Professional Longarm Quilting Services
Well that was a January! It’s seems to have flown by, we were fortunate for the most part to enjoy mild weather though one week was a lot colder than I like.
I meant to share these pictures from December earlier however life has a way of moving quickly…
February is off to a mild start.
Joan’s quilt was the first customer quilt of the year. I quilted it during a very grey cloudy week. The brightness of the Kaffe Fassett fabrics with the white background and oh the backing was just the ticket to light things up a bit.
I chose the pantograph by Bethanne Nemesh, called Nemesh Feather Grande which to me really suited the quilt. I also love stitching this out and that particular week I needed some relaxing stitching which it provided.
Unfortunately, the sunlight did not reappear before the quilt was picked up and the only picture of the finished quilt was before it was trimmed. Joan will bind it with the solid green that is in the top.
Oh and check out the backing!
As a Longarm quilter I have met many quilters, some are brand new at this art and others have being making quilts long before I knew about them. I have always loved my friendships with women who are ahead of me on this life Journey. Lorraine is a true treasure she is now well into her 80’s and many times has said that this is her last quilt…not long after she will call with just one or two more.
Lorraine moved into a retirement home a couple of years ago, she had told me then she was finished quilting. Not long after she called and said that all the people there talk about is their age and health troubles. So she set up her utility closet as her sewing room and got busy. While she has been a wonderful customer she has also blessed me with so much of her wisdom. Despite many health issues she continues to be a very bright light and her friendship a true gift.
My Longarm quilting machine is an APQS Millenium and was delivered 16 years ago today. That New Years Eve my youngest daughter and I set my Longarm up in the Living room she was 9 at the time. It amazes me that we did that considering that the manual was not exactly clear or easy to follow!
I had never actually touched a Longarm before it arrived and knew very little about machine quilting. It’s been an adventure ever since. I used to chat very regularly with a group called lachat… we were all learning at the time and at different levels but everyone helped everyone it was fantastic!
I really wish that I had kept better records of exactly how many quilts I have quilted. The early years were so busy, I was raising my four daughters and working outside of the house as well as my small business.
My Longarm helped keep the bills paid and food on the table but the best part of course have been all of the friends that I have made and the creativity that I have witnessed and been inspired by!
Happy Birthday Millie!!
Last December 31st I spent the day working on my Winter Village quilt adding the Silhouettes. With the plan to quilt the top New Year’s Day. I actually met that goal. 2020 was off to a great quilting start!
Like most years I had some ideas of what I wanted to work on over the coming year and was looking forward to a couple of retreats I had planned to attend.
do hope 2021 will once again allow for retreats!
The best part of course is spending time with other quilters and hours upon hours of sewing and being inspired and encouraged by like minded friends!
Due to heavy duty mask making, a machine a friend had mentioned she wanted to sell was added to my collection
As a treat this machine also joined in!
Most of my 2020 sewing/quilting was spent on baby quilts and masks some Moda blockheads 3 which I will continue to putter on and see where that takes me.
My Longarm has been busy this year. As always I have been so thankful for the ability to help others finish their quilts!
Somehow this strange year is coming to an end…though here in Ontario Covid restrictions will be with us to end this year as well as when we enter into 2021.
The year has not been without blessings, two new grandchildren have been born and we have been able to see and hold them. We are healthy and have had a little more time to enjoy what we have.
I have kept busy with my quilting and honoured to help so many quilters to finish their projects. One of my favourite parts of quilting has been making new friends and especially sharing my passion of quilting.
Do you use a design wall? I am fortunate to have space for a couple of them and they are never empty. My daughter chose the pattern and fabric that she wanted for her soon to be baby and we worked together on the design process.
The pattern that my daughter chose is Delight by Zen Chic, the fabrics were a combination of Zen Chics Spotted and Paper collections along with some pulled from my stash. A big thank you to Shari at Road17n quilt shop in Winkler Manitoba for her help and fantastic service. I have now ordered many times from her shop, the orders always go out the same day and are here before I know it!
The backing fabric is just to cute. It was ordered from the Fat Quarter Shop thankfully before the border was closed. I live fairly close to the Minnesota border and we do miss our quick trips to pick up packages.
Life was still pretty normal, I was busy with quilting, work and family…I had my Grandson Liam a lot over the March Break and he kept telling me that he wished that March Break was longer….be careful what you wish for 😊
January and February continued on as the winter months here do with perfect quilting weather and many opportunities to shovel snow and to drive in less than ideal conditions.
I was able to keep up with the Moda Blockheads 3, though this project really pointed out how quickly a week flies by! I have a quilting group that meets at our local Recreation Centre every Thursday which allows me hours of relaxed piecing time, so my plan had been to work on a block every Thursday.
This beautiful quilt was Audrey’s own design. It was so perfectly pieced and a pleasure to help her bring her vision to completion. The size made it difficult to capture in one picture.
Towards the end of February I began planning a very special quilt for my Granddaughter to be.
In my previous post I shared that I had plans for the year and one was to keep up with my blogging. Well I had good intentions and with busyness social media is so much faster and easier… but let me take up where I left off.
This quilt by Florence was the first customer quilt of 2020. Florence is also a longtime and good friend of mine. Her quilting hobby began with a small quilt class that I taught about 25 years ago!
I also made time to quilt some of my personal quilts which isn’t always an easy thing to do.
The year was off to a great and fun start. I even started the Moda Blockheads 3 quilt. Not that I really needed another project. However I have a quilt group that meets on Thursdays at our rec Center and I allow that time for piecing so it seemed like a doable project.
Welcome to my site, it is a work in progress so hopefully you will see changes in the next few weeks.
2019 was a challenging and interesting year that brought me to a point where I knew that it was time to make some changes. One was to resign my position at work and become a casual worker. The shift work is hard to juggle especially the nights. As much as I love what I do at work… caring for people who are waiting for long term care…I also love quilting. I needed to find more balance and by the end of 2019 I had attained just that.
My quilting for Customers is a joy and now that I have more time to focus on my quilting my turn around is much faster and so much more fun!
Another change that my decision has afforded me is that I am able to spend my Thursdays at our local Rec Centre. If you are in Thunder Bay, it is the North McIntyre Rec Centre. I spend my Thursday afternoons there and am available for new quilters or quilters that are working on a project and would like to learn or improve their skills. Contact me at wendysquilting@gmail.com for more information
I had set some goals for myself for 2020. One was to complete my Winter Village Quilt. A pattern, fabric and silhouettes by Edita Sitar. I fell I love with the quilt when I first saw it online, it was the appliqué that really caught my eye.
I reached my goal and quilted this with a windy Pantograph on New Year’s Day!
Wendy’s Quilting and Life 