Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday, I think. I think I have less of an idea what day it is than normal this week. 

Christmas and New Year have come and gone so maybe now there will be fewer sale emails. But wait if you hurry there is enough time to save a bundle. I sure did save, I deleted the emails. That way I saved even more. I figure if I didn’t know I needed it until you told me how much I was saving I probably don’t need it anyway.

I think that the warmer weather is about over, all the snow is about gone around here. The ice became water covered and is open along the edge in many places. I rather doubt it will stay that way very long as the forecast is that we are headed back into a deep freeze. That will cause the ponds to grumble and grunt as they refreeze. The noises created are often quite loud and sometimes continue on for several seconds. The rumbles are occasionally followed by a loud crack as the ice shifts to make itself more comfortable.

My New Year’s Eve indulgence for years has been a big bag of potato chips and a pint of sour cream with beefy onion soup mix. Over the last several years I have eaten less and less of the concoction. I hadn’t really thought about it this year until Carol mentioned that I had not bought any. Well, I had to go to the store anyway so I got a half pint of sour cream and a medium bag of chips (I already had the soup mix). As we watched TV I ate about a third of them both. Had a tummy ache all night. Ate the rest of the dip the next night and there are still chips left. The last bag was finally thrown away it set for so long. Who knew that would be another thing lost to getting older. I guess it should not be a surprise as I don’t eat a real lot of anything anymore. I find it more enjoyable to prepare the meal than to eat it.

I managed to catch a glimpse of the Northern Lights on New Year’s Eve. They were only visible with the camera and were no where near as bright as what I saw during the summer. 

In the studio: after completing #36 for 2024 I proceeded to clean up scraps and odds and ends. While pawing around in some bins I pulled out a gallon ziplock bag full of pieces. The bag was labeled 1” finished units. It was an assortment of V-blocks, Corner Beams, Combination units, 1/4 squares and other oddball 1” finished units. I dumped it out on the work table like a jigsaw puzzle. 

I began to put the matching or family units of four together. After they were removed I proceeded to pull out the cousins where I could get four that were kinda alike. You know, like cousins. Kinda the same but different. After these were removed I was left with the one and two of a kind and the real lame color combinations. I then pulled out another bag labeled 1” finished V-block etc. pieces, you know, sides and centers. 

I sorted them the same way. Lots of V-blocks and half squares were created which were turned into a great many of the 3” finished star blocks. After all the wanted pieces were sorted and removed the rest went back into the bag for a border idea I have been bouncing around with the voices in my head.

Speaking of the voices, Timmy got real excited when he found out we were working with 1” finished units. He came up with an idea that he would not let go of, so I made a quilt center around 27” square, with his idea to show him how long it would take. I think with my quilt size I would have needed 200 of those 3” blocks. This is as large as the center was allowed to get. 

 

In the days of the quilt shop I probably would have made the complete design, but it would have been as show quilt. It would have been one of those that people would have enjoyed like they did “Insanity".

Insanity

Next I now have the challenge to design the rest of the quilt around this center. Not an easy task as the center is square and I don’t want a square quilt. There is a lot of arguing and quilt math being bounced around in my head as I continue to make units as the bags were emptied and their contents used up. I honestly think that is where my tinnitus comes from. They say tinnitus is not in your ears but in your brain, you can just imagine the noise in my brain with all the ideas being bounced and thrown around. Hold that thought, I don’t think many of you could handle what goes on in my brain. I don’t care for it much in there most days myself. Oh well It still works….. most of the time.

Enjoy your weekend and stay safe and warm, Happy New Year. I’m not overly impressed with the new year so far but, time will tell.