It's Beginning to Look Like a Trailer!

So, after way more coats of varnish than I can count and then treating the inside and the floor to CPES (Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer), we did a "test fit" today. Actually this was a test fit of the brace that will be used to help hold the sides straight while we put the bracing ribs in. You can see the brace here:

We've located the yellow aluminum that we are going to cover the top in. Only problem, the aluminum is $75 and shipping is $65!!! However, the supplier specializes in homebuilt airplane supplies and they will be at Oshkosh. As it happens, The Bearded One will be heading to Oshkosh with his father in a few weeks. The supplier, Wicks has said that we could pick up the aluminum directly from them at the show. I'm guessing that this is what will happen.

So, next up, the ribs will be installed and construction on the hatch will also start. Thanks to the generousity of our very handy and knowledgeable neighbor, the vertical ribs for the hatch and the doublers for the side walls, just inside the hatch have all been cut.

As for sewing....sigh. Not much has been done. I think I have Storm at Sea burnout. But I am NOT going to put it back away to mellow for another few years. I am committing to working on it along with other projects. Everytime I get a chance to sew, I will make at least one SAS block before I work on something else. That should help the burnout factor.

And, since some people say I don't post nearly enough pictures of The Spotted One, here's one from a few months ago.

I really do need to make the boy his own quilt. During our last campout, we were sititing in the front seats of the bus playing cards and this crazy Spotted Dog was curled up on the bed with the edge of this quilt in his mouth, trying to cover himself with it. I SO wish I'd had the video camera.

Thanks Janet!

Sometimes I just can't see the forest for the trees. In this case, I couldn't get past my original background fabric. Once it was suggested that I simply surround the compass with blocks using the same, lighter fabric and then use the orignal, darker background blocks it all fell into place. Doh!

It's a little hard to see here in this picture, but in real life there is a more obvious difference. For some reason, last night, I kept wanting to keep all the original background blocks in the center, surrounding the compass. But once my dear friend Ms. Janet suggested keeping all the light in the center, working out to the darker background it all fell into place. Or was it after I gave myself a big dope slap?!

Either way, I much prefer the way the blocks with the lighter background blend into the blocks with the darker, original background. The background of the compass now fits too. And the solution was so simple. So, I'll get some more of the lighter batik that I used in the background of the compass and make at least 1 but probably 2 or 3 rounds around the compass with those blocks and then finish off with the original blocks.

Anybody want to take bets on how long it takes me to get really tired of this project and put it back into that box I pulled it out of last week?!?!?

Quilt A.D.D.

I don't have Quilt A.D.D. -- really, I don't. Well, ok, maybe just a little.....all right, more than a little. With all the talk on various quilting blogs about finishing UFO's I decided to revisit some of mine.

Here's what I pulled out from one box. I don't remember just when I started this Storm at Sea, probably about 5-6 years ago I'm guessing, maybe longer....The reason I put it away, these are all paper foundation pieced and I realized that I detest peeling off the paper.

But, I figured I'd rather see this done than sit in a box for another 5+ years. So, this is what I've managed to get done the last couple days.

Now, here's the problem, if you click on the picture, you will see that the background I used behind the compass is not the same cloud background fabric that I used with the blocks. I have a limited amount of the cloud fabric which I bought way back when. I'm hoping that there's enough to add an equal amount of units top and bottom to this to make this square. After that I will have to switch to something else. So, do I get more of the light batik I used in the compass and finish off several rows with blocks made from that? It is much lighter than the cloud fabric. I had hoped it would be a closer match when I bought it, but naturally I didn't have any of the cloud fabric with me at the time. I can get more of the compass background since I just bought that.

My thought was that if I continue the blocks with the current background and make enough to make this square, then switch to the compass batik and make several rounds with that it would tie in with the compass background. What do you think? Should I do that or should I look for another cloud fabric that might be closer to what I'm currently using?

Meanwhile, you might think that this is just a sweet picture of the Spotted One hugging the Bearded One. Wrong! This is Arlo's oh so subtle method of looking out the window since we have all the doggy eye level windows blocked off so he can't stand there barking at everything he sees that walks by.

Oh yeah, check out the spots on his shoulder, they form a capital "A". He was going to be Arlo even before we got him but the "A" really sealed it.

Have a safe and happy 4th. We will be tranquilizing the neurotic Spotted One and trying our best to block out all the sounds from the outside. Unfortunately they still have not banned fireworks in our city so it gets pretty noisey around here on the 4th.