A Little Sheep Herding, a Little House Keeping, and More Feedbag Totes

After a really stressful week of work last week (I had five hours of Zoom meetings to start my Friday!) I was really happy to have a Saturday filled with sheep herding for me and Rico. I had my regular weekly herding lesson in the morning, and then high tailed it down to Molalla, Oregon, for a lesson with a different trainer in the afternoon.

I really lucked out in the weather. There were showers coming and going all day and every turn I had with the sheep was nice and dry. I even got to see a full rainbow accompanied by sheep and a dog!

It was a nice cool day so the host of the second lesson had a lovely fire going to keep us all warm between turns with the trainer.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve been around a nice camp fire. And I smelled just like bacon when I got home!

While we were there I took my boys for a nice field run to stretch their legs since we would not be getting a walk at all that day. They do love their field runs!

Sunday, I spent most of the day house keeping as I actually have company coming later this week. This will be the first time I’ve had company come and stay since the pandemic hit! I hope I’ve maintained a few of my social graces so I don’t offend anyone! Company also means I’ll have a short work week since I’ll be taking Thursday and Friday off. This part makes me really happy! It’s been a stressful few weeks.

The view of this little red maple tree has been keeping me happy at work for a couple weeks. I’m really happy that I planted it where I get a good view of it from my desk.

My company will be taking home with them one of the Aboriginal fabric quilts I made this year. So last night I sat down in my sewing room and got the label affixed to the quilt. It definitely looks hand sewn!

I will find a different method for stitching the edges of the next one. The label has been affixed using a fusible webbing. So the stitching is partially decorative… which makes this even more sad! I have no plans to become known for my hand work!!!

I need to get three more labels affixed to quilts to I can get them shipped in plenty of time for the holidays.

I’ve been chunking away on a few more feedbag totes over the last few days. Guess which one is my favorite…

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I’m getting really fast at cranking these out. I made three tonight in about an hour. The hardest part is just wrestling with all that stiff fabric.

I have some more Frankenbags to share with you tonight.

This first one was made by Nyla Bales… at least I think that might be her name. I kind of made assumptions by looking at the email. I hope I’m not wrong. This is her first Frankenbag and she made it for her mom. I love her scrappy approach. I think her mom will love this!

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Next up is this bag made by Mary Sanderson. Mary is 83 and lives in the UK. She said she loves to make fabric crafts and learn new skills… she’s never quilted before! She is going to donate this bag to a local charity that works with women who have been trafficked. I think she did a great job and for a great cause!

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Next up is this bag from Wendy Shapiro. I just love those cool periwinkle blue notes and the pops of color! It’s just really fun and eclectic! And she went for it with the lining! And you know I love that! This is Wendy’s first Frankenbag and she said she’s off to the races with more.

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These next bags are from Eleanor Reidy. I love that she used the wavy design that I tried a couple of months ago. And she used some really bold colors! I love that she turned the waves vertical for one of her bags. Eleanor said she’s a recently new quilter — started during COVID — and she’s found her true love for it! Her cousin gave her one of her older Berninas and she was on her way. I hope we see more from her!

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Next up is this bag made by Joyce Ruff. She said she enjoyed making her summer Frankenbag so much that she made one using more autumnal colors. She likes the size so much because it can hold a book, umbrella, or sweater and still be lightweight.

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I just love her fabrics and that nice dense horizontal quilting! And it looks really good with the flowers on her patio. And look… another zipper placket. This bag reminds me of warm spices, like a rich butternut squash soup with Indian spices. Mmmmm. So good!

Thanks to everyone who sent photos! There’s so much inspiration there!