I’ve Done a Few Things This Weekend

I haven’t been near as productive this weekend as I thought I’d be. But the good news is that it’s only Saturday morning, so there’s still time.

The weather here is so amazing. It got up to over 65 degrees yesterday, with glorious sun all day. It was a record breaking day across Oregon.

So, for our morning walk, we just kept walking and walking and got in a full five miles. I had to strip down part way through the walk and had to stop to give the boys a bit of a break since they’re not accustomed to the higher temps yet.

I thought I’d dig in and work on my succulent bag after our walk, but I made the mistake of turning on the Olympics and that was all she wrote. I did finally make in into my sewing room at about 10:30 pm… the hour when life just starts to get interesting!

I managed to get the panels for this succulent bag sandwiched and quilted.

Mmmm. Let’s take a closer look at that quilting just because it makes me so happy.

And I’m really sad that I don’t have more of that gorgeous green batik with the leaves at the bottom of this panel. It’s so gorgeous.

I also managed to get the linings cut and got the interfacing fused. And I decided what fabric I’ll use for the pockets.

I’ve pretty much decided that I will go all out with this bag and include the slip pocket, a zipper pocket and a zipper placket at the top.

I may be able to finish this bag this evening. Depends on how well I do at forcing myself to be productive.

I’ve also been thinking about what I’m going to do next. I had so much fun working with the indigo batiks on my last bag that I’m going to go in that direction again. But I’m going to combine the batiks with KFC scraps instead. I’m building off this little trash bucket I made to keep next to my desk. Here’s the Tutorial I followed to make this bucket.

Isn’t that indigo batik fantastic with the bright KFC prints???!!!

I have plenty of the indigo batiks left over from the other bag, and I have more pieces in my stash.

My plan is to combine these batiks with pieces from the strip tubes that are left over from my scrappy KFC trip quilt.

This will be a great use for those left over strip sets. There aren’t enough of them to make a quilt, but I could get a couple of bags and a cushion or two out of them. Might be fun to combine some with my menagerie animal panels! Oh! Those panels would be fun with the indigo batiks too!

I’ve gotten a good number of Frankenbag photos this week, so let’s go!

This first one was made by Judy Russell. This is her first Frankenbag and she used some Laurel Burch panels and left over blocks. I just love this! Those panels work so well in these bags. And I love how scrappy and free form this is.

Next up is this bag made by Marlene Lennox. This is also her first Frankenbag. She said she found the interior challenging, but kept with it and finished it. This is a gift for her grand daughter and I think she’ll love it with all those bright and scrappy fabrics!

These next bags were made by Aimee Kaneko. The first bag was made for a friend who loves dragon flies — see the little dragon fly in the center of the yellow block? The second bag was made for her friend who loves green and purple. She used mostly Sig Zane fabrics (a Hawaiian fabric designer), with some KFC and others. Her friend was born in the year of the rabbit and Aimee was born in the year of the rooster, so that’s why there are all those animals!

This next bag is from Nancy Kelly. The bag on the left was made before she found my Frankenbag tutorial. The second bag was made from my tutorial. I love the purples she used and the wavy quilting is really fun.

These next bags were made by Celia Garcia Goins. Celia has made quite a few Frankenbags. I like that she really goes for it with her fabrics and treatments. She messaged me last week as she was having issues with stitches skipping when she sewed the faux leather handles onto her bag. I gave her some suggestions on how to fix it. And now she said this is the first time she was able to sew in the handles with no skipped stitches! I love that everything you make is an opportunity to learn new skills and tricks!

We’re getting ready to head out for Rico’s weekly herding lesson. It’s going to be a glorious day to be outside with dogs and sheep. I’ll probably take the boys for a nice field run on our way home.