Dan's Ramblings

Dan here again, sick of me yet? Been asking Carol that about every day for over 50 years. Still here so I guess she ain’t yet, although I’m sure some days she was close to being. She is still under the weather and not up to doing much of anything. You probably figured out that anyway, what with me rambling away again.

I had to take my truck for service yesterday, seems the car dealerships get slower every time I go. I was only at the dealers for an hour and a half but it seems that after my walk the day was done. Yesterday, being Thursday, means another week of 2021 is in the books. This week completed week 15 of the year. 

This week just completed was my worst all year as far as my totals. That said, I still managed to walk 4.9 miles more than the 38.9 needed to be on schedule. Being on schedule is becoming almost comical, I currently have almost 162 miles saved up by walking well over that needed to be on schedule.

For lack of anything else to talk about I guess I will begin describing the make up of the current quilt under construction. To start the process I need to bring your mind back to the last quilt top I made, Rona 15. 

After I finished it I told you I made way too many sections of the piano key border. 

In the sashing strips last time I popped off opposite corners of the strip. I saved these ~ of course I saved them, they can be used for lots of things. 

They are limited a little as they all go in the same direction. This means that they wouldn’t work as V-block units unless you had more fabric to cut for the other side of the V. However they would work for 1”, 1-1/2” and 2” finished make up triangles for Corner Popped II units. They could be 1”x 2” or 2” x 4” Split Rects units. They are not my normal colors but I figured that with the border already started and these pink triangles to go along with all the pieces I didn’t use up on the last quilt, I was sure I could do something and build a quilt from this. The pieces I would use to make whatever idea I came up with would be gone at any rate. Remember the name of this whole series of quilts is Using Up My Stash, the Rona quilts being just a subset of that.

I decided to use the pink triangles and pair them with more of the scraps and make 1” x 2” Split Rect units. Playing on graph paper quickly showed they would pair well with 1/2” square triangles to make an interesting 5” finished block. 

I’m sure it has a name, I really do not care, precisely why I stopped reading quilt books and magazines. My ideas usually come from my head, if someone else did the same thing , then I guess it was a good idea.

I found this bolt of fabric in the storage stash 

and thought that would work for the sashing strips. I knew that I wanted to do the same type of sashing strip etc. as I used last time but using a narrower sashing strip limited me. So I turned to my tool box and pulled out my Corner Pop III. Corner Pop III gives me a 3:1 ratio, height to width. This meant I could pop at the 2-1/2” line on the tool and have a width that did not exceed my 1” finished sashing strip and would end 2-1/2” up the side. This would work great because the blocks were based on 2” finished units so the top of the triangle would not line up at the seam in the block.

I started with the orange that matched the pink in the same fabric line. 

Made a few samples but did not like the outcome, (forgot to take picture, oops) the orange did not pop out as much as I wanted. I found a bolt of this at the storage unit and liked it much better.

The color for the half square triangles were chosen because the light blue/white was from the same fabric line and was already in the studio. The turquoise I chose because I liked the pop of brightness it added. Besides, the only wheels I use are the ones under my truck.

This is the direction I am heading with for and will keep you posted as necessary. 

Hopefully, Carol will be back to her old self and she can keep you entertained next week and give me a chance to make some progress. Lots of pieces and lots of trimming and these are only 5” finished blocks. What was I thinking?

Well, you all know what I was thinking, “go small or don’t go at all”. At least when talking about blocks, when talking about the quilt my concept changes to “go big or go home”. What are you all thinking and talking about? Ready for retreats and classes? Where do your quilt ideas come from? Do they only come from patterns?

I know there may well be some of you reading this blog that could easily make the different quilts I describe. This is why I go into the detail I do. If someone wants a little more detail or clarification on something, that’s what the comment section is for, as some of you have already used. I never know if more detail is better or not. In the old days, at least at a lecture or trunk show, I could see the eyes roll up as you fell asleep and know when to stop. In this venue I do not have this luxury. So comments are helpful but not necessary.

Remember to have fun, I do. And 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.