Author: agilejack

I met my pickleball teacher today at 9:30 am for a rousing training session in freezing and foggy conditions. And it was fantastic! We haven’t been able to have a lesson for about a month, with holidays, family visits, and weather. It felt really good to get out there.

And I knew this was my opportunity to present him with my Ice Storm quilt. So I wrapped it up last night, wrote a card, and locked it into the back of the car. After my lesson today we walked to our cars together, got all the training equipment into his trunk, then I told him not to jump in his car and leave so fast!

I pulled the package out of my car and gave it to him. I told him that he had been giving to me generously for months of his talents and skills, and now it was my turn to give to him of my talents and skills. He’s so funny… he got emotional. He’s just so touched when people do things for him to show their appreciation.

I told him he could open it then, or he could wait until he got home. He said he would wait until he got home. About a half hour after I got home he sent me this photo. I’ve obscured his face because I don’t know if he’s in the witness protection program or something like that.

I left his smile for you to see! He wrote to me: “Your gift was a delightful surprise! Thank you for thinking of me and making me feel special.”

After icing my foot and having some lunch I hightailed it out into the crazy shopping frenzy to pick up some gift cards for people at work. I only had to go to three places and had it all done and was home in about an hour.

Ernie arrived yesterday afternoon. I took the prospect of company as a reason to dig in and clean my living room and get my little birch tree and mantle lights up. This will be the extent of my holiday decorations this year.

After dinner and a little relaxing I decided it was time to get busy, so I dug into my sewing room to start working on the table topper that I’m making for a Christmas gift. I figured it was time to pull the trigger! I had already selected the fabrics and had a couple different blocks in mind.

I decided to go with a basic 16 patch block for this. Mostly because I wanted the pieces of fabric to be small. So that pattern seemed like a good one and a quick and easy one to whip up. I follow this really good tutorial for a 16 patch block from Wanda at Exuberant Color.

I’m basically going to replicate this table topper that I made for this same friend several years ago, but I will make it just a little bigger.

I borrowed this from my friend so I would have a model to follow. It’s been a long time since I made this!

I cut two 2.5 inch strips from each of the fabrics I selected and then paired them up…

and chain pieced them into strip sets.

I always finger press my strip sets before pressing. Then when I press I use a metal ruler to keep my strip sets nice and straight. This video shows you how I do this.

I got the eight strip sets made and got them all cut into strips so they are ready to sew together.

It’s going to be fun to see this come together. Here’s a couple of the sets arranged into blocks. that little strip to the right is the only waste left over from one strip set!

I love this next one…

Ooh! I love that one!

I’ve been thinking about how I’m going to quilt this and I’m thinking I’m going to go very organic with wavy lines going two different directions — criss cross wavy lines.

I’ll add a couple of borders onto this to bring it up to a bigger size. the larger outer border will be Philip Jacob’s shaggy in black.

Or, I may use the piece of Philip Jacobs Luscious instead.

Hmmm. Good thing I have a few days to think about this. I think I have enough of the luscious. I KNOW I have enough of the shaggy. Using one of these darker fabrics will help the topper read dark, which is what I want. But I think those lighter value fabrics are going to be critical in making this thing interesting and making those dark fabrics really pop!

This is all of the waste from eight strip sets. I love a project that doesn’t generate any scraps that I need to deal with!

I had a lovely dinner tonight of fried eggs and toast. It was really good and a treat for me. These three agreed and really wanted to lick that plate.

As I was getting ready to settle in on the sofa for the night I remembered that I bought some egg nog the other day. So I decided to dig into my liquor cabinet for some bourbon. Rather than opening a new bottle of a good bourbon, I went for the old Jack Daniels.

that was a mistake. Next time I have one I’ll open the good stuff!

I sat down last night and watched the final season of The Crown and stitched the final side of the binding on my Ice Storm Quilt. It feels really good to. have it done. It’s been long time.

I’m so glad that my friend suggested using that Octopus fabric for the backing. It’s really quite perfect. And since several people have asked, the fabric is a Brandon Mably design called Octopus in the black color way. It’s a Kaffe Fassett Collective Fabric. I think it’s getting a little tricky to find, especially in this color way.

I bought a couple of large pieces of this fabric a couple years ago. I found some on sale and bought enough for a quilt backing, then decided to buy another big piece because I love it so much. So I have more than enough to make another backing some day.

This is one of the quilts that was quilted in trade for finished quilt tops by Cindy Rich. It was a great deal for me. This photo shows the quilt design nicely. The quilting pattern is called Curly Weave. I don’t know the designer.

Now I need to get this into some good light and trim off all the stray threads. Then it will be ready for gifting to my pickleball coach.

And a couple more photos just cause I love this so much.

I’m feeling better every day, but my cough is still lingering but is quite productive. I did manage to get out of the house Friday and Saturday. It wasn’t raining Friday and my work schedule allowed me to join a group of friends for a pickleball lesson. It felt so good to get out and move around. But my body certainly wasn’t in prime form.

I also went out early Saturday to play pickleball before Rico’s sheep herding lesson. I felt so much better and played better and we were lucky that the rain held off. So I got a good 1.5 hours of play in before hitting the road to find some sheep.

I’m going to play for an hour or so this afternoon. Then I’ll come home and get some house work done. I want to put up a little bit of holiday decorations and I hate doing that in a messy house.

We’ve got some decent weather coming up over the next ten days so I’m looking forward to a little more activity and not being stuck in the house.

Between being sick and all the rain we’ve had, I’m getting a bit stir crazy. I haven’t played pickleball for a week and a half! And I’ve been stuck in the. house either recuperating or fleeing the rain.

I feel pretty good. Much better and almost back to normal…. except for this freaking cough! I’m really quite exhausted from coughing. The good thing is that I’ve been taking a good expectorant and my cough is becoming more and more productive every day. But it’s a lot of coughing.

How many of these is too many?

I’m well into my second bag. The directions say to let one drop dissolve slowly in your mouth every two hours. I’m pretty sure I’m taking one every 20 minutes! If not more!

We’re going to be getting a bit of a break in the rain for a few days. it’s been really wet here. There are land slides, road wash outs and flooding all around us. It’s a lot of rain, but it’s been warm. I keep my thermostat at 68 degrees during the day and turn it down to 63 degrees when I go to bed at night and the last two nights it’s only gotten down to 67 degrees by the time I get up. That’s some balmy nights.

I noticed today that my daffodils are up already! They are usually poking their heads up before Christmas. But this is ridiculously early!

This is the field where Rico has his sheep herding lesson on the weekends.

I have managed to get my boys. out for an evening walk the last few days. It actually makes me feel better and clears my head and lungs a little when I get out and move around. And it makes my boys happy too. They’ve been really good the last week but they are ready for action!

I have a light schedule at work tomorrow and the weather looks good so I might duck out mid day and go and do some practice with my teacher and some other students. I think it would do me good!

I’m slowly chunking away at hand sewing the binding of my Ice Storm quilt. I have three sides done now and should be able to finish the last side tomorrow night, unless some kind of offer for something more interesting comes my way. Like that ever happens…

I don’t love handwork, but the one thing I’m really enjoying about this project is looking at this quilt as it’s crumpled in my lap as I work on it. it’s really pretty and so different from what I usually make.

And I LOVE that octopus backing! It’s so crazy but all the colors are so perfect with the quilt top. I’m so glad my friend suggested it.

I have the fourth side all clipped and ready to start sewing.

I’ve been switching out which quilts I have on the top of the pile on my guest bed. It’s fun to see them every time I walk by. I caught this black quilt in the morning light today and just loved the way the quilting stood out. I just had to take a photo.

Fingers crossed that I feel good enough and the weather cooperates a little so I can get out and get some physical activity.

I ended up sick this weekend. I started feeling something a little scratchy in my lungs last Wednesday. I felt fine on Thursday, but in the evening I felt the same scratchiness in my lungs. When I woke up Friday I had a full blown cold.

I’m pretty sure this happened because I was bragging a few weeks ago that, aside from my COVID case in May of 2022, I hadn’t been sick since the pandemic hit.

So, I do have a cold. I did COVID tests three times over the last few days and they were all negative.

I struggled through work on Friday but was so punk I spent all of Saturday napping on the sofa. I was supposed to play pickleball at a club event at a large indoor facility Saturday night, but that was not going to happen.

I feel much better today. I can tell that I’m on the mend. But I’m a little resentful that my weekend was wasted being sick. I would have been happy to take a sick day or two off of work.

If did manage to hit my sewing room tonight and get a little done.

Some time last week I made the lining for the Aboriginal fabric bag I’ve been working on. Tonight I pinned it to the body of the bag and got this bad boy done. Since this bag doesn’t have any zipper pockets or zipper placket, finishing it was a quick job.

Here’s the finished bag showing the lining.

Here’s a few more photos.

And, of course, I had to add my tag.

This bag will be shipped off tomorrow with one of the pin cushions I made recently.

It was nice to make a bag without having to do all the zippers. I might have to do a few more like this.

I had been giving some thought to what I could do for my pickleball teacher as the holidays approach. I decided that I wanted to give him (and his wife) a quilt that I’ve made. I had the contact info for his daughter because I helped connect her to people at a local medical center recently (she’s in med school), so I sent her photos of what I had and she said my Ice Storm quilt would be the best option for them and their decor.

After I finished up in my sewing room tonight I settled down on the sofa and started hand sewing the binding to get it ready to gift.

Oh man! I do LOVE that octopus fabric for the backing of this quilt!

I managed to get one full side of the quilt done. I feel pretty good with that progress for one evening.

I do LOVE a hand sewn binding. Too bad I hate doing them so much!

I do need to get cracking on a table runner for a friend for a holiday gift. It was a special request!

Last Tuesday was Giving Tuesday and it’s the day that kicks off all of our year end fundraising. I actually went into the office to be on they air live on the early shift.

I hadn’t been live on the air from the studios since the pandemic hit. I’ve been on air from my sewing room for nearly four years! It was fun to be in the studio again. And I had a huge studio all to myself. Probably a good thing since I ended up with a cold.

My boys have been terribly bored with me sick for a few days. Maybe we’ll be able to get out for a quick walk tomorrow.

My long weekend started with a little pickleball on Thanksgiving morning. I only played for a little over an hour because I had to do a little cooking for my pot luck Thanksgiving with friends. My responsibility was mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and I would make the gravy once the bird was out of the oven. I made the cranberry sauce Wednesday night. I made the mashed potatoes when I got home from pickleball, put them into a warm crock pot then jumped in the shower. I headed off for my friend’s house around noon.

We had a really good dinner. My friend always does a good job with the turkey. Really juicy and flavorful. We had a table full of people but not a crazy number.

After dinner we took a walk around my friend’s 15 acre property and let the dogs run. She is a wonderful photographer and took a few photos of my boys.

They were pretty dirty and wet by this time and Bender’s mane was full of little burrs. He got a good comb out when we got home. Here’s more photos of these two knuckleheads.

I had the opportunity to play pickleball Wednesday morning at the big church and had a blast! I haven’t played there since the first part of September. I think I truly played the best I’ve ever played! it was a full two hours and I was worn out by the time we were done. I was lucky enough to play there again on Friday and it was 3.5 hours of fun! I love playing there, but I’m guessing it will be some time before I get in there again.

I woke up this morning with the plan to hit the pickleball court at 8 am and I did just that. It was a brisk 32 degrees when I got there. But in Portland, we like to play when the courts are dry! There was a lot of frost this morning but the courts were in great shape. We were all pretty bundled up and by the time I was almost done I was actually a little hot! I had a great two hours of pickleball!

I’m planning to play again tomorrow at noon. It should be warmer at that time.

I heard from someone who has purchased a few items from me in the past asking if I had any bags made from Australian Aboriginal fabrics. She wanted one to give to a friend. I showed her the Aboriginal bag panels I made a couple weeks ago and she loved them. So my goal for this weekend is to finish that bag and get it in the mail.

To that end I pulled out the quilt sandwiches I made a week or so ago and started quilting. Then I got the bag handles sewn on.

They wanted these green nylon webbing handles instead of my typical handles so they shipped the material to me to use.

I got the bag panels quilted, got the handles sewn on and got the bag outer body sewn together.

Here’s the other side of the bag.

They don’t want the zipper placket or zipper pocket on this one. Just a couple of slip pockets on the interior. So this one should go fast. I selected the lining fabric from my stash and got the lining cut out and the interfacing fused on.

It has all the colors that are in the outside of the bag. So it should work well.

I also dug into my stash and selected this orange color for the slip pockets. The same fabric in a little different color way is in the front of the bag.

I should have this done tomorrow.

Today is my birthday! It was fun to start it out with a game of pickleball. And it was such a gorgeous day here in Portland. The sun shone brightly all day and made for high spirits. I treated myself to shrimp tacos for dinner.

My friend who visits and helps me make quilts sent me a great gift that arrived a few days ago. I waited until today to open it. And look what I found inside…

It’s a huge tub of pickleballs! And she even selected the kind most people use. I just bought a huge box of these for my pickleball teacher. I will definitely get good use out of these!

I enjoyed talking to family and friends today… always the best part of having a birthday.

And as of today I will officially start counting down the months to retirement. Just 24 months to go. That’s half a pandemic! It will arrive in no time!

It’s hard to believe it’s Tuesday already. It’s already been a busy work week and it will only get worse.

We’ve got about ten days of decent weather and the last fall leaves are dropping from the trees. I was able to take a break from my desk at the end of the day today before it got dark and got Bender and Rico leashed up and headed out. We all needed it after working and sleeping (not me!) all day.

Every day the trees are more bare and the streets have more leaves on them.

It’s been a nice fall so far. It’s been cool but not cold and we’ve had rain, but we’ve had some nice days too. I hate to see the last of the fall color.

Sunday was all about pickleball. I met my pickleball coach (I’m going to call him Hank) in the morning to do some drilling for an hour or so. And then ended up playing games for about an hour before he had to leave. I played another game or two, tossed the toy for my boys in the park, and met Hank later at an elementary school where our pickleball club was having a new player training day. Hank was teaching and I was a volunteer to play with the newbies and help them learn the game as they played.

At the end of the newbie session we got to play with the teachers and volunteers and it was so much fun!!! I just love it when I get to play with higher level players. The games are so challenging and fun. It’s different than I usually see… more strategic, more controlled. When I usually play there are a lot of what we call “bangers.” They are people who hit every ball as hard as they can. In higher level play, a lot of control and strategy are required, and the ability to hit different types of shots. We played for about 1.5 hours and had some really competitive and fun games.

By the end of the day, Hank and I calculated that we had played pickleball for five hours!!! I was so tired that night and was in bed by 10pm, which is incredibly early for me. I slept really well!

I did manage to do a little bit of hand sewing Sunday evening and closed up the pin cushions that I made and filled the other day. Have I mentioned that hand work is not my favorite thing?

I just love these with the blue borders. There’s something really wonderful about those deep indigo blues with those bright prints. You might know that I love that combo!

I decided that I had enough oomph tonight to do a little of this and a little of that in my sewing room.

An internet friend contacted me and asked if I had any Aboriginal fabric Frankenbags available. She bought one for herself a couple years ago and wanted one to give to a friend. I had just made two bag panels last week and when I showed them to her, she was excited and asked me to make a few alterations for her friend. Basically, she wants a basic bag with a couple slip pockets inside… no zippers. So that makes it easy.

So I cut the backing fabric, batting, and put together the quilt sandwiches for that bag this evening.

I might try to get these quilted tomorrow. She asked me to use some handles that she has, so she’s shipping them to me so I can’t get too much done on this until that arrives.

Then I sewed all the pin cushions that I made Saturday and sewed them together, turned them right side out and got them all pressed.

Over the weekend Stef from Quarter Acre Arts on Instagram mentioned that when she sews her pincushions together she sews most of the opening before putting the ground shells in. It makes it easier to sew and allows you to gill the cushion more completely.

She leaves enough opening to get the funnel in and leaves the needle and thread hanging.

And once all the stuffing is in, you just sew what’s left of the opening and you’re done. It did make a difference in how much filling I could get in there. Here’s the fuller one on the left and the skimpier one on the right. It’s a significant difference. Probably at least 1/4 cup more of the crushed shells.

I like the feel and look of the fuller pin cushion.

And I really like that diagonal strip, the bright colors and the bold black and whites.

I think I might make enough pin cushions to use up the walnut shells I have. Then I’ll put the finished pieces in a plastic bin to keep the critters out until I can figure out what the hell I’m going to do with them. Some of them will be holiday gifts.

I’ve been thinking a lot about adapting this diagonal block design into a quilt. I haven’t quite landed on what I want to do, but this might be the next quilt top I tackle. It’s all coming together in my head but it’s not quite a full picture yet. I feel like an impulse project is just what I need right now!!!

I was supposed to play pickleball at 8:30 this morning but it was raining and the courts were really wet so it was canceled. It’s not safe to be out there dinking around when the surface could be quite slick.

Rico had his weekly herding lesson at noon at my trainer’s place in Molalla, Oregon. And he was brilliant! He did some of the best work I’ve ever seen him do! And we lucked out and the rain stayed away too. I just love getting to be able to take advantage of Oregon’s beautiful country side every weekend!

When we got home we just spent a couple hours hanging out with Ernie since his owner was coming home today. It was so much fun to have him in the house and I hate to see him go. But the good news is that he’ll be back for a few days later in December.

This was our final walk with him yesterday afternoon.

Ernie left around 6:00. So I got myself some dinner then hit my sewing room to play with an idea I had last night for pincushions. I’ve seen a variation of this design used for quilt blocks.

I started by digging out some Australian Aboriginal fabric scraps and selected some strips what were around 1.5 inches wide. I sewed them into a strip set and then cut them into 2 in and 2.5 inch strips. Then I put a strip of bright colored fabric along each long end.

Once that was done I added a triangle to each side to make the piece essentially square.

Then, using my 5 inch square ruler, I squared those bad boys up.

These will have backs in that black fabric.

I thought I was done for the night but since these went together so quickly I decided to dig into my KFC scrap strips and make a few more. I chose strips in the red/pink/orange family and made my little strip set. Then cut several strips from that piece and sewed a 1 inch strip of that black Aboriginal fabric to each edge.

So, how do I know how long to make the strip sets? I laid my 5 inch square ruler over the top to make sure it was long enough to go from corner to corner.

Then I cut some 5 inch squares of black and white Jumble for the corners, and cut them in half diagonally. I sewed them on by eye-balling the center of each piece.

Then these were squared up and I cut 5 inch square pieces of the jumble for the backs.

I decided that I needed to take a few minutes and make one more and pulled out the Aboriginal strips I was using before. I ended up sewing just one narrow strip set, bordered it with the black fabric, and added jumble triangles.

This one might actually be my favorite.

Look at all of these pieces together. I’m thinking there’s a great idea for a quilt in there.

And this arrangement is pretty cool.

And a more cohesive look.

Hmmm. that would be a great use of my scraps. I’ve been toying with the idea of making a string quilt and this would scratch that itch.

I drove out yesterday to a little town called Carlton, Oregon, southwest of Portland. It’s in the heart of Oregon’s wine country and is gorgeous countryside. I really enjoyed the drive. I met the long arm quilter who did my six quilts and grabbed those bad boys. I haven’t had time yet to completely unfold them, get a closer look and take photos. They are sitting on my guest bed in a beautiful pile. There are now 10 recently finished quilts on that bed!!!

I’m usually pretty conservative on what thread colors I choose for my quilts. I usually like the quilting stitches to sort of blend in and let the fabrics and piecing be the stars. But I went with some bold choices on these.

The black quilt is quilted with a deep and vibrant red thread. It doesn’t show up in every block but it looks really cool when it does!

My red Algorithm quilt was done with a lighter reddish/orange. It’s really pretty.

My red and purple Fractured quilt was screaming for a deep red thread. I think it was the right choice. It disappears on the red fabrics but shows up on the narrow purple strips.

After my trip to pick up quilts I had a slow drive home because of terrible traffic and got home just in time to snarf down some lunch, get the dogs settled and head off for a THREE HOUR pickleball lesson with my coach! I had no idea we were going to train for three hours. It was so fantastic!!! He has been sick and is finally feeling well enough to get out and play. It had been almost three weeks since we had gotten together to practice. And it was a really good practice. I was so tired last night I could hardly keep my eyes open. I think I was in bed at 11 pm, which is REALLY early for me!!!

We were laughing because we’re so much alike… we are fighters and willing to work hard for improvement.

I’m meeting my teacher tomorrow at 11:30 for some training, and then we’re helping our club president with a new player training session. Several people will be teaching the beginners, and then I’ll get to play with the beginners to show them how the game is played. Then we’ll have an hour to play with the higher level players. It will be a fun group!

I’ve certainly packed a lot of stuff into my long weekend! But that’s the way I like it.

Sorry to everyone who wasn’t able to get to my Scrappy Ornament tutorial because I shared the wrong link.

I’ve corrected the link in the post.

For convenience sake, here’s the correct link:

Scrappy Night Time Tree Ornament Tutorial

The holidays are fast upon us. I wanted to share this tutorial again this year as a reminder of a fun little holiday sewing project and great gifts for friends, teachers, neighbors.

It’s my Scrappy Holiday Ornament Tutorial. You can find it at this link.

Please feel free to share this tutorial with your friends, on social media, with your local quilt guild. Share it far and wide!

Here’s a little reminder of what they are.

And a photo that shows them really clearly.

And it’s all just in time to get some done for this year!

Happy sewing!

My big bag o’ground walnut shells arrived this evening while I was out playing pickleball.

It looks very similar to the more expensive crafting variety I bought several weeks ago. So I’d recommend this cheaper and more plentiful alternative if you’re thinking of making pin cushions. Here’s the link to the one I bought: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BUFRZU2?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

So after dinner for me and three good boys and a walk in the cool night air, I hit my sewing room and cut open the bag and promptly dumped a bunch all over my cutting table. Once I got it cleaned up I actually managed to dump most of it into a ziplock bag. Then grabbed my 1/2 cup measure and funnel and started filling the pin cushions I sewed last night.

It took a little more than a full cup to fill each pin cushion. I’ve filled them pretty full and have clipped the tops closed. I’ll hand sew them tomorrow night.

This photo shows how full they are. They will be perfect once the opening is sewn up.

I filled 8 pin cushions and had almost a full gallon ziplock bag left.

So I’m guessing I can fill another dozen or so pin cushions. I might just whip them up, get them filled, then store them securely in a plastic bin. That’s a better idea than storing the ground walnuts in my mind. I have some ideas for more of them.

So now onto the really fun stuff.

Back in June I took six quilt tops, backings and bindings to a friend who offered to trade quilting for finished quilt tops. I traded her one top for her in exchange for quilting one quilt for me.

Shortly after I left those quilt tops with her she finished the quilting on two:

One was my Ice Storm Quilt. Photo and quilting pattern for this quilt.

Number 1

The other one was this quilt, front, back and quilting pattern:

Number 2

It’s been several months with no word from her. Since it took me about a year and a half to get backings and bindings made after we struck a deal, I figured I should cut her some slack! So waited patiently to hear from her.

About a week ago she sent me a photo of the next quilt she finished. Then the two more in a few days. Today she sent the final one of the six!

So let’s take a look.

Number 3, what I’ve called my black quilt.

A closer look at the quilting.

And the quilting pattern.

I was soooo close to cutting up that black quilt and making bags out of it. I’m pretty glad I didn’t. I’m really excited to see this in person!

Number 4, Fractured. My friend helped me make this when she visited a year ago this Labor Day.

And a close up view of the quilting.

And the quilting pattern.

Number 5, my red Algorithm quilt.

And a close up view of the quilting.

And the quilting design.

I have LOVED this quilt from the day I started on it. There’s just something magical about the reds, pinks and yellows combined with those black and white jumble strips. This is one of my favorites that I’ve ever made. It will be hard for me to part with this one. It might be one that gets to hang in rotation over my bed.

Finally, #6, my starburst jumble quilt. I made this quilt a lot more difficult than it needed to be. I’m really excited to see this one in person. It was such an impulse make. The best kind of quilting project!

And a close up of the quilting.

And the quilting design for this one.

I’m going to meet her on Saturday to get my hands on these babies after early pickleball and Rico’s herding lesson! And then I’ll have six quilt bindings to finish! But I’m happy that she sewed all the bindings on for me. All that’s left for me is the hand work.

We sure are enjoying Ernie’s company. He has such a fun little positive spirit. He fits into our household really nicely.

And he’s really affectionate! I really miss having a small dog in the house. And I REALLY miss having a terrier to smooch on!

It was a pretty much perfect fall day today. These three good boys agree!

One more day of work and then a LONG weekend! I have a lot planned so I’m sure it will go by way too fast.