Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Sunday evening. I rambled at you last on this past Friday, by the end of the day the ice was out of the pond. It was quite a surprise how quickly it disappeared. The wind was blowing incredibly hard and it just kind kept overlapping the leading edge of the ice, and in a couple hours pushed it all down to our end of the pond. The snow has not all melted on the beach but the ice is gone. I was also surprised that the water level is just about where it was when the pond froze last fall. I thought it would come up higher. The debris has already begun to arrive. 

I began to clean up a little, I pulled a bunch of brush out of the water so it could dry and so the waves wouldn’t bury it in the sand. I’ll plug away at cleaning it up, a little at a time. Probably bitch about it until it snows again. It comes with the location I guess.

#22 for 2023 is complete, the top at least. 

I had fun with this one, very tedious but I like how it came out. I based the pattern on an 8” finished block, this made all the snowball blocks 4” finished. I used my Corner pop, popping at 1-1/2”. The rather interesting crosshatching is achieved using 1-1/2” corner beams. While the intent was to just use the leftovers from quilts #1-#21 and their respective back trimmings, I deviated a little. It did start out that way, but I liked the layout enough that when the scraps for particular fabrics ran out, I turned to the bolts and kept using the same fabrics rather than going scrappy. I liked the way it was going and opted to keep it going that way. My quilt, my rules. Carol was right, this one slowed me down a little. It took me 11 days from design to completion.

I have no idea what the next one will be. I promised a couple friends of our daughter, Erin, a baby quilt, so I need to design that and get it pieced. Maybe that will be next. Now that I will be pushed outside for spring cleanup etc. I will have less time for quilting. Truth be told probably a lot less energy as well.

We are supposed to be getting progressively warmer by midweek. It should finish most of the rest of the snow around here. Hopefully the wind doesn’t blow all the time, then I can get the debris burned as I clean it up. It will also be warm enough to get started cleaning up and organizing the new shed. As the weather warms there will be more and more outside chores to do.

Until next time, stay safe, and enjoy the warming weather as spring wakes up all the plants and the leaves and baby birds and animals. Always something new to see in the spring, you just have to keep your eyes open and look around. Enjoy.