Second Thanksgiving and A Green Batik Bag

I had a great Second Thanksgiving with my friends today. And we changed the name to Spring Giving. It will be an annual event from here on out.

But first… I was able to get this lovely green batik bag with KFC trip quilt scraps quilted and the body constructed this evening. And I LOVE it!

This just reinforces that green is a good color to have as a favorite color! Here’s the other side of the bag.

And here’s a view with the fabric I will use for the lining. I really like it.

I’ve been using the darker faux leather more recently because I prefer it with most of the bags I make. But it didn’t feel right with this bag. So I pulled out some of the lighter brown too.

I definitely like the lighter one on the left better. It can read a little orange with some fabrics, but I think it was the right choice for this bag.

Here’s some quilting for your viewing enjoyment… all done with a light gray thread.

Gray thread for quilting is just a little magic in the way it takes on the color of whatever fabric it’s on. I use it all the time.

So now… about Spring Giving. We had a really delicious turkey dinner with all the trimmings today. The only thing we were missing was cranberry sauce.

Oh, and friends! We all really love turkey dinner! Really. Love. It!

It was really good to see everyone. These are the three friends that I made Frankenbags for.

We opened all our gifts immediately! It was a bit of a free for all. Everyone was happy with their bags.

After dinner we took the dogs out for a run. Not everyone got to go out so we had a relatively small group. I think we only had nine dogs out with us.

Here’s my boys taking off for a nice run!

There was a good deal of rain today. We were all pretty wet once we were done with our walk.

My friend who owns this property is a dog trainer and that’s now she makes her living. She recently built that nice big red arena on her property so she can teach in her own facility. Rico and I will be taking an agility class there starting in late March.

After our walk we enjoyed way too much dessert and then I headed home so I could avoid driving on country roads in the dark in the rain. We were able to take our evening walk around 8 pm.

I have a BUNCH of Frankenbags from blog readers to share with you tonight. So let’s get going!

First up is this bag made by Sue Everett. I really like this bag… the bright fabrics, the graphic black and whites. the strong lines. It’s just a really fun bag. Unfortunately, something odd happened with Sue’s email and some of the photos didn’t come through. she used a striped zipper (that I can share with you) and used fusible fleece on the lining too, to add even more structure. Beautiful bag.

Next up is this bag made by Christie Protheroe. She made this all from upcycled denim, which can be really tough to sew with. And look at that gorgeous pineapple block. That jeans pocket on the inside is so cool! Christie makes a lot of different stuff from upcycled denim. It’s not easy to work with. I wonder if she goes through as many needles as I do when I sew on denim.

This next bag was made by Cindy Blakeslee. She said she wanted to give a Frankenbag a try so used scraps, but she thinks she made the piecing too complicated. She is planning on making another one using her batiks and some faux leather handles. Cindy said she makes a lot of quilts and enjoyed making this bag because it was a nice break. I love that plaid lining!

The next bag comes to us from Elfi Read. If you look carefully you’ll see that the big block is a junkyard dog… It’s so cute!!! It’s just such a fun bag. And I love orange. It gets a really bad rap, but it’s an amazing color! And you’ll also see Elfi’s special walking partner who makes that bag look even better!

Next up is this bag from Lynne Hummel. I love the colors on this bag and the diagonal lines are are really good. Lynne has made a few of these bags and this is the first time she’s added a zipper placket. Looks like she did a zipper pocket too. The placket and zipper pocket really elevate this bag. I love it!

This next bag was made by Susan Stewart. I love this bag… the way she fussy cut those blooms and constructed the blocks on one side, and that adorable Timna Tarr noble menagerie rabbit panel. She made this bag bigger than the pattern. It was a gift for her friend Lois in northern California. It’s pretty adorable.

Next up tonight is this bag made by Lyndia Thomas. She used these beautiful and graphic Hawaiian fabrics. I’m not familiar with these fabrics but I really like them. They are so strong… really make a statement. Nice bag!

Last up is this bag made by Rebecca Caisse. I love the colors in this bag. The reds and pinks with the greens is so good. And those bold black lines are so good. She did a wonky log cabin block, strip piecing, crumb piecing, and a braid. I just love how all these bags are complete individuals. This is a great bag!

And this JUST in from Instagram from Suzy Jasper. She made a Frida Kahlo bag out of an old collage project. It’s just so cool!

And I just found this bag but can’t find an associated email. This was made by Dana Ligon. I don’t know what she told me about her bag, but I love the way she used that big Kaffe print as the focal point.

And I found another one from Susan Stewart. She made the one above with the bunny. On this one she used some of those succulent panels like I have. And I love her color combo on this bag. Mine was so monochromatic, but here’s has all kinds of colors and they work so well! And look at that incredible pop of yellow on the zipper pocket! Love it!

I hate to say that Bender had another seizure late last night. So that was two seizures in one day. He’s been fine today. I’ll be calling the neurologist first thing tomorrow.