Month: January 2023

It’s amazing how I can get to the end of the day and wonder where all the hours went. Today was one of those days.

I had a nice sleep in and a good breakfast. Then took the boys for a nice 3.5 mile walk in a light rain. It was balmy and the rain wasn’t bad. It was a perfect temp for walking.

Once we got home I realized that I was missing a sheep herding webinar I had signed up for. So I grabbed my computer, joined the zoom meeting, and headed for my sewing room to spend some time on the Frankenbag panels I started the other night.

I managed to finish up the piecing of the panels as I listened to the webinar.

That’s the two panes as I designed them. But I decided to spin them around and see how I liked it. Here’s what I ended up with for the orientation o these panels.

After finishing the panels I laid down on the sofa and watched a movie. By the time the moving ended it was time for dinner! I feel like I lost at least four hours in this span of time… never to be seen again.

I had a dinner that always takes me right back to my childhood… tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich… and It was soooo good!

By this time my dogs were thinking they needed more activity.

Then they finally gave up…Until I asked them if they wanted to go for a walk.

So out we went for a 2 mile walk. It was really nice out. About 47 degrees in the dark, with a nice full moon illuminating a cloudy sky.

When we got home I was back in my sewing room and quilted the bag panels.

And a little more eye candy…

I managed to get the handles made and the body of the bag completed before I called it quits.

I do like the panel oriented that way.

Here’s the other side of the bag.

I like that the two sides of the bag are different.

Before I stopped for the night I tried a few options for the lining of the bag. I’m out of that jade millefiori fabric, and I didn’t want to use the black for the lining because it’s so dark. It would be hard to find what you’re looking for inside.

After a few options I landed on this zig zag design for the lining.

That pink sharks tooth is an option for the pockets, but I’m not sure I’ll use it. I might use the black fabric instead. I’ll take look and decide tomorrow.

And that was my day. It felt like a really short day.

I have a sheep herding lesson with Rico tomorrow, Then I’ll probably stop on the way home and let the boys run in the big field at Washington State University.

I’m actually going to have to work a full five days next week. it’s been so long since I’ve done that. Then we’ll have another long weekend.

After focusing on a larger project that isn’t at a particularly stimulating stage, I like to cleanse my quilting palate and reward myself with something fun and quick.

So, after finishing my Jewel Frames quilt top last night I decided to play with more of the fabrics left over from that quilt and make a couple of panels for another Frankenbag. I didn’t like the colors of the blocks that are still sitting in that project bin, so I dug out some pink fabric that’s left over from the pink, orange and purple Another Sixteen patch quilt I made a couple of months ago.

I cut some strips and squares and started sewing and cutting and sewing and cutting and sewing.

I started with a couple sixteen patch blocks.

Then I cut some pink squares and bordered them with black and then cut them into quarters and put them back together in a strip.

Then I tossed some pieces up on my design wall to see how it looked.

I still need to figure out what to do with that section at the lower left. I may do something similar to the vertical strip on the right. I want that section to be interesting because I like having the option to flip the orientation of the panel.

Here’s everything on my design wall as I called it quits tonight.

I won’t show you the mess on my cutting table!

I’ll probably finish these panels tomorrow night and see if I can get them quilted.

It rained most of the day today and the wind howled until later tonight. We finally got a break in the rain so I took the boys for a nice three-mile walk after dinner. It was actually nice and warm for January, but the wind was pretty crazy. I was paying attention to the trees as I walked in case one decided to fall on my head.

Bender and Rico were good boys considering how little activity they got today. They snoozed quietly most of the day as I worked. There’s something very relaxing about sleeping dogs in the room.

Peas in a pod.

I had a goal to finish this quilt top on my long New Years weekend and I did it. I came in just under the wire and sewed the final seam and pressed this quilt top at 10 pm tonight.

I realized yesterday that I had made a mistake when sewing the first four rows of this top together last week. I had added the green sashing to the last block in each row, but had neglected to add the cornerstones to that piece of sashing. Here’s what the sashing on those first four rows looked like (bottom of the photo).

Here’s what they’re supposed to look like.

So before I dug in to finish sewing these blocks together today I had to rip out that sashing and add sashing with the cornerstones. Not my favorite thing to do.

After ripping off the wrong sashing I made one long strip with cornerstones to apply to those four rows all at one time.

Once I had that sashing fixed, I was ready to crack on and finish sewing the top together… except… I had to make more sashing and cornerstone pieces… I didn’t have enough to finish the last row of the top.

I sewed sashing pieces to a strip of the cornerstone fabric, then pressed and trimmed.

It’s pretty efficient to do it this way.

For reference, here’s a blog post from the past describing how I add sashing and cornerstones to my blocks. I do it block by block, rather than doing my sashing in long strips.

When I started sewing this afternoon I had three rows of blocks to sew together, plus a section of four sewn rows and a section of two sewn rows. So I ended up with a third section of three rows. That’s a total of nine rows. This quilt is nine blocks by 9 blocks. This quilt is so big I folded each section and pinned it to my portable design wall.

This photo shows the final two sections as I prepared to pin them for sewing… five rows on the cutting table and four rows on the design wall.

You can see that I used a hammer to keep that large piece on the cutting table while I prepared to pin.

I pinned the two sections together, rolled It all up like a burrito, then accordion folded it in preparation to feed it through the machine to sew the final seam.

Then I tossed that bad boy on the ironing board for the final pressing.

This is not my favorite part of making a quilt top. I really hate wresting with those big pieces of fabric. I’ve developed some things that make it easier for me, but it’s still a hassle.

I was thinking I would add a border to this quilt top using the black shaggy fabric that I used for the cornerstones.

I had thought that I’d need a border to make this quilt top big enough for my bed. But it measures about 98 x 98 inches without the border. The quilt that’s on my bed right now is about 91 inches square. Although I think it would have looked cool with that border, I’m relieved that I don’t have to do any more sewing on that large top!

Here’s a little big of eye candy. I just love a freshly pressed quilt top.

Don’t look too closely at my corners.

It’s just so yummy!

This next one shows how all the cornerstones are different… which I love!

I had a pretty productive final day of my long weekend. After breakfast this morning I made a batch of chicken tortilla soup in the crock pot and set it to high. Then I headed out to run some errands. I stopped by the post office to mail the teal and pink bag I finished yesterday. Then I stopped and bought some dog food. Then I ran out to the car dealership and had them put in some new headlights in my car.

Once I got home I took the dogs for a nice 4.5 mile walk. It was cloudy but dry. Then I puttered around the house a little before I had a nice dinner of home made soup.

I’ve been making this soup for a few years. It’s really tasty and spicy and warm. When I first started making it I used a recipe that a friend gave me that wasn’t fantastic… it required a lot of doctoring. So I make this now without a recipe. But for me, that’s the best way to make any kind of soup! There are a lot of recipes for chicken tortilla soup on the internet that are better than the recipe I started with.

I put four containers in the freezer and kept a container in the fridge for meals this week.

Rico is not happy that I have to go back to work tomorrow.

He felt a little better when I told him it’s only a three-day week.

After a nice stiff eggnog late last night, I had a good night’s sleep and a good sleep in. Once I had my breakfast and some yummy coffee I hit my sewing room to finish up the pink and teal frankenbag. I’m really happy with how this one turned out. I think my friend will love it.

Here’s the other side of the bag.

And some eye candy of the details. Zipper pocket.

Double slip pocket.

Zipper placket.

And, of course, my tag that I love so much.

And that little detail of the zipper pull on the placket and zipper pocket.

I just might have this in the mail today.

Well, it’s literally been months since I shared photos of frankenbags that blog readers have sent me. It’s entirely possible that you sent me photos and I’ve misplaced them. If so, sorry. Feel free to send photos again via email.

So, here we go. This first one is from Sara Rajagopalan has a fun and eclectic combo of fabrics. And you know I love that bold black and white.

Next is this bag made by Riana Nel. I love the bright colors and the bold horizontal stripes of black and white fab rico.

This bag was made by Peggy Nelson. She’s used a lot of fun colors and blocks. It’s a fun combo of color and design.

Next is this one from Nancy Pendergast. First off, green is my favorite color so this appeals to me. And I love batiks. So win, win!

This next bag was made by Linda Klysner. I love the bold red and the crumb piecing. And I love that so many people are including zipper plackets.

Now I have to confess. I may have gotten the names wrong on that red bag and on this next bag. Sorry, but It can be difficult to keep track of all of these bags! So, I think this one is from Leslie Schroeder. Sorry if I got them confused! I shouldn’t save two red bags right next to each other!

This next holiday themed bag is from Diane Sabo. It’s a fun way to use up those left over holiday panels.

Here’s another holiday themed bag that was made by Diana Ceccardi. It’s a fun and whimsical way to use those holiday fabrics.

This next one was made by Barbara Hughes. those animals prints are so much fun!

Finally, this last four bags were sent in by Althea Grills. She’s been busy. I love that first one with all the curves. and that bright one with all the color and triangles is really fun. this is a nice bunch of bags.

Now I’m gonna have another cup of coffee then hit the shower. I’ll follow that up with a nice long walk with my boys. Then it’s into my sewing room to chunk away at the Jewel Frames quilt top.