Tag: The Color Collective

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Wrapping Up 2022…onward and upward!

wendysquilting

Thank you Yvonne @quiltingjetgirl for hosting the 2023 Planning Party Linkup!

After a very busy year Longarm quilting for others and fitting in a little piecing and Longarm quilting for myself… it’s time to reflect on the last 12 months.

My APQS Millenium arrived at my doorstep December 2004! I was so fortunate to have joined a Longarm chat group of others who were also pioneering in this new adventure! Together we shared and taught each other so much.

I began longarming for others that winter and haven’t stopped! In thinking about a word to claim for the year… Gratitude keeps coming to mind.

I am so grateful for the honour and trust others have placed with me to help them to complete their projects! I am thankful for my quilting skills and I love to support and encourage other quilters and to share the skills that I have acquired over the years.

I have completed 2 personal quilts and have some tops ready for quilting.

My favourite finish is the quilt that my Daughter and I collaborated on and made for my sweet Granddaughter! Baby quilt

I loved the fun back of her quilt as much as the front.

My Sunny quilt was completed early in the year other than binding and that was that I just couldn’t settle on what colour I wanted…this month I not only ordered the colour that I decided on but took the last stitch on it yesterday. Sunny Quilt

My Longtime gone quilt is so close to being completed, I am working on the border and plan to have it completed in January. This has been a project that I have savoured and know that I will miss working on it when it’s complete it.

A fun project this month has been dressing my twin dolls. I find it hard to believe that they are about 55 years old. When my daughter said that she would love to have them for her girls I was delighted and happily found patterns and then added little quilts for both.

I was able to complete two goals with this project one was machine binding which went well and I can see myself doing that a little more often. I quilted the little boy quilt on my domestic machine and I will be doing that a little more as well.

Also for fun I started playing with making pouches and hope to add some bag making to my skills.

Moving into 2023

I look forward to another year of helping others to bring their quilting projects to completion.

My personal quilting goals include working on more of the Color Collective quilts that I collected in 2022. I have the second top completed and ready to quilt and the third partially pieced.

My challenge will be working with my stash and adding only what I need to complete quilts and projects.

I hope to get back into a regular routine of quilting with my friends at the Rec centre and hopefully finally plan a retreat there that a friend and I have discussed since 2019…

I will be upgrading this site in the coming year as it’s time to upgrade which should be fun and educational 😊

On the life side I do have some personal well-being goals in place… life can get so busy but as I approach a significant birthday in 2023 I plan to greet it at my best and enjoy the ride!!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Snow, Stellar, Quilting and Life

wendysquilting

Well…yes it’s still snowing there is even more forecasted for Wednesday yet again! The trees are heavy with snow and an attempt to walk to the back of our property failed due to it being waist deep!

The good news is that it’s not too cold, the snow is wet and heavy to shovel but it did feel good to be outside this morning and the sun was trying hard to break through the clouds. hopefully the sun will shine tomorrow.

11:30 am April 18 2022

On Friday I spent some time pressing and started cutting the fabric for Stellar, the third quilt from Season 4 of the Color Collective. It is comprised of 2 paper pieced blocks that mirror each other.

Marilyn’s third half square triangle quilt left this morning. Theses quilts are full queen size and such fun to look at. Her stitching is so precise and her quilts are always square.

Folded in half

I am presently quilting a super fun 2 sided quilt that is nice and bright! I always press the tops and backs before loading, it’s worth the extra time in my opinion. This quilt like the Minecraft Quilt has a very pieced and fun backing.

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Fun Projects and Waiting…

wendysquilting

Well another snowy day, we woke to another 5”s of very wet snow. While the trees did look pretty, we had a near miss of a snow laden tree leaning on our power line…thankfully with a little help from Erik with less snow it bounced up a bit.

And a little later in the morning…

I am normally a pretty patient person, but the snow is stretching me though there is not a thing I can do about it….we are also waiting for our newest grandchild to arrive any day…I am not feeling patient about that either.

There is also more snow predicted for next week!

I have finished quilting the half square triangle quilt I wrote about in my last blog and have the next ready to quilt. It always amazes me how even in 18 years of quilting for others there are rarely duplicates!

This quilt is spectacularly brilliant! Just what’s needed to work on a gray snowy day!

I am itching to start project three of the Color Collective! It’s called Stellar, designed by Tara Faughnan.

Do you ever find it hard to break up a bundle and start cutting it up, I do but I know that it will will be fun and once I start it will be hard to stop… that might be part of my hesitation.

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Sunny Days!!!

wendysquilting

Well we have had some sunshiny days in January, of course those are usually our coldest days of winter!

My Sunny quilt has made for many hours of fun piecing with a new to me paper piecing technique along with the fun of a palette put together by Tara Faughnan of the Color collective. It’s been a welcome adventure.

While making it an old and favourite song from my childhood kept coming to mind…Sunny Days by Lighthouse. It actually came on the radio yesterday!

This weekend after finishing up a customer quilt, I gifted myself time on the Longarm for Sunny. The backing reminds me of tie dye a bit and also carried many of the tops colours. I love finding just the right backs for my quilts!

Sunny is ready for binding…I am leaning towards the orange! What would you choose?

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Flock Block

wendysquilting

Over the last week or so I have been making the units for the Flock Block quilt when I have a little time to play.

Yesterday was one of those days that I felt like playing and made a few of the blocks, which turned into a few more….

Flock is the second block from Season 4 of the Color Collective. From Sewtopia aka Amy Newbold and Tara Faughnan . This program has added so much fun during these chilly winter months.

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Friend-enemies and Colour

wendysquilting

Ok so I looked this up as I heard Tara say it regarding colours in one of the Palettes of the Color Collective. Friend-enemies was what she said.

I think I like the sound of friend-enemy in the context that it was used. It came to mind as I was trimming the half square triangles for the flock block that I am currently working on.

Taras reference was regarding fabrics that can work together in a quilt but perhaps not side by side…at least that was my interpretation.

Sometimes the trimmings are just too pretty to throw away!!!

Some of my favourite colours are in this palette, some of my not so favourites as well but I am enjoying them together.

My main purpose in joining the Color Collective this year was to step outside of the box so to speak and use colours that I may otherwise not use and or to use them differently.

I am still working on capturing true colours with my camera. This one came the closest yesterday.

The next bundle is on its way, so my goal this week is to complete the flock top before it arrives.

Of course the Longarm calls and it’s loaded and waiting for the week to begin…just one more cup of coffee! Have I ever mentioned how much I love working from home and working on quilts?

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Sunny

wendysquilting

Sunny is the name of the first block of Season 4 of the Color Collective that I have been working on. This Season began November 1st and this block introduced a new to me paper piecing technique.

I don’t usually enjoy paper piecing, it seems so tedious and wasteful however Taras technique was fun and no ripping papers and very little fabric waste. Not only that but as our days become shorter as we get closer to December 21st it was a fantastic palette and block to play with in the moments that I had time to play.

Curved piecing has really been popular these last few years and I was glad to have the glue technique for these blocks!

Fall and winter are especially busy with customer quilts and Christmas coming so my personal piecing time becomes very precious and needed. I decided to focus on Sunny but also accept that the November block most likely wouldn’t be a top until January.

So yesterday with little wind and not too terribly cold weather I laid Sunny over the snow to show you. I am somewhat pondering how I will quilt this top so it might be awhile before I get to that stage.

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Sunny

wendysquilting
The view from my studio this morning

No it isn’t sunny today, our world is really trying to turn white, the winds have truly been winter like. Yesterday was my last clothesline day until spring!

Thankfully Tara Faughnan of the color collective chose a bright happy fun to piece quilt block for the first project of season 4. The first quilt is named Sunny.

The palette, note to self to take a better picture of the December palette.
Starting to play

It’s been fun to learn a new to me paper piecing technique and play with colours that I might not have chosen myself.

Longtime Gone is still taking up more than half of the design wall and I am determined to finish that quilt top by the end of the year.

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

This and That

wendysquilting

I was asked what the pattern was for the top below. It is by Thimble Blossoms and called Dwell 2. It was a nice project to piece and because I purchased it as a kit there were very few decisions to be made.

Sometimes and in some seasons of life it’s nice to just cut sew and press. I was drawn to this project from quilting one for a customer.

We have had very little rain for months and have enjoyed some really nice weather even into November.

The forecast for tomorrow is for rain 75-100mm for our area and for those further from the lake (Thunder Bay is built on the shore of Lake Superior) will receive the precipitation in snow….and so it begins or so it seems!

I have been enjoying some playtime piecing curves and playing with colour. I had to laugh at myself the other day as I was so absorbed in what I was doing that I made a pretty silly mistake…funny how we don’t always see that what we are doing is wrong…

As soon as I pressed it I knew something was off…had I taken just a little time to stop and look at what I was doing and re think it…

Instead I realized it was late and time to quit for the night. The next morning I was able to quickly take it apart and use the right background.

Well worth the effort!!

I enjoy curved piecing and this project is allowing for a lot of practice.

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

The Color Collective

wendysquilting

I have followed Tara Faughnan and Amy Newbolds program the Color Collective from when it originated however for many reasons hesitated to jump in. It always looked like a lot of fun.

Then last December I discovered Louisa Enright’s blog, https://louisaenright.com what a treat of years of quilting to read about and especially her adventures with the Collective. So after giving it a little thought I decided to jump in. I love the idea of learning new skills and especially receiving a different palette bundle of fabric each month to play with.

The program began November 1st, my fabric is on its way…it’s in Canada somewhere. The block pattern was revealed yesterday with a completely new to me paper piecing technique. I loved the videos of Tara teaching and after watching them I had to try the block! I like to make practice blocks often with a new pattern anyways.

The quilt is called Sunny and will be bright and happy.