I took Rico for his sheep herding lesson early this afternoon and he did a really great job. We worked on a new exercise to help him learn how to drive the sheep across the field in front of me. It’s called a cross drive. The dog’s natural instinct is to bring the sheep to you. So it’s a big job to teach them to drive the sheep away from you or back and forth in front of you. I’m so happy with how he did.
After our lesson I drove to the park we usually visit and let the dogs have a good run while I walked two miles. We were able to avoid the rain and the boys were worn out once we got back in the car. As I was leaving I checked my phone to see how the traffic looked and it advised me to take I-205 from Vancouver into Portland, rather than taking our usual 1-5 route because traffic there was bad.
On the way to I-205 I realized that I was really close to one of my favorite quilt stores — a little shop in Vancouver, WA, called Fiddlesticks. I’m pretty sure I haven’t been in there since the pandemic hit, so I decided to stop in.
It’s a lovely little shop and they have a really nice selection of batik fabrics. And I love a quilt shop where the owners and staff are friendly and conversational. Hi!
See all that blue fabric on the counter? Most of it is gorgeous indigo batiks and she’s cutting it all for me! I was so happy to see such a nice selection of these colors! I was feeling a little anxious knowing I had depleted my stash! Here’s what came home with me today.
Once I was on the road again the rain had settled in and it continued to rain well into the evening. As I was waiting for it to ease off enough for us to get our evening walk in I hit my sewing room and started working on some panels for a new bag. I had decided that I wanted to make another one from the left over strip tubes from my KFC trip quilt. And last night I pulled some really lovely green batiks to pair with the scraps. Here’s the first panel.
I don’t know if you know that green is my favorite color. These gorgeous greens give me a physical reaction. I just love them!!!
Once I got this panel done the rain had slowed down enough to get outside. We had a nice three mile walk as I talked to a friend. We didn’t see another soul while we were out walking. And it was so gorgeous out there.
When I got home I whipped up the second panel for this bag.
Here’s a view of both panels with the batik I’m going to use for the lining.
That’s the same fabric I used for the little storage basket I made a few nights ago. It’s what’s left of a wide backing I bought many years ago and ended up giving to a friend for a quilt she was making. It was just so perfect for her quilt… I had to do it. It was actually one of the very first quilting fabrics I ever purchased. It was probably around 2012 or so when my friend, the one who introduced me to Kaffe fabrics, was visiting and we went to a quilt show here in Portland. I purchased this wide backing, a layer cake, and a few fat quarters of fabric.
And that’s how it all started.
Tomorrow I’m having “Second Christmas” with some friends. For a number of years now we’ve all gotten together for Thanksgiving. And we love the meal so much, we would do a “Second Thanksgiving” pot luck some time before Christmas. We missed it this last fall, so we’re celebrating Second Christmas instead. We’re going to have a full turkey dinner with most of the trimmings and we’ll exchange gifts. I’m responsible for mashed potatoes and I’ll make the gravy once the turkey is done (I make really good gravy!) We’re having the meal at a friend’s place who lives out in the country and as a nice piece of property so the dogs will get a chance to have a nice run. There will be a total of 15 dogs there!!! And five people! We have a lot of dogs!
I dropped into JoAnn’s on Friday because their Pellon products were 50% off. I bought an entire bolt of the fusible fleece I use and a half bolt of mid weight fusible interfacing.
That should last a few months.
I was reminded this morning of this photo from five years ago. All my good boys taking a nice nap in my sewing room.
That’s Bender and Rico, and my magnificent Forrest. God, I miss that dog. He was so fantastic. Rico would have been about 4 months old in this photo.
Bender had another seizure this morning. I told a friend of mine a few days ago that I was pretty sure he would have another one this weekend. He just seemed sort of agitated as the week went on. I was not surprised to see it happen. I’ll call his neurologist on Monday and see what our course of action will be.
agilejack 
Keeping sweet Bender in my thoughts and prayers. I love to hear about your fur babies!
I also love your green Frankenbag! It reminds that spring is right around the corner.
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Fingers crossed that spring is, indeed, around the corner. Just two more weeks before we get one more hour of light in the evenings! I love that time change in the spring!
Anne
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Just a quick note as I just left Jordan Fabrics online and they have a big sale on some of their Kaffe for as little as $6.95 a yard until that selection of fabric is gone. Just got a yard of 9 different Kaffe for $80 which is good and free shipping over $49 so winner winner, chicken dinner! A lot is already sold out but still some left just in case you need more fabric as I did! LOL
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Oh! Thanks for the heads up . I’ll take a look.
Anne
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I love the greens, too. And, oh, those indigenous indigos!!! Hugs for Bender, and wishes for wisdom to the neurologist. ❤️
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Yes, a call to his neuro is first on the agenda for tomorrow morning.
Anne
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Would you be willing to share whose fabric line your stack of blue batiks came from? So lovely. Enjoy your posts. Need to sew and walk more!
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Unfortunately, I didn’t pay attention and, of course, there’s no selvedge on batiks. Sorry.
Anne
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GOOD MORNING. NOTHING MUCH TO SAY, EXCEPT THAT I AM BEGINNING TO READ YOUR STUFF IN THE MORNING WITH MY COFFEE PRIOR TO HIT THE DAY WITH WHAT I HAVE TO DO. THANKS IZRA
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I hope you get lots of ideas to feed your creative pursuits throughout your day!
Anne
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I love your blog! You are so incredibly talented at not only sewing but writing about it. But what I really love is your excursions to fabric stores, etc in the Vancouver/Portland area. I lived in Vancouver and Portland (2 years each) and really miss the resources there. I was an Extension Agent in Vancouver for WSU and since my specialty is clothing and textiles I loved fabric shopping down there. It was back then in the early 70’s. Now I buy online because of limited resources in Tacoma.
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We’ve lost a good number of quilt stores since I moved to Portland 12 years ago. It makes me really sad to see them go. Luckily, some of my favorites are still hanging on.
Anne
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Oh, the beautiful greens! They stand out nicely with the KFCs and the dotted batik is to die for !!!! Swoon. I hope you get pictures of your holiday dinner and abundance of dogs, that would be fun to see. Such a sweet picture of your boys. Praying for our sweet Bender 🙂
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I’m sure there will be the obligatory photos of the food on the table. And there will be tons of dog photos and I’m guessing they will be muddy, happy dogs!
Anne
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I’m always amused and amazed at your antics and everything you squeeze into one day. You mentioned Green is your favorite color and yet…. there wasn’t ONE Green Batik in that pile at the quilt shop!
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She had some lovely greens. I was trying to be really focused and just buy specifically what I THOUGHT I needed!
Anne
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It’s always a treat to visit Cheran and Fiddlesticks. I live very near that lovely shop, they are few and far between these days.
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We’ve lost so many local quilt stores here in the last few years. It’s really sad… and some of them were really nice shops.
Anne
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Poor Bender. I hope his meds help him live a long and healthy life with no consequences of the seizures. You too, of course. I know how stressful it is to see this happening to him.
Your new batik haul is fabulous. Nice to know of a good source. As usual, the bag is beautiful and I love hearing of your adventures with the boys.
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Thanks! I’m keeping my fingers crossed for Bender. Definitely calling his neuro tomorrow.
Anne
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I am so loving your blog and especially the love of your dogs! You are an inspiration to me of your routine. It seems you are never a nonproductive person.
On this particular post could you tell me if the squares are individual and if so do you precut into squares out of your scraps?
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Well, I do spend plenty of time being unproductive. I just don’t write posts about that!!!
the colorful squares in this quilt are from left over strip tubes from a scrappy Kaffe Fassett Collective trip quilt I made last year. So they are already in strips of 6 squares. I’m just dividing and combining pieces of those strips to make the blocks I need.
Anne
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I love the green batiks – looks like some in my stash ☺. Fun fabric store too. We have 4 quilt/ fabric specialty stores in about a 15 mile radius from me 😏 gets me in trouble. Sending 😘😘😘 to Bender 💕 and Rico.
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We have some nice stores, but have lost a good number in the last few years… which makes me very sad. I try to support them regularly.
Anne
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Somehow I missed this email. My daughter lives just 5 mins from this shop! It will definitely be on my list next time we visit! I know you’ve been to the vet since you wrote this; i hope Bender is better now.
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Bender’s meds have been significantly increased. So now we wait to see if they work. Fingers crossed!
Anne
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I love your blog!! Do you have a signed pattern you would share! I like the ones in your photo.
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Here’s my tutorial for the bag. It links to a post on how I make my panels for the bag. For the panels. it’s all up to you! There isn’t a pattern for piecing. https://agilejack1.com/2021/03/25/frankenbag-tutorial/
In this blog post I show some of my process for making that curved main block: https://agilejack1.com/2022/04/11/a-little-experimentation-and-an-bag-finish-finally/
Good luck and have fun!
Anne
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Here’s the tutorial for my bags. It links to a tutorial on how I go about making my panels. https://agilejack1.com/2021/03/25/frankenbag-tutorial/
Good luck!
Anne
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Do you have patterns for dog beds? I like yours from the pics
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I don’t. You really need a heavy duty machine to get all the bulk under the needle.
Anne
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