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I had to work two three-hour shifts today. The second one was more just to listen and intervene if necessary so I took at time to work on my latest bag at the same time.

I had to cut and assemble the lining, pockets, and zipper plackets, then put the lining into the bag. Here’s the finished bag.

I took the bag outside to take photos before I remembered that I needed to sew a tag on. Here’s the other side.

Here are views of the pockets and zipper placket. And I have to say, I’m really loving those zipper pockets. This is probably the cleanest one I’ve made. So I’m getting better with each one. But they are so easy to make!

Then I brought the bag back into the house and proceeded to sew the tag onto the wrong side of the bag.

I know I’ll move it to the other side eventually because this is the kind of thing that will drive me nuts. The tag says, “This is the front of the bag.” And that’s NOT the front of the bag. Geez.

Here are some views of the lining and pockets in process.

And I have to point out that my least favorite part of making these bags is sewing the top of the lining to the top of the bag. I stab at least four fingers with pins on every one of these I do. Look at all those pins!

I spend a little bit of time trying not to bleed all over the bag.

Sewing the final row of top stitching around the top of the bag is better because I use clips and rarely find myself bleeding.

And now I’m wondering what I’ll make next. I’m thinking I might either make another Octopus bag or I’ll dig into those animal menagerie panels and start a bag. Or… maybe another bag from batiks.

I did receive some Frankenbag photos over the last week. This first bag was made by Christie Protheroe. I love all that saturated red and the big bloom. Christy went all the way and included a zipper placket and a slip and zipper pocket.

This next bag was made by Kristin Echols. She said she needed a large bag to take supplies to quilt classes, so adapted my Frankenbag and made an Uber Frankenbag that measures 18″ tall and 22″ wide. She used a mariner’s compass that she made in a class. I just love the color combo of her fabrics. It reminds me of a sunset! I might have to try making an uber Frankenbag too!

@BKsblingsandbags on Instagram tagged me in her photo of this bag she made. She said “It’s snowing in Alberta after a couple of days of rain! A great day to stay home and make something 🌞 and bright.” She said she takes lots of sunflower photos and waits patiently every August for them to bloom. I can almost feel the summer heat coming off this bag! I love sunflowers too and am ready to see some in bloom.

Next up is this bag made by Susan Stewart. This is her third Frankenbag. She included a large slip pocket on the exterior of this bag and made a matching pouch. I love the combo of the aquas and greens. And I love that Susan added her own features. It makes me really happy when people experiment!

Last up this evening are these two bags made by Cindy Clark. I love the way she used these big pieces of fabric. It’s definitely fun to let those big blooms sing. And I love the idea of an all black and white bag. Hmmmm… my brain is racing!

Thanks to everyone who sent photos!

I had to work this morning from 7 am to 10 am. After than I took the boys for a nice long 4.2 mile walk. We have a gorgeous stretch of weather coming up and today was so nice!

We’ll take another walk tonight after dinner.

Rico has a sheep herding lesson tomorrow and then we have the rest of the day off. Might have to start a new project.

It’s been a long day. I was at my desk before 7 am today and have to be up and at ’em early tomorrow.

Our streak of lovely weather started today, after a few days of dreary rain. This is unusual weather for us in February.

This is the equivalent of a tropical island during a Portland winter.

After work tonight I took a few minutes and quilted one of the panels of my indigo and batik Frankenbag. Then after dinner and a nice walk with the stars shining, I finished quilting the second panel.

I just love the way quilting these panels completely transforms them.

I finished the quilting up so quickly that I had time to whip up the handles and construct the bag body. That part actually goes really fast.

I’m loving how this is turning out! It’s so fun to see the bag body come together.

Here’s the other side of the bag.

Tomorrow I’ll start working on the lining and pockets. If I have enough oomph, I might finish this tomorrow night. I’m thinking I’ll go all the way and include a slip pocket, a zipper pocket and a zipper placket.

My boys still had plenty of energy after our 3.5 mile walk this evening.

Luckily, they finally wound down and are sleeping like tired dogs now.

One more day and then it’s the weekend… except that I have to work on Saturday. So maybe it’s two more days and a really short weekend. I’m planning on taking a day or two off next week. Phew!

I worked later than I wanted to this evening. Then I hurried and had my dinner so I could run into the office to pick up some papers, and be there early enough to see one of the people in my department before she headed home. I’m pretty sure I haven’t seen her since early last summer. . . except on Zoom. It’s crazy how long we’ve been apart. We’re getting really close to 2 years working from home. It was really good to get to see her and have a chat. We don’t get enough of that these days.

After I got home I took the boys for a nice walk, and then I settled in to my sewing room to whack away at the indigo Frankenbag panels. And I got them done.

And now I’m anxious to see them quilted. I think it will really transform them.

Here’s a bigger view of each. I’m considering this first one the front of the bag.

I really like that fussy cut spiral image. I’m not a big fussy cutter, but I this fabric called for it.

Here’s a close up of the strips of fabric between the fussy cut block and the vertical block on the right. I think it’s harder to see in the larger photo that there are several different batik prints in that vertical strip.

I just love those indigo batiks. The different patterns and the lovely variation you get in color from batiks. I also love that the colors from fabric to fabric are a little different. I think it makes it all more interesting. And it’s more casual, like the variation in the crumb pieces.

Here’s the back of the bag.

One of the things that I love about my blog platform is that I can look at all kinds of metrics about who visits the site. One of the things I can see is how many visitors I have, broken out by country for each day. It’s so much fun to see how the countries vary. Yesterday there were no views from Panama. Today, 157 views from Panama. I’m so curious as to how all those people in Panama found out about my blog.

Here’s the rest of the countries on my list.

I’m having to wrap early tonight because I have to start work at 7 am.

I’ll leave this photo of my little Forrest for you. Forrest was my first Jack Russell terrier and he definitely had, and still has, my heart. He is the dog to which all other dogs are compared, and none measure up.

I always knew that if I couldn’t locate Forrest at night, he was in that room curled up on that pillow.

I worked until about 6:30 today. Grabbed some dinner and headed out for a walk. I was dreading a night at home alone so I called a friend and walked 4.5 miles as we talked. It’s been a particularly stressful period at work, and the next two weeks promise to be equally busy.

I walked four miles last night too. I finished work much earlier last night and just couldn’t stand the thought of all those hours at home. It was a great walk and we all slept really well.

But tonight, after our walk I put on some music and spent about a half hour working on a jigsaw puzzle.

Then I decided to see if I could find some hand dyed indigo scraps my dyeing friend gave me a few years ago. I decided I wanted to preserve my larger pieces of indigo fabric, except for a few fussy cut pieces for the bag I’m thinking of.

I really had no idea where that little ziploc bag of indigo scraps was. I had to look in quite a few places to find it, but I was eventually successful. It was in a plastic bin of fabric scraps in the bottom of the pile of bins under my cutting table.

I selected a small pile of pieces and started making some crumb blocks. Here’s a bunch of these pieces lined up on my sewing table ready to rip!

And why do I fine these little piles of fabric trimmings so satisfying?

This next photo gives you an idea of what the indigo crumb blocks will look like with the indigo colored batik background fabric.

I got a I little stack of crumb blocks done tonight. I’m not quite sure how I’ll incorporate them into this bag.

Here’s the best thing about our 4.5 mile walk tonight.

I met a friend this morning at one of our dog club’s agility training barns. We played and trained the dogs for about and hour and then chatted with the owner of the rented barn for about 30 minutes. I was talking to him about a 1984 Mercedes 450 SL he had parked there. I had posters of a 450SL on the walls of my college dorm room when I was a freshman. It was so fun to see that beautiful car. He’s going to let me take it for a drive when he gets it all fixed up!

Rico did a great job during our training session. Fun was definitely had.

The amount of fun he had is directly related to the amount of slobber on his face.

After we left the training barn we went and grabbed some takeout lunch and went back to my friend Anne’s house to eat.

And when we finished lunch we visited all of her fancy chickens. She has a LOT of chickens! Here’s some of them in her outside coop. They were all so happy to be out and were eating all kinds of plants and bugs. Their eggs will be delicious!

This is Lulu. She was an excellent poser during our photo session.

Here’s a bunch of Lulu’s girlfriends. And a couple tiny roosters thrown in for excitement. Click on the photos for a larger view.

And look at these beautiful and colorful eggs! A full dozen of them came home with me. Farm fresh eggs are so amazing!!!

Most of these chickens are pretty small and they make pretty small eggs. This egg was only about 1.5 inches tall!

I got back home right around 4:00 and I hurried and got the dogs out for a quick walk before the rain set in. Well, I hoped we’d get done before the rain set in. I had rain gear on, but Bender and Rico came home pretty wet and we only walked about 2.5 miles.

I didn’t get any sewing done today, but I did give some thought to what I’m planning to make next. I remembered the other day that I had dyed some fabric with indigo with an old friend of mine back before the pandemic started. I was thinking of using some of that indigo to make a bag. I thought it might be interesting to combine it with some indigo batiks that I bought several years ago for a different project I had in my mind and never got to.

There isn’t enough of the fabric we dyed to make something very big. But It would be a great focal fabric for a small project.

I bought these batiks back when I was still just buying 1/3 yards to build my stash. But there are a couple of pieces that are 1/2 yard so I could use one for the lining for a Frankenbag.

I’ll have to give this a little thought and sketch out some ideas. But I think I might dig in on this soon.

While I was turning my sewing room upside down looking for that dyed indigo fabric, I came across this little panel that a friend gave me a few years ago. She had picked it up on one of her travels. I’ve been holding onto it, wondering what to do with it. And now I think I might go ahead and make a bag out of it.

It measures around 18×18 so would be a good size for a bag. It’s all hand cut and hand stitched and quilted. And the colors are really vibrant. I have no idea how it would hold up to wear. I’m wondering if I should do a little more quilting on it to make it a little more stable.

All those colors are layers of different fabrics, combined with hand quilting and embroidery. It’s really cool.

And another bit of detail…

I’ll probably think on that one a little more before I start cutting.

I have some Frankenbags to share tonight. Some people have been pretty busy.

This first one is from Janet Hannah. She upcycled some old jeans into a bag and I love it! I’ve had a fascination with upcycled denim for a few years now. Check out my Pinterest board with way too many upcycled denim ideas! And here I sit, never having made one!

Next up tonight is this bag from Lesley Nammar. This is her first Frankenbag. I love her bright batiks and big blocks of bold colors. I think it’s a great first effort!

Next up: two bags made by Donna Martin. I love her fun and bold prints and all that black and white makes me happy! That little elephant on the second bag is so cute!

These next two bags were made by Wendy Shapiro and her 14-year-old daughter Laura. Laura made the first bag in these photos, and Wendy made the second one.

This was Laura’s first time piecing and quilting. She had only done a little sewing before this, so this was a big project for her. They worked on their bags together, but Laura designed and pieced the turquoise and orange one all by herself.  She designed the quilting and Wendy quilted it for her on her sit down longarm.  Then Laura assembled the bag, all except for the final combining of the bag and lining.  Wendy said the time they spent together in the studio together was the best part. 

They are both wonderful bags, but I’m so impressed with Laura’s first big project! It’s so well made and the colors and designs are so good! Congratulations to both of you!

Next up tonight is this bag made by Elfi. She said she was recently cleaning out her studio because it was making her feel suffocated, when she ran across these fabrics. So she decided to use them for a Frankenbag. It’s really a great way to use that panel, and I love the accent fabrics. Elfi also made a zipper pocket and said this was the first time she had ever done a zipper that way and was really happy with how it turned out. Oh, and she sent a photo of her dog Riley! Like us, they love their walks… but Riley isn’t a huge fan of his boots!

Thanks to everyone who sent in photos!

My computer is running out of power, so I’m outta here!

I took Rico for his weekly sheep herding lesson today and he was, as usual, a-mazing! Then I met a friend and her dogs to let the dogs have a nice run in a big field together. They had a blast!

The friend I met is the one I made the octopus bag for. I gave it to her today and she loved it! That’s always a nice bonus.

Once I got home I dug in and finished the Laurel Burch/Brandon Mably bag. All I had to do was add the zipper placket, sew the lining together and sew it to the bag body, then finish the top of the bag and the placket.

Here’s the front of the finished bag.

And the back…

And my favorite little tag…

And some photos of the placket and pockets.

I have to say… I am a complete convert to this method of doing the zipper pocket. It’s so easy and it looks really high end. And I like that lining too. I’m glad I remembered I had it in my stash.

And now it’s only 7:30 pm. What am I going to do the rest of the night? Thinking of starting on another set of panels for a new Frankenbag. Might just dig into my scraps and see what appeals to me.

After a nice field run and another three-mile walk before dinner, Bender is not convinced that it’s time to wind down on his Saturday,

Ok… going scrap diving!

It’s finally Friday night. I’m completely exhausted after a really busy week. So, here’s a really quick post tonight.

I didn’t get as much done on this bag as I had wanted, but I was just too tired to do more.

I got the lining cut and fused and made the slip and zipper pockets. I also got the zipper placket made. I am not going to forget to add the zipper plackets to the lining before I sew it together! I’m NOT!

I also got the handles made and the bag body sewn together.

And the other side…

I have a sheep herding lesson with Rico tomorrow. It’s supposed to be a gorgeous day, and then we get rain on Sunday. I’ll probably take the boys for a nice run in a large park with a creek while we’re up in Vancouver tomorrow.

On Sunday I’m going to visit friend and see her baby chicks. I’ll pick up some of eggs, and we’ll get some take out for dinner.

that’s it for tonight. Here’s to a restful and interesting weekend!

Last night I was thinking I would go with animals for my next project. But these are not the animals I had in mind.

Here’s what I’m calling the front.

I just love that Lurel Burch dog print fabric.

And this is the back..

I actually found the fabric I was thinking about using, but I didn’t love it. So I decided to go with this instead.

I got two panels made, sandwiched, and quilted.

Here’s the other side.

I was so tired after work tonight. What a week! But I wanted to go with my enthusiasm to make something.

I just love seeing these pieces as I’m working on them.

I’m thinking I’ll use this colorful fabric for the lining. I’ll take a closer look tomorrow when i’m fresher and have some good light.

I bought that piece of fabric a good number of years ago and had no plan for it. So I think this is as good a project as any. I think I have at least a yard of it.

Here’s both panels quilted and ready to be assembled. I think I’ll include a zipper placket and two pockets on the interior.

Short post tonight. It’s all I can do to keep my eyes open!

I’ll finish up this bag tomorrow after work. I’m going to force myself to put the zipper placket in the bag when the lining is at the right stage.

A four hour meeting I had today turned into a three hour meeting so I took advantage of that break in my crazy day to hop in the car and make the quick trip to pick up my sewing machine. I’m so glad to have her home.

After work I had a zoom presentation by a local sheep dog trial handler who competes on the national level. It was interesting to hear how he thinks about his dogs, sheep, and trialing.

Then we ran out for a brisk but fantastic three mile walk. And when we got home I dug in on my Octopus Frankenbag. And I got it all done!

I have to say, I wasn’t crazy about these panels once I got them done. They felt really chaotic and I thought the Octopus fabric just disappeared amidst all those crumb pieces. But now that it’s sewn into a bag, I think the chaos has subsided and the Octopus is the star! I’m thinking it’s because most of the crumb pieces disappear into the side and bottom of the bag.

Here’s the other side of the bag.

It’s a little more chaotic that the front of the bag, but I like that it helps make the front more obvious.

I used Brandon Mably’s jumble in turquoise for the lining and used his Onion Rings for the pockets and zipper placket.

I’m just loving making those zipper pockets! I need to make a few more before I get the hang of getting the finishing just right, but I’ll get there. They are so easy and quick to make. I’m wondering why I was so intimidated by the thought of making them.

Here’s the tutorial I used to learn how to make these pockets. So easy!!!

And once again I forgot to sew the zipper plackets onto the lining before I sewed the lining together. This makes it a lot more cumbersome and difficult to get it sewn in. But I did get it put in nicely with some work. And at least I didn’t wait until the bag was done to realize I’d forgotten the plackets!

Facebook fed me the memory below earlier today. It’s from four years ago when I was excited that I had a drawer full of Kaffe Fassett Collective Fabrics.

My Kaffe stash now exceeds what that large chest of drawers will hold! The drawer in the photo now holds just my red KFC fabrics!

And now I have to decide what I’m going to make next. I’m thinking something that involves an animal of some kind.

I got a call today from my Bernina dealer and they have finished the servicing on my baby! I will pick her up on Friday afternoon… the first day when I have a schedule that will allow me to hop in the car and take the short drive down there.

The really good news is that the noise that I had been hearing was a belt that had slipped and was rubbing on the case of the machine. He adjusted it and it’s all good to go. I was afraid I might have damaged the motor so this was really good news.

So, in preparation of having her back in the house on Friday, I spent some time in my sewing room after our evening walk tonight. I prepared all the elements I need to finish the Octopus Frankenbag that I started a few weeks ago.

I cut the gusset squares out of the bottom of the quilted panels. (I should really figure out something to do with all those little quilted squares I cut out…)

I folded and clipped the faux leather handles so they are ready to be sewn. I cut and applied the interfacing to the lining pieces. I cut and applied interfacing to the two zipper placket pieces. I cut and applied interfacing to the slip pocket.

And I cut, applied interfacing, marked and pinned in place the zipper pocket placket.

When I have my machine back on Friday, I’ll be all ready to get sewing! I might even finish this bag on Friday night. I would consider that a fine accomplishment.

We’ve had some really amazing sunny days the last week, but a few of the evenings have been foggy and cold. It was so foggy during our walk last night.

I really love walking at night in the fog. The sound is so different. I love the way the street lights light up the fog. And I really enjoy walking in the cold — I feel really invigorated and full of energy. Some of my best walking happens in the cold fog.

The fog last night was so thick and there was so much moisture in the air that my hair was wet from my breath by the time I got home. Bender and Rico’s faces and necks were also wet. By the time I got home the fog has almost completely cleared. For out walk tonight, it was clear and stars were shining bright. I just love being out there at night!

One of the best things about our walks is that we all sleep really well at night!

Thanks to everyone for your concern and best wishes for Bender. He’s doing really well. I’m pretty sure he’s completely unaware that anything has happened. I wish I could recover that quickly.

I called his neurologist on Monday and had a chance to actually speak to her after work tonight. I had been worried that some new flea and tick treatment that I gave my dogs starting a few months ago may have caused Bender’s seizure. (We had a terrible flea infestation early last fall after the treatment my boys were on stopped working — fleas can develop immunity to the treatments.)

The neuro said it was unlikely that was the case and that any reaction to the meds would have been more immediate. She said the treatment I have him on is one of the safest for epileptic dogs. Many flea treatments are terrible for dogs with epilepsy. Ultimately, she said it was probably a complete coincidence that he had another seizure. She said we’ll just keep an eye on him and hope he doesn’t have any more seizures. If he does have another one, she said to get in touch and we would adjust his meds.

One of the really difficult things about epilepsy is that it’s so random. Our minds want answers. We want to know WHY something is happening. And the sad truth with epilepsy is that there just aren’t a lot of answers. Bender’s first neurologist, who I LOVED, noticed that I was trying to find a pattern with Bender’s seizures. He told me that I was going to drive myself nuts and would never be successful. It’s important to learn to live with a lot of unknowns when dealing with seizures.

Aside from the phone call telling me my Bernina is ready to come home, finding this in my pantry was the best thing that happened all day!

Mmmmm.

More Frankenbags coming in over the inter webs!!! These first two bags were made by Sandee Henricks. I just love all her close quilting and the combo of straight lines, diagonals, and wavy lines. That tight quilting ads that wonderful structure that I love. She has three other Frankenbags in progress! Her daughter thinks she’s going a little overboard. What do you think?

This next bag was made by Sharon Hancock. She said she loved taking the time to carefully add some of her own features, which I love! I love her shorter handles with that long adjustable shoulder strap. I’ve been wanting to try one of those and I’m pretty sure I have the hardware somewhere.

Next up are two bags made by Celia Garcia. I just love these bright and colorful Laurel Burch cat panels. That reminds me that I have some of her dog panels somewhere in my stash. I need to dig them out and see how I can work them into a bag. She added a zipper placket, and she ads a binding to the top of her bags.

Here’s the second bag from Celia. She made this as a diaper bag for her daughter-in-law and grandson. She made it a little smaller than a regular Frankenbag. In the lining you can see some potato fabric. Celia said they call her new grandson Papas –which translates to potatoes(lovingly). That’s just so sweet! And I love that little nod to that loving name.

Thanks to everyone for sending photos.