Contact me at anne@agilejack1.com
I'm a long-time fundraiser for public media. I'm a news hound. I think politics is fascinating and horrifying at the same time. I love my dogs more than I can tell you. I love the challenge of learning and making new things. My favorite part of a new project is the planning and learning! I'm not afraid to fail! I LOVE color!
I keep trying to count how many Frankenbags I’ve made and I have a hard time keeping track of them all. So I’ve posted below a photo of each of the 27 I’ve made. I was sure I must be over 30 by now. If I hadn’t slowed down in recent weeks, I might be at 50!
These are posted in the order that they were completed.
I was anxious to see more Aboriginal trip blocks done so hit my sewing room after our evening walk and made two strip sets and completed two different blocks.
It’s interesting to me how these fabrics play together. I think the first block with the green diagonal line is pretty successful. The one on the right with the yellow bird center diagonal is pretty muddy and it’s hard to see the diagonal line. I think the fabrics in this one are just too similar in tone, pattern and color. There just isn’t enough difference from one fabric to the next.
Here’s the first three blocks all together.
I think they look pretty good when they’re all together, and when more blocks are added I think it may all work. But I’ll be paying closer attention to the fabrics that I’ve selected for each strip set before I start sewing. And I have a feeling I’m going to have to cut more strips when I get down toward the end and have a pile of fabric strips left to choose from that are all very similar.
Here’s one of tonight’s strip sets as I was pressing it.
You might wonder why I have the metal ruler on my ironing board. Check out this video on how I use this tool to keep my strip sets straight. This trick has really helped my blocks made from strip sets go together nicely.
Another stressful day at work today. I’m really looking forward to my vacation! Just a few more days…
I’ve been organizing 2.5 inch strips of Aboriginal fabrics over the last few weeks in anticipation of making a scrappy trip quilt, and I’m loving how these fabrics look together.
And tonight I just wanted to see one scrappy Aboriginal trip block worked up. So I did it! Here’s block number one.
I’m making this according to Bonnie Hunter’s free tutorial. It tells you that you should choose the most bold fabric of your six to be the center diagonal line. The boldest fabric can be light, it can be dark, it can be a strong pattern. It all depends on how it relates to the fabrics it’s combined with.
When I put this set of six fabrics together, I was thinking that the red in the center of the photo below was the boldest fabric in the set.
But when I started putting the sliced strip sets together for the block, it was clear that the turquoise was actually the boldest fabric. This makes me think that I’m going to need to play each block by ear. I’m selecting what I think is the boldest fabric when I’m putting each set of six strips together, but it may look completely different as I get further along with each block. So I’ll evaluate how the fabrics read as a set as I’m making each block.
I’m pretty happy with how this first block looks. I think this will be a really fun quilt.
It was a stressful day back to work. So many meetings and so many emails to catch up on. I worked until after 7 pm tonight! I was so tired that this one block was all I could muster.
I received some more photos of Frankenbags made by blog readers. These first two were made by Susan Ermer. And wow! Two really cool bags. I love how she combined the aboriginal fabrics… using that one larger piece of a print on the front, and doing the wavy piecing on the back. I just love this bag. And take a look at her sea glass bag! It’s just so cool! Now I’m going to have to make one or seven of those! What a fun and bold bag!
This next bag was made by Katherine Wingate. She made this bag for a dear friend and used the friend’s husband’s college colors. Katherine said she’s never made any bags or purses or anything before. She’s only been quilting less than 2 years. I just love this!!! I really love seeing people making something they’ve never made before and just boldly jumping in! I love your bag, and I love your story even more.
And here’s another bag Katherine sent me a week or so ago and it got lost in the shuffle. She used blocks leftover from a one block wonder quilt she made. And this bag is a great use for those fun blocks. I love the warm fall colors in this bag. My mom would have loved this bag. Those fall colors were her absolute favorite. And the bold black and whites are so good! And that green jumble lining… you must know how I feel about that!!! Gah!
Thanks to Susan and Katherine for your photos and your enthusiasm!
Three more really hectic days of work before I’m officially on my two week vacation!
Oh wow! It felt so good to have a nice long weekend away from home! I left Portland on Thursday afternoon and headed down to my brother’s place near Bandon, Oregon. I returned home today and I feel so much better! I really needed some time off.
Here are Rico and Bender on the trail on my brother’s property on Thursday. We celebrated our arrival with a nice brisk hike and then settled in for a cold beer before dinner.
Friday my brother and his wife accompanied me and my boys to the beach for a nice long walk and romp in the water. It was almost perfect weather for the beach. We were in our shirt sleeves. It’s been so hot here in Portland and the weather on the coast was so cool and wonderful.
Saturday and Sunday Rico was entered in a sheep herding clinic outside Bandon, Oregon. It was a really fantastic weekend, doing something we all love to do in a really beautiful place. Here are all the border collies entered in the clinic waiting patiently as they’re leashed to the fence. Rico is closest to the camera… hiding in the grass.
Here’s Rico watching another dog take her turn as he waits patiently. There is a lot of waiting involved in sheep herding clinics. It’s important that dogs learn to wait calmly.
The sheep we were herding had never been worked by dogs, so on Saturday there were sheep and dogs flying all over the place. By Sunday, everyone had it all figured out and we saw some really nice work. Here’s a video of me and Rico in his final run on Sunday.
A friend of mine who is an excellent photographer was also at the clinic and took some great photos on Sunday. Here’s a few of me and Rico. Click on each image to see it larger. (All photos by Heather Christenson)
We were all exhausted at the end of the clinic, but decided to hit the beach on the way back to my brother’s… and I’m so glad we did. I’m always sad to leave the coast and I really enjoyed my time on the sand with my boys.
And they were completely worn out when we got home.
Before we left for home this morning, Bender helped my sister-in-law pick strawberries. So to reward him, she gave his own bowl to eat.
We got home to Portland around 3:00 this afternoon. I got the car unloaded and got everything put away and did some laundry before grabbing dinner and heading out for a walk.
After our walk I spent a little time in my sewing room. I opened a package of some fabric that arrived while I was gone.
I bought a big piece of Brandon Mably’s Octopus in black with the plan of using it for a quilt backing some day. I just love this fabric! I also bought a yard of the Damask Flowers in five color ways. A lot of shops have been having pretty substantial sales on the previous collection’s fabric. A new collection is coming out soon and they are clearing out their inventory. It’s a great time to buy KFC fabric!
I have no idea what I’ll make to go with the Octopus fabric, but I have a few ideas. Look at all the soft and muted colors in this close up.
Hmmm. Ideas.
I also cut a few more strips of Aboriginal fabrics for my upcoming trip quilt then. Then I put together fabric combos for six strip sets that will be made into blocks.
I always tend to think of Aboriginal fabrics as being dark. But look at all that color! It will be interesting to see how this one comes together. I’m looking forward to making another trip quilt.
I wrapped up my evening in my sewing room by sewing together one row of my Ice Storm quilt. I’m determined to finish this thing this week!
I’ve received a few more Frankenbags from blog readers over the last week. This first one was made by Sue Phillips. Sue said she is very new to sewing… only got her first sewing machine during lock down! She had never heard of crumb quilting, and now she’s hooked. Isn’t that fantastic!!! And what a fun bag! It looks like a well loved family quilt. So cheerful and pretty!
This next bag was made by Diane Lyons. I just love that big blue bloom on the front of the bag. And all that wonderful color on the other side with that strong blue band around the top. Really pretty!
The last one I received this week is another lovely bag made by Jodi Smith. I really like her limited palette and the strong black borders. And the diagonal quilting is really fun! All wrapped up with a pretty lining.
Thanks to Sue, Diane and Jodi for sending photos.
I have a short work week coming up and then I’ll be on vacation for two weeks! I’m really looking forward to it.
I finished this bag last night. It’s basically a Frankenbag but with a different approach to the piecing. So I’m going to count it as a Frankenbag,
One of my favorite things about this bag is the lining. How good is this Onion Rings???
Here’s a snippet view of the bag front with a little lining showing.
I tried a lot of different options for the lining before I pulled the onion rings out of the drawer. I was thinking something colorful, definitely another Brandon Mably design. But none of them spoke to me. As soon as I draped the onion rings on the inside of the bag, it spoke to me.
And of course, here’s the tag I love so much.
I will definitely make at least one other bag with this same treatment to strip sets. I pulled out some of the KFC strips a friend gave me a couple years ago to see what would work. I used some of the strips to make this bag a couple months ago:
I still have quite a few strips left. Probably enough to make three of the wavy bags. So I put some fabric combos together tonight to see how I liked them. This is the first one.
I like this combo. It’s very random, but has darkness and brightness across the strips. I might make a bag using these strips next. I would not include a fabric like I used the jumble in the first one. I want a completely different effect in the next bag.
It’s interesting to me how taking a photo of a set of fabrics really helps you see it differently. This next set felt really good to me until I looked at the photo, and I see a couple pieces that must be swapped out.
But I do like the sort of muted pastel feel. It feels vintage and romantic to me.
More Frankenbags have flowed in the last few days from blog readers. This first one was made by Jody Walton Soberon. It’s her first Frankenbag and she said it only took her three days longer than she expected! I think she did a great job. I love that big banana leaf on the back, and the lining is really good!
The next bag is another one from Cherry Naylor. I think Cherry has made nearly as many of these bags as I have! She’s definitely got it down. She’s great at choosing fabrics, putting them together in great designs, and her bags look really well made. I can feel her on my tail!
The last bag tonight was made by Shirley Riddle. I just LOVE her fabrics. And her combo of wavy and straight line quilting on this side of the bag is really great! Hmmm. More ideas! And look… a cute little pupper in the photo! Wow. The more I look at this photo the more those fabrics make my brain tingle!
I still need to start sewing the blocks of my ice storm quilt together. They’re all pinned into rows. Just sitting there… looking at me all disappointed.
If you’ve been thinking about picking up some Kaffe Fassett Collective fabrics, there are a lot of shops with good sales right now. I’m guessing they’re trying to liquidate current inventory in preparation for the new collection that is imminent. It’s a great time to dive in! I picked up a few pieces the other night that I’ll share when they arrive. One piece in particular has me vary excited… and I have no idea what I’m going to do with it!
I was looking at Pinterest last night and saw a bag that I thought was interesting. So I followed the link and eventually found a free pattern for the bag. I was pretty sure I had figured out how to make this happen, but downloaded the pattern just to see if I was right. And I was.
You basically sew 2.5 inch strips together, then press the seams with the wrong sides of the fabric together and stitch 1/4 inch from the edge. You’re basically making French seams.
Then you just fold the little tabs up or down and stitch them to make the scallop pattern.
I looked through my stash and selected a group of fabrics to use, and it’s funny that they’re all Brandon Mably designs. It wasn’t intentional to select all Brandon fabrics, but the look I wanted was definitely in the Brandon area.
I need to make the second panel tomorrow and then construct the bag. I’m just going to construct it like I do my Frankenbags. Thinking about some options for the lining. Might be Brandon’s onion rings. It definitely HAS to be a Brandon fabric.
I’m looking forward to executing this technique with different fabric and color combos. Different fabrics would give different and really cool effects.
One of my blog readers, Jody from Brookings, Oregon, left a comment earlier today asking me how long it takes to make a Frankenbag. She’s working on her first one and has found it a lengthy process.
The part that takes the longest is definitely making the two panels. This typically takes me anywhere from two to four hours, depending on how many orphan blocks I’m using and how complicated the other piecing is. Then it’s pretty quick to make the quilt sandwiches. Straight line quilting for two panels probably takes about 45 minutes. I can whip up the handles in ten minutes (I cut quite a few handle pieces while I’m cutting, so all I have to do is grab two pieces, fold and stitch). Constructing the body of the bag goes quickly. That might take me 15 minutes or so. Then making the lining, sewing it in and finishing the bag probably takes another hour.
So if I add it all up, it probably takes me four to six hours to make a bag, depending on how complicated and involved the panels are.
Jody also wondered if I’ve gotten faster after making nearly 30 of these bags. And I’d have to say that I probably have. I’ve learned a lot of tricks along the way that make the process quicker and more efficient. Things like the best way to pin the lining in the bag body so I don’t stab myself 15 times while I’m sewing it in.
I got photos of some really wonderful Frankenbags made by blog readers in the last few days! I’m having a blast seeing what others are making. There’s so much creativity and amazing sewing skill out there!
The first one was made by Susan Dunn, and it’s a wowzer! Look at all that amazing color! And that black and white spot is so bold and substantial. And the whole thing looks like it’s really well made. Quite inspirational!
The next one is from Maddie Pepe. I love the cool colors in this bag. And I have a soft spot for stars. And take a look at that lining… it’s pretty spectacular! Maddie used a more substantial batting type material inside the bag and added a rigid piece in the bottom. And I really like how she made her zipper pocket. I’m going to have to look closely at that and see if I can figure that out. I love a good zipper pocket.
The last one up tonight was made by Michele Pintarch. She’s made other bags that have been posted here. I really like this bag. I love the colors, love the bold black and whites and I just love that purple lining with the surprise pocket lining! I just love details like that pocket lining! It’s amazing how much impact a little thing like that can have. And look at that big purple bloom on the side of the bag. Brilliant!
Thanks to Susan, Maddie, and Michele for sharing their photos! Beautiful bags, every one of them!
It’s going to be a relatively cool weekend compared to the heat spell we have coming up next week. I’m going to enjoy a couple of cool days before I have to hunker down in the house next week.
I got the body of this bag constructed last night, but it was too late to finish the lining. So after work tonight I hit the sewing room to get this done before dinner.
I like the way this turned out. I may try some other color combinations in this blob technique. Might try this with some batiks.
Here’s the back of the bag.
And my favorite little tag.
I went a little conservative for the lining. I used the same white with black fabric that I used on the front. I like it, but still prefer a more vibrant lining.
I’ve decided that I’m going to finish up my Ice Storm quilt. The blocks have been up on the design wall for too many months. So tonight I got the rows all tagged and stacked the blocks up in rows.
I thought I’d pin a few rows while I watched the Olympics. I got all seven rows pinned while I watched some equestrian events and the US women’s indoor volley ball team!
These blocks are pretty big so this should all go together pretty quickly.
We’re in a bit of a heat wave again. Not as bad as the one a month ago, but still warm. I took the boys for a walk this afternoon to get a break from work and it was pretty toasty! We found a dried artichoke on the road.
So random.
I took some time today to officially get some vacation time scheduled. I checked my calendar, talked to my boss about a few things that are coming up, and decided on The last week of August and first week of September. Now I need to figure out what I’m going to do. One thing on my list is to paint my sewing room. The walls are a bilious bright sky blue, and I HATE it! I’m planning on painting it a bright off white. And then I’m going to make some bright wall hangings to bring in some color.
I received some more Frankenbag photos over the last few days.
This first one was made by Cheryl Reinagle. I love the cool colors on this, and those fish are so cute! Cheryl tried crumb quilting for the very first time! I love that so many people are pushing themselves to try something new!
This next one is from Paula Aldrich. I love this blue Aboriginal fabric she used on the zipper placket! And how pretty is that blue with the off white? Paula also made a zipper placket, using a little bit different approach than me. But it turned out great!
I noticed yesterday that there is a bloom on my new Rose of Sharon, and it’s going to be so pretty!
A friend of mine dug this up from her yard and gave it to me last spring. She wasn’t sure what color it would be. Looks like it will be purple! I can’t wait to see the bloom open up.
Gotta go to bed. I have a long 3.5 hour meeting starting at 8:30 in the morning! Yikes!
It was another hot weekend here in Portland so my sheep herding lessons on Saturday and Sunday were both canceled. So I spent most of the weekend at home and watched a lot of the Olympics. And I had a BBQ with some friends on Saturday night. It was nice to have some conversation and laughs. The dogs got to run with their many friends while the people talked.
I did start another Frankenbag this weekend. I wanted to incorporate some raw edge applique pieces, like in my sea glass quilt, into the bag panels. So I hit the sewing room and started digging through my scraps.
Here’s what I came up with.
This first panel is all done and ready for assembly. I free motion quilted around the blobs, then combined horizontal and vertical quilting on the rest of the bag. I’ve been wanting to do some vertical quilting, so this was a good opportunity to do it.
Here’s the second panel.
The biggest difference in the two panels is that the white section on this one is smaller. And only because I just used what I had left of some scraps of this black and white.
I ran out of thread before I finished the second panel.
I had planned to get the body of this bag constructed tonight. But I’m using navy blue thread to quilt this and don’t have any spools in my supply. I’ll have to run to the store and buy another spool tomorrow after work so I can finish this up.
I really like the quilting and I like the corners where the match stick quilting and vertical quilting overlap.
This image shows the quilting on the blobs a little better.
I’m anxious to see this constructed. You really don’t know how something works until it’s sewn into the bag shape.
Holy cow! I’ve been getting so many photos of Frankenbags from blog readers. Take a look at this first one from Laura Hillaker. Chickens! Such cute and whimsical fabrics. And the colors are fun too.
This next bag is from Linda Woods. I love the springy colors. And she chose a really great and vibrant lining too!
This next one was made by Laura… she didn’t give her last name. I love all the purple and turquoise in the first one. I’ve been wanting to try that color combo. And the second one just has such a nice vintage feel… like your favorite quilt from your childhood. Nice job Laura!
This next bag is from Jan Cafcakis. I love the way she fussy cut that pink agate from Philip Jacobs. What a great way to use that fabric. And the polka dots are so happy1
Up next is this bag from Nancy Coronato. I just LOVE this bag. I love the earthy colors… those big Turkish Delight blooms. the spots with the pops of turquoise. it’s just all so good! My mom would have loved this one… all those earthy tones were her favorites!
This next bag was made by Thelma Brand. I just love this fabric. It makes me think of some batiks that a co-worker brought back from Africa for me. They might be made into a frankenbag soon. And look at the zipper placket! It pays to take some time to make things match when you have a patterned fabric like this.
And this next one was made by Birthe Aust. I love the way she used that Octopus fabric. And I love the coolness of the lining. It all feels frosty to me. I actually had pulled some of that octopus fabric out of my stash the other night and combined it with some other fabrics. I wasn’t crazy about what I had put together. But I’m going to keep trying. It works nicely with the blue.
Next up is this bag from Polly Bean. I love the way she used that New York Beauty block! What a great way to use up an orphan block. I love the deep and rich colors in this bag. I’m thinking I have a few NY Beauty blocks somewhere. Hmmm.
Next are a couple bags made by Reidun in Norway. This first one is just so crisp and cool feeling. I love the lighter values with the pops of color. And I love the scrappiness and quilting on the second one. Nice work Reidun!
Wow! That’s a lot of bags! Thanks to everyone for sharing their photos.
Back to work tomorrow. A few more hot days and then we’ll have some cooling. It’s been a hot summer.
I spent the weekend doing some late spring cleaning around my house, so didn’t do any sewing at all. But I decided to dig in tonight and try to finish up the binding on this sea glass wall hanging. And I did it!
I just love how this turned out! I knew that I needed to get on top of finishing the binding right away because I don’t enjoy doing bindings. And if I waited too long this would have ended up in my UFO pile.
I don’t make bindings very often. I prefer to have my long arm quilter do them for me. And mine is willing to sew them by hand for a really good price. So I choose that route because I love a hand sewn binding. But I don’t love doing them myself.
Here’s how I do my bindings. I sew the binding on the front of the piece using my walking foot.
On the corners, I sew to within 1/4 inch of the edge, and then sew a line diagonally from that point to the corner. Then I use the typical method for folding the fabric for the corner. And look at this gorgeous finished corner! Can’t get much better than this!
To join the two ends of the binding, I use a special tool that I purchased from Missouri Star Quilt Co a few years Ago. The tool works well, but I use it so seldom that it’s always sort of a mess and it’s never second nature.
I had a few bumbles with this, but it all worked out in the end. The ruler has instructions printed right on it and it helps you to mark and cut both ends of the binding to get a good join and fit. Rule number one — read and follow the directions!
I got to the point where I needed to join the two loose ends of the binding and decided to take our evening walk first and finish the binding later.
So I set it aside because I was worried that I’d screw it up by hurrying and not paying enough attention to what I was supposed to be doing.
Once it’s all sewn and joined, I press the binding flat and turn it to the back and press. Then I use a thin stream of glue to hold the binding in place and press that to adhere the glue to the fabric layers. I usually use Elmers, but have no idea where my Elmers is. I used this tacky glue instead. It’s water soluble so will wash out if this is ever washed. And the stream is so thin that it doesn’t cause stiffness.
Once that’s all glued down, I carefully stitch in the ditch from the front of the piece using my walking foot.
I prefer to not use any special stitch-in-the-ditch foot to do this even though I do have one. I find that I have really good control with my walking foot. I just have to go slow.
You can just barely see the ditch stitching in the photo below.
It doesn’t look quite that good from the back. But it looks ok.
Here’s the final stitches. It’s always nice to reach this point in a binding!
I will be gifting this for my friend for her birthday in August. I think she’s going to really like it. It will be fun to see her reaction.
I stopped at a local quilt shop on Friday on the way back from getting my car registered and they had some Aboriginal designs that I didn’t have in my stash. So, of course I had to buy some!
There’s some really gorgeous stuff in that pile.
I’m getting so many photos of Frankenbags from blog readers I can hardly keep up . If you’ve sent me photos and haven’t see them here, let me know.
This first bag tonight is from Anousch Eva Ka. There are some really fun orphan blocks in this, and I love the differences in value in the fabrics. And that pond spot is gorgeous for the lining!
Next up is another bag from Cherry Naylor. Cherry has made a number of these bags. I just love this one with the combo of the strong reds with the graphic black and whites. And I just love a happy little polka dot!
The next bag tonight is from Audrey Jones. I love these deep and bold colors with the graphic black fabrics. Audrey said she used a different and significant material on the interior of this bag. She said it was like working with sheet rock! It looks like it’s got some serious structure. She did a nice job of wrangling that difficult material.
This next bag was made by Mary Beth Henke. I really like this one! I love that fussy cut face she used. It’s such a nice focal point. She also added a zipper placket. I love seeing people taking that extra step to make these bags even more functional.
Finally is this bag made by Eve Nicholls. Eve does all the piecing, quilting and bag construction by hand! I just love the improv piecing. It’s pretty bold and very interesting. And take a look at that spiral quilting. The bag is lined with needle cord (known in the US as corduroy). This one is pretty special.
Eve is really enjoying making these bags. This one is a gift for a friend in Italy.
Thanks to everyone who has sent photos! I think I’m going to make another Frankenbag next — maybe I’ll get back to some crumb piecing.
I finished up all the quilting on these pieces of sea glass tonight. It feels good to have it all done.
I started having more issues with breaking thread last night as I was quilting the lighter aqua pieces. So I looked at some videos about trouble shooting thread issues in free motion quilting. A couple of these videos said the issue could be the foot and how high it is off the fabric. I transferred that to thinking maybe MY issue was my stitch regulator foot.
I wanted to finish up the final darker aqua pieces tonight so decided to pull off the stitch regulator and put on a basic darning foot instead. Here’s the two feet, stitch regulator on the right.
If you’re not familiar with what a stitch regulator is, It’s a little computerized quilting foot that reads the speed of the fabric as you move it under the foot and adjusts the speed of the needle accordingly. It’s supposed to maintain a consistent stitch length as your speed varies in quilting.
And you know what… using that regular, non-computerized foot was amazing! I was able to finish up about 20 of the darker aqua pieces in nothing flat with no thread issues at all and with no profanity! EUREKA! I may never use my stitch regulator again! It will be nice to give a gift that doesn’t have profanity woven into every stitch!
Without the stitch regulator, you do need to pay attention to your stitch length and your speed. You don’t have the computer helping keep the stitch length consistent, so it’s all up to you. I practiced on a quilt sandwich that I had handy and felt that my stitches were consistent enough to dive in.
After our walk I trimmed the piece using the masking tape as my guide. And once it was trimmed I removed the masking tape.
I was a bit nervous that the tape would leave some sticky residue behind, but there’s nothing there. So that makes me very happy.
Most of these sea glass quilts you see online have a faced edge rather than binding. I like the look, but I want to bind this for practical reasons. I’m afraid the white edge would get really discolored from dust over time. So I’m going to bind it in a soft blue/aqua that blends with the colored pieces of fabric. Here’s a picture of the batik I selected from my stash.
You can see that it’s sort of a combo of blue and aqua. I think it’s a good choice.
Here’s a bit of a view showing three sides with the binding fabric.
Plus, my friend’s favorite color is blue. So that makes this an even better idea.
I’ve pretty much decided that I’m going to make another trip quilt out of the aboriginal strips my friend gave me. You can see other trip quilts I’ve made here and here.
So I took all those sets I had put together the other night and sorted the pieces out by color family. To make a quilt the 6 block by 7 block size I want, I’ll need 42 blocks. That means 21 strip sets — two blocks out of each strip set. With six strips in each strip set, that means I’ll need 126 strips.
I counted out the strips I had and was about 18 strips short. So I dug out my Aboriginal scraps and cut the additional strips I needed.
Then I sorted these by color family and added them to the previous strips.
I’m pretty sure I now have around 130 strips. This allows me to pull out fabrics I’m not crazy about. I’m also toying with using a common fabric for the center diagonal line in each block. I haven’t decided for sure, but that might be the direction I go.
I decided to take tomorrow off from work. I have sworn I WILL go out and get my car registered! It’s a full year past due! I can’t use the pandemic as an excuse any more. I also hope to finish the binding on the sea glass quilt and figure out how I’ll rig it out so it can be hung on a wall.
Look how cute my Rico is!!! Gah! What a sweet kid.
I harvested my first box of apples last night. I’ve got a pretty good crop on the tree, but not as crazy huge as they’ve been in recent years.
These were all peeled and sliced and spent the night in my dehydrator. And this morning, they were ready to eat.
I will run this work horse overnight quite a few more times in the next month! And it’s so nice to have these dried apples to munch on all winter.
My blog readers have been really busy over the last few days. Here’s a bunch of Frankenbag photos they’ve shared with me.
This first one is from Patricia Woltman. I just love this bag… those really pretty bright pastel fabrics with all that wonderful black and white. It’s really pretty. And look.. another zipper placket!
This next bag was made by Kellie Doyle. There’s some really fun graphic stuff going on with her piecing. All those angles are really interesting. And I LOVE her lining! What a fun fabric. It reminds me of finger prints and it’s pretty fantastic!
Next up is this bag from Britt-Inger Jönsson. She has made a good number of Frankenbags. She puts together some really bold and fun fabric combos. And I love her wavy checkerboard quilting on this one! Hmmm. Might have to try that one.
And… another zipper placket! And holy cow… there’s a dog under that bag!!!
Next is this bag from Susan Conant. I love her little three dimensional pinwheels. Reminds me of the little spinners from my childhood. There’s also something really nice about that pink with the graphic black and whites. Lovely.
Here’s another bag from Barb Schippa. She didn’t do any piecing on this bag, but she paid a helluva lot of attention to the placement of that big print! I love this bag! Everything is placed so carefully and I love that big print with that springy green lining. Look how carefully she matched the two sides of the zipper placket. And look how the zipper placket matches the placement of the interior pocket. Very nicely done!
Thanks to you all for sharing photos of your bags!
I never remember the things that annoy me about free motion quilting until I sit down at the machine. And then it all comes flooding back to me. FMQ on a domestic machine is a pain in the ass. I don’t know how people quilt full size quilts on a domestic machine. They are much stronger people than I am and I have great admiration for them.
I sat down after our walk this evening to continue doing the quilting on my sea glass wall hanging. It all went so smoothly in the two previous sessions. And tonight, with the darker blue thread, I had nothing but troubles.
The thread kept breaking. I kept having skipped stitches. And the upper thread would fray and eventually break. After changing my needle, switching to my single stitch plate, and re-threading my machine, I realized what the issue was. I was going clockwise around the pebbles, rather than counter clockwise. In both previous sessions I had gone counter clockwise.
The issues I mentioned above always happen when I’m traveling in a northeast direction. When I go counter clockwise I never have to travel in that NE direction and it all works beautifully. I know I’ve figured this out in the past, but I had forgotten.
Needless to say, my quilting session involved much more profanity than should have been necessary. But after the nightmare of the first six darker blue pebbles, the remaining ten or so were a dream.
It’s so fun to see the texture of the quilting as I finish more and more of this piece.
The back is a bit of a mess, but I’m going to have to live with it.
All I have left to quilt are the aqua pieces at the bottom. I should be able to finish this tomorrow night — now that I have “counter clockwise” embedded in my brain!
I have a virtual conference going on this week so am spending a good deal of time on zoom presentations. So today I was looking for some hand work that would keep my hands busy while my brain paid attention. So I pulled out a big pile of Australian Aboriginal fabric 2.5 inch WOF strips that a friend gave me about a year ago.
I’ve been thinking about making either a trip quilt or a 16 patch from these strips, and today I paired these up in sets of two with the plan to make them into a sixteen patch.
I tried to pair these sets up with a good variation in either value or color. And then I ended up with a small stack of about a dozen strips that were all dark mostly brown or black. So I pulled some brighter and lighter fabrics from my stash that I will cut some additional strips from to pair up to make the remaining needed blocks.
I won’t use all of these but I will use some of them. And I still haven’t committed to a 16 patch. I may make these strips into a scrappy trip quilt. I still have time to decide. It will probably just come down to which one sounds more fun to make. And as I type this, I’m thinking it will be a trip quilt! I’m sure I’ll change my mind six or seven times before I start sewing strip sets.
Another thing I did today was make a list of new color combos for upcoming Frankenbags. I’ve been noodling on these ideas for a while now and I figured it was a good idea to write them down.
I received photos of some more Frankenbags made by blog readers. This first bag is from Annette LeBlanc from the province of New Brunswick, Canada.
I love how she incorporated that paper pieced flamingo, combined with that dark and rich pineapple block. And those strong graphic diagonal lines on the back are wonderful! This is Annette’s first Frankenbag.
These next bags are from Ingrid Cruz. She didn’t do any improv or crumb piecing on her bags, but I love how she kept these big, bold and graphic prints whole. What a great thing to incorporate into this basic bag body.
agilejack 