Tag: Winter

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

January 2024…Quilting and Life

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I love this picture of our youngest Grandson! It really reflects how he embraces life, he is a busy, curious, and joyful child. Who will begin school in the fall! This is the picture taken of him at an event introducing the children to kindergarten.

Maybe no matter what stage we are in life we should try to embrace each season in life with so much enthusiasm!

January 2024 has been an unusual Month weather wise, seeing only a short stint of bitter cold and while we did get some snow it wasn’t anywhere near our normal.

I have been very happily busy in my studio working on customer quilts and doing my best to schedule in some personal sewing time as well, even making it out to the Rec centre a few times to sew with friends.

Practicing and learning more about quilting on my domestic machine continues to be a goal this year along with playing with scraps …my postage stamp quilt is in progress but may need to be put aside for some other quilts that have been added to the list.

I have 20 blocks finished so far

Working with a ruler on a quilt for Betty has reminded me that I should return to some of my custom work!

Betty’s Globe Quilt

So far February is looking to be a busy and fun Month! What are you working on?

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Sunshine and Butterflies!

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We have been experiencing normal deep freeze winter weather here for the last week or so ago. For the most part winter weather doesn’t bother me.

I do love a bright sunshiny January day and yesterday was one of those days!

I am over due in sharing this special quilt that was made during 2023 for my daughter Mary. It has a lot of significance personally and was a joy to make.

After quilting the quilt with the pantograph Butterfly Charm and a beautiful variegated thread, I added additional quilting with my domestic machine and wonderfil Glamore thread to add more glitz.

My daughter loves purple and butterflies and she told me that she had wanted a quilt with this quilting design from the moment it first arrived in my studio so many years ago. When she saw the quilt as a kit on a Keepsake Quilting Catalogue she quickly requested it.

Her son Liam asked to make the label for this special quilt and he did a fantastic job!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

January Quilting and Life

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My view this morning…I love the snow laden tree look!

I am almost finished binding the second of the two pink quilts!

A couple of posts ago I shared a picture of the backing fabric being prepared for this quilt.

In my opinion it is well worth the time to do things well. This includes pinning and making sure that my end result is a beautifully quilted quilt that lays flat without puckers or pleats. I know that there are short cuts, however I also know that shortcuts can result in issues that I am not happy with.

It’s a wonderful feeling when I finish a quilt that I know that my customer will feel proud of.

The backing:

Joan has been using her stash to create fantastic quilts!

I really enjoy a good splash of colour in my studio!

Her quilt is trimmed and the binding prepared and ready for pick up.

What are you working on? Do you use your scraps?

Most of my quilting time is spent helping my customers complete their quilts. I do however schedule in time for myself to piece.

I like to have a few projects on the go at the same time, do you?

My current fun is the scrappy postage stamp quilt which I will be working on for a while!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

The Week Between

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Let’s start with my morning view!!! That looks more like it for this time of year ☃️

Somehow the week between Christmas and New Years has flown by! Not without a lot of fun. We had Grand parenting days. While there was no snow so no snowmobiling, Erik took the kids on Quad rides instead.

If I haven’t mentioned it before we have several trails throughout our property, we really enjoy them and visiting the pond as well. Well the Grandchildren love the trails!

Grayson decided that he wanted to learn some sewing and asked if he could learn to hand sew! Maybe this was inspiring

The second of two pink quilts

Grayson even got Pappa involved in the sewing!

Grayson is getting really good on the machine as well, working on the bag that he is making

Kaija discovered my newest scissors and enjoyed snipping scraps and cutting out the sloths from a trimmed piece.

Kaija and I made a bag together, she likes to use the foot petal while I guide the fabric. She loves choosing the fabrics as well. it won’t be long before she is using the machine.

She was really silly when I took the picture…how scary does that marker look. She is really careful about colouring though.

Minka and Romee joined in one afternoon! Grayson and Pappa built a fort for the girls. They made full use of it and had a lot of fun together.

I love this picture my daughter sent of Minka’s fort at home, she is inside with a quilt sleeping and using Romees quilt to cover the fort! I love to see the quilts I make in action!!

Today is the 19th anniversary of my Longarm quilting machines arrival, I also like to call it her birthday. My Millennium is an amazing machine and I have a special treat for her that I will share soon.

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Winter Solstice (and a fun little project)

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Welcome December 21! The first official day of winter…I may come to regret saying this but where is the snow? The weather forecast for Christmas Eve and day are for above 0 Celsius. This might just be my first not white Christmas in Thunder Bay.

I am finishing up my Christmas projects this week. This little pouch along with another were my fun task last night. I love making these little projects and they make fun gifts.

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

A Busy Day in December!

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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.

We enjoyed guest speaker Jane Z Haworth

http://www.janehawortth.com

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.

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

O Christmas Tree

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This Christmas tree quilt was made using a pattern and fabrics by Edita Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts. It was such a pleasure to quilt and enjoy having in my studio!

We chose the pantograph Rhapsody which played on the theme in many of the fabrics.

I like to choose a design that compliments the quilt not necessarily one that echoes the design. Thread colour and weight of thread also make a big difference in the outcome of the quilting.

I personally find it very difficult not to be inspired by the quilts that I work on! Edita’s quilts often have the small piecing that I love to do and the appliqué ❤️

I love the way the quilting shows on the back of the quilt!

Trimmed and ready for binding!

Let me help you to complete your quilting projects!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Those Trees!

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Last year when some of my customers saw this table runner that I had quilted they were inspired!

The pattern is Those trees by Zen Chic.

Melissa chose Kona Sheen in Arctic Ice for her background fabric, it truly has the sheen of ice with a very subtle sparkle to it.

Backed with a silver grey Fireside fabric and quilted with the pantograph Windswept, trimmed and ready for binding….her quilt that she made for herself will soon be ready to snuggle under.

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Quilting and Winter…a quilt prepared

wendysquilting

This mornings view from the picture window…

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.

https://thunderbayquilters.org

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Spring Break and Life

wendysquilting

No actual quilting happened here yesterday!

It’s spring break here, and with that My daughter and family are here from Texas! I had been hoping that we would still have good snow for their visit and my wish was granted!

Jerry is almost 13 and hadn’t been here in the winter since he was a little guy. He and Liam made fast friends again and made the absolute most of yesterday,

The most quilty thing that happened was that I picked up my two rolls of batting from http://bordergiant and having both Liam and Jerry with me they each carried a roll into my studio for me.

The rest of my day involved food…and watching boys have fun!

Jerry is a fast learner and after a few runs through the trails with Liam driving he was off on his own machine. They snowmobiled for 4 1/2 hours!

After Bison Burgers for supper there were nerf gun wars, some serious rough house play, Jerry teaching Liam self protection moves and so much laughter!! It was a full, busy day ending with the boys having a hot sauna, hot chocolate and no complaints about heading to bed…the grandparents weren’t far behind.