Sigh. Things seem to be always getting in the way of our taking off. First of all, the weather has not been cooperative. March was almost the rainiest March around here on record. We were 0.2 of an inch away from beating the all time record date back to the late 1800’s. Eight days ago the forecast for tomorrow and the day after was for 20% rain at the northern Oregon coast. But when I checked the forecast a couple days ago the coming time period now calls for 40-50% chance of rain and near 100% humidity. We currently have plans to head out on Tuesday even though things may be on the damp side as long as our other issue does not interfere.
The other issue is that almost 25 years ago we reforested our 20 acres with 5000 douglas fir seedlings. They are now ready for their first commercial thinning where roughly half of the surviving trees are removed and sold for sawn logs or pulp. We contacted a logger a couple weeks ago and since it is slow for him right now he is hot to trot and could be getting a crew out to our property as early as the next week or two. The logging process will take about three weeks as we understand it. We would definitely want to be here when they first arrive to answer questions, help sort out any issues they might have. So if we get a phone call that they have finished their current job and are ready to start our job, we will cancel any camping plans.
It is hard to take a photo that actually captures the essence of standing in the trees on the spongy ground, the quietness, and the coolness.
My other big project which I have finally completed is my version of an RV Superbag or Travel-Sac—a two-person sleeping bag for the Casita. I used the dimensions given on the RV Superbags web site for the queen size bag, adding an inch to both length and width to compensate for how the quilting process shortens the dimension of the finished product. I should have probable added just a bit more to match the Superbag’s dimensions.
There is a heavier side or the bag and a lighter side of the bag created by two different weights of polyester batting.
This is the winter side up.
This is the summer side up.
There are three reversible, two-way separating zippers, size #5. These were mail-ordered from the RainShed in Corvallis, Oregon, a shop that specializes in outdoor fabrics for the home sewer ( http://www.therainshed.com/). The zipper across the bottom is only 50 inches, but I felt that an unzippered space a few inches long would not affect the functionality of the bag and it did make it easier to sew to not have the zippers starting a stopping right next to each other.
This is one side of the bag with the sheet held in place with velcro.
The sheet is turned back here on the lower corner of the bag. The sheet is a twin flat sheet available at Walmart for just $5. The twin sheet is more than wide enough. It had to be shortened and also narrowed just a bit. The velcro is sewn onto a flange which is basted to the edge of the bag along with the zipper. The binding is then added to finish off the sandwich.
Here the two quilts are being zipped together. That zipper can also be unzipped from the foot end to help keep from getting too hot at night.
We tried both crawling into the bag last night and it seems to be large enough to give us some wiggle room. I think it is going to work very nicely. Hopefully, there is enough velcro to keep the sheets in place. There are five 2-inch strips on the top and bottom and 9 2-inch strips along each side.
We are keeping our fingers crossed that we will be out of here this week for at least overnight!
No comments:
Post a Comment