Tag: Summer

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

August 2025…

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August felt like it passed in a blink of an eye…it really didn’t though and was a full and fantastic month of yes quilting but also family, friends, travel, fun, great weather and laughter!

This is one of the quilts that left the studio trimmed and ready for binding and in the busyness of August it wasn’t photographed fully. It was true eye candy so I am sorry to have missed its photo shoot as it’s always fun to share!

That said, it’s also a reflection of summer and allowing myself time to enjoy life!

Nothing shows more, how quickly time passes by than grandchildren! Those who follow me will remember Liam. Look at him now!

He is really going somewhere with his soccer…which is partly why I don’t see him as much. He has also just started high school.

Liam’s sister and our youngest grandchild celebrated her first birthday…

Liam joined us for our annual Wisconsin Dells trip. Two more families joined us this year making it a busier and fun filled week!…

After the Dells we had a solid week of grand-parenting!

Minka spent the last week of August with me…she is so creative so of course we had a lot of fun playing together!

That Friday evening was spent with Minka and her Sister Romee…after dinner we walked over to my Dad and brothers for a visit.

The next morning we were off to Lac De Mille Lac for a weekend at Erik’s oldest family camp. It was a fun and full weekend and great way to finish us a fantastic summer!

Grayson has been wanting his Pappa to come for a few years now to go fishing and finally this summer it happened! They caught fish and Grayson learnt to clean fish and I taught him how I cook it!

Now that the kids are back to school and this Grandma is rested up, I will start sharing more on the quilting side of life!

How was your summer? Our weather shifted this week from hot to needing the furnace on…

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Life versus Busyness and Balance

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I love waking up very early and I especially love very early morning walks esp in the summer!

Just before I woke up this morning I had a very realistic dream that my daughter who lives in Texas was suddenly here, we had such a nice visit in my dream.

After, when I woke up I of course wished she was here and could join me for my walk…and just as it was putting on my shoes guess who called and joined me!!

Life can feel so busy and it’s so important to remember to take time for oneself.

I have been really busy with quilting for others which I am extremely thankful for, I love my job!

Quilting is also my beloved hobby and I wasn’t finding time for me…my friend Louisa suggested that I carve out an hour or so a day just for me and my quilting and guess what? Not only am I more productive with my own projects but also my customer quilts as well!

I am currently piecing Small World by Tara Faughnan along with my Postage Stamp quilt.

I actually have 10 blocks finished now…

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

A Camping Quilt

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I have a Pantograph labelled Overall Bear, Moose and Pines, it is often requested for quilts made with camping or wilderness themed fabric.

My customer chose it for her quilt.

It’s a fun design to hand guide my Longarm over…

Having chosen a reads like solid backing fabric really showcases both the design and beautiful stitches my Longarm creates 😊

Her quilt is trimmed and ready for binding.

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Summer Fun Making Pouches

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I saw a reel on Instagram for the Holland Pouch by Center Street Quilts and liked it so much that I bought the pattern!

The pattern has three different sizes, it’s well written and is easy to follow.

I had fun playing with scraps and also quilting it with my Juki. The Zippers by the yard with fun pulls a fantastic to work with.

I love how this one turned out…

This led to making a smaller pouch to match…

And an even smaller one…

Not pictured is the fourth even smaller one.

The Holland Pouch was so much fun I made another one…

My little sewing buddy Kaija and I have been busy making pouches when she has been here this summer… we made a Holland Pouch first (not yet pictured) then this week a smaller pouch. She loves the idea of making smaller ones so that will be next week’s project!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

August Fun!

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We have had a great summer filled with fun filled days of Grand Parenting!

One super fun activity has been when Kaija comes over and asks to sew! Her last visit involved making a card and gift for her Moms Birthday.

Kaija loves digging into my scrap basket and I love both watching her and letting her decide what to use. For this project she chose the outside fabric because Mommy loves rainbows! The bright yellow lining made her smile and she knows where my zipper drawer is and chose pink.

We spent some time looking through my threads and she chose an almost fluorescent pink for the quilting.

I of course took care of the cutting and most of the pressing…she loves to push the buttons on my sewing machine and push the pedal while we sew and quilt.

The soft wavy quilting using the walking foot is a great and fun way to show a child how to quilt. Some of the steps she watched and helped.

After adding one of her favourite stickers she wrapped her gift and card…

I am planning to find a platform for my sewing machine pedal for her next visit and will plan a simple project that she can sew on her own.

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Quilting

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Summer is so short here and this summer has been busy, we try to make the most of the nice weather and time with the grandchildren and family.

Some days I quilt early morning but in the Summer it often waits for the evenings! This was a recent quilt that will be going to its piecers friend who loves dogs.

I used the pantograph Popcorn for the quilting.

The quilt is trimmed and ready for binding! (The backing was also made with yardage that I pieced which is another complimentary service that I offer my customers along with trimming)

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Heading Home

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One of the things we really enjoy when on a road trip is staying off of the interstate highways as much as possible!

Driving home along the Mississippi in Wisconsin allowed for interesting sites and finding fresh corn for sale at the end of a farms driveway…no pictures but wow you can’t beat fresh corn!

The roadside stops were interesting and this was at one of them…the guys really enjoyed using it!

We stopped to explore and play in Hastings MN.

Liam really really wanted to rent the scooter…unfortunately there wasn’t time and it also requires riders to be 18 and over…

We did find some other fun though…

Erik found a play to play too!!

Liam likes to climb and tease me that he is going to jump!!

The next stop was Stillwater MN where we climbed the 150 step stairs!

The bridge we were standing on used to be for vehicles, now it’s pedestrian only and the new bridge is in the background.

Another rest stop just before Hinckley MN where we stopped to grill. Liam had a great time in the play area with his skateboard!

We stayed overnight at the Hinckley Inn…we all had a good sleep…

The next morning we were off to Duluth MN for a little shopping…

Liam loves his Lego!

All things that drive

And esp visiting Camping world where he likes to explore the Ice Fishing “Shacks” and travel trailers.

One last cookout of the trip was in Beaver Bay…the weather had changed to drizzly and cool but that didn’t stop the fun!

One last stop to play and explore!

I didn’t take pictures but I did visit the newer quilt shop in Two Harbours MN on the way home it’s called One Old Loon and is well worth visiting!!!

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

June! and a Liam update

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Anyone who knows me knows that I love June! I always have for as long as I can remember!

The month started off welcoming and celebrating the grand opening of my friend Ana Paula’s new shop!

Two of my daughters share my birth month, the weather truly warms up and my world outside turns green!

Oh and Summer Solstice! Something else Liam and I share is the love of looking forward to and enjoying the longest daylight day of the year.

In the last years Liam delights in June looking forward to the first swim in the pool, barbecues (especially his favourite Bison Burgers) playing soccer outside and of course looking forward to summer holidays!!

This June for Liam marked a big milestone in his life! He graduated from grade 6 (grandma brag here…with an excellent report card!) on that note He had an amazing teacher this year and school really clicked for Liam starting in the fall, when he informed me that his teacher had a standing desk station for those who found sitting for long stretches hard. She also announced the snack table and that if you are hungry please have a snack! This woman clearly has a good understanding of 11 year old boys!! Liam will miss her and the elementary school but now moves onto Jr High in the fall.

This Junes ice cream cake was to celebrate Liam’s graduation!

He and his Mom spent well over an hour playing in the pool, the laughter was true music to my ears!!

Speaking of Liam and his Mom…she has shared her love of beading with him! The creativity in my family always amazes me and fills me with joy!!!

My Sister by choice and longtime very best friend came for a visit! Liam has met her before and when I mentioned something about her being a pilot and now is a captain he told me that he thought she was one of those people who bring you food! So we did some education 🥰 that those flight attendants are there much more for your safety than anything else!!

There was quilting happening as usual…though somehow I managed to pick up a flu bug and ended up spending quite a bit of the month dealing with that…thankfully that’s behind me!