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After a very productive and busy weekend I finally hit my sewing room this evening after our walk and finished up my blue and orange KFC and Aboriginal fabric Frankenbag. And I just love it!

I just love how the Kaffe and Brandon designs work so well with the Aboriginal fabrics. I’m going to have to do more of combining these fabrics!

Here’s some detail of this bag.

Oh man! I just love that Kaffe paisley jungle for the lining. It’s a huge print and works really well in a big piece of fabric. It’s one of my most favorite designs of Kaffe’s.

I love the way the top of the bag looked with all these clips on it!

Now I need to give some thought to what I’m going to make next. Since I will have my new bed soon, I might dig out my Jewel Frames blocks and start sewing those rows together.

I had my sheep herding lesson yesterday and Trudy brought along that tiny little lamb that I met last weekend. She is still tiny but she’s doing so well!

Look at her adorable little jacket… made from a washcloth. This picture of her following Trudy shows how terribly tiny she is.

Though she is tiny, she is mighty. Get a load of how enthusiastically she’s eating now!

I was so happy to see her again… and to see her doing so well was just wonderful. I’ve been so worried about her.

I’ve been chunking away at my to-do list and I got a lot done this weekend.

Friday morning I had the garage door service man come for a repair, but ended up getting a brand new opener installed. Then in the afternoon I got my COVID booster shot. Then I cleaned out my utility room and folded and put away a huge pile of clean laundry.

Saturday we had our sheep herding lesson, then we took a nice field run to stretch our legs. When I got home I got the dogs settled in and headed out and bought a new mattress and box springs. Then I cleaned my master bathroom. After our evening walk I decided to unbox my new bed, and it was such a huge pain in the ass. Remember this huge box in my guest room?

Well I ripped that monster open and started taking out sooo many pieces! But everything was tied together with really thick nylon ties. I had to rip that box to pieces with my bare hands, reach down in with some kitchen shears, cut away what I could, and remove it piece by piece. And here’s my new bed all ready to be assembled!

I really like the bed, but man I had a mess to clean up when I finally got it all out of that box. Cardboard, Styrofoam, plastic and busted up nylon ties all over the place! But I’m excited to be moving from a double bed to a queen bed. I feel so grown up!

Today I took the boys for a walk after breakfast then got busy. I cleaned the hall bathroom and cleaned my bedroom from head to foot. I even moved all the furniture and vacuumed… even vacuumed the cobwebs and dust off my walls and ceilings. One of the things I’ve wanted to do is remove a great big wire dog crate from my bedroom. Rico spends a good deal of time sleeping in that crate. He was a little confused tonight when I showed him that it’s gone.

I hope he doesn’t think he needs to sleep on the bed with us! But it will be worth it because it feels really good to have that crate out of there!

While I had the vacuum out I just went ahead and did the entire house. I finished it all up by cleaning out my fridge.

I have to say that I do not love house keeping. But I get a really good feeling when my fridge is clean!

I treated myself to an Easter dinner of rockfish tacos from a local restaurant. Yum! They were so good.

And tonight, I’m sore! Every part of my body hurts! I can tell I really put in a lot of work this weekend! I’ve had a couple Advil PMs in anticipation of a good night’s sleep.

I have a few Frankenbags from blog readers to share with you tonight. This first one was made by Kathy Robertson. I just love all those deep jewel tone fabrics. Kathy said a friend of hers gave her a bunch of those batik fabrics. What a great friend!

This next bag is from Kellie Maurer Smith. I love her fabric combo, and that wavy vertical quilting is fantastic! Kellie used fabrics left over from a jacket and skirt she made. Very nicely done!

This next Frankenbag comes from Linda Klysner. I just love all that saturate blue. And teh graphic black and white… well, you know how I feel about that! I really like the spotted batik she used for the lining. And her crumb piecing with all that blue is really pretty.

Up next is this bag made by Rebecca Caisse. That fish panel is so cute, and Rebecca’s pieced fish on the other side are such a perfect touch! And look… it’s orange and blue! I’m on a bit of an orange and blue kick the last few days!

Finally tonight is this bag made by @quilty.girl on Instagram. I just LOVE this bag. I love how her simple piecing really lets these fun designs shine! I just love that big leaf on the front! The fun batiks were given to her by her aunt. Here’s another bag that’s giving me all kinds of ideas! Now I’m going to have to look through my batiks for some fun fabric combos.

Thanks to everyone who sent in photos!

First, a quick update on my bag progress. It was pouring rain after dinner, so I hit my sewing room and worked on my lining, pockets and zipper placket for my blue and orange bag before our walk.

I got the lining pieces cut and fused, finished the slip pocket, got the zipper pocket opening made, and got the pieces for the zipper placket made.

And I just love how the opening for the zipper pocket turned out.

I’ll probably get the remainder of this assembled tomorrow evening and might even finish the bag. I’ll have to see how much enthusiasm I’ll be able to muster at the end of the week.

And now the exciting thing I did today. I GOT A TATTOO!!!!!

I’ve never had a tattoo before. But I’ve been thinking about getting this one for a few years now. And a former co worker of mine made all the arrangements with a tattoo artist that has done several tattoos for her. I never would have done this on my own!

Here’s a close up.

That paw print belonged to Forrest. It was made the day I held him in my arms for the last time as he slipped from this world.

He was my first Jack Russell terrier. He is the dog to which all other dogs will be compared, and none will measure up. He was cute and feisty, and he was a pain in the ass. But I loved him like I will never love another dog.

I put more effort into training that dog than I put into my college degree. And he won three championships in two different agility competition venues.

I always referred to him as my Magnificent Beast. All my friends referred to him as the Magnificent Beast… and they still do. This just feels so perfect.

I was amazed at how little getting the tattoo hurt. I’ve heard they can be quite painful. The tattoo artist said people who have an easy and painless first tattoo usually go on to get more tattoos. I’m not sure that’s true, but I actually have a very small tattoo idea running around my head.

I have company coming in June. My brothers and sisters in law will be visiting and then we’ll go together to Seattle to visit some cousins and my mom’s only remaining sister there. So I’m getting busy getting my house in order for company. I’ve made a huge list of things I need to get done before they arrive.

I have someone coming tomorrow to repair my garage door opener. I’m getting my second COVID booster shot tomorrow, I have a plumber scheduled to come next week. And Bender is going in for a blood test next week. Tonight I cleaned out my utility room and folded a huge pile of clean laundry in my guest room.

I’ve been wanting to buy a new bed and mattress set for a while now and I finally bought the bed a few months ago. It’s been sitting in my guest room in a huge box since then, waiting for the new mattress set.

It’s a huge box and it takes up a lot of room. I’m tired of it. I plan to purchase a new mattress and box springs this weekend. And when I do, I will set it all up in my bedroom and will finally finish this quilt…

It’s all ready to finish but I want to make it fit my new bed. I will make the borders as big as they need to be to get the drop I need.

I also bought a new shower curtain and new towels for my guest bathroom a couple months ago. I’ll get that all switched out after my plumber comes next week to fix the toilet in my utility room, reset the one in my guest bath, and install a new one in my bath. It’s a toilet-palooza at my house!

Company is always a good spur to get stuff done that you’ve been putting off. And I’ve been putting off a lot of stuff during the pandemic! I’ll just keep chunking away at this list over the next few weeks.

I just realized that I haven’t given a Bender update in a while. Well, Saturday will be seven weeks since his last seizure, which is really good! It looks like the increase dose of potassium bromide is doing the trick. He’s still a little wobbly, but not as wobbly as he was a few weeks ago. It’s nice to see him adjusting. And it’s really nice to be seven weeks without a seizure! I’m hoping for another long streak!

We had a really broad mix of weather today… rain, sun, wind, and some hail. And my new yard maintenance guy came for the first time and I’m really happy with the job he did. I have a big yard… a full half acre with the house situated toward the front of the lot. So I have a lot of grass! It’s a lot to take care of. I stopped trying to do it all myself a few years ago and it was the best decision I ever made! It leaves me more time to be creative.

This photo was taken during a late afternoon hale storm.

I had a full day of meetings today, but even with the weather I managed to get my two walks in. It was so beautiful during our evening walk. The skies had partially cleared and the sun came out. Spectacular and so fresh!

It was raining after dinner so I hit my sewing room and quilted one of the panels for the blue and orange bag I started last night. I just love how quilting transforms these panels!

After our walk I quilted the second panel, made the handles and got the body of the bag constructed.

Here’s the other side of the bag. I actually prefer the first side because the orange corners of the curvy block define the block more. This one kind of blends in with the borders. I could have just put a thin orange border around that block to define it.

Here’s a few detailed photos of this bag. I really like the curved and cut blocks. Even the bottom of the bag is interesting. I’m just loving this fabric combo!

It was fairly early when I got this done, so I decided to look at some fabrics and choose a lining for this bag. I didn’t look very far or very long. For me, there’s only one choice for the lining.

It just has to be Kaffe’s Paisley Jungle in tangerine. It’s one of my favorite Kaffe designs. I use it a lot and have a pretty good quantity in my stash so I don’t get nervous when I use some.

Here’s a look at how it will work with the blue Aboriginal fabric pockets.

Good grief! It’s so gorgeous!!!

I received a package today from Wanda at the Exuberant Color blog. She generously sent me some “ugly” batiks that she thought I could use for the quilt sandwiches of my bags. She also included a little bag of prettiness, two KFC fabrics, because she didn’t want the package to be all ugly!

I will definitely put those batiks to good use, and those KFC fabrics are out of print and I don’t have any of either one of them. I’ll use them for something special.

If you’re not familiar with Wanda’s blog, you should definitely check it out. Wanda has provided a lot of inspiration to me over the years. I think I’ve been following her blog for at least five or six years. It’s one of the few blogs that I habitually check every day.

My friend Trudy sent me a photo tonight of that tiny lamb that I was holding on Saturday. Here she is with a yearling ewe and it’s lamb that was born yesterday.

This photo is a really good illustration of just how little that lamb is! But she’s standing and able to nurse, and this first time mother is letting her nurse, with a little encouragement! The lamb is still staying in the house at night and Trudy said that when the lamb hears her voice she screams to be fed! I think she thinks Trudy is her mom!

And Trudy’s old dog Jill has taken over tending the lamb who is in that crate. Jill’s mothering instincts are definitely kicking in and she wants that lamb to love and keep warm.

Here’s Jill getting her fill of that baby.

It makes me happy to see that tiny lamb doing so well.

Trudy still has a few ewes that may be pregnant. But it’s likely that she won’t be seeing any more lambs this year. She has 97 lambs!

I’m taking a good portion of tomorrow off work to do something pretty unusual. I will share more about it tomorrow. I hope I don’t regret it…

I can’t tell you how happy I am to have that drab bag off my sewing table. And tonight I surrounded myself with more color as I continued working with the blue and orange Aboriginal and KFC fabrics. And I feel better!

After making the first curvy block the other night, I made three more tonight and started planning a design for a couple of bag panels. Here’s what I came up with.

I used the full block on the left side, then cut a block in half and stacked it up, one piece on top of the other, for the right side.

I just love the combination of blue and orange! And I love the combination of Aboriginal and KFC fabrics. They really work nicely together. And I love orange. Orange gets a really bad rap. But it’s a really spectacular color!

My shepherd’s crook is orange!

Here’s the other panel for this bag.

And both panels together so you can see the difference.

I managed to get both panels completed and sandwiched.

I will probably get them quilted tomorrow night. One more bag after this and I’ll be done with that ugly batik on the back!

Here’s a close up of one of the panels so you can enjoy all the gorgeousness!

So yummy!!! Everyone should start loving orange!

And as much as I enjoyed my time in my sewing room tonight, Bender did not feel the same.

I’m editing this post to add:

My friend Trudy just posted an album of photos of her lambing season on her Facebook page. You can enjoy lots of photos of ewes and lambs here (and my new boyfriend Isaac!). I hope her privacy settings will allow you to see the photos.

I had a sheep herding webinar today at noon, so I got up and took Bender and Rico for a nice walk after breakfast. When we got home I took my computer into my sewing room, logged onto the webinar, and got to work on my drab Aboriginal fabric bag. All I had to do was sew the lining together and sew it into the bag.

I swore I was going to finish this bag during that webinar!

It looks a little better photographed outdoors in natural light. But it’s still a little muddy. It really needs some contrast. Too bad it’s too late. Here’s the other side of the bag. Almost exactly like the other side. See if you can spot the difference…

I did do something a little different with this one: I sewed my tag on with the machine, rather than by hand. And it’s so much nicer… it looks more professional and has a better finish. AND, it was really quick and easy. And I didn’t have to thread a needle!

Here’s some detail photos for your entertainment.

There is one thing about this bag that I really like. This is the first bag I’ve made with the non fusible fleece that I purchased by mistake. If you remember, I used some fusible webbing to fuse the fleece to the bag panels and to fuse the quilt sandwich backing to the fleece. Well, all that fusing made the bag more structured. It’s a bit stiffer and I really like that. So that purchase mistake has turned out to be a good thing.

After dinner I headed for my sewing room to play with the curved pieced blocks that I showed in my blog last night. So I dug into some ugly scraps and cut four 9.5 inch squares. I stacked them up and started cutting some wonky arcs. I ended up with five pieces.

Here’s what I ended up with.

Each of those arcs has four different fabrics stacked up.

Once I had these pieces cut, I started sewing.

The first block went seriously wrong!!!

See that arc that my scissors are pointing to? Well, I sewed that one in backwards. The thicker end of the arc should be on the right side. No idea how that happened. But that little mistake made a crazy assed block!

Here’s the second one I made. It’s squared up at 7.5 inches. Aside from being butt ugly, it appears to have worked.

That turquoise arc is a really odd shape. I can fix that with the next set I cut. But I’m feeling pretty good that I essentially figured this out. And I’m wondering what other things I could do with this.

And, hey, aren’t those fabrics hideous??? Egad! I’m almost embarrassed to put this one into the land fill. Maybe I should just go ahead and burn it.

So feeling a bit of a sense of confidence I grabbed five of the blue and orange fabrics that I showed last night and cut a 10.5 inch square from each one.

Then I stacked them up and used a dinner plate as a ruler to cut my arcs.

I really like how these shapes turned out, with the exception of that blue one next to the orange corner on the right. Here’s the block all sewn together and squared up to 8 1/4 inches.

I really like how it turned out. but I am bothered by that odd blue arc. I think it will be ok sewn into a bag. Keep in mind, I have four more sets of these arcs to sew… so enough for a couple more bags.

I’m thinking I might take some time and draw out a template for the arcs and then make freezer paper templates to get the arcs cut the way I want. I’m not going to play with that immediately, but when I want to make more of these blocks, I’ll definitely give that a try.

A friend of mine who lives in Salt Lake City texted me this evening and asked if I was really getting snow. I had no idea we were SUPPOSED to be getting snow. But look at this…

It looks like we might actually get some accumulation over night. I just poked my head outside (12:15 am) and it’s still just raining. But it’s a good, solid rain that will give everything a really good watering.

Bender would like to say “hi.”

Today was this guy’s ninth birthday.

We spent most of the day outside. It felt like winter. I’ve been home for 5 hours and I still haven’t gotten warm. But look at that gorgeous sky. It was like that all day long.

I didn’t have time to make this guy a cake for his special day. I’m planning to do that tomorrow. I think that will make him happy. I’m thinking I’ll make this Applesauce Banana cake, but it won’t be this fancy.

I had a sheep herding lesson this afternoon down outside Molalla, not far from Trudy’s place. So I decided to go down a couple hours early and get my final lamb fix for this season. And look what I got to see… the tiniest little lamb I’ve ever held.

Picking up that lamb was like picking up a little sack of air. I bet it didn’t weigh more than 2 lbs. So tiny. It’s one of triplets born to a yearling ewe with her first ever babies. It’s very unusual for a yearling to have three lambs. One of the lambs is bigger and two are tiny. But this one is the tiniest.

That is a 12 ounce water bottle, to give you an idea of how small this lamb it. Trudy is bottle feeding this waif. She’s not strong enough to nurse on her own. She will spend a few nights in the house. She is very special.

After seeing lambs, I drove a few miles to a different location for Rico’s herding lesson. He did a great job, and we have another lesson tomorrow.

After our lessons, my friend and I took our dogs for a nice hike on the logging land next to my friend’s property. It was so gorgeous, and we were all happy to get out.

You have no idea how hard it can be to get five dogs posed and all looking happy at the same time. But we did it. And that sky looked just like that all day. It was so beautiful.

And since we did such a good job of posing the first time, we gave it another whirl.

I had a nice hot dinner, hoping it would warm me up inside. And then took the boys for a three mile walk. The walk actually helped me warm up.

I’ve had a bit of a dip in my desire to do any sewing. I think it’s partly because I’ve just been so damned busy. It’s also partly due to the fact that I’m not in love with the bag that sits unfinished on my cutting table.

All I have to do is sew the side and bottom seams of the lining, and then sew it into the bag.

But look at all that distraction on my cutting table! That will likely be my next bag. Here’s a better view of the fabrics I’m considering.

I just LOVE orange and blue together. And I’m sort of intrigued with the idea of combining some KFC prints with Aboriginal fabrics. I will probably edit this pile down to five or six pieces before I start cutting. I posted a photo of a frankenbag a few days ago that was made by one of my blog readers and I’ve been thinking about these fabrics ever since.

And I’m going to force myself to finish that unfinished bag while I sit in on a sheep herding webinar tomorrow. It will be good to finish it up and start working on something that makes me a little happier. But I know that if I don’t finish that bag now, it may likely never be finished.

Here’s another thing I’ve been thinking about…

I saw one of these last week that was made from KFC fabrics and it was spectacular! The problem is that this pattern wants you to purchase a $45 special ruler to make these blocks. I’m wondering if I can figure out how to make something close — maybe cutting the arcs organically, rather then with a template. It’s likely that I’ll play around with this tomorrow evening. It will be fun to see if I can pull it off.

Another thing I’ve been thinking about… economy block quilts. I’ve wanted to make one for a long time and have been giving it more thought lately. What’s an economy block quilt? The block is just a square in a square in a square. I have a Pinterest board all about my love for economy blocks.

I’m thinking I’d like to make this using a paper piecing template. Or will that just make it go more slowly? Hmmm. Maybe I’ll try it with traditional piecing. Well… if I do decide to do it what a paper Template, I’ll have to make it. I’ve seen templates online that cover almost ever size except the one I want.

I’ve gotten a few more frankenbags from blog readers in the last few days. Let’s take a look. This first one was made by @quilty.girl on instagram. And I just love it!!! I’ve had this dog pattern on my list of quilts to make for a few years. This bag is a great way to play with that idea without committing to many, many doggies! I just love it!

This next bag was made by Niki Sager and I love it! Of course I love those little pieces of the sunburst fabric. Gah! Now I want to make another one from KFC fabrics and get away from the dark one I’m struggling to finish.

Next up is this bag made by Joyce Triezenberg. Of course I love all that green! And it goes so well with the red accents. And I love the square in a square block… love that strong diagonal design!

This next are these bags made by Cherry Naylor. Cherry has made a lot of these bags. I think I’m actually getting to where I can recognize her bags before I know she made them ! Cherry has been making matching zipper pouches for her bags and they are a great touch! I love it that Cherry really goes for it with old fabrics and graphic element. They just work so well!

Holy cow. I’m so exhausted. And still not terribly warm.

After spending two days lambing last week I didn’t do any sewing on Saturday and Sunday. I’m not even sure I could tell you what I did on Saturday and Sunday. I think I took it easy, walked the dogs, and didn’t do much of consequence. It’s amazing how an entire weekend seems to disappear.

Oh, I just remembered what I did! I’m finishing up my huge budget at work for the upcoming fiscal year and had to spend several hours working on Saturday AND Sunday! That must be why I feel like there wasn’t a weekend. I also got my tax materials put together and shipped of to my accountant. He always saves space for me because he knows I come in under the wire every year.

Tonight I finally had some time and inclination to get into my sewing room and get a little bit done. I managed to sew all the pocket and placket pieces for my blue Aboriginal bag.

I didn’t feel like finishing the lining and getting it sewn into the bag, but still felt like I wanted to get something done. So I dug out the pile of 17 additional key fobs I prepared last week. Had already applied the fusible fleece, so started tonight with pressing these pieces in preparation of doing the top stitching.

Then I chain pieced them to add the three lines of top stitching to each piece. I use my walking foot and feed them through the machine one after the other, then turn around and feed them all through to add the top stitching along the other edge. then I do another line down the center.

I backstitch and the beginning and end of each piece so the stitching won’t unravel when the fob is done. And by the way… I’m sewing with one hand and holding my phone with the other hand. I don’t recommend sewing with one hand!

Here’s what it looks like when the chain piecing is all done.

Here’s the finished 17 fobs.

NOT SO FAST! I found two pieces that slipped by some how!!!

I’ve put these on my sewing machine and will finish these the next time I sit down to sew.

And because a couple people will ask… here’s the key fob tutorial I use.

I just realized that I made my Frankenbag tutorial a year ago March 25. It’s hard to believe I’ve had a year of making these bags.

Let’s celebrate with a ton of Frankenbag photos sent in by readers. First up is this bag from Sharon Logan. Sharon expressed her appreciation for the push to create… and I can’t tell you how happy this makes me! I love it that people are doing things they’ve never done before! And look at what she made! All that color is so good!

Next up is this bag made by D Maillard (she didn’t provide her full name). This is her first Frankenbag, but she said it’s not her last! She added all kinds of bells and whistles to her bag. I love that!

this next bag came from Linda Klysner. She made this from some left over collage pieces and other orphan blocks. I love the purple. She also took her own approach for the handles. This looks like a really well made bag.

This next bag was made by Susan Stewart. And you know I love this one!!! It’s GREEN… my favorite color! Here’s what she said about making this bag: “I was as nervous as a virgin on her wedding night when I decided this green Frankenbag needed a zipper placket closure. I followed your excellent instructional tutorial, however, and voilá! It worked!!” Hahaha! She made me laugh, and I’m glad it all worked out!

Up next is this bag from Lynne Hummel. She said she’s finally getting the hang of making zipper plackets. this is for her sister in law who loves bright colors and lives in Florida. It feels tropical. I wonder how many people have received Frankenbags as gifts over the last year. I love the little piece of orange fabric Lynne added next to her zipper. It’s a really cool design feature!

This next bag was also made by Lynne Hummel. She made this one for her sister in law who lives near the beach and loves blue. I think it will be a hit! What a great gift! I love that pink lining with the blue bag! It’s such a lovely surprise!

Next is this bag made by Tina Hadden. She’s really come up with some fun bags. She said this one really pushed her beyond her comfort zone… so much so that she’s now working on a black and white bag. Well, I LOVE this bag! All that fun and bold piecing. The colors are so good. It’s just so good in so many ways! And I especially love it because Tina is really pushing herself to do new things! How good is that???

This next bag comes from Sabine Muller Ruckriem. I love the bold and graphic black and white fabrics and the images are really interesting. She also made a matching zipper pouch, which is a great touch! It’s so cool that I keep getting photos of bags that are completely different from other bags and include so much creativity. I’m loving it!

This final bag tonight was made by Sue Everett. I just LOVE her fabric combo! That orange paisley she used is one of my most favorite Kaffe Fassett designs. And I love how she combined it with the blue Aboriginal fabrics. I just love everything about this bag!!! It’s pretty likely that my next bag will be a riff off of this one! I love that I’m getting inspiration from what others are making!

Thanks to everyone who sent photos! I hope I didn’t miss anyone.

Now I want to dig into my fabrics for my next project!

I hate to have to say this, but day two of lambs included absolutely no new lambs. Not one lamb was born today. But I found myself thinking I should take these two home with us.

We started our day again with feeding sheep.

These sheep know when breakfast arrives and they all come running. Wyatt helped hold the sheep off while I put the grain out. Even the lambs got in on the feast!

Little acrobats…

And then we went up and fed all the pregnant ewes, looking for new lambs as we did it.

Mmm. Hay.

Munch, munch, munch.

As we were watching the preggers girls eat and realized that there were no lambs, we picked out four ewes that we thought might be close to lambing. So we separated them from the group and took them down to a paddock near the barn so we could keep our eyes on them throughout the day. We were very hopeful that a couple of them would lamb today.

Isaac joined them to keep them all safe.

Then he had to pose for a perfect photo with his girls…

Good grief. He’s such a sweetie pie!

While we weren’t busy dealing with lambs, we decided to move the earliest lambs and their moms to a larger field with a lot of delicious grass and trees for cover.

They all ran into that field like it was the best place on earth.

Look at these little suckers!!!

So many good mamas there.

Before lunch we took some time to work our dogs again on the goats. Rico was even more amazing than he was yesterday. Maybe it was the little practice he had with geese first.

For a good portion of the afternoon I just sat and watched a ewe that we thought might lamb. While I sat and waited, I watched these two little fritters have a blast on this pile of dirt.

While the ewe was debating whether or not she should give birth, I decided to take Bender and Rico for a quick drive to my other friend’s place nearby for a forest walk since they had spent a few hours in the car. They got a good leg stretch and had a chance to be dogs on logs…

I don’t know any dog who can stay off a log!

When we got back to Trudy’s place the ewe was still undecided on the whole birth thing, but I got back in time for the lamb races.

OMG! How cute is that !?!?!?!?!

I waited a little longer for that ewe to produce her new lambs, but finally gave up when it got cold and some rain moved in. So I headed home disappointed, but with another good day under my belt.

I’m pretty confident that I’ll get news of lots and lots of lambs being born tonight and tomorrow.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love lambs? Well, I love them a lot!

I was on the road at 8 am today and made it to my friend Trudy’s farm around 9 am. I saw lambs before I even got my car parked!

Does this face look happy to you?

After oohing and awing at lambs for a minute we started our day with feeding the sheep. We fed the ewes who have had their lambs over the last week and are in paddocks near the barn first. Then we grabbed a couple buckets of grain and some hay, hopped in the four wheeler and headed out to a back pasture where the pregnant ewes are held… and most likely some lambs that were born overnight.

There must have been at least 20 pregnant ewes in this pasture. But I was pretty sure I could see some tiny little legs among all the ewe legs. And sure enough, there were two brand new lambs in with the flock.

OMG! They are so tiny and so beautiful! And it’s amazing how well they get around. Here’s a little video of these fresh babies. I love how their mother is so attentive to them.

After getting this group fed we headed back down to take care of some of the lambs that were born yesterday and their moms.

The ewes are wormed after lambing and they get their feet trimmed. And the ram lambs get their little testicles banded (a thick rubber band is placed around the base, and then they will fall off in a week or so). The female lambs have their tails banded. Each lamb gets an ear tag with a number that is used to identify them. Here’s all the tools and supplies that are used.

I actually got to band one of the tails and banded two ram lambs’ private bits. I put ear tags on three lambs.

There are special tools for each of these tasks. For banding, you slip a small yet thick rubber band onto special pliers and open it up, pull the lamb’s scrotum through the open band, making sure the testicles are actually in there, and then you close the pliers which closes the band around the base, and then slip the pliers off. Putting the ear bands on is very similar to getting your ears pierced.

Here’s a video of Trudy putting iodine on a lamb’s umbilical cord, banding him, and giving him an ear tag.

At the time she does all of this with the new lambs, she also worms the ewes and trims their feet. It can be tricky to catch a sheep so it’s handy to have a dog who can help out. Here’s Alice holding everyone in place while Trudy gets ready to move in.

Trudy’s dogs Alice and Wyatt were with us all day and helped out a lot! It would be so hard to do all this work without these working dogs.

There’s a lot of physical work involved in owning animals. Trudy caught this ewe with a leg crook (the blue hook in the photo) then flipped her onto her butt where she sat calmly while she was wormed and had her feet trimmed.

Here’s another ewe getting the same treatment.

Once you get the ewes into this position they are amazingly cooperative. But even then, Trudy says she’s usually sore and tired at the end of the day.

Another task that needed to be done today was to “tube” a couple of triplet lambs who were competing with their larger triplet for milk. Trudy fed a rubber tube down their throat and used a syringe to feed some colostrum to them.

You have to have a lot of different skills when you have a sheep ranch!

Trudy has three guard dogs that keep her sheep and lambs safe from predators — a great Pyrenees, a Maremma, and an Akbash. This is Isaac. He is an Akbash. He is very young, very large and very sweet. I think his head is about the size of a basketball!

Have I mentioned that I like dogs?

At around noon we took a break and I got Rico out of the car so we could do a little herding… this picture shows what a gorgeous day it was! It was cool enough that I wore a light fleece all day. Perfect weather for being outside all day. And look at that incredible sky! It was like that all day long.

And for the first time in his life, Rico got to herd GOATS!!! I was afraid that there would be goats flying all over the place, but he was such a good boy! He had them all nicely organized and did amazing work!

Apparently, goats can be more difficult to herd than sheep. But Rico was cool as a cucumber.

After a quick lunch and giving Trudy a chance to train some client dogs, we headed back out to the back pasture to bring those new lambs and their mom down to join the other moms and babies.

The first thing we had to do was separate the new mom and her babies from the rest of the ewes. That part went really well and we had the lambs loaded in the trailer and were ready to go in no time.

What usually happens is that you drive the four wheeler slowly and the ewe follows behind because she wants to stay with her lambs. But some times it can be more challenging. This one started out pretty well, but the mom got nervous and jumped the fence and went back and joined all the pregnant ewes.

So that meant we had to go back and separate that ewe from all the pregnant ewes and bring her back to her babies. We ended up bringing her back with some of her preggo friends and were able to make the trek back to the other lambs successfully… we even picked up some goats along the way!

And Wyatt helped make it all run smoothly!

After taking care of those brand new lambs and their mom, we hopped in the four wheeler and headed into another pasture to check on a fence that had been smashed by an oak tree that fell in last year’s ice storm. After pulling some branches off the fence and making sure it was secure, we were done for the day.

I got home at around 4:00. After our evening walk, Trudy messaged me a photo of a yearling and her lambs that were born after I left.

And then she sent me this video of moving this mom and her new babies down to join the other ewes and lambs. I love how Alice is helping move them along and how the mother is so protective of her babies.

I am so excited to go back tomorrow! I’m keeping my fingers crossed for lots of new lambs born over night and waiting for me when I get there.

One more day of work then two days off to hang out with lambs! I can not wait!!!

In anticipation of two days off, work is very hectic. I have a lot to get done before I take off and a full day of meetings tomorrow.

I was cold in the house all day today. It got up to 60 degrees but it was cloudy all day. The air outside is thick with the smell of trees blooming. I walked by something tonight that was so incredible I had to stop and enjoy it. I’m pretty sure it was a Daphne. Their smell is so wonderful.

After a quick trip to the grocery store to stock up on bananas, yogurt and chocolate, I hit my sewing room and finished quilting the second panel of the bag I started a few days ago. Then I went ahead and sewed the bag body together.

I have to say that this is not my favorite bag that I’ve made. It feels flat and bland to me. I think it’s because all the fabrics are too similar. It’s not terrible, it’s just not terribly good. But I’ll withhold my final judgement until it’s done.

I managed to get the linings, pockets and zipper plackets cut and I applied the fusible interfacing.

Tomorrow night I’ll be ready to start constructing the lining and associated attachments and fiddly features.

Here’s the bag with that ugly batik on the back of the quilt sandwich.

It’s a good thing that once the bag is all done you completely forget that this crap is in there!

Here’s the bag with the lining and pocket fabric.

And a closer view so you can see it’s not completely terrible. Seeing the colors in the lining fabric help it make more sense with this bag.

Time for a Bender update. It’s been four weeks now since we increased his potassium bromide dose and I’m very happy to say that he hasn’t had a seizure since then. So his last seizures, the two in one day, were 4.5 weeks ago. This makes me very happy and I’m hopeful that this streak will continue.

The downside is that he’s still pretty wobbly from the meds. He stepped off our front porch the other night as we were starting our walk and totally biffed it. It seems like he may be just a little better today. It’s likely that he will adjust to this dosage of meds and he will become steady again. I’m keeping notes on how he looks every couple of days. I need to get him scheduled for a blood test to check the level of these meds in his blood. With his wobbliness in mind, I’m guessing the level will have gone up significantly.

These boys are much happier hanging out while I work when the weather is nice. They will snooze in the sun for hours on a nice day!

And a closer view because it makes me laugh…

He’s just sitting there.