I had a wonderful long weekend with a visit from my brother and his wife. They drove up on Thursday, a really rainy day. Friday was even more rainy and wet and we stuck around home most of the day but did manage to run a couple errands. But Saturday was beautiful so we were able to get outside.
This was the first time I’ve seen them since I recently got all my quilts back from my long arm quilter. So it was the perfect time to gift them the quilt I made them.
If you haven’t already seen my posts on this quilt, you can find several of them here, here and here. I originally called this quilt my Social Distancing quilt, but that name just doesn’t work for my brother and his wife since there’s rarely much distance between them!
I just love this quilt! The fabrics and colors are so amazing. And my brother and his wife love that they are authentic Aboriginal designs. They are excited to dig into the M&S Textiles webpage and read the stories of the artists and their designs.
Here’s a view of the full quilt on this beautiful fall morning.
They promised me that they will actually use this quilt. It will reside on the back of their sofa. I can’t wait to see photos of it in their house.
Here’s a few more photos. Click on each photo to enlarge.
With the rainy weather on Friday, we took advantage and my brother helped me assemble a stand-up desk that I purchased for working from home a couple months ago. I’ve dreaded putting it together. It was much easier with two of us.
He even attached a power strip to the wall for me.
It’s going to be so nice to have the option to stand up while working. I have a stand-up desk at my actual office and it’s one of the things I miss the most about working from home.
You can see that I’m surrounded by dog photos as I work!!!
Since the weather was nice yesterday I was able to do my regular sheep herding lesson and Rico was amazing. We’ve been working on his driving (where he needs to move the sheep around the field at my direction). This is more difficult to train as the dog’s natural instinct is to bring the sheep to the handler, rather than moving the sheep away from the handler. I’ve seen some really wonderful progress in Rico’s driving in the last few weeks. It’s very exciting to see. Here we are after our lesson… we are both pretty pleased with ourselves!
On the way home from my lesson we stopped for a nice walk and field run for the dogs, and then we stopped at a large nursery to check out some plants. It was absolutely gorgeous, but it’s a little early for Christmas for me.
Oh, and I just remembered that on Thursday my friend brought her border terrier Ernie by for a visit. I just love Ernie!!! I don’t think I’ll ever own another Jack Russell, as much as I love them, but there is a strong likelihood that I WILL have a border terrier in the house some day.
It’s Sunday morning around 10:30 as I’m writing this. I’m going to grab a shower and then take the boys for a nice long walk. Then my plan is to settle into my sewing room and get these blocks back up on the design wall.
agilejack 
I love your blog. Two questions: 1) do you ever sleep? 2) would you tell us how you’ve put together your design wall? I need something that is wide and mobile.
Thanks!
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I sleep but not enough.
Here’s a post that shows how I made an extension for my design wall, and it has a link to my main design wall. https://agilejack1.com/2020/10/14/building-to-accommodate-my-next-make/
Anne
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Thanks!
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I just love your posts! I am going to be 69 soon, and I am still working full-time. I will most likely stop working by 70… so one more year! I am so used to working I am afraid I’ll be bored when I retire. I too love to quilt and sew and recently purchased a new Bernina 770QE. I love the quilt you gifted to your brother and his wife! I also enjoyed your horse feed bags! What a great idea! I love to how you show us your quilt color ways done in more than one way. I love color and working with it, so it is so nice to see someone who plays with color ways! Keep up the great work, and keep writing!
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Thanks for reading! I will turn 61 soon and I’m really wishing I could retire. I don’t think I’ll work a day past when I have to in order to get Medicare! I have so many things I would like to do with my time!
Anne
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Beautiful! Thank you for sharing the pictures. I see some beautiful Aboriginal fabric in my near future thanks to you! So awesome your brother and his wife look super happy to be the new owners of that wonderful quilt. I love seeing your doggies too💕
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It was nice to see them so happy with it. I’ve already received a photo of my sister in law sleeping under it on their sofa!
Anne
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I love, love, love your quilt and now will shop for some of that fabric…than you I think! 🙂 We have two Border terriers, siblings, Jolene and Barley. They are six years old. We live on an old farm property at an elevation of 4,000 ft in the Blue Ridge Mountains of NC. Dog paradise. We have never had the dogs groomed. MY SIL recently house sat for us for a couple weeks. He thought the dogs looked rough, so he Googled how to groom them and learned that they are to be plucked. So he did! I saw the bench where he sat to do this, it looked like a sheep had be sheared. He said they loved the attention and there was no flinching. Barley and Jolene look so much smaller without the shag, and I will be making them winter coats ASAP!
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I need a relative like that! It’s a big job to strip a terrier’s coat! Good luck getting him to do that again!
Anne
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Hi!
I love your posts! So much fun to read about your border collies and see all the beautiful Franken bags and quilts!
Iâll probably never have a pretty bag to share but Iâd love to share my aboriginal quilt with you!
Thanks again for sharing your joy!
Kathy George
[cid:D1ACC28E-50AA-4B24-BDA6-6155F94A1695]
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I’m not able to see your image. Please email it to me at anne@agilejack1.com. Thanks!
Anne
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Love reading about your creative spirit adventures
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Thanks! It all keeps me going!
Anne
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So fun to see your aboriginal quilt come full circle! Web searching for ideas on how to use that fabric is how i found your blog and few months ago. They are such beautiful designs with wonderful stories to them.
I just put together my first design wall this weekend. It’s great for visualizing a work in progress. But it’s so tall?!. How do you manage to reach all of it? 🤔 l’m not so good on a stepstool so I figure I’ll need to be able to take it down to horizontal to rearrange blocks. Which means I have to stick them on with pins. (My flannel doesn’t stick so well either.)
Still working on the concept of how to actually use it.
Thx for your blog but agree you never stop moving! 😃
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when I made my smaller design wall out of the sheet of insulation, I cut off about 18 inches from one end and it’s still tall. I’m pretty tall so it’s not an issue for me.
I used a flannel backed plastic table cloth on mine. I had it laying around and thought it would be good to repurpose it. It’s very sticky!
Sorry yours isn’t working the way you’d like.
Anne
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Brian and Ann look great. I love your aboriginal quilt. The simple design really showcases the amazing fabrics. How did you buy those fabrics? Did you go to Australia or did you find them in the US? They are just beautiful
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thanks Lynne. They were pretty happy with it.
I’ve bought most of my Aboriginal stash when I’ve seen it in stores that I visit, either around home or out and about. I haven’t bought any in Australia. I have purchased a few online, but typically only when I need a specific fabric.
We have a local store here in Portland that has a pretty good selection. they have a pretty good online store. https://www.pioneerquiltshop.com/
Anne
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