out what she is offering! I know that as a child I would have been overjoyed!!!

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Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Scrappy Goodness!!

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Anyone who knows me knows that I love Quilts!

Todays Instagram Quilt Fest post is about scrappy finishes, so I spent a little time looking through my pictures and look what I found!

My adorable Granddaughters enjoying a summer day last year! I had forgotten about the quilt that they are on!

It was made using quilters candies from a once upon loved quilt shop in town called Patchworks! The owner had a candle jar of charms folded into 1” squares with a stitch to hold them together. When I shopped with my girls the owner Diana would pour them onto the floor and my girls were allowed to pick one to add to the collection…

I remember making the quilt to practice Longarm quilting when I first began my business.

One day last December we had a day with grands which always makes for a grand day! Kaija asked me if we could go to my sewing room and make something. Music to this Grandmas ears!!

We made a pouch with scraps and when I dumped out my in use scrap basket I was reminded of my initial love of scraps! She filled her little pouch with scraps and has had hours of fun!

I have made and quilted so many scrappy quilts and my customer quilts continue to inspire more…

I have an early memory of my Mom taking taking me to a neighbours house and this lady had a sewing room full of Raggedy Ann dolls all in bright dresses she also made Barbie clothes…that room was so full of inspiration that never left me I was probably 5 yrs at the time!

Hopefully my sewing room will grow inspiration in my granddaughter’s hearts and minds as well.