Some Odds and Ends on a Saturday

I am now five days without my Bernina. So far I have found ways to pass my time. I ordered a jigsaw puzzle online and it arrived a few days ago. It’s really pretty and I like that I can finish little pieces of it and move onto the next section.

I’m already moving along on it. But I’m setting a 30 minute timer and only allowing myself to work on it in short stints.

I’m using the muffin tin to sort the pieces by color. That way I don’t have to have all those loose pieces all over the table.

There are a lot of my blog readers who see each post via email. The emails are automatically generated and sent every time I make a new blog post. If you are receiving this by email, be sure to go to my blog and look around. You can scroll through all my posts, going back a few years. You can search for projects and tutorials. You can read all the comments and my responses on each post. I typically respond to every comment.

Here’s the link to my blog for your convenience: www.agilegack1.com

If you’re new to my blog, I have a few tutorials on my blog that you may be interested in:

1. Frankenbag Tutorial
2. Frankenbag Panel Tutorial
3. Frankenbag Zipper Placket Tutorial
4. Knitting Project Bag Tutorial
5. Zipper Pouch Tutorial
6. Feed Bag Tutorial

Here’s a picture of each of these projects for reference. Click on each photo for a larger view.

We’ve been having some really nice weather the last few days. It’s so nice to have these days in our typically dreary and wet winters. The sun was out today in Portland. On the way to our sheep herding lesson this morning, the jet trails in the sky were really crazy.

I’ve never seen jet trails like that. I’m so curious as to why the planes were flying like that. I could see them from my house in SW Portland all the way to Vancouver, WA.

After our sheep herding lesson I took the boys for a four mile walk around the Washington State University Campus in Vancouver. They got a couple of field runs while we were walking. It was so good for all of us to get outside in the fresh air and move our bodies.

I also cleaned out the drawers of my coffee table. I opened one this afternoon and it was so crammed full of crap the it got stuck. Now they are all organized and actually have plenty of space for more stuff.

We took another walk, about two miles, before it got dark. I noticed how light it is now at 5:00 pm. A month ago it was almost totally dark by 4:00 in the afternoon.

It makes me so happy to notice the sun coming back in the evenings!

And look. My daffodils are up!!!

Tomorrow I’m going to take the boys for a nice long trail walk in the morning, will meet some friends for some dog agility training in the afternoon, and then I have a dog club meeting in the evening. It will be a busy day.

I have Monday off for the Martin Luther King holiday and my plan is to hang out at home and fire up my old Singer sewing machine and see how she does.

I have to share with you my new favorite lunch. It’s crackers with raspberry jalapeno jelly and some crumbled gorgonzola on top.

My boys are very interested in that lunch! Rico could even smell it in the air! You should give it a try!

I’ve received photos of quite a few Frankenbags this week. So here we go. This first one was made by Dana Ligon. I love her bright colors and that Sharks teeth fabric is so fun! I have a few yards of that I bought recently. I need to pull it out and start cutting.

This next bag was made by Pat Krinock. The bright rainbow colors are really fun and cheerful and I love how she included the flying geese. That zebra fabric for the lining is so good too! Really fun! Pat said she hasn’t been quilting long and thought this bag was an easy make. That’s so great to hear.

This next bag came to me from Sandee Henricks. I love her fabrics and her narrow quilting all over the bag! That’s such a great effect, and it makes me want to do it even thought it will take forever. And that lining she used is one of my favorite Kaffe designs! It’s a lovely bold lining, which I love! this is her very first Frankenbag and she’s planning one with a bee theme for her sister.

Next up is the bag made by Susan Stewart. she added some padded pockets for phone and Kindle, and she used one single handle attached at the side seams of the bag. I’ve wanted to try this handle alteration. I’ll have to give it some thought. I love the gray spot fabric with these bright colors. And look… more geese!

This last bag tonight was made by Betty Sims. She made it from some of her left over holiday fabrics. It looks like she’s added some of her own customizations. She’s added the handles to the exterior, and it looks like she added a zipper to the top of the bag, rather than adding a placket. I love it when people add their own features!

Thanks to all of you for sending in photos. Oh, and it’s important for you to know that if you attach photos to a reply to one of my emails, I won’t get those photos. So if you want to send photos, email them to me at anne@agilejack1.com.

Don’t forget to be like Rico and get a good stretch every now and again!