Terri’s quilts always inspire me, her choices of fabric, colour and patterns always go together beautifully.
Tag: Thunder Bay Ontario
Change
Life gets busy and before I knew it I hadn’t pieced anything in ages. My casual, part time job took front stage over my quilting time and add a few other commitments and life became way out of balance. Suddenly something happened that truly forced me to stop and catch my breath and to re-evaluate my priorities.
A little over a month ago I was invited to an amazing quilting retreat. Three days of uninterrupted sewing, all meals were were amazing and best of all spending the weekend with kind nurturing and supportive quilting friends helped to spark my joy in quilting all over again!
It’s not that I had lost interest it was just that life had taken over.
I started the weekend putting my kaleidoscope blocks together
I spent a few hours working on my scrappy 16 patches
And finally began working on my Fatquartershop designer mystery block of the month from 2012! It had been patiently waiting!
I had seven blocks completed when I got home and it didn’t take long before I had all 12 finished and moved on to the finishing kit!
My Mojo has returned! More to come!
Colette’s Sampler
This quilt was from from the beginners class from the first quilt shop here in Thunder Bay the shop was called Patchworks.
Colette brought me this quilt and allowed me to use it to play, so I had fun freehand quilting it. I like to challenge myself to quilt each block differently while keeping the density of my stitching similar. Balance is important.
Some of the pictures were taken before I finished Quilting the sashing.
Practice,Practice,Practice!!!
I have recently taken an online course by Judi Madsen. I started following her blog when she was just starting out and it has been fun watching her Quilting style grow and evolve. I have admired her work so it was a treat to take her classes.
I have previously used all of the actual designs in this quilt many times but it was fun for a change to mark and load a practice piece just for myself and play. I only used one layer of batting because it was just practice but I can see myself using a lot of what I learnt in these courses in future quilts and will probably add another layer of batting.
Emily’s Quilts
I have quilted several Quilts for my customer/now friend Emily. In the last few years I have also been piecing and Quilting for her using up her stash sometimes supplementing when need be. She loves flannel Quilts.
Once I was settled into my new studio, I felt inspired to play with her fabric again. I love these bright pinwheels the print became the background. I had fun piecing the backing as well making both sides of this quilt fun. I really do have dozens of different pantographs but bubbles seems to be pantograph of the year!
Triangles and Bubbles!
Anastasia pieced this queen sized quilt for her daughter. I love the teal and grey together. She chose the bubble pantograph as many of my recent customers have lately. The contrast of circles and angles really adds interest. Her backing was a wide back purchased from Conecting Threads.
Disappearing Blocks
After watching tutorials from Missouri Star Quilt Company over the winter I decided it was time to play a little. Using some Kaffe Facett layer cake fabrics and white yardage I gave these blocks a go. It was really different with the bias edges but I found that as long as I pressed carefully and didn’t stretch the fabric piecing went smoothly.
I still have borders to add and am planning to use white.
Alva’s Thimbleberry Circles
Last summer Alva completed this quilt that she had purchased as a kit. The colours were an unusual choice as she almost always uses very clear colour, low volume or muddy colour. I love the circles and had a new pantograph that I had been waiting to use.
Leslie’s Amazing Rockies Quilt
Leslie is a local Arist who brought me her queen sized hand pieced landscape quilt depicting a scene of the Rockies. This quilt lived with me and on my design wall for some time until one day it had spoken with me enough to start. This quilt and I went on a journey so to speak, an adventure. It was for the most part fun to work on though also challenging as I wanted to be sure to capture Leslie’s vision and also bring movement and capture the light of her work.
Quilting and Life
I have often said that life is full of twists and turns which has been true of mine. I have still been busy quilting for my wonderful customers and I am so thankful for them ESP for their patience when I have needed it.
I have been busy working as a respite worker which I love. I have been working in a respite home where we give 24/7 care for adults giving caregiver much needed rest (shift work). It is a joy to be able to make such a positive difference in people’s lives. I don’t think that people really know how illnesses such as dementia impact the life of the caregiver unless they have experienced it or know someone who is.
I also relocated a couple of years ago and recently my longarm has joined me. My new studio offers a large window and the daylight is very welcome. Living with my machine means that my turn around on jobs is much much faster!
I have been busy these last two years quilting, I just have been negligent about blogging. I hope to get a better routine about that too.
Some recent customer quilts insclude Susan’s stunning tumbling block quilt
Wendy’s Quilting and Life 