And Just Like That… the Weekend’s Over

It’s Sunday night and I haven’t been in my sewing room all weekend. I really did intend to make at least two more shoulder bucket bags, but I guess it wasn’t to be.

Friday night I went and did some grocery shopping and then prepped all the ingredients for the same chickpea salad that I made a few weeks ago. I chopped all the fresh herbs and veggies except for cucumbers and cherry tomatoes and made the dressing.

Saturday morning I met my friends an an indoor Pickleball facility for a two-hour clinic. It was a lot of fun and the teacher was great! He’s sort of a pickleball legend here in the Portland area. And he was really good teacher. I got so much out of the clinic.

Here’s a video of the indoor facility where we had the clinic.

After the clinic I hightailed it home to let the dogs out and assemble my salad so I could be at a friend’s place for a pot luck BBQ in two hours.

Once I got home all I had to do was dump all the different containers into a big bowl, chop the cukes and cut up the tomatoes, then add the dressing and stir, and my huge salad was ready to go. I did manage to get the dogs out for some play before I left them alone again.

The BBQ was to celebrate the anniversary of a friend of mine and there were so many of my friends there! It was great to get to see so many people… some I haven’t seen for many months. My friend who gave me her mom’s Featherweight was there too.

Once I got home I got the dogs lighted collars on and my reflective harness and we headed out for a 3 mile walk. We started when there was still a little bit of daylight, but it was pitch dark when we got home.

Since I had so much fun at the pickleball clinic yesterday, I decided to get up early and play pickleball at open play again this morning. A friend of mine met me there at 9 am. I finished my last game at 11:30.

… and I’ve been exhausted all day!

Even so, I did manage to get a few things done. I cleaned up all the pots on my patio… pulling weeds, trimming plants, and trying to get rid of the nasty lemon mint that comes up everywhere. My friend gave me the lemon mint in a pot several years ago and I should have thrown the entire thing in the garbage the minute she left. I’ve never seen a plant that spreads like that one does. It’s growing in nearly every one of my pots, and I’ve even found it growing in the far back end of my yard. The only good thing is that it smells really good.

After that I watered and fertilized all my potted plants. And after talking to a friend at the BBQ last night that is a master gardener, I decided to dig up my jasmine plant and replant it because it wasn’t thriving. I watered it earlier in the day in preparation of this job. So I popped the plant out of the ground and then dug a LARGER and DEEPER hole and loosened up all the dirt in the larger hole, then replanted the plant. I built a little berm around the plant so the water wouldn’t just run off the top of the soil. The berm will act as a little dam that will hold the water at the base of the plant so it can soak into the ground.

Yes, the soil in my back yard is like concrete. That fact and Bender and Rico are the reasons I don’t do more gardening and stick to my pots and stock tanks.

I took the boys for their only walk of the day after dinner since it was quite warm today. The skies were so amazing!

Now, a little about sewing, or at least fabric. After posting photos of my shoulder bucket bags on social media a friend messaged me and said she wanted several for gifts. She wanted the gray one I made last week and asked if I could make her two more. So here’s what I landed on, because she LOVES this lining fabric.

So many people LOVED that orange bag I made last week with that same lining fabric. It’s so funny how so many people respond to the same item.

I did find a good selection of this aged muslin online last week and ordered way too much of it. I just love it.

I’ve received a ton of Frankenbag photos from blog readers the last week. So let’s go!

Oh, and because someone always asks, you can find my Frankenbag tutorial here.

This first bag is from Janice Quinn. She said making these bags is really addictive and she loves a project that she can start and finish in a day. I love the large pieces of fabric she’s used, and the purples and teals are really great together! And look how pretty her back drop is!

This next bag was made by Liz Arbaugh. First off, I love the colors she’s used on the outer bag. It reads purple, but there’s a lot more going on there! I just love her little fussy cut flowers. She said she made these panels in a quilt-as-you-go method, and I love the quilting that goes different directions. I just might have to make one like this before too long. She also said she tried to get one of her labradoodles to model the bag, but they didn’t want to get up off the AC vents!

Linda Kisley finally made this next bag after ogling all the bags I share here for months. This one is for a friend’s birthday. Linda learned some important things while making this bag:

1.  You don’t need to use an entire motif if it’s very large.  A partial motif is nice too

2.  The bottom 2-1/2 to 3 inches won’t show – it’s on the bottom

3.  If you’re bordering a motif or quilt block and they are on the edge of the bag side or top, make these a bit wider so you don’t lose too much of them when trimming and squaring up

4.  Pay attention to where the handles go – on the outside of the bag (I couldn’t let this one go)

5.  Don’t forget the zipper placket when assembling the lining. (I was really sad about this)

6.  These bags are not haphazardly pieced.  There is a lot of thought and attention to detail that goes into the selection of fabrics and design.  It is an art, and one in which I am not proficient, but hope to improve.

I love her bag! I don’t think I have any of that agate fabric in that color way. I like the fussy cut piece, but I LOVE the more organically cut piece! And the lining makes me envious. I would love to have some of that cogs fabric in my stash. Insert sad face here.

Next up is this bag made by Marion Wolf. This is her third and she’s loving the darker colors with the woven stripes. And I agree with her. The stripes work really well on tis bag. I’m not sure I could bring myself to cut mine up since they are out of production and nearly impossible to find.

This next bag was made by Sherrit86 on Instagram. She said she’s been wanting to make one for a while. She made this from fabrics left over from a quilt. Well, I love this one! Those saturated greens with the pops of purple and turquoise… those diagonal pieces. Yummy! And guess how I feel bout that bold black and white sharks tooth. Well, you know I love it!

Next we have some bags made by Nancy Pendergast. I love those deep reds, oranges and pinks in the first one. And those little pops of green here and there are what really makes this fun! She was so excited to make another one that she sent me photos again today. The second one is definitely a little more conservative than the first, but I like the kind of neutral low volume feel of it. She said it’s really fun to get back into sewing and I just love hearing that!

And at the end, I leave you with this guy, who follows me literally everywhere I go.