It rained today. I mean, it RAINED today. All day long. And it’s still raining.
It was such a dark and gloomy day. A day when we didn’t get a walk in. And my poor boys… they’re so bored and want some action. They had to settle for a little bit of Rico’s birthday cake.
Did I mention that Rico turned six on Tuesday?
He’s such a good kid. I can’t believe he’s six already. It seems like just yesterday that I flew to Utah to bring him home.
There are so many things I love about that photo! Look how tiny and cute he was! And look at those gorgeous snow covered mountains that I miss so much.
And look at these huge feet at 8 weeks! I should have known he would turn out to be a beefcake!
It was clear pretty early that these two were destined to be buddies.
Look at that smile on Bender’s face!
I’ve been busy this week and after my whirlwind of productivity over the last few weeks I didn’t get any sewing done… until tonight. I decided to finish up a quick project while I’m waiting for my Kaffe shot cottons to arrive.
So I whipped up this gray denim bag that I cut out a few weeks ago. It’s lined with a pretty green batik that a friend gifted me.
This is another of the bucket bags I’ve been making. You can find the SotakHandmade tutorial for it linked in this blog post.
I didn’t use any interfacing on the lining because it had a stiffness to it that I thought would be sufficient. But it softened up as I worked with it and I’m wishing I’d faced it.
I’ll definitely use interfacing on the next one that includes the same fabric in a different color.
I love the little details!
Oh! I just noticed I missed trimming a thread on that tag! And speaking of tags… I’m loving how they look and how easy it is to sew them on using my machine rather than by hand.
And speaking to things I’m loving… this awl! It makes getting the snaps applied so much easier and neater!
That was a really good investment. And voila!
This is the first time I’ve sewn on my Bernina since I set up my Featherweight. I anticipated that it would feel much different to be back on this fancy machine after my little gem. But it felt perfectly natural. It’s nice that both my Bernina and the Featherweight tuck nicely in the space between my sewing table and the wall for storage while I’m using the other machine.
We have more days of rain coming but It looks like we’ll have enough breaks tomorrow that I can get myself and my boys out for a nice walk. We all need it.
I don’t have a herding lesson tomorrow and am probably going to be home most of the weekend. I have a few errands to run and need to get some housekeeping done. I have a deadline of next weekend to have my house in order. I’m going to finally get the trip to visit my aunt that I missed last spring. A friend will be here to take care of my boys.
There’s actually some decent weather coming up over the next week. It will be nice to have some days where we can get our outside time.
agilejack 
Thought of you earlier this week. Our PBS station had a clip on teaching pups the herding skill during the Weekend With Yankee Magazine……a gentleman in Vermont showed training a pup. What smart dogs they are!
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Oh yes! They are very smart! And they want to please you. I had Jack Russells for years. I think they might be smarter than border collies, but they are not as focused on their handlers so can be very challenging. but you can see them solving problems in their evil little brains!
Anne
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Great pictures of the boys ❤️! We got some much needed rain last night and some tornadoes 🌪 in our area. It’s still dark out but I think we’re still in Texas, don’t hear any Munchkins.
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I am so glad you are safe ❤️. Are you up near Dallas? That wild weather missed us here in San Antonio.
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Hey Lesley! We are in East Mountain, North of Longview. We have a Longview address because East Mountain is too small for a post office 🤣. Longview is a good 2 hours East of Dallas. We have some downed tree limbs, flowerpots knocked over and a lot of leaves 🍁 on the ground. Thank you, Lord, it could have been a lot worse! 🫣
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I can’t imagine having to deal with tornadoes! I was visiting Wisconsin once and spent the afternoon in a closet under the stairs with a 6 month old. It was not fun!
Anne
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I read in the forecast for Seattle that they were predicting an “ atmospheric river”. First I saw that term in a forecast. Sounds like you’re getting it too
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Yeah, we get those atmospheric rivers somewhat regularly. They can really be soakers! I don’t think it rained quite as much as I thought it was going to.. they said we were supposed to get three inches yesterday. I don’t think it rained that much.
Anne
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Thank you for the sweet Rico and Bender pictures 🥰🥰🥰. They made my morning brighter! All that glorious rain you are getting – keeping Oregon green and beautiful ❤️
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Oh yes! The rain can be a big much, but this is a gorgeous place because of it!
Anne
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Love your attention to details…and your ‘boys’! Try ‘Ohio Travel Bag’ for fittings and such for purses and bags….they have a huge catalog of goodies.
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Oh! Thanks for the info on Ohio Travel Bags. They have a lot of cool stuff!
it’s all about the details, isn’t it?
Anne
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Could you please tell me which snap tool you recommend. Thanks
Diane
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the snap tools I have are pretty rudimentary and came with my snaps. So I don’t have a lot of experience with good tools. These are working fine, but they’re not great.
Anne
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Where do you buy your wonderful labels??
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From this Etsy seller:https://www.etsy.com/shop/AllThisWood?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=594124791
I’ve bought from them several times. Great service and fast delivery.
Anne
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Such beautiful pups! Your bucket bag is handsome and so useful.
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Thanks! It’s a really easy but very functional bag. I’ve used mine many times… great for a day of fabric shopping!
Anne
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I always enjoy reading your posts; thank you!
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Thanks for reading!
Anne
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Cute pictures of puppy Rico! He looks so soft and cuddly!! Love the leather tags – and of course the simple basket bag!!! Neat idea with snaps! Need to try that. Thanks as always, Anne!
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Rico is soft but it makes me sad that he’s not a cuddler. He likes to keep his distance. He’s never in my face like Bender is.
Anne
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Hi Anne –
Or should I say HELP! I have a bunch of strips that I have paired up and I’m just starting a 16 patch. I have sewn 4 strips into one piece but now I’m supposed to cut this long piece in half to end up 8 rows high and about 10.5 inches wide – I get the 8 rows but the width is more like 21” Do I cut that piece into 2 pieces so each is 8 rows x 10.5 inches and then I’ll have another just like that from the other half. If this makes no sense, ignore me. Maybe I need a good night’s sleep. I was just getting so close to finally sewing a block! I’ve read Wanda’s blog as well as your instructions and I can’t seem to figure it out. Carolyn
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You should have started with two strips for one block. Two strips will make the one large block like in my recent quilt.
So, if your four strips are all different fabrics, you could fix it by tearing out the seam connecting the two sets of two.
If they’re just two different fabrics, you could just make two large blocks (or four square blocks)
Anne
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I’m so enjoying your post and get so much creative inspiration!
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Thanks for reading!
Anne
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