Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

The weather has been lovely, lets hope it continues. Over the weekend Carol and I went to our oldest daughter Vanessa’s family and had a nice outdoor visit. We watched grandson Jakob shoot his arrows and use his BB gun at the target in the driveway.

Vanessa made home made pizzas that her husband, Lucas, cooked up in his propane pizza oven. 

All was quite tasty.

Since our last visit, I have been working on the border for Rona 15 or Dash to the Stars as I am beginning to be more prone to call it. As Carol and I discussed what I might use for a final border, she suggested a piano key border of the same bright fabrics I had used in the churn dash blocks.

I thought that was a wicked good idea. So I figured I would make keys for a 4” finished border. I cut the keys 5” x 1 3/4”. I knew they were too long but I have learned that it is safer to build “blocks” of 8 keys then trim them to the correct length. This gives me an opportunity to correct possible sewing errors and maybe keep the keys straight and even.

I don’t like to count but I did do the math to know how many keys I would need on each side. I don’t know why I bothered because knowing and not making way too many are two separate concepts. Of course I made way too many. 

It should be easy for all of you to see how I end up with lots of orphan blocks. I guess I need to use them up somewhere. I am thinking of a way to use them on the back this time. That idea will require some further thought.

I made all four sides and attached the long sides and then began to think about what I might use for corner stones to anchor the corners to the rest of the quilt. I had used 4-1/2” finished Churn Dash blocks in the body of the quilt top, then framed them with a 3/4” finished frame. I had already decided on the 4” finished border so going to a 3” Churn Dash with a 1/2” finished frame was not a big leap. I made the four corner stone blocks and attached them to the rest on Sunday so I could get an outside picture to show you all how the finished top came out. 

I hope you enjoyed it. I’m sure Carol will talk about it when it floats to the top of the pile to get quilted.

I am currently sitting by the fire, actually the first fire this spring. 

It is Sunday night, the temps are not too bad and the firewood is dry and burns hot. The sun has long since set and the last vestiges of the day’s light are disappearing quickly. The view over the pond is breathtaking. 

The quacking of the tree frogs rise and fall in intensity for reasons only they know. When they stop the sounds are instantly missed and silence overtakes the night.

Enjoy your week, I will meet with you again on Friday so until then: Remember, where ever you go, there you are, if I’m supposed to meet you there and you get there first, draw a blue line where we planned to meet. If I get there first, I’ll rub it out.