Tag: Sewing

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

Free-motion Fun…Quilting

wendysquilting

I am for the most part a self taught quilter, I had never actually touched a Longarm quilting machine until mine arrived almost 19 years ago.

I have always loved to play with fabric and notions and very early on in my life with my Moms sewing machine…until she up graded and gave me her old one, I may have been 9 years or so at that point.

My love of sewing and then quilting has never deminished.

These two quilts are examples of trying out new to me techniques in 2013. They were inspired by the work and book by Angela Walters of Quilting is My Therapy.

This first quilt was one I designed myself wanting an opportunity to play with new ideas and adding piping as a detail in the piecing. The floral print gave me the opportunity to outline and showcase the flowers.

This type of quilting is a lot of fun, well for me anyways! I enjoy creating this density and variety in quilting when I can.

The next quilt was pieced using a pattern called picnic which I found on the Moda Bakeshop site from 2013.

Again playing with ideas from Angela Walters for the quilting. When learning to quilt it was suggested to use a busy backing which I did.

I have a customer quilt in my queue that I am planning to use different quilting fills on, it’s been good to look back on previous work alongside with playing with new ideas.

Last night I began quilting a placemat with my Juki Haruka, it’s a bright and busy mat and a beginning project while I work on this new to me skill.

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

An “Extra” Hour…November so far

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My morning view… well it was actually dark out when I woke at my regular time though today it was now 6:30.

The view out the picture window shows the last of the tamarack needles that haven’t fallen against the bare trees and the evergreens. Well there are a few stragglers on the maple trees. It won’t be long before the view will be blanketed in snow…

It’s been a busy month so far in my studio. My Longarm has a new hook and has been freshly retimed…this is my third hook on my APQS Millennium. They do wear out after a while and the time it took to replace is so well worth the effort.

My Longarm is a faithful friend that doesn’t require a lot of care other that regular cleaning and oiling and replacing worn out or almost worn out parts.

I don’t often mention quilt backings…one of the services that I like to provide to my customers is to piece their yardage into backings. This complimentary service began shortly after I began quilting for others.

After trying to load a customer quilt with a queen sized backing that had been pieced and was in no way going to work I had no choice but to call and let her know that I wasn’t able to use the backing. She brought me a wide back instead. She explained that she found it really challenging to piece such a large backing.

Well I love piecing! This includes backings, thankfully I have the space and ability. I also know how I like a backing pieced in order to obtain the best result on my Longarm. Many customers bring their backings pieced and ready for quilting and many are so thankful when I let them know that this is a complimentary service that I offer.

I have mentioned before how much I love my Juki Haruka, have I mentioned that her name is Bella? Well Bella has a new friend in town named Agnes!!! I am really excited to see what she and her owner Deb come up with 😊 another friend and customer has added a Juki Haruka to her sewing room … not sure if she has a name or not.

One of the main reasons I had for wanting to add this straight stitch machine to my studio was my desire to learn to free-motion quilt on my domestic machine. I do love quilting on my Longarm, I use it primarily for quilting for others.

I began practicing about a month ago, an hour several evenings a week after finishing on my Longarm.

One of my first evenings of playing

And some of my latest play pieces:

Practicing doesn’t have to be perfect and either does quilting however practice does lead to improvement in your quilting.

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

The Shattered Heart Quilt

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Actually called Exploding Heart, for some reason I have always thought Shattered and it’s maker recently referred to this pattern with the same name.

Made using Laura Pilands pattern for Slice of Pi Quilts . Using vibrant Kaffe Fasset fabrics for the heart with a white backing this quilters quilt is gorgeous!

The quilt maker found and chose the pantograph Two of Hearts to be used on her quilt which is how this pantograph made its way into my collection and onto other quilts.

I am always happy to order pantographs that my customers request for their quilt at no extra charge to them as I add the design to my collection….if you haven’t been to my studio…it’s an extensive collection.

I am not always a fan of using a dark or contrasting thread when quilting an edge to edge design as it can leave areas with partial design showcased that looks odd. However in this case that was not at all an issue with all of the white background that really showcases the quilting.

Oh and the backing! It’s one of Kaffe Fassetts spectacular designs!

This quilt is trimmed and ready for binding…

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

A Few of my Favourite Things!

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As a professional Longarm quilter I have over time discovered a few tools that make life a little easier.

I love good lighting and as much as I love my domestic machines they lack good enough lights. A friend gifted me an led strip light meant to be attached to the machine however the strips included never stuck long term.

My newest machine does have a led light, however not as bright as I would like.

I really didn’t want to glue anything permanently to my machine so my solution was to use command strips and crazy glue the light strip to it. It hasn’t moved since!

My daughter gifted me a shoulder massager a few years ago and it’s right up there with good lighting!

Also in the lighting department this led rechargeable flashlight has been invaluable not only for checking the tension on the quilt back when longarming but also when doing maintenance and work such as retiming the Longarm.

This one has a magnetic base and is adjustable.

My Carol Duek paper piecing paper order is out for delivery. So hopefully I will get to play with that today. It was a busy week on the Longarm.

I will share a few more things tomorrow.

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A Little Show and Tell while we wait for Spring!

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The days are feeling a little longer lately even though the winter weather still seems to have a firm grip.

I’ve been busy in my studio both in piecing

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And of course Machine Quilting

This was a fun freehand job, that I added some “modern style” quilting to a traditional quilt. (Unfortunately the back was too busy to really show the quilting) the first picture is the top before quilting the second is a close up to show how I quilted it.

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Next up the Anniversary Quilt, it was quilted with a Panto called Here and There, I chose it as it has both a heart looking shape as well as a feathery look without being overly feminine as it is a gift for a couple on their fiftieth Anniversary.

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I will be back soon with more show and tell soon!