Our morning view is in Hinckley MN today. We arrived settled in, had supper and went to bed early with a full day planned ending with being home!
It’s been a little over six weeks that we have been on our adventure… it is so nice waking up to sunshine this morning after a full day of driving in the rain. I am not complaining as we had almost perfect weather on this trip.
I brought my travel machine and some little projects just in case however our days were full and the only sewing I did was to stitch the binding on our camper quilt…even that isn’t finished but it’s close and I will share more about this quilt soon.
This memory popped up, Liam has always enjoyed quilts and quickly crawled into the middle of this customer quilt just as she arrived to pick it up! Thankfully she was delighted to see how much he liked it. (Liam is now 12yrs old)
I am currently quilting another half square amazing quilt by Marilyn… I have lost count however this may be the 5th or 6th this was taken on the weekend I did get a few more rows quilted after this picture…however….
Yesterday we had a fun filled day with our grandson 3 yr old Jaxson!
His Mom sent us this picture she took on the way home. He is big into dinosaurs and the puppet in his hands was a gift we bought last summer but when he first saw it, it was scary…yesterday he told us it’s not scary anymore.
After supper, I attended our local Quilt Guild meeting, we had 3 in person meetings and have now resumed Zoom meeting for the winter…I was thankful for that after such a full day.
She did a wonderful and informative talk about her Collage Quilting…she was very inspiring.
The day also held a big surprise which I will share a little later when we have some daylight. Our hours of daylight are noticeably shorter each day right now, making me look forward to the Solstice.
I am not entirely sure how December has arrived when I was just getting used to it being November!
The very best part of November in my books is that it’s Liam’s Birthday…he turned 12 last week.
My Dad hosted a family dinner in Liam’s honour, he smoked a turkey that Liam’s Mom provided and the rest of the dinner was made by my daughter Katie and I. Family dinners are so much easier when everyone helps!
I wish that I had taken a picture of his gift and reaction to opening it. You see he had requested money for an upcoming trip in February…this request was made in the summer. So to make it fun, I put 4 $1. USD bills in a peanut butter jar as a liner to look like the label…then filled a third of it with coins and wrapped more bills into the centre of the coins and topped the jar up with our remaining Halloween treats. The gift was a total success.
As his Grandma I have enjoyed his childhood so much, we have spent so much time together and he has truly brought so much joy in my life. These last months I have noticed how much he has grown and is definitely less of a little boy. I am sure by his next birthday he will be taller than I am, his life is busy with soccer and school and friends as it should be…though he has told me he still plans to be here in the summer and our annual trip to the Dells.
When my 3 year old granddaughter Minka let me know that she wanted an all pink quilt, I happily got on that…I am also making one for her sister. Pink is Minka’s favourite colour right now. The quilt is similar to Olivia’s baby quilt that I made last summer.
A night time shot of my design wall.
I have been collecting pink fabric for awhile now, I took advantage of Road17N’s Black Friday sale and ordered backing fabric and a couple more metres of pinks…what a great surprise to find more pink fabrics inside the parcel a few days later!
I really try to allow for an hour of piecing every evening after I finish working on the Longarm. I may have to add an extra hour in the morning in order to finish both quilts.
My presentation of my quilting journey went well at the November Quilt Guild meeting.
Cathy took part in Joyce Gilmores quilting retreat in Terrace Bay this fall, she had let me know that she was making the quilt and as she already had a quilt in the queue when she told me she was going I had added this Christmas one along with her batik quilt.
If you let me know when you begin a quilt and would like to have me quilt it for you I will add you into my list at that point.
She has named her quilt Baby it’s Cold Outside.
It was a fun and happy quilt to work on and she chose the pantograph Rhapsody and a perfect one in my opinion for this quilt!
Cathy likes to have me attach her bindings for her so that they are ready for hand stitching when she picks them up.
She had this quilt completed finished for Monday and showed both this and her Batik quilt at the Guild meeting this week.
Monday…was my presentation of my Quilting Journey at the Thunder Bay Quilters Guild meeting. It is the last in person meeting until the spring.
It was really important to me, to show my quilts in person as I also like people to see and yes feel free to touch my quilts!
One of the quilts that I was asked about after my presentation was my Hourglass quilt. My friend Alva and I challenged each other to make them.
I made mine with Kaffe Fasset fabrics with a solid white background.
Alva’s in Batiks
Hers was quilted shortly after she made hers (using the pantograph Starswirl) this was the last quilt that Alva made, she had attached her binding herself, and it was the only quilt of hers that I hand stitched the binding for her as she was no longer able to.
I had to tuck mine away for a while.…
When I was ready, I quilted mine with the pantograph Rhododendron. it also began my run on Kaffe quilts that I made…which I did show some of on Monday.
We used the tutorial by Jenny Doan of Missouri Star Quilt to make our quilts. It’s a fun, easy quilt to make and one that really showcases beautiful fabrics.
Preparing for my presentation, was a journey for me personally as I decided which quilts to show. I hope that new quilters noticed my progress from beginner to where I am now in my journey and it encouraged them in their own journey.
I have been blessed with friends who were well ahead of me in this journey of life!
Having friends who had raised their children and were cheerleading me on as I raised my daughters on my own. Having also worked and raised her family on her own she knew full well what my life was like, my friend Jeanne.
Jeanne was also a quilter and had me quilt for her. Two quilts that I have pictures of hold especially special memories.
Her Alpine Wonder Quilt was an early custom quilt job for me, I remember her delight in seeing it quilted and ready for embellishment! It was quilted before one could find many other similar quilts online for ideas. It still remains after all these years a popular Pinterest image that leads others to this blog.
Many years later after attending a wedding one of my daughters asked if I knew Jeanne. The wedding was at Jeanne’s home and my daughter recognized my quilting.
This next quilt, also an early custom… Jeanne’s Star Quilt.
Jeanne’s Star Quilt
Jeanne’s reaction to this quilt was pure joy and excitement! I wish that I had thought to take a picture of her with this quilt…however this was before I always had a camera (aka smart phone) in my purse. You see I delivered this quilt to Jeanne and visited her at her beautiful home on Lake Superior.
I loved visiting with Jeanne at her house, she had a wonderful sewing room beside her husbands room that was dedicated to his model train hobby.
Jeanne also loved to meet for lunch at Applebees for Asian Salad…she always insisted on it being her treat. She knew that at that time with 4 young daughters to raise, a lunch out was a huge treat!
The back of Jeanne’s Star Quilt
The last time I saw Jeanne was at the Quilt Show before Covid. She came up to me and said that she couldn’t remember names anymore but she was very sure that she knew me. I told her that yes indeed she did and that I quilted her quilts…and then she knew.
I learnt yesterday that Jeanne has passed away at the age of 91 on November 6th.
I am so thankful for my time with this special friend 💗
We know it’s coming and this may not stay, but then again it might. It’s truly a sign of what’s to come.
Thankfully my quilting keeps me busy and warm, and to be honest for the most part I don’t mind the snow.
This quilt is now ready for winter! I won’t be trimming this one as it’s not finished. After piecing the super soft flannel backing, it was loaded onto the Longarm with butter soft wool batting. It was stitched in the ditch around all of the blocks, and borders in preparation for hours of hand quilting by its maker.
As a Professional Longarm Quilter I happily offer all kinds of quilting services and love to help others learn this wonderful art of quilting.
As a longtime quilter, I still love the fun of making quilts big and small and learning new techniques and trying new ideas.
A sweet little wallhanging. There’s just something about houses and quilting.
What projects do you have in mind to work on this winter?
I will be doing a presentation of my quilting Journey at the Thunder Bay Quilter‘s Guild this Month, November 20th if you are interested in checking out the Guild it might be a meeting to attend.
Thank you Bonnie Schiedel for writing this article featuring my long love of quilting as well as my Longarm quilting business in this Months addition of the Walleye Magazine.
I consider a true honour to be included in this months feature Timeless Textiles along with so many talented artisans in Thunder Bay.
Quilting has such a long history and has evolved over the years from a craft out of necessity to a creative and great hobby. Quilting brings people together sharing what for many becomes a passion.
There are many small groups of quilters in Thunder Bay who get together regularly to sew and spend time together sharing friendship and skills with one another.
The Thunder Bay Quilters Guild has been an important part of my quilt life for many years. I truly believe that the mentorship is invaluable and I really encourage experienced quilters to reach out and mentor newer quilters.
I was so fortunate to have joined the guild as a young and beginner quilter and to have been mentored along my journey by women who had been quilting for many years and held such a passion for this art.
My friend Alva Llewellyn really made it a point to connect with me after we first met during a class at Quilt Canada when it was held in Thunder Bay, she always either knew how or found out how to help me in my early years of quilting. Later she was one of my biggest cheerleaders in my Longarm Quilting career.
Being mentored made such a huge impact in my life and was such a gift. I have always strived to share what I have learnt from others and on my own.
I truly feel privileged to be entrusted with other quilters work and have always strived to work together bring their vision of their quilts to completion.
It’s official, the Summer has passed and our home is now filled with the sweet aroma of apples from our trees being made into juice!
We had to be a little creative and purchase a new canner that would work with the induction range and thankfully it’s all working!
My Longarm and I are busy as usual and as always I continue to accept tops for quilting.
My 2 1/2 squares project is almost ready to become a quilt top and has made a fun project to look at on the design wall.
And….playing with these squares has inspired me to start a new project to play with…a postage block quilt!
This one will take a lot longer…more to come!
Thunder Bay Quilters Guild held the first meeting of the 2023/24 season this week. Also the first in person meeting after 2 years! The meetings will resume on zoom over the winter months and back to in person in the spring.
Ana Paula http://www.canadapaulabrasil.ca and I have collaborated on a fun project for the Teddy Bear Quilts program for the guild this week. These quilts are small and fun and will be gifted with a stuffed animal from Santa Claus for Christmas.
When I first was curious about quilts and quilting my Moms first reaction wasn’t positive…though not too long after I began she caught the bug as well.
My Mom sewed many things during my childhood and loved to decorate our homes but it was not until after her family had grown and flown did her true creative self emerge! She was an amazing painter and weaver and had an incredible sense of colour.
My Dads creativity really flourished after retiring from his longtime career and amazed us all when the suits and ties disappeared and his garage became a workshop! He is an amazing woodcarver.
My Parents have encouraged my creative gifts as well and when I found myself at a desk job in a little grey cubicle while raising my 4 girls on my own…I received a call from my Dad…while at work with some very life changing news!!
Wendy, he said…I have ordered an APQS Millennium and it will be delivered in 2 weeks can you get a room ready for it!!!
Visiting with Ana Paula
So on Sunday, I invited my Dad on a date to view the quilt show! It was so much fun showing him all of the different quilts and how quilting has changed and yet remained the same in many ways.
Wendy’s Quilting and Life 