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I finished up the body for this blue sunburst Frankenbag after our walk this evening. And I absolutely love this bag! Definitely one of my favorites.

And the other side…

The side views are interesting too…

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And now I’m going to have to wait to finish this because I’ve ordered something special for the lining. But in the mean time I’m planning my next bag…

I’ve been wanting to make a bag out of purples. I’m basing this combo on the coleus fabric at the very top. I will do some editing of these fabrics, but this is a good start. I may include a couple little starbursts here and there. There are a few that are purple and green.

I got some photos of Frankenbags from a couple more blog readers in the last few days.

Here’s one from Antoinette Todd. I really love this scrappy combo of fabrics. Its so casual and comfortable! And I do love those little pops of turquoise.

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And here’s another one from Cherry Naylor. I really love that chips fabric. It’s so graphic. I also love how these fabrics are a little more primary colors. I also really like the bold vertical pieces in this bag, all broken up with the little HST block on point.

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I think Cherry might be hooked!

Thanks to Cherry and Antoinette for sending me their photos!

I took a picture of the back of my hair the other night because it felt like it was getting really long. I haven’t had it cut since February 2020. That’s nearly 18 months!

I don’t remember the last time my hair was this long. And I’ve been getting really anxious to get it cut. And since I’m fully vaccinated and I have a neighbor who is a hairdresser who is also fully vaccinated, I asked her this morning if she could get me in today. She had an opening in the afternoon and this is the result.

It feels SOOOO GOOD to have it cut! And I love all the curl she was able to get out of it. She told me it will continue to get curlier as it adjusts to the cut. She cut a full three inches off of it and it’s still longer than it’s been in years. It will be interesting to see what I can do with it after I wash it.

She even trimmed my crazy eyebrows!

I’m happy to report that my strawberry plants are sort of going crazy! The biggest one is about as big around as a quarter and the pips are turning red!

I’m thinking I might actually get enough strawberries that I can eat more than one at a time!

Hello weekend!!!

I finished up the second blue sunburst bag panel this evening and I got the first panel quilted before I got too tired.

I wasn’t completely sure about this fabric combo, but I’m really liking how this looks. It’s always surprising to me how different fabrics look once they’re sewn together. That simple process of combining them all into one piece of fabric completely transforms what can seem like pieces that don’t make sense together into something that is cohesive and makes total sense. It’s like magic!

Here’s both panels together. They’re pretty similar. Small differences.

And here’s larger photos of each panel… just because it’s fun to just look at these fabrics!!!!

Haven’t decided yet which is the front and which is the back. Probably won’t know until I get the bag body assembled. Could go either way.

I might get this bag finished up tomorrow night.

I keep getting more and more photos of Frankenbags from blog readers. And I’m amazed at what people are coming up with.

Here’s one from Eve Nicholls. She made this from flannel blocks and lined it with linen. It’s all sewn by hand and hand quilted. Eve opted to not include batting because her fabrics were pretty thick and the bag had good body and structure without it.

I’m terribly envious of people who can do hand work and I wish I could do it. Unfortunately, my hands just can’t take it. I’ve got terrible hands, the result of a lot of repetitive work I’ve done over the years knitting, crocheting, and braiding dog leashes and toys.

This next bag is from Terry Perkinson. When I scrolled to the first photo in Terry’s email I literally gasped!!! There is just something about these bright and bold prints with graphic black and white fabrics that just knocks me out! In addition to that, I love the bold shapes and intersecting diagonal lines. And there’s a peek of a very fun orange lining! OOF! I love this one!

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This fun summery bag was made by Dana Olness. To me it feels like a picnic on a summer day! And I love her very organic wavy quilting. I think I need to do a few more bags with wavy lines. And I have to say that bandana print lining is so sweet! I just love it that so many people are really going for it with their linings!

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These last two bags are from Maureen Parsons. I love the scrappy approach and color combos of these bags. Plus, they’re made with batiks… and I LOVE batiks! Take a closer look at the green bag for the sweet little applique leaves. And what I really love is that it looks like Maureen is already using one of these bags! I just love it when people actually use the things they make. A large part of an item’s beauty is its functionality!

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It was hot again today but not as hot as yesterday. I’m happy that it will be cooling down over the next few days, but there’s not much rain in the forecast. We really need some rain. it’s just way too dry and way too hot her for this time of year.

Our afternoon walks have us choosing the shady routes that take us past watering holes.

But I’m pretty sure these boys might walk through fire to get their walks!

I’ve been feeling a little like my creative juices are running low. I’ve even been thinking this might be a good time to take my sewing machine in for servicing. Then, by the time I get it back I’ll be itching to get going again on new projects.

But tonight I had a little inspiration and whipped up this panel for a Frankenbag.

I’ve been thinking for a few weeks about pulling out the blue sunburst fabric and using it in a bag. So last night I did just that and pulled some fabrics from my stash to go with it.

After having these on my cutting table for a day, I put some of them back in the drawer, then cut some strips and started putting it all together. And I do like the way the panel came together. I’ll make the second one tomorrow night.

Got some photos of a really cool bag from Amy Bell Buehler. And I just LOVE this bag! That little fish is so fantastic. And I love the earthy colors, fun crumb piecing, and those wonderful pops of turquoise here and there. This is just such a winner! Nice job Amy!

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I’m having a bit of a hard time easing back into work after my vacation. I’m thinking I’m going to schedule another week off in July. I still have over four weeks of vacation available and am still feeling like I need some time off.

It was a hot one today. It got up to well over 90 degrees. So I took our mid day walk at around 11:30 this morning before it got too hot. We had to stop midway and rest, mostly because I was really hungry! These boys did not understand what this sitting thing was all about.

For our evening walk, we waited until 8 pm to get out and it was still 90 degrees! But it didn’t feel as hot because the sun was down and there was a light breeze. We still had to take a pass through the park so the boys could wet their whistles.

Tomorrow will be hot again and then the weather will get back into the mid 60s and cloudy for a few days. That will be a welcome change. It’s too early to be so hot.

I got up this morning and met a friend up in Battleground, WA, to do a little sheep herding. Rico was a really good boy and did a great job. We even got the sheep out of the pen and moved them into the big field. He hasn’t gotten to do very much of this type of work.

It was warm outside today. Rico took advantage of the water tank but kept his eyes on his sheep!

We had to stop quite often to give him a chance to cool off and let the sheep cool off. We’re not ready for this heat yet!

Rico would keep working if I asked him too. But it’s important to give him breaks and let him cool off.

He did get to meet a puppy today and run around with his girlfriend Jolene.

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A friend of mine dropped by this afternoon to return a piece of dog agility training equipment that she had borrowed from me. We sat and talked for at least an hour and it was really wonderful. She is a 2nd grade teacher and had all kinds of fun stories to tell.. including one where a student took the computer into the bathroom where her father was showering… the entire class got a view of him completely naked!

Then I got into my sewing room for a while and finished up this bag. I had finished the panels and body construction yesterday. So all I had to do today was make the lining and get it all sewn together.

I’ve been wanting to make one of these Frankenbags in blue KFC fabrics. So I pulled out the scraps from my KFC blue sixteen patch quilt. Then I added those vibrant orange fabrics to wake it all up.

I just LOVE those pops of orange! I find it very exciting! And look at this lining! I pulled out several pieces from my stash as possibilities, but when I saw this in my drawer, I knew it was the one to use!

Like I’ve said before, I think the lining really matters! Nothing better than a surprising and beautiful lining in a bag!

I had a few more reader submissions of Frankenbags. Here’s the tutorial if you’re interested in making your own.

Ulla Eriksson made two bags and adjusted the size so they would fit in the basket of her bike.

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I love those little blocks on the blue and white bag. And I love the earthy and freeform feel of the brown and green one. I also love it that people are using my tutorial as a base and are adjusting it for their own use.

Diane Rieders-Levine made this fun pink and purple version with that crazy sharks tooth. I just love what it does when you cut in into strips. I have recently purchased a few yards of that. I’m going to have to dig it out and show it off!

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I love the warm reds and improv piecing on this bag. I can’t tell what the lining is but there’s a nice pop of color there!

This bag was made by Regina Decker. I really like how she used that big piece of the Kaffe embroidered flowers on this bag. That’s an unusual fabric with a really big design and I think Regina did a nice job of showing it off well. And the other side of her bag has some fun pops of color and shapes. Nice job Regina!

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Tamy Roberts send me these photos of her blue KFC Frankenbag. Hmmm. She may have been my inspiration for my blue bag! I love the deep blues she used with the lovely pops of green, pink, red and oranges. There’s a lot of fun stuff going on in this Bag! And that lining… you KNOW I love that!!!

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Thanks to all of you for sending me your photos! I just love seeing what everyone is making.

I had planned to get together with a friend tomorrow to do some agility training, but it got canceled. I think I may head out to the Banks Vernonia trail again in the morning before it gets crowded and hot. Then I’ll have the afternoon to get more sewing done. I’ll visit a friend at her new house in Canby later in the afternoon. Then back to work. My vacation has not been long enough. I’m very happy that I still have four weeks of vacation accrued!

I was itching to get out and get some fresh air and movement today so I took the dogs out for an 8.5 mile walk on the Banks Vernonia trail. The weather was perfect and we loved every minute of it.

The trail is a rails to trails path, so most of it is paved and the dogs are on leash. But there is a side trail we take where I let them off leash and they LOVE it! And it’s a lot easier for me to walk when they’re running free.

The last time we were on this trail there were a lot of trees down on the trail from the ice storm we had in January. But today it was all cleaned up. It was a nice walk. But this sign freaked me out just a little.

We didn’t see any bears, but we did see some wildlife. This first guy was huge! He contracted when I took the photo. Before he shrunk he was about six inches long!

In case you don’t know, that’s a banana slug. They are pretty gross!

Then there was this guy. Funny, but salamanders freeze when you get close to them. I’m pretty sure he thought we couldn’t see him.

Here’s a little closer look.

I had an early dinner after our hike and then hit the sewing room and quilted the red and yellow Frankenbag panels I made last night. Then I took a quick break to run to Joann’s to pick up ten yards of fusible fleece that I bought online (It’s on sale right now if you need some!).

Once home I hit the sewing room and finished up this bag. I just love the black and white jumble with this… and that red Jupiter is pretty fantastic too!

Here’s the back of the bag.

So, how do I decide what is the front and what is the back? Whatever panel I like the best is the front. It really doesn’t matter except in pocket and tag placement. I like the pocket to be on the back side and the tag to be on the front.

Speaking of the pocket, here’s the double pocket in this bag.

And of course, this tag puts a nice little bow on the whole thing.

A lot of people ask me where I get these tags, so here’s a link to the Etsy site. They have a lot of tags to choose from and their service is really good.

I keep getting photos of Frankenbags from blog readers. Here’s the latest batch.

Here’s one sent in by Viveka Berg. I just love all those wonky log cabin blocks… and all that color is pretty wonderful! And I really like the checkerboard quilting.

Here’s two bags from Ann Green. She made one smaller and one larger. I love the way she incorporated those cat panels. I have some of the dog print by the same designer and had it out the other night and was thinking about hos to incorporate it into a Frankenbag. I also love her bright colors contrasted with the blacks.

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This last one is from Golda Zewi in Turku, Finland. I just love that big and bold modern block on the front of this bag. I think this is the first one I’ve seen that uses a modern block like that. The color blocking is really powerful too. And I love the crumb piecing on the back of the bag and that one orange piece just makes me so happy!

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Thanks again to everyone who has sent in photos of their Frankenbags. I’m having so much fun getting to see them!

I left my brother’s place in Coquille, OR, Wednesday morning around 10:30 and arrived home around 3:00 in the afternoon. It was the first time I’ve visited my brother and his wife in more than a year-and-a-half. I typically go down there a couple times a year.

Tuesday day was my vaccine full potency day, so we figured this weekend was a good time for a visit.

They live on a lovely piece of property a few miles out of town with views of the neighboring hillsides and 15 acres of quiet and private property. Their yard near the house is a couple of those acres and includes several different gardens on different levels, an orchard, and several small sheep pastures.

Here is a picture of my boys in front of one of their gardens.

They also have a really lovely walking trail through the trees up on the hills above their house. It’s so nice to get up there and do a few laps to get some miles under your belt.

Rico was very interested in their sheep but didn’t make himself obnoxious about it. Bender seemed to develop quite a special relationship with them! They did this over and over!

We didn’t do much during the three days I was there, but it was really relaxing and so nice to feel normal for a few days. I was worried that I’d feel weird about being indoors with other people, but it felt like the most normal thing — I’m so glad we’re all vaccinated! I was so relieved and really enjoyed my time there.

We mostly hung out around the house except for a trip to the ocean each day. It was so good for us and the dogs really love going to the beach.

We really lucked out on the weather and had the beach nearly all to ourselves each time we went.

Being at the beach is always a great opportunity to pose with my boys. I wish the quality of this photo was better.

There were A LOT of outtakes in getting this photo taken. Those dogs just wanted to run!

Here’s one of my favorite photos from this beach visit.

We did a little drinking… Here we are having some beer and enjoying the weather and the view before we made fish tacos for dinner.

Here’s my first taco. It was a really good dinner! Fresh fish, home made tortillas, and lots of fresh things from the garden.

We followed dinner with some scotch and Yahtzee… a family after-dinner tradition!

I did finally get into my sewing room this evening and whipped up the panels for another Frankenbag. I was too tired to get much beyond this point.

And this one…

I’ll probably finish this up tomorrow. I’m going to go for a hike in the morning and get my car registered after that. Then I’ll do some sewing.

I’ve been getting so many reader submitted photos. So much creativity out there! Here’s what’s come in the last few days.

Cherry Naylor has been busy again! I love this one with all the different black and white prints. And the pops of green are so wonderful!

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And Lynne Hummel has really been cranking them out. I love the purple in this one and the tiddlywinks lining is always a winner! Lynne added a nice zipper pocket too.

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Sheila Plock has been busy making bags and I just love the fabrics she used for this one. I had a very similar stack of fabric on my cutting table a week or so ago. You might see this show up in my done pile soon!

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Tammy Anderson made this wonderful scrappy and eclectic version. I just love this! I’m betting there are a lot of memories among those blocks and fabrics.

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Laura Hillaker made this colorful and springy version. I love the way she incorporated the selvedge. That’s a really fun addition. I also love how she used the large pieces of fabric to show off the prints.

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Kris Cook sent photos of this bag she made from wonderful blue and orange fabrics. And I just love her lining! You can’t go wrong with blues, yellows and oranges! I do want to make a blue version. I think I’ll pull out all the blues left over from my blue 16 patch quilt and make a bag or two. There should be some fun fabric combos there.

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Deb Dolby really let these huge blooms sing in her version. Aren’t these colors gorgeous? That What a fun way to show them off.

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Nina Talbrant sent these photos of her bag. She said she participated in a Swedish quilting guild virtual sew along where some of the participants made Frankenbags. I love her scrappy approach. It feels like a well loved and comfy quilt.

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And finally, one of my favorite that anyone has made is by Brit Inger Johnsson. Aren’t these colors just fantastic? And I love how she did quilting horizontally and vertically. Ooh. I just love this one!!! It makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

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I just love it that everyone is really going for it with their linings! The lining is so important!

Thanks to everyone who has sent in bags! I can’t wait to see what else comes my way.

I’m without my sewing machine for a few days so I want to bring back couple of tutorials that I did in the past. I have so many new blog readers recently that I thought some would find these projects fun to do… and they make great gifts.

The first is a tutorial for a zipper pouch. I have made a LOT of zipper pouches in the past. I developed a few tricks over time that I really like. These pouches are all about the inset panel. That’s where the fun happens. This tutorial shows you how to construct the pouch… not how to piece the panels.

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Some of these panels are improv pieced, some are paper pieced… do whatever floats your boat! But make a pouch or two!

I’ve adapted this pattern for a lot of different sizes and shapes of pouches and have added zipper pockets over time. It’s nice to have a few tricks and techniques that you can apply to a lot of different pieces.

The other tutorial that’s fun is for a drawstring knitting project bag with a zipper pocket on the front. I’ve made a number of these. I use one for my small knitting projects. I have another one that I use for my “covid kit” in my car — it holds hand sanitizer, gloves, masks, disinfectant wipes, all in a neat package.

Here’s a few I made on this pattern.

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I carried this Frankenbag with me on my travels this week and it’s been pretty much perfect! It’s holding a couple of books, my iPad, computer and phone cables, my cosmetic bag, and some dog toys. I can’t be the only one who carries dog toys in their tote bag!

It’s really functional and already feels like it’s going to be an old favorite.

Four or five people have sent me photos of Frankenbags they’ve made. I’m struggling with really slow internet and it’s taking soooo long to upload photos, so I’ll work on getting those posted in the next blog post. Thanks to everyone who has sent all your fun photos!

We took a trip to the beach today and we’re all exhausted tonight! It was a beautiful day. The forecast called for rain, but we lucked out and actually had some blue sky.

You can see the dogs’ tracks all over the sand! We walked five miles on the beach. The dogs must have run 20!

It felt so good to get out and move around a little and it always feels great to see and hear the ocean. Here’s my brother and his wife leaving me in the dust as I stopped to take photos of the dogs.

As usual, Bender is an excellent poser.

Rico… not so much.

We had to scramble over some rocks to avoid the surf at one point. My brother led the way.

Seen in one of the little nooks and crannies in the rocks. . .

Do I look happy to be at the coast?

More adventures tomorrow.

I finished up this red and yellow Frankenbag tonight. I’m pretty sure this is the 20th one I’ve made!

It’s pretty hard to go wrong with KFC fabrics in the red and yellow colorways. And I love that these blocks came from different sewers. It makes this bag very special to me.

I had thought that first photo would be the back of the bag, but that large block with the yellow crackle border is just too good. So I changed my mind. The only difference it makes is where I place the pocket on the inside. I feel like the pocket should be alongside the back of the bag, not the front.

Here’s the other side, what I thought would be the front, but I’m calling it the back.

Still pretty good. But missing the POP of that larger piece of yellow crackle with those magic turquoise pieces.

I used the orange crackle for the lining with a yellow crackle pocket.

And of course, the tag! Holy hell. I just LOVE these tags!

I’m thinking something with some purple in it might be up next…

Sheila Plock has been going a little nuts making Frankenbags. She posted photos of three more bags today. She’s really on a roll! You can click on each image for a little bigger view.

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I’m really loving how much fun Sheila is having making these bags. And I love to see her using gorgeous and fun fabric for her linings! Don’t forget to use something fabulous for the lining!

She’s getting close to rivaling me in her production!

And her bags remind me that I’ve wanted to do something with some purple. And I might make another red and yellow one, but include some black and white jumble. It certainly worked in this quilt that I made in 2019.

We had some rain showers come through this afternoon but it cleared up nicely for our evening walk. We were all happy to get outside and stretch our legs.

One more day of work and then I have a week of vacation! I’m really looking forward to it.

I got the red and yellow panels that I made last night quilted this evening. I would have assembled the bag body, but I needed to make handles first and I felt too tired to get those sewn so decided to stop with the quilting.

Here’s the two finished panels with the handle fabric.

I just love the way the quilting makes this all feel so cohesive… like it’s just one big piece of crazy fabric!

And i love the views I get of these panels as I’m quilting them.

Look at all that color! So fantastic. Those little pops of turquoise here and there are pretty amazing!

I tried out a few fabrics for the lining and decided to go with this orange crackle. I’ll use the yellow crackle for the pocket.

I’ll probably get this all done tomorrow night. It will go together quickly from here on out.

I got a couple more photos of bags from a blog reader today. These are from Bonnie Carpenter. (Click on each photo for a larger image)

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I just love both of these. Look at all those thin strips on that first one, and the quilting is kind of insane! And the second one is so good! I love that black and white sharks tooth… I was so glad when it was finally produced in black and white. It does such crazy things when it’s used for sashing. And the bubble quilting on that second bag is pretty cool too. Maybe I’m going to have to branch out and do something other than straight line stitching! Might have to dig out my stitch regulator! Thanks for sending these in Bonnie!

It was really cool today. I actually had to turn my furnace up. I haven’t had my furnace up for a few weeks. There were even a few nice rain showers and and some hail that came through. It’s been such a dry spring here. Our rainy season should continue through May and into June. We haven’t had much rain to speak of for well over a month. I’m worried about what our fire season will look like if we don’t get some rain.

With all the storms we had today, the skies were gorgeous on our walk tonight.

I call that large sequoia in the center of this photo “Jack’s Tree” after a friend of mine who lives on the east coast. I think of him every time I walk past it and often send him photos of it to let him know I’m thinking of him.

Jack was very concerned about Rico with the toy on his head from last night. He texted me that I should google a certain phone number, and it turned out to be the phone number for the Oregon Humane Society!!!

So I took these photos of the dogs for Jack to show him how happy they are.

You can just see all the happiness on Bender’s face. Look how relaxed and natural he is.

And poor Rico. Hahaha! He just does NOT like to stop and pose. He looks like he’s being tortured!

He’s so sensitive. Such a big, beefy and confident guy, and he feels all the feels. He’s so sweet.

I’ve been thinking about digging into the blocks my friend gave me a few weeks ago to find a couple of panels for a bag that would be in reds, yellows and oranges. So I dug in and selected a couple of blocks that I thought would work.

Here’s the first one. It has mostly KFC fabrics in it.

Here’s the second one. Also mostly KFC fabrics.

Then I remembered that there were a few small simple blocks that were in the scraps that Wanda sent me so I dug those out.

A couple of weeks ago I ran across some panels of 2 inch squares of KFC fabrics that I had sewn a couple of years ago… intending to put them into zipper pouches. I thought these would work well for these panels.

Once I had all these pieces ready to go, I looked through my stash and selected a few fabrics in red, yellow and orange to compliment these blocks. And here’s what I came up with: the first panel.

And the other panel.

This really is a true Frankenbag with pieces from all over the place. I really like having pieces in these panels that were made by friends. It makes them special. I also like that it reads in the red family, but there are a lot of fun little pops of color everywhere.

I’ll probably get this quilted and get the outer bag body sewn together tomorrow night.

I received more photos of Frankenbags from blog readers today.

These first photos are two bags from Lynne Hummel. I really love all the indigo in these bags. It’s such a great neutral color to use with so many different prints and colors. I also like the strong horizontal lines on the center top photo. And, of course, there’s all that graphic black and white that I love so much. And that thin little yellow line in the photo on the top right? Well, it’s sort of everything.

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Lynne also added a zipper pocket on that bag at the top.

This next bag is from Linda Lock. I just love those big and bold pieces on this bag. And the floral handles are pretty fun too! I also really like how it’s all askew! That makes it so interesting.

Thanks to Lynne and Linda for sharing photos of their bags!

As I was walking the boys tonight the sky just got prettier and prettier. Rico was not happy that we had to stop to take a photo.

Holy cow. I really live in a gorgeous place!

I made up for Rico’s agony when we got home by putting a toy on his head.

Look how happy he is with this situation!