Posted on by agilejack

Some Monday Stuff

Wow! What a day full of meetings! It’s amazing to me that I can spend a full 8 hours on Zoom some days. It’s exhausting.

I ended my last meeting today at about 5:10 pm and then hurried and made a peanut butter sandwich to eat in the car on my way to my first agility class with Rico since the pandemic started. And it was a fantastic night! The class was in my friend’s new dog training barn on the property she bought last year. It’s a gorgeous barn in wine country north of Salem, Oregon. It’s absolutely gorgeous country side and my friend has done an amazing job building her new training barn.

You can just barely see Rico in the field in that photo.

I didn’t get any video during class tonight but here’s a video of Rico and I doing agility from September 2020 that gives you an idea of just what this sport is.

It’s a really fun and challenging sport and it’s REALLY exhilarating with a dog like Rico! He’s so fast, so talented, and so athletic. He definitely keeps me on my toes in training and handling him!

My friend’s place is a full hour drive from my house, and that’s without traffic. So it was just before 10:00 when I got home tonight. I did spend a little time in my sewing room and I used some of the yards and yards of fusible webbing I’ve had for a couple years and made my quilt sandwiches for the bag panels I made last night — since I made the mistake of buying an entire bolt of fleece that is, indeed, not the fusible variety. And I managed to get one of the panels quilted tonight.

Here’s the full view of this panel.

This piece really needs close up photos since the full view doesn’t really do it justice.

And this…

A couple of months ago a friend of mine gave me some fabric she picked up at an estate sale. There was a 2 yard piece of some really ugly batik. I’m using it for my quilt sandwiches.

I like using batik for the back of my quilt sandwiches because it has a nice high thread count and adds extra body and structure to my bags. And it doesn’t matter how ugly it is because it will all be enclosed inside the bag and you’ll never see it. So I’ll take ugly batik off anyone’s hands!

I am getting so excited about helping my friend with lambing later this week. She messaged me tonight that she’s already had some lambs born. Here’s a sneak preview of what I’ll be seeing Thursday and Friday… and I can’t wait! I’m so excited!

She said the lambs are already playing with each other!!! So freaking cute!

I’ve got a bunch of Frankenbags from my blog readers to share with you tonight, so let’s get started…

This first bag is from Birthe Aust. She’s made a lot of bags, and this blue one is just as nice as she’s made before. It’s possible that she’s made as many as I have!

This next one was made by Dana Ligon. I love the bright oranges in this one… such a great color and it gets such a bad rap. And you know I love that black and white fabric she used!

Next is this bag made by Anita Wiggins Goodson. It’s a festival of chickens! I love her loopy quilting… it’s so fun with the chickens.

And now a bunch of bags made by Sandee Henricks. I just love that first one with the cat panels. Her bags look really well made. And that striped zipper placket… it’s so brilliant! Makes me think I’m going to need to pull out some of my KFC stripes. And I love the fabrics in the more free form second bag. It’s a really nice color combo. And of course, the doggie bag is just too cute!

Up next is this bag made by Robbi Courtaway. She used some really fun fabric and added her own customizations to her bag, which I just love! It’s so fun to see people taking my basic bag design and making it better!

This next bag was made by Pamela Alf and I just love it! I love the blues combined with the whites and yellows. And the bold design of the circle, strips, geese and stars… it’s so good! And it looks really well made. And I have to say that that orange strip on that bag is just so brilliant! And somehow, Pamela made a divided zipper pocket and she can’t figure out how. Now she wants to make another one! Good luck Pamela! I hope you can replicate that happy accident.

Phew! I think that’s it. Thanks everyone for sending photos! I just love seeing what you’re all making!

23 Replies to “Some Monday Stuff”

  1. Oooh la la! Love all the bags. So much artful talent! A super fun long weekend coming up for you, Rico and Bender, enjoy💕

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    1. Are you referring to the seams in those checkerboard blocks on this bag? If so, it’s a basic 16 patch block. I make mine according to Wanda Hanson’s tutorial. She writes the Exuberant Color blog. Here’s a link to her 16 patch tutorial: https://designrr.s3.amazonaws.com/vickib_at_carolina.rr.com_31594/2bd0c54b40da73ea8a37b6e9a1a0969e4a5b6485bf96f9b1705156fb7bbdcdd3

      Her tutorial is very simple yet detailed and is all you need to make your seams match like mine!

      Anne

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  4. Wish I were going with you for Rico’s training. Is there anything cuter than new born lambs? Well, I suppose most baby animals are cute but lambs ….. oh yeah! I watched that older agility video with Rico. Wow, is he ever fast!!! And of course more beautiful bags to see. Hoping you can eventually put up a link with all the blog dates where you show how to make the bags and all the details you have added. I keep forgetting to mark those dates down when I see your tutorials/photos in progress.

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    1. Oh man. It would be hard to find all the blog posts that offer tips and ideas for making a bag. There are a lot of posts out there that would be included. I have been thinking about going in and updating some of my tutorials with tips and tricks I’ve found. some of them are quite different from what I’m doing now when I make my bags.

      Anne

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  5. I am totally amazed at what all you can shove into a day. Posting at 1:40am means you are living on about 4 hours sleep! You start sewing when I am in bed. I so admire your physical fitness and tenacity!

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    1. Now that I don’t have a commute, I can get six hours of sleep every night. I can function on that pretty well, but like to get a little more on the weekends.

      I’m so bored these days, I have to keep myself active and doing things!

      Anne

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  7. Maybe you can use some spray baste on that non-fusible fleece…Love watching Rico and you doing agility- so fast! And love seeing all the bags- yours and others…I got some beach theme fabric while on vacation in Florida and will make a Fran
    kenbag with some of it!

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    1. I’ve used spray basting for years and use it on these bags, usually. The webbing actually added a little bit of stiffness to these panels and I think it will give the bag some body… which I like.

      Good luck with your bag!

      Anne

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  9. I am at Empty Spool quilt seminars this past week. In Susan Carlson’s class someone is making a border collie collage. Thought of your boys. I have a photo if you are interested. Andrea

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  10. Love the lambs and the sight of Spring coming at last! (SW Washington State–still lots of rainy days. I went to Willamette U. in 1964-5 and love the area.) And the bags are glorious. I so love and am inspired by your work and that of your followers. I am creative but mostly with color and the use of African fabric I purchase with total excitement in my annual trips to Kenya (pre-Covid) for my small personal charities. I hope to loosen up with your examples and do more off-center things! That will fit in so well with my use of color and design in the cloth.

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    1. Ooh! I’d love to see what you make from the African fabrics. They are so gorgeous! I keep stopping myself from collecting another line. But the really tempt me! The colors and designs are so gorgeous!

      Anne

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