Author: agilejack

I had a great weekend. I had a sheep herding lesson with Rico on Saturday morning. Trudy takes several weeks off during lambing season so this was our first week back in a month and Rico did a great job.

We stopped while we were up in Washington and had a nice field run in the park with the creek. My boys were happy to get out. The creek was deep enough that they actually got a little swimming. Then they found a really good stick.

They were a wet mess by the time we were done.

I can’t remember what we did last night. I think we took a three mile walk at some point in the day.

We had another sheep herding lesson this morning with a different trainer and it poured the entire time! But Rico didn’t care! He had another great lesson.

After that I hight tailed it home, grabbed some lunch and headed out to play pickleball. After a couple hours of good exercise I took the boys for a nice three mile walk. They were happy to get out and we were lucky to have a break in the rain.

After dinner I hit my sewing room to cut some more fabrics for my Wensleydale quilt. I stopped on Saturday at a local quilt store and bought some whiter indigo batiks. I combined them with a few that I bought online last week.

I also cut up some of the darker indigo batiks. I decided last week that my quilt top needed some really dark and really light fabrics. I found this fun one at the bottom of this photo in that stack of fabrics I’ve purchased recently. I completely forgot about it but thought It would add a fun pop of color.

I love the way it looks with the paisley.

I think I came close to cutting up enough fabrics for the remaining 20 blocks I have to make.

I will still need to cut up some KFC fabrics for the centers.

Then I kitted up enough for four blocks, but only got three made before I started to fade.

I tossed these lighter blocks up on the design wall to see how they look.

They’re in there and I like what the lighter whites do for this.

Here’s the new blocks mixed in with some other blocks to see how they look.

I think I’ll be happy I went through all that effort to find the whiter fabrics. There aren’t a lot of them out there!

I decided I would start pulling paper off blocks while I watched a little TV at the end of the night. I have 20 blocks that still have the paper on the back!

It’s a pretty big stack!

After a lot of rain today it was nice to get a little bit of sun.

I knew it was going to be quite a week at work. And I was right. My revenue and expense budgets are due on Friday. I’m close to having them done, but haven’t checked them off my list quite yet. I’ll certainly be ready for the weekend.

I have no idea what I did on Monday night. I think I worked late and then fell into a pile on the sofa. Last night I went and played pickleball. I had a great time. My favorite thing from the night was when I was playing with three guys. I was all over the place making tough plays and returning hard shots. I heard one of the guys on the other side of the net say under his breath: “She’s really athletic.” It made my day! I can’t remember the last time someone thought I was athletic! I’ve been thinking about it all day!

I was able to step away from my desk late this afternoon to get the dogs out for a quick walk before my last meeting of the day. We got a three mile walk in after dinner. It was so nice out! We’ve been having some really rainy days. Today we had rain, sun, ice balls, more rain, sun and rain at the same time. But our walk tonight was glorious!

Even with that, it still feels like winter. I’m really ready for some spring weather. But I love having the light in the evenings. It’s nice to be able to have our evening walk in daylight.

When we got home I thought I’d hit my sewing room and sew up the last three block kits I had made for my Wensleydale quilt. I timed it the other night and it takes me about a half hour to make one block. That’s way too long! It’s a good thing I like paper piecing!

Here’s the three blocks I got done tonight.

That makes a total of 40 blocks made. And 20 more needed to make it sixty in total.

I counted the paper templates I have left in the first book I bought and there are 20. I guess they gave me one extra.

Those 40 blocks have completely filled my portable design wall. So that means I’m going to need to get my starburst jumble quilt off my roll-up design wall so I can move these blocks. I think I’ll make the backing before I fold it up.

For the twenty blocks I have left, I want to include more dark indigo batiks. I feel like this really needs some darker fabrics and I have plenty dark indigo batiks on hand. Here’s what I’ll probably use next.

I might rethink the one with the lighter leaves. I like the color it would bring to this quilt top, but I’m afraid it will read lighter than I want. I’ll noodle on it for a few days.

I also need some lighter batiks in this quilt top. I’ve ordered a few pieces online. I have no idea when they’re going to get here. Here’s the tone and value I need more of.

I’ll also probably stop at a local quilt store when I’m up in Vancouver this weekend. they have a nice selection of batiks and might have just what I need.

Today is April 12. I’ve had an odd feeling about this date all day today. Then tonight it hit me. April 12 is the birthday of the first dog I owned as an adult. Billie was born on April 12, 1998… 25 years ago today.

She was an Australian Shepherd and I was definitely HER person. Here’s a video I made after I lost her in 2011. (you’ll have to click on that link. for some reason it won’t let me embed the video in this blog post).

This is one of my favorite photos of her. A friend took it once while we were sheep herding. She had to wear a muzzle because she was a little rough with the sheep.

She had a short lived sheep herding career.

A little more spring from the neighborhood. I saw this gorgeous patch of heather on our short afternoon walk today.

On our afternoon walk yesterday we had some glorious sun!

I love all the gorgeous Douglas fir trees in my neighborhood! There are so many of them.

I also noticed this moss covered rail fence on our walk. I thought it looked so cool.

This time of year here can be really beautiful.

Now if spring would just get serious…

Today is Bender’s tenth birthday! I really can’t believe he’s ten already, although his face is starting to show his years.

Look at those adorable white eyebrows.

We didn’t do anything too special to celebrate, other than our usual daily walks. But I did make him a birthday cake after our evening walk.

Here’s the basic recipe, but I doctored it up a bit and added bananas and oats, and omitted the carrots since I didn’t have any on hand. It’s pretty tasty and the dogs love it!

After our morning walk in the rain I headed out for three hours of pickleball! And I had a blast! I think I played the best ever had. I even had one game where I played with three guys who are much better than I am and my team won!!! It was a long and well fought game! And so much fun! I also tried out some brand new pickleball shoes and I love them! My feet and toes felt so comfy the entire time.

I did get a few things done in my sewing room over the weekend. Yesterday I had a pretty lazy day but managed to get four Wensleydale blocks made. Then I got another four made today.

That makes a total of 37 blocks done. I’m pretty sure I’m going to make the full 60 blocks for this quilt. So that means 23 more blocks to go. That’s not very many.

I’ve ordered a couple of batiks that are similar to the lightest ones in these blocks because I think is needs more of that really light for contrast. It will take a few days for it to get here so after the few kits I have left to sew, I’ll probably take a bit of a break on this.

And here’s all eight blocks from this weekend, just because I like to look at the details of each one.

I just love that every block is unique. It keeps it interesting when making so many of the same block.

Rico had a good snooze in my sewing room tonight. It’s very unusual for him to even come into the room, let alone take a nap there.

He has been a little clingy the last few days. Unusual.

It’s been a rainy weekend but more and more things are blooming every day. The cherry trees here in Portland are gorgeous and just starting to bloom.

They are not quite at their full glory.

I also saw this on the trail today. I think it’s a red blooming current.

I also saw the first rhododendron in bloom today.

Mine still has a good white before it blooms.

Back to work tomorrow. My budgets are due at the end of this week so I’ll have a really busy week.

What a crazy Friday at work. I was in zoom meetings from 9:30 am until 3:00… with barely enough time to pee between meetings. I finally got the boys out for a walk around 3:30. And by the time I got home I had worn a blister on the big toe on my left foot. I was ready to take them for a walk after dinner, but it was just too uncomfortable.

So, instead, I tossed a ball in the back yard until they nearly passed out.

Once they were nice and worn out I hit my sewing room and dug in on making four more Wensleydale blocks. And since I have a big stack of kits made I didn’t wast any time prepping.

Here’s what I ended up with.

Here’s all four of them together.

And all 29 blocks up on the design wall. Just nineteen blocks to go!!

I’ve started thinking about my next set of fabrics for the final blocks and I really think I need to pull out some dark, dark indigo batiks. I feel like it could use more dark fabrics. And, more truly light fabrics. So I’ll be a little more intentional with the last set of fabrics.

When I finished up and left my sewing room, my faithful campaign was waiting patiently for me.

It still doesn’t feel like full blown spring yet. But I’m happy to see that some new bloomers have arrived. The blooms on my flowering plum tree are opening up.

This is typically one of the first trees to bloom every spring. And in a few days it will all be gone. These blooms just don’t last very long — a good rain storm or a stiff wind will make short work of it.

My flowering pear trees are also starting to bloom.

I love these trees! I love them so much I’ve planted 11 of them in my back yard over the years.

I saw this Camellia tree on our walk this afternoon. I love the carpet of petals on the ground.

Thank god the weekend is here! I’m ready for it.

It rained all day today. I’m pretty sick of the rain. I did get out to take my boys for a walk in the rain after dinner. We all just had to get out.

There was no beautiful evening light at 8:00 tonight.

But there were two very wet dogs. These boys did enjoy a good towel off when we got home… the best part of the rain for them.

After our walk I hit my sewing room to sew up a couple of blocks. By the time I got them done is was after 10 pm and that was all I had the oomph for.

I’m loving this new set of fabrics I cut the other day. Here’s the first four blocks made from those fabrics.

I’m really liking the little bit of additional color in those batiks.

Here’s the blocks in amongst all the other blocks — lower right corner. Making progress! It’s starting to look like an actual quilt.

That’s 25 blocks done. More than half way.

When I finished these two blocks I decided that I would start tearing the paper off the back of the 16 blocks that I hadn’t attacked yet.

I thought I might do five or six and leave the rest to tackle during a long work meeting tomorrow morning. I sat down in front of the TV and dug in.

The good news is that I got the paper removed from all 16 blocks!!!

And I feel like someone is watching me…

Hmmm. I really do need to take that tree down this weekend.

And Bender is, apparently exhausted from his lack of activity today.

He’s been sleeping like that for an hour-and-a-half!

We’re supposed to get a lot of rain over the next few days. I’m really tired of it. It can stop any day now. I’d love to see a few sunny spring days.

A couple of the blue batiks I purchased recently for my Wensleydale quilt had a little more color in them than the rest of the blue batiks I have. I’ve been itching too see them in blocks.

Since I cut enough of the blue batiks the other night to make 18 blocks, I dug in tonight and divided them all into kits and added KFC scraps.

Then I dug in and made two more blocks… just because I wanted to see how they looked with the pops of color.

That really is a deep indigo background behind the green paisley of that first one. And I love it! And I have to say, I LOVE that diamond shape in the light blues, aquas and purples on the right! It glows!

Hmmm. Maybe I’ve been working with blues too long. I’m craving color!

Let’s see how that looks with the other blocks.

Both new blocks are in there… can you see them? Center column, second from the bottom and second from the top.

Here’s a closer look. Ooh. That pop of green is really nice!

I’m pretty happy with how they look. Interesting to see how it looks with more pops of that color here and there. I guess I’d better get sewing!

My friend who visited in January (we made her Aboriginal 16 patch together) send me photos of the snow she got at her house in Salt Lake City a couple of days ago… two feet of snow in one day!

They’ve had so much snow this winter! My friend is ready for spring… even more ready than I am!

Here’s Bender’s brother, in the back, and Rico’s half brother, in the front, enjoying the snow! Dogs do love snow!

I would love to have this for about 30 minutes and then I’d be done with it!

For now, I’d like some sun instead of all the rain we have coming up.

I have put it off long enough. I absolutely had to get my tax materials together and off to my accountant tonight. He always saves a slot for me among his late actors. I’m grateful for this.

So after getting them all collected, photo copied, bundled up and sent off at the post office, I had a little bit of time to spend in my sewing room.

Since I sewed all the Wensleydale block kits that I had put together last week, it was time to cut a bunch of blue batiks so I can build more kits. I selected nine fabrics from my stash of blue batiks — three dark, three medium, and three light.

I’m excited to see these little pops of color in amongst all these blocks!

One of the things I love about cutting fabrics is just looking at the fabrics. This one from this set is a standout. Makes me remember why I love batiks the way I do!

The photo does’t do the colors justice. it’s pretty spectacular.

When I got down to the last four fabrics I finally realized that I could cut multiple fabrics at one time. Why didn’t I think of this before?

Sure saved a LOT of time! I’ll remember that for the next set I cut. I’m all about efficiency!

I cut enough fabric to make 18 blocks. that will bring me up to a total of 39 blocks.

Actually, I found one kit on my sewing table tonight that I didn’t sew up. So that will make 40 total blocks. Only eight more to cut later. UNLESS… I decide to make this quilt a little bigger… which is entirely possible.

I will have to cut more KFC scraps to complete the kits.

I’m having so much fun making these Wensleydale blocks I decided to order another set of the papers… 60 more sheets! I am really wanting to make another one… not sure what I’m going to do but I’m thinking Australian Aboriginal fabrics. I have several ideas and want to make sure I have the papers in hand while they’re still available.

I needed to get this quilt top off my design wall to accommodate the Wensleydale blocks so I tossed it on my bed to see how it looks. I love it. It’s definitely bright! I hope my brother and his wife aren’t horrified by how bright it is.

Well… if they don’t like it I’ll have another quilt for MY bed!!!

It was a beautiful day here in Portland today. Regardless of what the weather forecast says, I know spring is here when we’re finishing up our walk at 8 pm in the last remnants of the evening light.

Hello spring!

I had such a good sleep in this morning. I think my body really needed it. I slept more than ten hours and probably could have slept more.

Once I get up I didn’t expect I’d have a terribly productive day. I stayed around home all day. I did manage to wash and replace the bedding in my room and in my guest room. I also managed to take the. dogs for a walk late this afternoon.

I also managed to make nine of my Wensleydale quilt blocks.

I just love how each block is completely different. My favorite kind of quilt!

Before I started sewing these blocks I had to kit them all up using the fabrics I cut a few days ago.

Then I stacked up the paper plates and started sewing. I made these nine blocks in several different stints in my sewing room… interrupted by walks, meals, and breaks to sit on my butt!

I’m getting faster at making these blocks. I’ve built the habit of checking my coverage of the paper piecing template at specific places in the process by holding my block up to the light.

On one block I made today this step revealed that one area didn’t have full coverage of the seam allowance. So rather than junking the entire block, I sewed an extra piece of the fabric on.

You can see that little wedge sewn into the blue, right above that orange triangle. It’s a pretty good solution and will never be noticed when the quilt is done.

Here’s the 21 blocks that are done.

I’m really liking this more as I add more blocks.

I’m going to have to cut more fabrics before I sew any more blocks. Here’s what I’ve decided are in the “yes” pile.

that’s more fabric than I’ll need. I will need to decide how much variety I’m going to go for. I’ll probably start with two darks, two mediums, and two lights. Then I’ll cut more if that doesn’t make the remaining blocks. It likely won’t be the last group of fabrics I have to cut.

I have 12 blocks that still have the paper on the back. I was going to bring them with me into the living room tonight and pull the paper out as I watched TV, but I decided that I was too tired. So that will have to come later.

It looks like spring is definitely here. My daffodils are finally opening! it’s about time.

I saw a lot of other pretty blooming things around the neighborhood during our walk today.

While I was sewing today a little thunderstorm came through. We don’t get a lot of thunder here. But when we do, Rico is very unhappy. I had his head in my lap as I sewed for a few minutes because he needed some reassurance that everything was ok.

oor kid. Look how scared he looks.

Once he relaxed a little, he retreated under my sewing table and stayed there for at least an hour.

Bender is not bothered by lightning. But he does like to be comfortable!

Not much planned for tomorrow. I’m playing pickleball in the afternoon. I would like to get the remaining borders on my quarter log cabin quilt to check off that box. Let’s see if it happens.

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.