Saturday, August 17, 2013

Missing Catfish Re-surfaces after Four Years!

Hi all,
Well, after 4 years I am happy to report that my missing  catfish has re-appeared. 
When we moved the koi and 2 bitty 3 inch long catfish into our new pond, everything went swimmingly!
After a bit one of the catfish came up to eat with the koi.....but only one ever showed up for lunch. He slowly has grown to about 16 inches long.  (Hard to be sure, he swims pretty fast!)
Keep that net on the pond, or the fish disappear with the herons.
 See, no catfish here!
 I call this one the KOI CHOIR!
 This beautiful quilt was made by Julie Stockler from one of Kaffe's patterns.  I have only just begun mine!  I love this particular quilt made with the luscious strips from Kaffe Fassett.
One of my class-members, Marilyn,  made this beautiful hand dyed piece in class a few weeks ago
I kept scanning the water to see if number 2 catfish would ever show up.  He continued to be missing and we just assumed he had  gone to his great reward, altho he never floated to the top, as usually happens in such cases!   We never found him in the filters....he was so tiny I thought he may have gotten sucked through the system.
Well, imagine my surprise when he appeared Wednesday morning for breakfast!  He is about a foot long, not as big as his brother...but, then, he has not been eating fish food like a pig for the last 4 years.
It so exciting to see him there eating with all  gang.  I am glad there is a happy ending to that fish tale!

Fall is in the air...the evenings and mornings are cooler, and though we have had little rain, it does seem like we are  changing seasons.  Even some of my lobelia flowers are starting to die out.  I did find  the orange and yellow crocosmias I had wanted and plan to put them in the ground soon.  I can grow them really well!
Our millions of blackberries are ripening.  (I don't even like them, but guess one batch of jam won't hurt!)  Our weeds are ever present, and  the grass still needs mowing on  a regular basis. 
Coming up next weekend is the big APQW show in Tacoma.  It is a huge quilt show, and I have a little piece in the fabric  challenge.  It is always a great place for inspiration and shopping, of course.

The La Conner Quilt show comes the first weekend of October, so busy getting ready for that one, too.  I am in charge of the vendors.  It will have some spectacular quilts, too. 
In the meantime, I am busy with customer quilts, and  working on a few of my own.....hope you are all enjoying the season and finding time to see the beauty all around you.  Till later, Judy