Month: March 2023

I arrived at Trudy’s a little before 9 am this morning and was greeted by this. “Oh, hello! It’s you again!”

By the time I got my rubber boots on, Trudy had arrived at the barn and we got moving.

Oh, and did I mention how necessary it is to HAVE rubber boots during lambing season in Northwest Oregon?

First thing we did was get busy feeding the ewes around the barn. I dug in and gave everyone in the barn a nice helping of grain — a mix of different grains with a little molasses mixed in. It looks and smells like granola and the sheep love it.

When the ewes see you walk through the gate with the grain they come running. They have their noses in the grain the minute it’s in the bucket.

Then everyone gets some nice leafy alfalfa. Trudy portioned it out for me and I fed the ewes in the barn.Mmmmm.

I was worried that she wasn’t coming up for air!

Then we both headed out to give some hay to the ewes in the paddocks around the barn. Everyone agrees that a little hay after your grain is a great way to start your morning.

Once everyone was fed we got started on the lambs that were born after I left yesterday. Trudy saved those two little ones for me to give ear tags, tail bands, and one needed to be castrated.

I felt much more adept at these tasks today. The ear tags go in pretty smoothly. You need to get the place correctly so you allow some room for growth, but in the right place so they don’t get torn off on gates and brambles.

It’s a lot like getting your ears pierced. The tag has a number on it that Trudy records with information about the lamb, if it’s a boy or girl, if it has any health issues, etc… and the mom’s number from her ear tag.

Trudy held the male while I tried to band his testicles, but I could not get the right one to fall into the scrotum. I tried several times before I handed him off to Trudy who was also not successful. She said the testicle hadn’t completely descended. She’ll give it another try tomorrow.

I have to say that castrating isn’t my favorite thing to do with lambs. I don’t hate it and it doesn’t make me squeamish. I’m just not very good at it. I’m getting better but I think I’m making it more difficult for the lamb than it needs to be. Trudy did give me lots of tips that makes it easier. But I found myself wishing each lamb was a female so I could skip this part.

But there’s an unintended benefit: I’m getting really good at spotting lamb testicles from a distance!

My last morning task was to give a ewe a shot of penicillin all by myself! It’s amazing how comfortable you get doing these things when you get a little experience under your belt.

When we finished these morning chores we packed up some hay and grain and headed out to the back pasture to feed the pregnant ewes and see if any lambs had been born overnight. When we got to the gate there was no Regina — one of the guard dogs. We took this as a good sign that she was out in the trees keeping a watchful eye on lambs.

And bam! We spotted this little ewe with one lamb. And there’s Regina!

We kept driving around near the trees and spotted another ewe with two lambs… one of them was pretty tiny. Both ewes had moved away from the rest of the flock and were in the trees on their own with their lambs.

We hadn’t taken the lamb wagon with us so we headed back to pick it up so we could go back and get those lambs transported to the barn. By the time we got back to the pasture, the two ewes with the lambs had moved out into the center of the pasture and were almost intermingled with the rest of the pregnant ewes. This near intermingling makes it more challenging to get the lambs and ewes out of the field in one, easy group.

Since this was a more challenging situation, I stayed in the four wheeler while Trudy caught the lambs and dealt with the ewes. This whole thing proved to be more challenging because the ewe with the single lamb is a cheviot cross. Cheviot is a breed of sheep that can be a little more nervous and difficult to deal with. The other ewe is a clun. They tend to be more easy going and not as bothered by things humans do.

In this next photo, the cheviot cross is closest to Trudy with the white lamb. The clun is further off to the left of the photo.

Trudy was able to catch all three lambs pretty easily and get them into the lamb wagon. The clun ewe was calm and just stood next to the wagon with her lambs in it.

The cheviot cross ewe was having none of it, and in spite of Trudy’s and Wyatt’s (her little black sheep dog) efforts, she was able to break and rejoin the other ewes. This meant that Trudy would have the tricky task of separating that ewe out from all the other ewes.

So we drove the lamb wagon and parked it outside the gate. The clun ewe followed along nicely. Then Trudy and Wyatt headed down to the bottom of the pasture to bring all those ewes up to the gate where Trudy would sort out the cheviot cross mom.

In sorting out the one ewe, Trudy had Wyatt hold the sheep close to the gate while she moved back and forth to spread the sheep out so they’re not in a big clump right at the gate.

Then a lot of magic appears to happen and the ewe in question slips through the gate all by herself, leaving the rest of the flock behind. And we were on our way back to the barn with three new lambs in the wagon and two ewes in tow… all making colossal amounts of noise the entire time!

Success!

Then it was time to get busy with these lambs. We got all three’s ears tagged, tails banded, and one lamb castrated. The teeny tiny lamb laying down in that crate is a male, but his private parts were so small they were hard to find to get banded. Trudy will try again tomorrow.

Since that male was so tiny, Trudy decided we should tube feed him to make sure he gets a good start. So Trudy held him while I put the tube into his mouth and kept feeding it in. In no time he had a full stomach!

Here’s a look at that tube so you can see how far into the lamb it goes.

He had no idea what was about to happen to him. But he put on his big boy pants and handled it like a champ!

Next, we got these new moms and their lambs all settled in their pens in the barn.

Then I grabbed Rico and moved that same group of sheep to that same pasture as yesterday. Rico was so happy to get to do his part!

Those sheep are crafty and knew exactly where they were going and were already at the gate by the time Rico and I had walked a few yards. Once we got closer to the sheep, I sent Rico on a come-by flank (clockwise from my side), had him lie down and stay so he could hold the sheep while I walked toward them to open the gate. He did his job beautifully and the sheep were trotting into the tall, delicious grass in no time.

Then rico got a quick dip in the pond before lunch.

And a quick swim after his work.

It was now time for lunch and after a quick bite, Rico got to go out into the big field and work the sheep again. And he was brilliant again!

Then we went and grabbed Bender out of the car so we could get a nice field run before we went back to work.

I told Trudy that I was pretty sure that what I had done the most over the last two days was open and close gates! Every paddock and pen and pasture has a gate. And when you go through or open a gate, you close it. That’s good farm practice. I think I must have opened and closed at least 50 gates today!

When I got back to the barn Trudy was busy moving sheep and lambs and freeing up space in the barn for the brand new lambs. She got the lambs in the paddocks near the barn moved into a pasture that has good shelter since a storm was roaring in this afternoon.

After getting the dogs back in the car I helped make sure the pens in the barn all had fresh water and then I was done. Trudy offered to let me work Rico on the sheep one more time, but I was pretty tired by this time and decided to get cleaned up a little and hit the road for home right at 3:00.

I’ve been looking forward to these two days for months and they didn’t disappoint. I had better luck with new lambs every day… just enough to keep us busy but not overwhelm us. What a great two days with great weather in beautiful countryside. Plus good company and lots of lambs and work to do.

I’m so lucky! Thanks to Trudy for letting me come again and for taking the time to teach me so much and let me learn by doing. What a great experience!

I just took some Advil PM and when it takes effect I’m going to go to bed and I’m not going to set an alarm.

I woke up early today and was on the road right before 8 am. It was a beautiful morning drive and when I arrived at my friend Trudy’s place, I was greeted by this guy… he was born yesterday afternoon.

Before we got started dealing with this new lamb and a few ewes, we went and fed all the sheep (the ewes with lambs) in the paddocks near the barn. Then we headed out to the back pasture where all the pregnant ewes are kept.

We were greeted at the gate by Regina, one of Trudy’s guard dogs. Trudy said the fact that Regina was at the gate instead of with the sheep probably meant that there were no lambs.

That’s Regina and Elsa. They were playing and wresting with each other… so cute!

And she was right. So we fed the ewes grain and alfalfa and planned to come back later in the day to check on them.

Then we headed back to the barn and got busy.

First off I got to band the tail, attach an ear tag, and castrate that little lamb above. Most of the lamb’s tail is removed for health reasons. They’re left with a few inches. To do this, you use a special pair of pliers to place a thick but narrow rubber band on the tail. It will fall off in a week or so. Castration is done the same way. The same band is placed at the base of the scrotum… you have to make sure you’ve actually captured the testicles inside… they are slippery little devils and can suck right back up into the abdomen! And in a few seconds, it’s done. These little bits, too, will fall off in a week or so. I was so busy I didn’t get any photos of this banding process.

Next, I gave penicillin shots to two ewes with mastitis. Basically, an infection of the mammary glands.

Then Trudy milked the ewe above to get the infection out. It all looked so much better than it did yesterday. Fingers crossed this ewe is on the mend.

After that I tried my hand at milking a ewe who is producing a lot of milk but only has one lamb. The milk will be used to supplement lambs who are competing with twins or triplets for food. Once we had the rich milk in a bottle, I used a syringe with a flexible rubber tube attached to feed two lambs that needed extra nutrients. I fed the flexible tube into their mouths and down their throat…all the way into their stomach. the lambs sort of chew on and swallow the tube. Then I pushed the plunger on the syringe to send the milk into their stomach.

Here’s some cute lambs to let you imagine how happy they are will full stomachs!

Somewhere around this time I helped Trudy move a bunch of ewes with lambs from a paddock near the barn to a field where they could eat lots of lovely green spring grass. Trudy’s dog Wyatt helped us.

Trudy and Wyatt…

Before we took a break for lunch, Trudy had be get Rico out of the car and move about 20 sheep (not moms, and no lambs) from a pen near the barn to a field about 150 yards and several gates away. It wasn’t terribly difficult, but it’s really amazing to have a dog help with practical tasks instead of training exercises. It’s so fun to see all that training play out in a real l life situation.

They’re all waiting for me to open that gate. Rico is off to my left holding them… keeping them from running away. He was such a good dog.

After a nice lunch of a peanut butter and raspberry-jalapeno jelly, I worked Rico on some of Trudy’s sheep in her big field. We don’t get the opportunity to work in a big field like this very often. Rico was so amazing! I can’t believe how well he’s doing the last few weeks. We’re both having a blast. Here’s a video from our training session today.

What a good boy!

Even on a cool day like today, dogs get pretty heated up when they work sheep. Luckily, there’s a lovely pond right there to cool off.

It’s so much fun to live with happy dogs!

Ridiculously happy!

Then Trudy said I could take Bender and Rico into her pasture with a lot of trees to let them have a good run before we started back to work. Bender was very happy to get out of the car and stretch his legs.

They ran and ran and ran. And then they ran some more!

The didn’t want to stop, but when their tongues were on the ground, it was time to get back to work.

Once we finished lunch and training and a nice field run, we headed up to the back pasture again to see if any lambs had arrived since we checked this morning. And when we got to the gate, there was Regina… away from the sheep. Disappointed, we drove in and started taking a tour of the pasture. We noticed one ewe that was alone in the trees, away from the rest of the flock. A sure sign she either had a lamb or was in the process. No lambs with her.

But I looked along the fence line and I noticed a ewe up there by herself and I was SURE I saw some little legs among her legs.

But before we went to check on that ewe, we wanted to get the ewe in the trees to the other side of the fence so we could bring her down to the barn area since we knew she would have her lambs soon. It took a little while. Trudy and her dog Alice worked together to get the ewe separated from the rest of the flock, up the hill and out the gate.

On the left is Trudy trying to move that ewe who did not want to move. On the right you can see Regina, the guard dog.

Once that ewe was on the other side of the fence we headed off to find the ewe with the lambs. And there she was!!!

Those lambs are just a couple hours old! There’s a boy and a girl.

So now we had to get those lambs and their mom down to the barn. So we moved them along the fence line until we came to the “lamb wagon,” a small trailer with a wire dog crate strapped to it. The lambs go into the dog crate and the ewe follows along as you slowly drive through the field.

But first, I had to get a selfie with this cutie pie fresh lamb!

Ok… now onto the lamb wagon…

Isaac helped us move the two ewes and two lambs up the field. Who needs a herding dog when a guard dog can do the job?

Isaac also helped us load those lambs into the wagon.

There’s my boyfriend Isaac… the guard dog! He’s the sweetest thing! And I swear he’s part polar bear!

The ewe followed along nicely, and the other ewe that had been in the trees who should lamb any moment, came along with us. Trudy’s dog Alice followed along behind to keep it all moving along.

That’s Alice checking out one of those lambs.

Once we got them down to the barn I had the honor of castrating the male. Welcome to the world boy lamb!!! And I banded the tails on both of them and tagged their ears. The boy fell asleep in my arms… being born and getting castrated is hard work!

After all that trauma, mom and babies were reunited in a nice warm pen and both lambs fell asleep quickly.

After this couple hours of work I worked Rico again on the sheep. He was equally brilliant this afternoon. Once we were done we took the four sheep we had been working and took them through a few gates and into a pen near the barn. Trudy wanted them there to do some dog training after we left.

We were hoping that the ewe we thought would lamb would be having babies any moment, but the stress of moving had her thinking about other things. So I headed home, tired, hungry and a little cold.

When I got home, Trudy sent me this photo… that ewe had had her two lambs by about 7 pm. You can just see her two lambs in the dark corner off her left shoulder.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed for lots of lambs in the morning. There are about 15 ewes left to lamb. The weather looks a little trickier tomorrow. Today was cloudy but dry all day. Tomorrow has rain starting around noon. All my rain and mud gear is in the car so I’m ready!

I’m so excited to see lambs tomorrow! it looks like the weather is going to be good, but all my rain gear is in the car just in case. So I have to go to bed earlier tonight. So here’s quick post.

After a dreary wet day yesterday, today was gorgeous! I had my sliding door open for a few hours this afternoon. I love that first day in the spring when you can leave the door open.

What a glorious spring day! It felt so good!

The skies tonight were pretty spectacular too.

More signs of spring popping up everywhere around my neighborhood. Forsythia are in full bloom now. the azaleas are just starting to bloom. Daffodils are pretty much everywhere. Mine are just starting to open.

After work tonight I hit my sewing room and cut the KFC centers for a bunch of Wensleydale blocks.

After our evening walk and getting a few things ready for my day of lambs tomorrow, I sewed three more Wensleydale blocks.

I didn’t have time to pull the papers off tonight so I pinned them up on the design wall with the other blocks.

I just love these multiple diamond patterns that are emerging. It will be fun to see what it looks like when it’s done.

So I have 12 blocks. I’m thinking I want 48 so I’m 1/4 done! And I’m loving where this is going.

I was thinking about my new backing fabric for my jumble starburst quilt. I’m going to have to sew a strip of something between the two sections of fabric in order for it to be big enough. So I thought some bright color of jumble would work. So I think this will be it.

I have a fun little addition to my back yard tonight. I saw these little mason jar lights at a friend’s place the other night and fell in love with them. The solar panel is built into the lid and the lights are a string of led lights on wire.

I got them on Amazon and there were 10 in the package. I’m going to need to pick up some mason jars. Don’t have enough of that size.

It just makes me happy to look outside and see these bright lights in the dark.

That’s it for me. Just a few hours to lambs!

The sale fabric I ordered for the backing for my jumble sunburst quilt a couple of weeks ago was finally delivered to my doorstep this afternoon. And it’s absolutely perfect!

I sort of took a leap of faith when I ordered this online. I pulled the photo up on my computer and held it next to this quilt top and it seemed like it would work. This quilt top really needed something deep and saturated with lots of red.

That leap of faith was definitely worth it. I just love this!!! I’m so glad I didn’t settle for any of the other options I considered. Extra cool that I got it on sale.

It was a very dreary and rainy day today. I had a day full of meetings and didn’t get outside at all until after dinner tonight. It had stopped raining and was quite balmy outside. I’m always a little surprised that I can walk three miles on an evening like that and not see one other person out walking. It’s such a perfect time to be out and about.

I had dinner sort of late tonight so started our evening walk late. So I didn’t have a lot of time left to get any sewing done. But I did get some stuff done.

I decided that I wanted to get a good number of pieces cut for my Wensleydale blocks so I hunkered down and started cutting.

I went through all my blue batiks and grabbed a pile that aI want to start cutting on for variation. It will be fun to see some of that color start showing up in the blocks.

I cut up some of the pieces left over from the other day and cut up a couple of new pieces too.

I got enough cut for at least fourteen blocks.

I still need to combine them into 14 different “kits” for blocks. I also need to dig into my KFC scraps and cut the pieces for the centers of the blocks. I’ll do that tomorrow night and maybe get a couple of blocks sewn.

Spring keeps trying to poke its head out but it just can’t make it. My flowering pears are so close to blooming. I keep thinking any day now but winter just doesn’t want to leave.

I saw my first Hyacinth yesterday.

The azaleas are starting bloom too. So are the camellias. This one is absolutely covered in blooms!

I’m counting down to lambs. One more work day and then I’ll be up to my neck in spring lambs! I can’t wait! My friend already has 52 lambs born! There are 20 more ewes that are pregnant. Fingers crossed for brand new lambs on Thursday and Friday.

Today was a great day. It started with my alarm clock going off at 4:00 am. I had given myself a bit of a runway and set a second alarm for 4:15 and got moving. We were on the road for Rico’s sheep herding trial at 5:30, headed north on Interstate 5. We reached the sheep herding venue at around 7:35. Which left us just enough time to get our rubber boots on, get all our gear, and take the walk, with Rico in tow, to the trial field.

Rico did an amazing job! Here’s a video of his last run, which was his best of the four he had today. There were a couple that were, ummm, interesting.

It’s not the best video. I hooked my phone to a fence post and hit the button before I took Rico in the ring. You might enjoy all the conversation with the sheep herding ladies!

We were done by around 10 am. I wanted to hit a fabric store that opened at noon on the way home so we had a little time to kill. So I took the boys to a field at the trial site to let them have a good run before we headed south.

And running…

Before we got in the car and headed out, we took advantage of a photo op.

We made it to the fabric store at five minutes after noon. It’s a really nice little store with a good selection of KFC fabrics and a great selection of batiks.

I knew I’d find a good selection of the lighter blue batiks that I want for my Wensleydale quilt. And I wasn’t disappointed. Here’s what I came home with.

Just what I was looking for and just what this quilt needs!

We were home by a little after 2:00. I took a little bit of time to just chill out since I was up so early and had spent several hours on the road. Then I hit my sewing room and sewed a new block for my Wensleydale quilt.

I love how each of these blocks is different.

After our early evening walk, in which we got drenched in a steady rain and came home pretty cold, we grabbed some dinner then hit the sewing room to finish up two more blocks. So that makes three blocks made today.

I really love that one in the middle.

And look at this close up detail. These points make me so happy!

Thank you paper piecing! I would NEVER get that point with traditional piecing.

I now have nine blocks done and on the design wall. I just love how the secondary pattern Is showing more and more.

That means I’ve used up all the kits I made. So tomorrow night will be spent cutting fabrics and putting them into kits. I’m thinking I’ll need 48 blocks for this quilt. That should make a nice throw size quilt.

Here’s a bonus Bender since he was such a good sport today when Rico was getting all the action.

I had a pretty lazy Saturday. I slept in until 10 am. I could have slept longer but didn’t want to be a total schlump today.

We woke up to about an inch of snow this morning. I had noticed it was snowing great big golf ball sized snow flakes when I went to bed late last night. I was surprised to see so much snow. The good news it that it melted off really quickly. It was all gone by noon.

After a leisurely breakfast and some slow getting ready, I headed out to visit a couple of fabric stores to see what I could find in indigo and blue batiks for my Wensleydale quilt. I was somewhat successful.

I’ll do a little more shopping tomorrow on my way back from Rico’s sheep herding trial. I still need some lighter values.

On our way home from fabric shopping I decided to stop and treat myself to lunch.

That would be chocolate frozen yogurt with chocolate chips, nuts, and few milk chocolate turtles. I feel like I deserved this little treat today.

When we got home I took the dogs out for a nice 3.5 mile walk. It was cool but we managed to stay dry.

We’re seeing more and more daffodils around the neighborhood.

These Boys do love their walks. And me too!

Rounding off my nutritional day was pancakes and maple syrup for dinner.

I hit my sewing room after dinner and dug out some of my indigo fabrics so I could cut some pieces for more Wensleydale blocks. I managed to get all the pieces cut and kits made for 7 blocks. I put each “kit” on a paper plate to keep the fabric organized and flat.

Then I selected one kit and started sewing.

I got two more blocks made before I called it quits and took some Advil pm so I can get to bed at a decent hour in anticipation of our very early start tomorrow.

Here’s all four blocks that are done. I love how the secondary light/dark pattern is already emerging!

And now my cutting table is in utter chaos.

I’ll be home at a decent hour tomorrow so will dig into this and get organized with all these fabrics for my Wensleydale quilt. It’s pretty chaotic in there right now.

I checked the tracking info on the backing I purchased for my jumble quarter log cabin quilt and it’s actually in Portland. I’m guessing I won’t see it until Monday or later. It usually takes a couple days to get to my doorstep once it hit’s eat Portland area.

Look out sheep. Here we come!

I was tired after work today. So tired that I completely forgot that I had scheduled a private dog agility lesson for Rico. I remembered it as I was relaxing on the sofa after a tasty dinner of home made chicken tacos. I’m glad it’s the weekend.

The weather has been wet the last couple days. It was so rainy yesterday that we didn’t get a walk at all. None of us were happy about that. But today, even after my day started with a little snow storm, we were able to get an afternoon walk in and an evening walk as well. My boys are not happy when they have a day of no activity. And neither am I.

After our evening walk I headed to my sewing room. I still need to add the borders to the other two sides of my quarter log cabin quilt. I didn’t feel up to wresting with all that bulk tonight so, instead, I decided to test out a couple of the paper pieced Wensleydale blocks. So I dug out my scrap pile, doing my best to replicate the feel of the blocks I actually want to make for my quilt.

I managed to get two blocks done tonight.

The first one took forever. And it was mostly because the pieces I had cut were too skimpy and I ended up taking way too much time getting them arranged carefully, then unpicking. It all turned out, but took more time than I’d like to spend.

For the second block I cut my pieces more generously and it went together much more quickly. It does generate more waste, but the blocks go together so much easier if your fabric pieces are more generous.

I believe that my time is worth something. So it’s a trade off I’m ok with, especially if I’m using scraps.

If you’ve never done paper piecing, here’s a video on YouTube that will give you an idea of what it is and how it works. It’s not my tutorial. I’ve never made a paper piecing tutorial because there are a good number of them out there that do a fine job explaining it.

There are things I love about paper piecing. First, It allows me to make more complicated blocks than I could make with traditional piecing. Second, it allows me to make blocks with impeccable points. I mean, come on! Look at these gorgeous points!!!

I just love it!

I don’t typically love really intricate piecing. But paper piecing makes it an enjoyable thing for me.

There are things I don’t love about paper piecing. Mostly it’s the paper… removing all that paper.

So much paper to be removed!

Paper piecing patterns will sometimes provide templates for cutting the pieces for your block. I’m having to figure this one out on my own. It’s going to take me a little bit of time to get all the cutting figured out so I can efficiently and accurately cut the pieces for my blocks and so the blocks go together quickly and easily.

I still need to pick up more light and medium indigo batiks before I get too far into this quilt. I’ll do a little shopping this weekend at a fabric store in Washington that has a nice selection of batiks. They also have a lovely selection of Kaffe Fassett Collective fabrics so I’m guessing I won’t get out of there without buying some.

One last look at the first block I made tonight.

I have Rico entered in a sheep herding trial on Sunday up in Olympia. It’s about 2.5 hours from my house and I’m looking forward to seeing how he does. It’s been quite some time since he’s been entered in a trial and his skills have improved exponentially. I’m excited to see how he does under pressure. And me too.

Oh, and this bit of news has me very excited. Next Thursday and Friday I’m going to help my friend Trudy again with her lambing. Some of you will remember that I did this last spring. It was, literally, the best two days of my year! I’m so excited about getting to do this again. And it looks like the weather might cooperate.

You can read all about my lambing adventures last year in this blog post and this blog post.

Have I mentioned I’m glad the weekend is here?

I finally felt like doing a little sewing tonight so after a lovely evening walk with a gorgeous sunset along the trail I hit my sewing room.

I’m loving having light for at least a portion of my evening walks. And I’m seeing more and more flowers popping up all over the place. We saw a lovely bunch of daffodils. I’m pretty sure someone must have peed on them…

Those boys were VERY interested in those daffs.

So, anyway. I hit my sewing room when we got home to get the borders put on my first sunburst quarter log cabin quilt.

It took a little bit of time to get the borders cut because I want the fabrics along each side to repeat the same design. I’m not as concerned about the borders on all four sides matching, however. It used to really bother me when the borders on all four sides didn’t match. But now, unless I’m making a wall hanging, I only care that the borders on each side repeat nicely. No one will see all four sides of the quilt at the same time when it’s on a bed.

As you may know, this final stage is not my favorite part of making a quilt top. I really dislike manhandling all that bulk. It was all so heavy on my cutting table, I had to use a hammer to hold it in place so I could use both hands to pin the border on.

So much bulk! Very possibly some swearing involved in this part.

While I did manage to cut the borders for all four sides, I only managed to get them sewn onto two sides of the quilt. then I folded it up and pinned it up onto my portable design wall just to have some place to put it.

I love how that seam between the border and the setting triangles almost disappears. This fabric is a little bit magic.

And… I am soooo glad I decided to use this red lotus leaf fabric rather than the orange one I had picked out originally.

It’s so gorgeous!!

I found myself wishing my friend was here to help me press all this stuff!!!

Even my handsome boys look really good with all that red. You know how much I like a graphic black and white with these bright prints!!!

Good grief! What a couple of goof balls!

A couple of people commented on my last blog post that the Wensleydale paper piecing templates were available for sale. So I hopped online and ordered some. They arrived this evening. Thanks for the heads up on these! Now I don’t have any excuses for putting this off!

I’m happy to say that fake spring has ended here in Portland and real spring has begun. The daffodils in my front yard will be popping open any minute now.

The first few blooms on my flowering plum tree have opened up. This should be glorious by early next week. And it will probably be bare the next day! These blooms don’t last long.

The blooms on my flowering pear trees (I have planted 11 of them in my yard!!!) are almost ready to open. I just love these trees.

I ran across a vibrant clump of crocuses on our walk this afternoon.

My boys were happy to spend a good part of the day outside as I worked today. Even they appreciate the gorgeous weather. I did a couple zoom meetings on the patio today.

When my boys did come in the house, they needed more napping.

Poor things.

I finished the Jumble Starburst quilt top about a week ago. It wore me out. I’ve had a nice break and am feeling like I’m ready to hit my sewing room again. My plan is that I will dig in on the borders for the original starburst quilt tomorrow night.

It’s on my cutting table and ready to go.

Just take a moment to appreciate this gorgeous Kaffe Fassett design and color way.

GAH!!! So luscious!

As far as new projects go, I’ve been thinking about one particular quilt for a few months. This quilt was made by Barb who is @beeschip1 on Instagram. You can check her out on Instagram here. I’ve shared photos of Barb’s Frankenbags on my blog. She also makes some really beautiful and beautifully made quilts. You should definitely take a minute to check out her creations on Instagram.

She made this beauty on the Wensleydale pattern from Jen Kingwell’s Quilt Recipes book. It’s basically a rectangle in a rectangle.

I just love this quilt. All those gorgeous blues with pops of color. Here’s another view of the full quilt.

Isn’t it funny how certain quilts will just stay with you. I’ve thought of this quilt often and find myself going back to Barb’s instagram page every now and again to look at her photos.

I love the way the dark and light values of the blues play together. Here’s a bit of a close up.

Barb paper pieced these blocks. And that would be how I would do them too. But that’s not the only way to make them.

Barb recommended to me several months ago that tracing paper makes great paper piecing templates. I purchased some the paper but have never gotten around to using it. I will use for these blocks when I get around to making them.

I have more fabric than I need, but I don’t have a breadth of fabric. I have a decent collection of KFC fabrics. I have a modest collection of Australian Aboriginal fabrics. And I have a collection of batiks. There are a few other things in my stash but they don’t amount to much.

So as I thought about what to use for the blues on my quilt, my mind went to my batiks. So I dug out my bin of blue batiks to see what I have. I purchased some indigo batiks a few years ago with a specific plan in mind but never got around to making it.

There are one or two light or medium toned indigos in there, but I’m really missing lighter value options. So I stopped at a quilt store in Vancouver, WA, yesterday after Rico’s herding lesson. It’s a pretty little store called Fiddlesticks. They alway have a lovely collection of batiks and the owner is really friendly. I haven’t been there for awhile and it was fun to drop in.

I bought a few batiks while I was there. Most of these are intended for this rectangle quilt. Some of them were in my shopping bag just because they’re really pretty.

In looking closely at Barb’s quilt, you can see that there is a lot of variety of blues in there… with pops of other colors here and there.

My plan is to use Kaffe Fassett Collective fabrics in the center rectangles. I might throw in some Aboriginal fabrics just to keep it really eclectic.

I’ll probably give myself a little time to think about these blue fabrics before I dig in. Just what I need… another project!

While I was at the fabric store I noticed she had this pattern.

It’s complete with all the paper piecing templates you need to construct this small quilt.

I’ve been wanting to make a wall hanging from this pattern for quite a few years. I’ve found the pattern for sale on the internet but never pulled the trigger on buying it. So I decided to support my local store and had her ring it up. My plan is to make this from lovely KFC fabrics.

My friend Karin, who taught me how to paper piece a few years ago, made this one for her sewing room.

Isn’t that wonderful!!! Her’s is around 60×60 inches. My pattern is for a 30×30 inch version, which will be sufficient for my small sewing room. This will be a nice challenge for me but I think I have the skills to pull it off.

Didn’t do much of anything too exciting this weekend. Saturday was a gorgeous and mostly sunny day. You can tell it’s warm from those tongues!

That was our late afternoon walk and it was over 60 degrees! The boys also got a nice field run after Rico’s herding lesson.

After a late breakfast and a lovely walk this morning I headed off for a few hours of pickleball. I’m tired tonight and not ready for the work week.

First off, thanks to the 127 of you who took the time to write me a comment about which backing option you preferred. I had a great time reading all your thoughts and opinions. And I have to say… YOU ARE AN OPINIONATED BUNCH!!

First off, I want to let you know what fabric I had HOPED would work as the backing for this quilt. This one.

I just LOVE that fabric. I bought it on sale many years ago and I have wanted to use it as a backing but have never had a quilt that really worked with.

I’m really disappointed that is just doesn’t work with this quilt.

I’d like to thank the handful of very tasteful and adventurous people who said they like this option the best. And for those of you who boldly expressed things like “meh” and “just no!” I invite you to embrace your inner green! It’s the best color on earth!!!

As I saw all the comments coming in throughout the day I had a sense that one option was the run-way winner. But I decided I should actually count the votes and see where we ended up. Since some people were as indecisive as me, and consequently no help at all, the total votes don’t add up to the 127 comments.

Firmly in last place, to my grand disappointment, is the paler green that I had my heart set on. I LOOOOVE that fabric, but I agree that it’s not right for this quilt. This fabric garnered 9 “yes” votes. I’m not going to tell you how many “no” votes it got.

Second and third place are neck and neck. The option 1 red fabric got 23 votes and the option 3 green Antwerp flowers got 24 votes.

And the clear winner with 32 votes is option 4, the bright zig zag fabric.

And after all that I’m laying on the sofa with my lap top on my lap and I’m laughing because I’m still as undecided as I was before all of this!!!

I think these options are fine. But not of them really grabs me.

So which one of these would I actually choose if someone forced me to? I’d probably have to go with the red option #1. But I can’t tell you that I love it.

A couple people were very certain that I should select something else. But I would really like to use something in my stash and these four were the best option. If I was going to BUY a backing fabric for this quilt, it wouldn’t be any of these options.

So now what?

I decided to look in a drawer in my sewing room that’s filled with pieces of fabric that are larger than my typical stash fabrics, but not large enough for a full backing.

I thought I might be able to find something that works, but might have to be combined with another strip of fabric to make it big enough.

I pulled out a few pieces that were definitely NO!

Yeah. Definitely YUCK.

But there are some options that are more interesting.

I’m not sure about the blue/purple one. There is just so little of those colors in the top. The middle one is very bright and cheery. The last one is a definite option for me and it’s one of my favorite Kaffe fabrics ever.

These last two are the most interesting to me. First, this gorgeous orchid print painted by Philip Jacobs. It’s such a beautiful fabric and I like it with this top, but it all feels a little to medium to me. I feel like the back of this quilt needs to be more saturated and deep in color.

I have a couple pieces of this but would have to be combined with another fabric to make it large enough. There is a jumble that goes nicely with it that I could use.

That photo gives you a better idea of the colors in that fabric. It also gives you an idea of how freaking cute Bender is!!!

The other option that I like will not make the green haters out there happy.

There’s not enough of that green to do the entire backing. It would be combined with some of the black and white jumble.

Well, I don’t have to make a decision tonight.

Thanks again to everyone who commented. If you haven’t yet, take a few minutes to read through the comments on last night’s post. You can find the comments by scrolling down on the page. It’s really interesting to see what different people saw in each option.

I usually reply to all comments on my blog posts, but I’m not going to be able to do that since there were so many!

And I’ll close tonight with this photo illustrating what indecision looks like.