Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday again. Nice day today, nice in so far that the wind wasn’t howling and it wasn’t pouring. No sun but it was warm, low 50s, I’ll take it. Still, even though the branches I picked up today were wet, it is very dry in the woods. 

There is usually an intermittent stream that runs between Mud Pond and Green Pond. Not this year. Dry as a bone, it makes it very quiet. Normally as soon as the ice is out and it warms a little you hear the wood frogs quacking like they do and shortly thereafter the peepers join in. So far this year I have heard nothing. I guess time will tell if they will just be a little later.

I saw this guy under the feeder the other night munching out on the seed on the ground.

 I haven’t seen the opossum again since the one time this spring. I have no real issue with either one. Checking the beach in the mornings to see if there are snapping turtle tracks from their movement into Green pond. I saw two last year.

I have managed to get almost the entire beach raked for the initial time for the year. The nice thing about this time of year is that after the first time, there is little that follows until the pine trees begin their spring drop.

I have accomplished the annual change over with the tractor. This requires removing the snowblower and putting on the bucket. The blower installation and removal require the controlled lifting and placement of an attachment that weighs about 60 pounds. In that lift situation, the lift required is about all this skinny old man can handle. I’m all set now, hopefully until fall. Time will tell.

In the studio quilt #21 was completed and there was a lot of steps in the process with this one. 

2026-21

 

I have always liked the look that the Square Squared tool allows me to put in my quilts. This time I also used my Diamond Rects tool to get more fussy cut pieces to play with. Both of these processes require a lot of trimming. I told you last time about the covered bridge fabric I found. Based on the direction they had to be in when I fussy cut them, they all needed to be used in the horizontal plane. I used them below my blocks which were 6” blocks made up of 2- pieces of fabric and 2- fussy cut Square Squared blocks. For the vertical segments of the sashing, I used Diamond Rects blocks made from pine cone fabric. I framed the blocks with a gold/tan fabric and decided to use the same fabric to fill in on either end of the diamonds for the rest of the sashing strip. The simple Corner Pop at 1 provided the pop of color I needed to finish off the cornerstone stacked squares block. I was pleased with the result and saw a couple tweaks that might work on a future creation. Time will tell.

I am teaching a class on Saturday, this one will be with my pal the V- Block tool.  I have made quite a few of this particular block. In fact I put over 5000 of them in one quilt. I’ll take it on Saturday and see if they like it. Some may remember it. 

Insanity

The weather will be a mixed bag of Springtime. Look out the window, stick your hand out, go from there. Until next time, stay safe and still no black flies. I did feel something on my neck the other day and and found a tick. So I guess there is that. 

Remember if someone shows up at your door and says they are from the Government Tick Inspection Program or GTIP for short, and asks you to remove your clothes and slowly spin around so they can check for ticks don’t do it. They just want to see you naked, it’s a scam.   I just wish someone had told me about it before yesterday.