A Little Weekend Experimenting

It was another hot weekend here in Portland so my sheep herding lessons on Saturday and Sunday were both canceled. So I spent most of the weekend at home and watched a lot of the Olympics. And I had a BBQ with some friends on Saturday night. It was nice to have some conversation and laughs. The dogs got to run with their many friends while the people talked.

I did start another Frankenbag this weekend. I wanted to incorporate some raw edge applique pieces, like in my sea glass quilt, into the bag panels. So I hit the sewing room and started digging through my scraps.

Here’s what I came up with.

This first panel is all done and ready for assembly. I free motion quilted around the blobs, then combined horizontal and vertical quilting on the rest of the bag. I’ve been wanting to do some vertical quilting, so this was a good opportunity to do it.

Here’s the second panel.

The biggest difference in the two panels is that the white section on this one is smaller. And only because I just used what I had left of some scraps of this black and white.

I ran out of thread before I finished the second panel.

I had planned to get the body of this bag constructed tonight. But I’m using navy blue thread to quilt this and don’t have any spools in my supply. I’ll have to run to the store and buy another spool tomorrow after work so I can finish this up.

I really like the quilting and I like the corners where the match stick quilting and vertical quilting overlap.

This image shows the quilting on the blobs a little better.

I’m anxious to see this constructed. You really don’t know how something works until it’s sewn into the bag shape.

Holy cow! I’ve been getting so many photos of Frankenbags from blog readers. Take a look at this first one from Laura Hillaker. Chickens! Such cute and whimsical fabrics. And the colors are fun too.

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This next bag is from Linda Woods. I love the springy colors. And she chose a really great and vibrant lining too!

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This next one was made by Laura… she didn’t give her last name. I love all the purple and turquoise in the first one. I’ve been wanting to try that color combo. And the second one just has such a nice vintage feel… like your favorite quilt from your childhood. Nice job Laura!

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This next bag is from Jan Cafcakis. I love the way she fussy cut that pink agate from Philip Jacobs. What a great way to use that fabric. And the polka dots are so happy1

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Up next is this bag from Nancy Coronato. I just LOVE this bag. I love the earthy colors… those big Turkish Delight blooms. the spots with the pops of turquoise. it’s just all so good! My mom would have loved this one… all those earthy tones were her favorites!

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This next bag was made by Thelma Brand. I just love this fabric. It makes me think of some batiks that a co-worker brought back from Africa for me. They might be made into a frankenbag soon. And look at the zipper placket! It pays to take some time to make things match when you have a patterned fabric like this.

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And this next one was made by Birthe Aust. I love the way she used that Octopus fabric. And I love the coolness of the lining. It all feels frosty to me. I actually had pulled some of that octopus fabric out of my stash the other night and combined it with some other fabrics. I wasn’t crazy about what I had put together. But I’m going to keep trying. It works nicely with the blue.

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Next up is this bag from Polly Bean. I love the way she used that New York Beauty block! What a great way to use up an orphan block. I love the deep and rich colors in this bag. I’m thinking I have a few NY Beauty blocks somewhere. Hmmm.

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Next are a couple bags made by Reidun in Norway. This first one is just so crisp and cool feeling. I love the lighter values with the pops of color. And I love the scrappiness and quilting on the second one. Nice work Reidun!

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Wow! That’s a lot of bags! Thanks to everyone for sharing their photos.

Back to work tomorrow. A few more hot days and then we’ll have some cooling. It’s been a hot summer.