Flowers and Fish (and more f-words)

Is that not an odd combination? But, yeah, that's today's title. Flowers on my family's graves. Fabric for a new challenge I've found. And fish from our pond, thanks to a sweet husband. First though, I'm going to stop making all the fs bold. You get the idea, right? So enough of that. 

Okay, the flowers are new silk flowers that Richard and I put on the graves of parents, grandparents and one great-uncle. Richard swept the graves to get the dust and leaves off while I arranged the flowers. Then we took the flowers out of whatever vase and re-arranged them. Every time. I don't know why. We just didn't like the first arrangement of anything. Oh, maybe I just used it as an excuse to stay a little longer. 

Finally we've arrived at the other f-word, fish. That would be the ones Richard caught in our backyard pond. In the pouring rain, can you tell? We have catfish, perch, and bass. I say we, but I don't fish. My daughters-in-law do but I just can't. The best I do is to listen to the stories and eat, preferably fried but baked is good. Do you have a favorite fish recipe? Here in the South fish is fried. That's the end of any arguments for healthy eating. Since I rarely cook, I just eat. I'm not even sure I listen to the stories. It's entirely possible that I just put on my listening face and enjoy the food, and no one is the wiser.

Fishy Finish

A customer brought in a darling little quilt that her grandmother started but didn't get to finish.  Although the grandmother hoped to hand-quilt it, she asked to have the quilt finished by machine .

I had the pleasure of quilting this fun quilt.  Of course, my photos are of the usual quality, but I think you can see enough to make out some of the quilting.  

I really tried to get the trapunto of the big center fish.  It's pretty amazing. There was already a layer of batting, so my job here was pretty easy. I simply followed the outline of the fish and the lure and added one other line of stitching to stabilize it really well.  Her center line along the gills I decided not to touch because it already gives enough dimension but still allows the center of the fish to really puff out.  More importantly though, it allows the viewer to see the original hand stitches.

 Of course, to make sure that the trapunto stands out, I added lots of stitching around the trout.  Above the fish I quilted wavy lines to create movement in the water.

And below the trout I quilted air bubbles. 

 For the grassy area, I followed some of the lines in the largest grasses and leaves, going around or down the center, which ever worked best for continuous line quilting.  Every cattail, seedpod and large oak leaf is outlined.  I used the lightest beige grasses to travel around the quilt because my beige/gray thread just melted away.

The open water was especially easy.  Some smooth wavy lines created movement and ripples.

The treeline and sky were a little more challenging.  I decided to follow the edges of the woods where the two grays meet. It required really paying attention to where I was headed, but the result is that the line delineates the depth of the trees and the tree tops where the rising sun sheds some light.

Finally the fisherman and his boat got extra special attention.  I outlined everything.  I even followed his fishing line from rod and reel to the lure in the trout's mouth.  It looks easy, but one or two stitches off, and it had to be ripped out because the thread matches the line not the background.

In other words, I really challenged myself and had fun with Uncle Joe's Lures.  Here's hoping both customer and Uncle Joe (yes, there really is an Uncle Joe who hand-makes and sells lures) both love the quilt.

Linking to:

             

Goodbye Catfish

Our weather has been absolutely nuts.  Rain and stormy one day, sweltering hot the next, cool fronts followed by sunshine that heats up everything so that handrails cause pain when touched.  What to do?  Very little.  Stay indoors.  Run the AC on blast.  Eat ice and popscicles.  


Then we started getting rain.  Rain.  More rain.  Rain for days. Cloudy, gloomy days of rain.  The overcast sky and run-off from the rain caused a roll-over in the pond.  That means that the catfish are dying from lack of oxygen.  Well, by now they are all gone.  The biggest ones go first since they require the most oxygen, then the medium ones and, by this morning, the small fish were floating.  It's horrible to see and there is nothing to be done. 

Our pond.

Ponds get oxygen naturally 
from the sunshine and the splashing movement in the water.  We have a pump that sprays water to help replenish oxygen, but the sun does the most work.  When the sky is overcast for days, it becomes a problem.  

However, the run-off of water from the rain churns up the bottom muck, which in turns sucks out more oxygen.  The pump can't handle the extra drain and the fish begin dying.  By the time we realize the problem, it's too late for the fish and every one is lost.  


Of course, it's horrible and gets worse as the fish begin to decompose.  It will take about a month for the water to stabilize but we'll wait even longer before buying fingerlings (baby fish) to replace the ones we've lost.  That means at least a year before we have fish that are big enough to catch.  

Probably the worst is that Rich is pretty attached to his fish. He loves to feed them and to go out to the pond where it's quiet and peaceful.  He really enjoys fishing and loves it when the boys come by with their rod and reels.  


We also lucky to have had a couple of white, or albino, catfish. We could see them feeding along the edges of the pond and occasionally when we were fishing. They were easy to spot and recognize from their markings.  They were special. 

They are gone, though, and buying fingerlings does not guarantee getting albino fish.  We'd had these for several years since no one would even consider catching them.  They are like pets to us, so their loss is really disheartening.  All from a bit of rain and clouds.

All images from Google images unless otherwise noted.

One January Afternoon

The last few days have been rather gloomy, but before the gloom rolled in, we had a few days of sunshine, cool weather, and calm waters.  

 Just ask Richard...he found a rod and walked down to the catfish pond to kill a few minutes.  

 The ducks did a little fishing, too.  At least they caught a couple.

The trees are bare but really pretty.  When there's no wind, they stand like sentinels along the edges of the water.

 And no matter where the live ducks are, the decoys swim the pond waiting for their return.