Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

A nice calm Thursday evening out by the fire. Tonight’s view up the pond. 

I finally was able to buy the steel that I wanted for my fire pit. It has taken almost all summer, I now have it and put it in place as soon as I got it home. 

The problem was I was burning out the lower “logs” in the fire place. The back had eroded half way through and is cracked, the sides had started also. This is my attempt to mitigate further deterioration of the “logs”. When I ordered the steel I was asked how thick. I said that I thought that 1/4” would probably warp in the heat, he agreed that was possible so I said “lets do it once, so give me 3/8”. I then asked if he thought that would warp, he just looked at me weird and said it seemed unlikely. 

Wood still seems to burn ok, it also seems logical that the heat from the fireplace will radiate longer with all the steel getting hot. I was wondering how hot it gets, but Carol said I shouldn’t touch it. Probably best.

I have moved along with my crawlspace project. I have removed more of the items that have been stored under there for no apparent reason. The only reason I could come up with why the stuff was there was because it was going to be a pain in the butt to remove it. And yes it was, big chunks of concrete that someone had tried to use as a jacking pad and they had broken. They are gone now. 

I leveled up the ground and have placed down heavy duty plastic and sealed the seams on several sections. I have removed the existing sand in some locations to lower grade and to make trenches in others. The trench will be filled with stone, (when I can get it delivered) more stone will be placed around the sump pump basin, then the rest of the plastic will be laid out and stone spread over that. Once I have the stone level where I want it I will replace the PT plywood on top of the stone to crawl on. At least that is the plan. It made sense when I thunk it up and appears to be going along fairly smoothly. I had forgotten just how much fun busting your butt in a crawl space really is. I have done worse crawl space jobs than this, so I should just be glad this project isn’t that bad.

I showed you quilt #24 last time I rambled. Since then I have created and completed #25 for 2024. 

2024-25

Inspiration for this one came as I was again traveling back in time going through bins of orphan blocks. Remember, orphan blocks are blocks that when created had no real need or were not created with a particular quilt in mind. The blocks that I found to work with this time were made to demonstrate different possibilities using the Large Square II tool. I made these several years ago when we were still vending at Maine Quilts. They hung clothesline fashion across the front of the both. 

I took the twelve I needed of the more interesting ones, leaving the rest for another quilt. I had a little of the pink that had been being stored with the blocks, (sometimes I surprise myself) and used the common green polka dot to help give some uniformity to the top. I had to use smaller borders on the top and bottom for all three borders because I needed width and not height to keep me below my “not to exceed” height. 78” in height is pushing it in order to get the backing out of two width of fabric cuts so the seam is horizontal on Lena the Longarm. I again used the green last, just as I had in the blocks, and it tied everything together quite nicely.

I went back to the bins and started organizing by size the different blocks and units that are left. The consensus is that #26 for 2024 will be centered around different 9” finished blocks. This decision was made after finding several 9” blocks and a lot of 9” block units. Block units include many assorted of the following: 3” finished four patches, half square triangles, V-blocks and Corner Beams along with many 4-1/2” finished blocks and a great many of their components. I’ll have to spend an evening putting some parts and pieces together and see what seems to be the most abundant and interesting. Time will tell.

The weekend weather looks ok with a little rain Saturday am then clearing. Home game in Rangeley at noon on Saturday. I’ll keep my eye on the weather forecast as it’s apt to change minute by minute to decide if I head up. Sitting in the cold is one thing, cold and raining I don’t think works for this old man.

Enjoy your weekend, stay safe and keep plugging away at those fall projects. Frost will be here soon and that will bring more projects to do as flowers are unplanted. Then the leaves will fall. Enjoy.