agilejack

Here I am, continuing to enjoy a lovely summer in Portland. It’s been hot the last few days. Over 100 degrees, as a matter of fact. It’s supposed to be cooling off on Thursday. I will be ready for milder temps. And the air is really dirty and smoky. today We’re supposed to see that clear up as well.

So, guess what I’ve been doing. Of course I’m working. But I’m playing A LOT of pickleball. And with my continuing lessons I’m really seeing some improvement in my game! I also located a new drilling partner from the club who is interested in getting together a couple times a week to practice. We got together on Saturday afternoon and again on Sunday morning. He enjoys drilling just like I do. And he’s really appreciative of the drills I’m bringing to our practice. We ended our practice on Saturday with a few games with some people who were at the courts, and then went and had a casual dinner at a nearby pub.

They do say Pickleball is a very social activity! I was thinking earlier today how many new people I’ve made friends with since I started playing. It’s been so good for me after the isolation of the pandemic. And I love that complete strangers will just ask you if you want to play a game or two.

My teacher was telling me the other day that I’m too impatient… that I want to see too much improvement too fast. I found this image and shared it with him. He said it was me to a T!

I was on the courts for a lesson at 7:30 this morning and practiced until a little before 9. then we played a couple games before I headed home to work.

I had some friends over on Sunday evening for a birthday celebration. I was really hoping we could eat outside on a lovely evening, but it was still 100 degrees when they were here. So we ate in the house, but the dinner was good. And it was simple, which makes me even happier. I make the same meal for my friend’s birthday every year: Grilled salmon, oven roasted potatoes, Waldorf coleslaw, and desert is fresh peaches over vanilla ice cream. All accompanied by a nice bottle of wine.

I’ve been enjoying left overs for my lunches this week.

While my friend was here she asked if I would make her a table topper for Christmas. I have made her two in the past.

She wants one made in the same shape but said she wanted something with burgundy colors for the holidays. So I just took her back to my sewing room and we opened some drawers and pulled some fabrics. Here’s the first pull.

That’s probably not the final selection of fabrics, but it’s a good start. I think this collection of fabrics will work really nicely in a 16 patch.

I think my friend enjoyed helping pick out fabrics. She’s not as bold with color as I am so I think one or two of these make her a little uncomfortable! I think she will like them better when they are finished in 2 inch squares.

My tomatoes have been going crazy and they’re so good! I had so many that I took almost two lbs to my pickleball teacher this morning!

Rico had his regular sheep herding lesson on Saturday. It wasn’t nearly as warm as it’s been the last few days, but he still gets hot.

My boys have their annual vet check ups on Friday. I decided to take the entire day off. I’m guessing some pickleball will be played!

My upcoming vacation is on the calendar and my friend has made flight arrangements. I’ll be taking 2.5 weeks off. My friend will be here for two weeks. So we’re planning what we’ll do while she’s here and we’re planning what quilt we’ll make.

It’s Sunday night and I’m mourning the end of the weekend.

The big news for this week is that I finally decided to jump in and hang my scrappy KFC trip quilt above my bed. I needed more curtain rings for this larger rod. The package I had was only seven rings, which wouldn’t be enough to hold up this quilt.

So I ordered some from JC Penney and picked them up yesterday. It didn’t take long to get the rings in place and get the quilt hung this afternoon.

And I have to say… this makes me pretty happy!!!

I posted this photo on the Kaffe Fassett Collective Facebook page and one person commented, “A bit much.” It made me laugh!!! Like something made from these gorgeous fabrics is ever too much!!!

And that, you may not be surprised, is the only fabric-related thing I’ve done this week.

Instead, I’ve been playing A LOT of pickleball. I played Monday evening, took Tuesday off, played Wednesday evening, had a lesson early Thursday morning, then played a few games, then did some practice with a friend Thursday night. Then I met my teacher this morning at 8:15 for a quick lesson, then we played until noon! I’m exhausted and will probably be in bed early tonight. Well, early for me.

A fun thing happened during pickleball today. In one game I got what’s called an ATP, which stands for “Around the Post.” In pickleball, when your opponent hits a ball that goes wide, you can hit it around the post of the net and back on to their court without going over the net. The shot is typically very low and difficult to return. My ATP was the game-winning shot. The club celebrates ATPs with a photo of the player with a trophy.

I didn’t get to keep the trophy. How sad. It was a fun way to end a really good game.

I’m really seeing the result of my lessons during games. I played the first four games with my teacher today and then we split up. I think I only lost one game all day!!! And that was only by 2 points. It’s really fun to get to play with my teacher. He gives gentle suggestions during the game that help me remember what we’ve been working on.

It’s so much fun to see my improvement. And several of the people I play with have mentioned how much better I’m playing.

Yesterday, Rico had his sheep herding lesson down in Molalla instead of our regular spot. On the way home I stopped at a friend’s place in Canby, Oregon, to pick black berries. She has a lot of black berry bushes and had told me they were really plentiful.

Here’s a view of the driveway that takes you to the back of her two-acre property.

The plants lining that driveway are blackberries. They are pretty much everywhere in Western Oregon and Washington. They are not native and are terribly invasive. You see huge mounds of them all over the place.

Another fun fact about blackberries is that they have terrible thorns. They almost reach out and grab you and hold onto you! My arms and legs are pretty scratched up today.

I had one in my back yard years ago that literally ripped my pants right off of me!!!

My friend was right… there were a LOT of berries available for picking!

The berries can be very delicate when they’re ripe. I had juice all over myself!

I managed to pick four good size containers in the time I was there.

Look at how gorgeous these are!!!

And they’re so sweet and delicious! Nothing like eating a beautiful ripe berry right off the vine while it’s still warm from the sun!

Once I got home I froze the berries on cookie sheets first so they wouldn’t be frozen in one big clump.

I ended up with six quart bags of berries in my freezer. These will be so wonderful in the cold winter months!

My small cherry tomatoes are doing really well. I’m also getting larger tomatoes now from a friend who lives a street over. The arrival of those larger tomatoes means a BLT must be eaten! I had my first one of the season yesterday for lunch and it was sooo good!

Back to work tomorrow. We are scheduled to go live on our new database tomorrow, and there’s a lot of work coming up this week.

I have scheduled some vacation in September… 2.5 glorious weeks! My friend will be visiting again and we’re making plans fr what quilt we’ll make when she’s here.

I found them! I found my curtain rings! After looking in every drawer and cabinet three or four times for a week, I found them under a small pile of fabric scraps on my cutting table!

So I took a few minutes tonight, while my sewing room is all torn up, to get my NY Beauty wall hanging up on the wall.

And now the next thing on my list is to get my sewing room back in order. Oh, and I have to adjust that curtain rod. It’s not even and it will drive me nuts!

My sewing room is a mess… Truly a mess. I still have piles of indigo batiks sitting in bins on the floor… sitting there since I was working on my Wensleydale quilt. I have stacks of fabric all over my chest of drawers in that room. I’m thinking the state of my sewing room might be part of what is keeping me out of there!

We had a good weekend. Saturday found us at Rico’s sheep herding lesson. We had three weeks off so he was really happy to be out there again with his wooly friends and he did such a great job! What a good kid.

On our way home we stopped at the field with the creek to let the boys run. They haven’t been there for so long and they really had fun.

Bender took off on his own and headed through the trees and brush for the creek. I heard a big splash and then I could hear his collar tags as he was shaking off. He came back looking like this.

I’m pretty sure he took a nose dive into the muddy part of the creek! He didn’t seem to mind.

Here he is in the “before” photo.

There were several other people in the park with dogs. They all kept their distance, but as we were getting ready to leave a man who was with some dogs came up and was asking me about border collies. One of the dogs he had with him, his “grand dog,” was a border collie, corgi, cattle dog mix and it was really cute. He said he had always wanted a border collie and had recently purchased some property and was anxious for a herding dog.

My boys, of course, were good boys as we conversed. They never looked at him.

It was a really beautiful day. It was good for all of us to get out.

As we were heading for the freeway to make our way home I saw a sign for “U-pick” peaches, so I made the turn and picked ten pounds.

A good summer peach is my favorite fruit. I eat a LOT of them every summer and I don’t feel at all guilty about it.

I picked a nice little harvest of my strawberries this evening. I’m going to have them with my breakfast tomorrow.

I played pickleball today for almost four hours! I had a blast but was sooo tired by the time I was done. I can see the benefits of my lessons! I’m doing a better job of holding my own out there with the better players. And I’m loving every minute of it.

Another work week on deck. I’m starting to plan some vacation time in September. I need some time away!

I still haven’t had the motivation to get into my sewing room and get busy. I keep realizing how happy I am that I’m not in a creative funk, like I’ve suffered occasionally over the past year. I think I just burnt myself out with some feverish projects. So this little break has been good for me.

I’ve been busy. Work is hectic because we’re doing a database conversion and we’re going live on the new system in 10 days. So I’ve been consumed during the day and exhausted at night.

Our Summer has continued to be gorgeous and I’m so happy that I’m getting a good tomato crop for my evening salads.

I only grew sun golds and sweet millions this year because they’re the tastiest. I usually grow more cherry varieties and end up only eating these two. So I went for broke in planting this year. They are so tasty!

A week ago today I drove up to the Tacoma area with my brother and sister in law. The traffic was terrible and it was a bit of a stressful drive. But we ended the evening at my 96 year old aunt’s home and my cousin and his wife joined us for dinner. We ate spaghetti with the sauce I made, with a salad made from my SIL’s Garden lettuce and tomatoes from my aunt’s garden. We bought some nice baguettes on our way out of Portland and they made yummy garlic bread. It was a tasty meal and everyone loved my spaghetti sauce. My aunt was very happy to have some left over.

We got up Saturday morning and hit the road for my other cousin’s vineyard in Hanville, WA. It was a gorgeous day and it only took us about 1.5 hours to drive there.

My cousin has about 7 acres of grapes that he purchased about ten years ago. He’s trying to raise his grapes organically, so no pesticides or herbicides. This also means a lot more work. It’s a beautiful area and it was so fun to see, literally, the fruits of his labor.

Harvest is usually early in the fall, so these grapes have a good deal of growing to do.

We spent the first hour or so walking among the rows of grapes as my cousin explained how he’s improved the land and how he takes care of the grapes to get the best crop. It’s a huge amount of manual work.

My cousin’s corgi joined us for the tour of the grapes.

It was interesting that the different varieties of grapes look so different. I think he’s growing at least six or seven different varieties.

While we were walking the rows we spotted a few special tiny visitors. Only about an inch long!

The countryside is so beautiful up there! It really reminds me of the Willamette Valley of Oregon… rolling hills with beautiful green fields surrounded by Douglas fir trees.

After the tour of the grapes my sister in law and I hopped in the car and drove 1.5 miles with my cousin’s fiancé to pick up some food at the local bakery right on the Puget Sound.

The bakery had a selection of my cousin’s wine for sale.

It was such a gorgeous day! From my cousin’s vineyard you’d never know the water was so close. What a wonderful treat. And his winery is up out of the Tsunami zone, which is always nice.

When we got back my cousin showed us the actual winery. He’s been building this over time. This is where he presses the grapes, makes the wine, ages the wine in barrels, and bottles and labels the finished product.

We finished the tour in the newest part of the building where the wine ages in oak barrels.

This section of the winery is still under construction and will eventually contain a small tasting room for customers. Each of those barrels is full of wine and I remember my cousin telling me that each one each will fill about 300 bottles! Can that be true?

My cousin pulled a sample of each of his varieties from the barrels for us to taste.

It was fun to taste how different the varieties are. Some had notable acid, some were fruity, some were nutty. They were all really good!

We probably took about an hour to taste all the wines and eat a little lunch.

That’s my cousin in the overalls. You can tell that we interrupted his work!

Here’s my cousin and his fiancé with a wooden sign my sister in law made for his winery.

His winery is named after the village in Northern Italy from where our grand parents immigrated to the US.

What a great day! It was so fun to get to spend some time with my cousin and his fiancé at his winery. I like that I can now picture it when people talk about his. And I came home with a case of wine! It will be well enjoyed throughout the long winter.

We got back to my aunt’s house in time for dinner and got to spend some time with my aunt, which is the thing she likes the most.

My other cousin and his wife, from dinner the first night, joined us for breakfast Sunday morning. They brought each of us a collection of home made jams and jellies my cousin’s wife made.

Because I told her how much I love a spicy black berry jelly she brought me a big jar of that one! These will also be thoroughly enjoyed throughout the upcoming long winter.

We drove back to my place Sunday morning. My brother did me the huge favor of hanging some curtain rods for me that will be used to display my hand made quilts. One in my bedroom is heavier duty and will hold various throw size quilts for display.

The other one is a smaller one hung above my sewing table and will hold wall hangings that I’ve made.

The quilts will be hung on the rods using curtain rings with clips attached. I purchased two different size rings several months ago and I can’t find them for the life of me. I’ve turned my house upside down and can’t find them anywhere.

I know that if I want to find them all I have to do is buy more!

Since my brother had to stand on my sturdy sewing table to put up this rod up, my sewing room looks like a tornado came through.

I have a feeling I might have put the rings in some wire basket drawers in the closet in my sewing room. I haven’t had the time to wade through the carnage yet to check there.

I’ve continued to take pickleball lessons and some friends from pickleball have joined in so it’s more of a class now which is working really well. We all went together and bought our teacher a gift certificate to an online pickleball shop. He was so touched!

In addition to lessons, I’ve been playing at least three times each week recently. And I’m having a blast!

My boys say hello! They got to hang out with Ernie while I was gone last weekend.

Just checking in to let everyone know I’m ok. I’ve been really busy. Life is good. I’m actually enjoying a bit of a break from sewing. And I’m very happy that I’m not feeling a creative dry spell. I just need a bit of a break.

Maybe it’s because this summer has been so glorious here in Portland. It was hot today, but the temps have been so lovely and the days are just one gorgeous one after another.

Our summers can be glorious, but they can also be short. I always feel like I have to take advantage of every summer minute while they’re here, because they’re gone so quickly. The days are already getting shorter and before you know it, it will be dark at 5 pm.

So I’ve been sort of obsessed with pickleball the last few weeks. I’m continuing my lessons and am LOVING them! The man who is teaching me is really a lovely man and he’s a really good teacher. He works me really hard in my lessons and I love it. I’m exhausted by the time each one is over. People at my club are commenting on how much better I’m playing! It feels really good to see things coming together. I’m not a morning person and I’m meeting my coach at 7:30 am before work and before anyone else is on the courts. And I love it!

The biggest complement my coach gave me the other day was, “you are a fighter!” He knew that I had a couple weeks of frustration when playing, and he liked the way I worked to figure out what was wrong and kept fighting, instead of just giving up. He and I are a good match for coach and student.

I’m heading up to Washington again this weekend to visit my 96 year old aunt and take a drive up to visit my cousin’s winery. My brother and his wife will join me. I’m looking forward to a nice weekend out and about. A friend of mine (the one who owns Ernie) will come and stay with my boys. I made a big pot of spaghetti sauce this weekend so my aunt won’t have to cook dinner.

Before you ask… I don’t have a recipe. I just make it up as I go! Hamburger, Italian sausage, tomato sauce and diced tomatoes, onion, garlic, herbs and lots and lots of mushrooms. Cook it for hours. Easy peasy!

To get ready for the trip I had to take my car into the shop for an oil change. While it was there they told me that one of my tires was unsafe to drive on. So I got to buy a new set of tires. The last time I bought tires was seven years ago! I drive so much less since the pandemic hit. It’s the lack of the work commute that’s making the difference.

These tires were not cheap. I wish they brought me more joy. But it is nice to know that I’m safe on the road.

I’m happy to report that I’ve been enjoying my home grown tomatoes for a couple of weeks. I only grew two varieties of cherry tomatoes, but I chose the sweetest ones — sung olds and sweet millions. They are soooo good!

I also have some wonderful blooming things on my patio. First is crocosmia.

It’s the most gorgeous color of deep orange-red.

My new hostess are also blooming… the prettiest pale purple blooms.

The apples have started falling from my tree so Bender is having a heyday. I had the sliding door open this morning as I worked and heard “crunch, crunch, crunch” and looked down to see Bender eating an apple next to me. I picked it up and threw it outside and Bender was sure we were playing fetch!

Come on… throw it!

Back to enjoying my summer!

On Sunday a friend of mine from Utah contacted me and said she was coming into town to look at houses. She has recently retired and she and her husband have targeted the Pacific Northwest as the place they want to spend their retirement. She flew into town on Monday evening.

I spent most of Sunday scrambling to get my house ready for company. She just left for home this morning.

It was so much fun to have her staying here with me while she explored houses, neighborhoods and communities. I’ve known her for many years and originally came to know her through dogs. We did dog agility together for many years when I lived in Utah. After I moved to Portland she got into quilting. I helped her learn paper piecing during one of my vacation visits back home.

And recently she and her husband have started playing Pickleball! It’s like we live parallel lives. She brought her Pickleball paddle with her so we could play together. We played THREE times on Tuesday! I had a lesson early in the morning and she joined at the end. Then we drove to another park and played for 1.5 hours. Later that evening we ordered some takeout and ate dinner on the patio. Then we headed out to practice some Pickleball. and then last night we went and played for almost three hours, then finished up with some really good Mexican food. We had so much fun! I’m really hoping she ends up living close enough to me that we can play Pickleball, quilt and hang out with our dogs on a regular basis!

That’s us documenting the fact that we were playing Pickleball!

My only recent foray into anything fabric related was a purchase I made of 3/4 yard of this wide backing fabric that I found on Etsy.

Why on earth did I buy that? I saw this string quilt on a Kaffe Fassett Collective Facebook page last week and absolutely fell in love with it. This fabric appears in every block in this quilt, and it’s so fantastic and this fabric makes the quilt extra special and I so good combined with Kaffe Fassett Collective fabrics! This gorgeous quilt was made by Kathy Polnaszek.

I asked Kathy what that fabric is and she told me it’s this.

A quick internet search directed me to a quilt store that only had it for sale in 3 yard pieces. Remember, this is a wide back!!! I was really lucky to find a 3/4 yard piece on Etsy.

I just LOVE string quilts and have been wanting to make another one. I’ve made several over my years of quilting and love making them. So my take on this will be in my future some day.

My dogs absolutely loved having my friend here. They definitely know when they’re in the company of someone who loves dogs! Rico really fell for her. Bender discovered quickly that she was willing to throw his ball. She even got Bender back into his balancing stunts.

And tonight my dogs are wondering why I’m so boring.

I’m very happy to report that after 1.5 years since my last one, I got my hair cut on Friday! And it feels wonderful!

She gave me a full styling, but I’ll let my natural curls fly on a daily basis! My hair was such a mess and needed to be cut badly.

And one last thing I’ll share with you tonight… on a walk through our neighborhood on Monday I ran across another free pile and came home with this.

How could I possibly walk past it???

I’ve been slacking for a few days. I took off work Friday, Monday and had a holiday today. So I’ve been resting and recreating for a few days. And it’s been wonderful.

Thanks to those of you who reached out to see if I was ok.

So, what did I do during those five days off? Mostly I played with my boys and played pickleball! In five days I played Pickleball five times! I’m actually taking some lessons in an effort to get better. A guy I met and had a lot of fun playing with in one of the clubs I joined offered to give me some coaching. It’s been really fun to concentrate on things that will help me get better and he’s a really good teacher. I’m already seeing my play improve. He’s working on becoming a certified pickleball coach so we can both get something out of this.

This photo was from a class I took last week with one of the clubs I belong to. I’m in the very center with a Kelly green t-shirt… standing next to the net,

In those five days off I didn’t spend one moment in my sewing room. I think I had been pretty frenzied for the last month or so ago and I just needed a break. Luckily, the break wasn’t needed because I’m feeling a creative dry spell. I just needed to take some time off. I’m feeling ready to get back in there and am anxious to start something new.

So, over the last week or so I’ve seen a good number of people on social media and on blogs posting all their quilting/sewing finishes in the first six months of 2023. Amazingly, these people actually FINISH pieces… they don’t just finish one stage of them.

So I thought I’d share my finished pieces for 2023. Except that I’m going so share things where I’ve finished significant stages, and not a finished, quilted and bound item. Although there are a couple of those thrown in.

The first half of the year has proven to be a good one for finally wrapping up some unfinished projects, with a couple new things thrown in.

January started out with finishing my Jewel Frames quilt top. The blocks for that top had been languishing for a few years in a box. It was time to get this done.

This will be a second quilt for my bedroom. I still need to make the backing and get it to my long armer quilter. There is really no hurry on this one.

I had a bit of a Frankenbag kick in January, making one for a friend of mine who was going on a cruise in February, and an extra made from the same scraps left over from my Jewel Frames quilt.

The biggest finish in February was the starburst quarter log cabin quilt that I’m making for my brother. This is another one that had been sitting in a box for quite some time. All I had to do was sew the rows together and add the setting triangles and borders. My friend helped me finish it all up when she visited in February.

This is ready to go to my long arm quilter.

The next February finish was my friend’s Aboriginal Fabric 16 patch that we made while she was visiting. I forced her to make a 16 patch and she didn’t love it when we started. But by the time we were done she had fallen in love with it.

This really makes me want to make one for myself! It would be perfect in my living room.

The only thing I finished in March was my Jumble Quarter Log Cabin quilt top made from left over blocks from the quilt for my brother. I feel like I spent every waking moment in March on this thing!

This is currently in the hands of my long arm friend who is trading quilting for some quilt tops. It will be fun to see it done.

The only thing I finished in May was something that was truly finished. I sewed the binding on my NY Beauty wall hanging. This had been sitting unfinished for such a long time!

Sewing on that binding was a bit of a break for me since I worked on Wensleydale blocks all throughout May. I finished sewing the quilt top together in early June.

I thoroughly enjoyed making these blocks and am really happy with how it turned out. I do plan to make another one, but it will be out of Australian Aboriginal fabrics. I’m still formulating that idea before I start cutting and sewing.

And finally, in June I finished sewing the blocks together for my Japanese X & + Quilt. This is another project that had been sitting unfinished for far too long.

It still needs borders but I’m calling it for June.

I’m happy to have a short work week coming up. I have pickleball to play!!!

Luckily, my boys are pretty easy and are happy to get some cookies and an occasional walk.

I headed out this morning to play pickleball and had a fantastic time! I played from around 11:30 until a little after 3:00. And tonight I feel great!

I didn’t get much done after I got home. I sat out in the back yard in the shade and replied to comments on this blog, tossed the toy for the dogs over and over and over and over again. I think I was out in the back yard with the boys for several hours. Then at around 7 pm I fed all three of us and then hunkered down in my sewing room.

I had a bit of a conversation with myself… “You know, Anne. You could just go in there and sew one row of that quilt together and then call it quits.” I responded, “Get your ass in that sewing room and finish that top!” And I did!

All I had to do is square up and sew the blocks of the last two rows together.

Here’s the two finished sections waiting to be pinned together.

Then I carefully pinned that final seam and then folded it all up to get ready to sew.

I’ve mentioned this before, but I always fold up my quilt tops to sew those final seams. this helps me manage all that bulk. I really hate trying to manipulate all that fabric, spread out all over the place, through my machine.

I made a quick video tonight showing how I do this. After pinning I fold up the quilt pieces onto itself, leaving about four inches of the pinned edge above the folded fabric. Take a look at this video to get an idea of how I do this.

Then a final pressing and it all went back up on the design wall for a photo.

And a little bit of eye candy…

I was just going to walk away at this stage but decided to get it onto the bed in my guest room to see how big it is.

Hmmm. I’m liking the way it looks in that room!

Although the blocks are all sewn together, this top is not yet done. I still have to add borders. It looks like I’ll need another 7 or 8 inches of borders on each side. I’ll look more closely in the coming days, take some measurements, and decide on thickness of borders.

This picture shows the size compared with the quilt that’s already on that bed.

I’ll enjoy walking past that room and seeing this on the bed for a few days.

Once I got that done I realized that my design wall was free so I tossed the batik disappearing four patch blocks up to see how they look.

I still don’t love that this is square. I might add some borders to the top and bottom to make it rectangular. I’ll think about this for a few days. It will sew together really fast once I decide what to do.

Bender, ever faithful, waited for me to finish sewing.

I was supposed to meet a friend to do some pickleball drills tonight but the courts were all busy so we had to cancel. So instead I played with the doggos and dug in on my X & + quilt. I didn’t finish it, but I’m getting closer!

I trimmed and sewed together row 5 out of 7 rows. Then I sewed that row to the row I finished a few night ago.

Once that was sewn and pressed I sewed that section to the three other rows that are done. Then I got it all pressed and back up on my design wall.

So just two more rows to go. I should get it done this weekend. And this time I really mean it!

I’m ready to be done with this. In the mean time, here’s some eye candy.

While I was out in the back yard with Bender and Rico this evening I took a look at my roses. They’ve really been gorgeous this year. I think this might be the most spectacular bloom I’ve ever seen on this pink tea rose. It’s just covered with blooms.

Each bloom is only about two inches across. These roses are hardy. I basically ignore them and they flourish! Here’s a closer look.

This next one is another bush with delicate pink blooms. The aroma of this one is so gorgeous. The blooms on this one are about four inches across.

I also noticed that my apples are getting pretty big. These are actually ready for picking in July each year.

There’s only a few branches of this tree that have any apples. And that’s just fine with me. I had so many a few years ago I had my yard guy haul away garbage cans full! If you don’t get them picked up they attract rats! I just don’t need that many apples. These aren’t great for eating, but they dry well and make good apple sauce. I’m not sure what kind of apples they are. The tree is pretty old.

Rico has a sheep herding lesson tomorrow down in Molalla. I’m going to try to find a strawberry stand on the way home. I haven’t had any fresh Oregon strawberries yet this summer and I need some!

I haven’t gotten much sewing done this week. And I’m ok with that. I had hoped to finish my X & + top over the weekend and that just didn’t happen.

What have I done instead? Well, I played pickleball Monday night and again Wednesday night. I don’t remember what I did on Tuesday night.

Tonight I met some friends at another friend’s house to do some dog agility training. These are friends I haven’t seen for some months. One is my friend who gave me her mom’s Featherweight last summer.

I didn’t feel very motivated to get out and run agility, but I’m really glad I went. Rico had a blast and was so happy to be out there. And it was great to see my friends. Here’s few photos from our evening.

This is Sandy and her dog Trip. This is Sandy’s place. It’s way on the other side of Portland from me but was worth the drive tonight.

This is Stacy and Boon on the teeter totter. He’s a big dog and really sweet too. He’s waiting until the teeter hits the ground to get off of it.

This is Barb and Bruce Lee. Barb is the one who gave me her mom’s Featherweight.

When we were done and hanging round talking, Sandy’s husband came out with some home made Margaritas! A perfect way to end the evening.

When we were done Bender and Rico got a nice session of fetch in one of Sandy’s fields.

So, here’s what I’ve been working on. I think I’m looking for distractions from finishing that X &+ quilt. A sure sign I’m not loving finishing a project!

So, I remembered that a friend of mine had said she was interested in a purple and teal Frankenbag. So when I made the panels for one from the fabrics left over from the disappearing four patch I made last week, I thought of her. I sent her photos and she loves it. So I’ll be finishing it for her.

And because several people will ask, you can find my tutorial for making your own Frankenbag here.

I dug into my batik stash to find some purple fabric for the lining and remembered that most of my batik stash was purchased before I started buying half yards. So most of the batiks are third yards. I need a half yard for a lining.

I did find this fabric combo in a bin of full yards I bought on sale last year. And I really like it. It’s bold! And I love a bold lining. And it brings a darker purple to this, which I think it needs, and it brings in more teal.

I like how it looks with this bag. The divided slip pocket and zipper pocket will be made from the lighter green and teal fabric.

So now I just have to finish it. Luckily my friend isn’t in a hurry and is, in fact, in Europe right now.

Quite often people ask me where I buy my bag handles. I actually make them. I use faux leather (vinyl) and cut it into 3 inches by 24 inches. Then fold it in thirds and clip.

Then I top stitch along each side.

My machine sews through this vinyl like it’s butter! and in no time I have some really nice handles. I like the vinyl because it makes the bag feel more high end. I prefer it to a fabric handle for my bags.

I like the vinyl because it makes the bag feel more high end. I prefer it to a fabric handle for my bags.

Bender developed the funny habit last summer of sleeping underneath a suspended dog bed on the patio. He’s under there every day. He makes quite a commotion when he comes out!

Yesterday was the summer solstice and it was a perfect day here in Portland. It is probably my favorite day of the year. I just love the long light on summer evenings. It does make me sad to know that the sun is now retreating to the Southern Hemisphere.

After the rain we had over the weekend, it’s cleared up and we have some lovely weather on the way.

This picture is taken right in front of my house looking due north at the start of our evening walk a few days ago. The skies here are so amazing!