Thursday evening by the fire in shirtsleeves, temps today in the 70’s, oh what a day it was. There was very little wind and I only needed to remove two tractor bucket loads of leaves from the beach. That still took a couple hours. That brings the fall total to 62. As I look around the pond now I see very few deciduous trees that are not bare. The only culprits are the bloody oaks.
I am very intrigued about the oaks. Their leaves are much like people, they come in a great variety of shapes and sizes. Some of them are teeny tiny, with lots of indents and points, others more rounded and not too sharp and still others are huge. At least ten inches long. What I want to know, is if all these different sizes are present on the same tree, or do different trees have different sizes, each tree containing mostly the same size.
I realize this is something that most rational people have never thought about. I am, by most, not considered normal or rational, and I see them by the thousands in layers as I scoop them, or rake them in my efforts to clean them off the beach. It’s also not just the beach, it is the first 10 feet off shore. They pile up in layers just to plague me. I see them floating out on the pond and know they are slowly descending on the beach and the pond edge. I know they are deciding which will pile up on shore and which ones will sink and layer up offshore. All done in a plot to destroy me.
Oh the things that go through my head as I do mind numbing chores. The old Napoleon song “They are coming to take me away ha ha, they are coming to take me away ho ho, to the funny farm where life is beautiful all the time. I’m happy to see those smiling young men in their clean white coats, they’re coming to take me away” comes to mind. Sometimes I think Carol wishes they were on their way. Google it if you’ve never heard it. An old favorite of mine.
I also managed to get the float pulled up onto the beach, hopefully, out of the way for the winter. I managed, thanks to the tractor, to drag it where I wanted it to go. Also thanks to the neighbor for their old suction line or something that gave me a piece of pipe to drag it on.
I got the tractor stuck in the sand at one point. Carol, of course, caught that on her phone as well.
Today is Halloween, I may be wrong, but I seem to remember that it represented Carol's and my first date. We went to the movies to see Arlo Guthrie in “ Alice’s Restaurant”. Freshman year in high school. Yesterday was our 53rd wedding anniversary, call me crazy, I still smile when I listen to “Alice’s Restaurant”.
No trick or treaters at our house. I guess there is one advantage with living on the end of a dead end road. I have thought of a disadvantage though, probably came to me as I was performing some mind numbing task. I notice as I ride around town doing errands, that people put the “stuff” they no longer want out beside the road in front of their house. Other people stop and pick it up and it then becomes their “stuff”. I can’t do that. I could put a bag of cash out by the house saying free. There is no one coming by who wants my “stuff” and will pick it up. Just another of the things you can think about if you don’t fill your mind with important “stuff”.
On to other stuff, In the studio I am working on quilt #30 for 2024, which means that I have finished #29 for 2024 since I last rambled at you about things you never knew you needed to know.
In #29 I used up some blocks that were created back when I made a commission quilt for a couple living in the midwest somewhere. They were an exhibitor at an artist event in town and wanted a bear and 9-patch quilt with the body of the quilt setting on the bed then have an over hang. This meant that my block size needed to be 6-3/4” finished. This has never been a block size that I have been able to use up. By framing them like I have become known to do, it now gave me the opportunity to use them up. The bear blocks just needed to be sewn around and framed, the rest just framed.
I found it kinda fun to do the blanket stitch around the figures. Just a side note, I found I could eat sticky popcorn while I sewed because I didn’t need my right hand. Something else you didn’t know you needed to know. My grand-daughter learned if you eat those kinda foods with chop sticks you keep your hands clean. Isn’t your mind being filled today, with all the things you are learning that you never knew you needed to know?
On this #29 I let the 4” sashing carry the look of the top with the bear as an accent. I think it came out fine.
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| 2024-29 |
#31 will probably be back to basics as tops will need to be started from scratch. Well…., wait a minute, I do have oodles of units, ie: Half squares, V-blocks, Corner-beams, Flying Geese, Split Rects and lots of squares of many sizes that can get turned into blocks rather quickly. Maybe new orphans will be created. After all, isn’t that how at least some orphans are created? You just have fun making them and figure out what to do with them later. I try to give all mine a home, even the not quite perfect and homely ones.
I noticed in #30 a block that I used was not even close to being the same as it’s sibling block. But I left it and I bet next time when I post #30 most will never notice. Remind me if you do. Remember no rules, my fabric, I used it up.
Boy, I still have a lot left to use up though. The last couple quilt tops I have hit the 1/2 yard drawers and used up some from there. There is still a great many 1/2 yard cuts there. There is a great many yards of fabric in storage as well. Hopefully 2025 will find a venue to start selling some of it. Some of it I can’t see me ever using.
After typing that I realize I have already used a great many fabrics that I never would have used ten years ago. Now I see it as, can it it work, not could something work better, but can what I have on hand work. I keep trying to make an ugly quilt top. I sometimes think Carol just rolls her eyes with some creations, but based on my Facebook postings I haven’t made an ugly one yet. I bet even ugly it would keep you warm.
Stay safe and enjoy what ever we get for weather this weekend. This is New England and the weather can change rather quickly.
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