The It's A Wild Life block this month is called "Lunchtime" and I had great fun making it! Amy over at Sew Incredibly Crazy did a great job with this block >>>.
I found several ways to personalize it...
As a lover of the scrappy look I had planned on using a variety of blues and greens for the pieced block.
I'll be honest... while the block is really cute, it involved a lot of applique. I am beginning to sound like a broken record... I don't like the technique. I considered skipping the block...
And then another member of the fb group shared her block with a scrappy look. I was sold!
But rather than scrappy I took an improv block that was made of blues and cut it up to make the pieces for the water areas and then used a left over log cabin block from my Farmland quilt and used it for the green background pieces. It was together in less than an hour... AND I re-purposed the leftover blocks - Bonus!
I was still on the fence about doing the applique... **sigh**
And then the idea came to me that I could use rainbow fabric for the fish and call it a "rainbow trout". SOLD! 😂 I crack myself up! There was no turning back!
I love it! Oh, and I actually didn't grumble and gripe my way through the applique process. Improvement!
I already shared my bear stories... so I don't have anything new to add to that...
But this reminded me of a time in 1972 when our family traveled to the San Luis Valley to visit some cousins that lived there. While there we went fishing at La Jara. It was my first time fishing... I didn't really care much about it. But my brother was really excited for it - I have no clue as to why, but he was.
Before making the trip my parents had purchased me some new cowboy boots. Now those boots?... that was something I was excited about.
<<< I insisted on wearing them with my shorts. I think my Dad would have preferred me not to, but I wore them anyway.
I don't remember how long we stayed there fishing... But as I recall, Kelvin was the first to get help with the bait and learning how to cast.
I remember having some help to cast as well... Maybe from my dad, but he was never much of a fisherman, so maybe it was my cousin...
Here's the exciting part... I made my first cast by myself... it didn't go out very far... but I caught a fish! It could have been a rainbow trout! Yes, yes. I am certain it was a Rainbow Trout!
And that is where the memory ends. As I said, I have no idea if we were there 1/2 an hour or all day... but the important thing is, is that I remember wearing my boots with my shorts and that I caught a fish!
I still don't get excited about fishing... If you catch something, you have to clean it... And it interrupts my reading time! Now this may seem a little odd, with my love for camping and all, but what can I say?
Do you love fishing???
Or are you a little more like me, and find it interrupts the quiet time?
Leave a comment for me! I love to hear from my readers...
Remember, It's a wild life out there...
Don't let it disrupt your "piece-filled" time...
Piece Out,
Melva
Melva loves Scraps - home of the Quilters Through The Generations series
Linking with:
It's a Wild Life July block at Sew Incredibly Crazy
Linky Tuesday at Freemotion By the River
Main Crush Monday at Cookin' Up Quilts
Movin' It Forward Monday at Em's Scrapbag
Monday Making at Love, Laugh, Quilt
BOMs Away Monday at What a Hoot Quilts
Fiber Tuesday at The Quilting Room with Mel
Chameleon's Colour Party at The Clever Chameleon
You cracked me up with the rainbow trout, too. It's perfect for this block. I'm glad that you didn't skip it. You must be related to my grandson. He was wearing his boots with his shorts, too. Oh course, as far as I know his mother wears her boots with short shorts. It drove my son and me nuts when my son first got temporary custody of him in February. We bought him tennis shoes and he didn't want to wear them - he wanted his boots. Now that all's that left is the judge's signature and my son will have full permanent custody, I don't know what my son has done AND my grandson is wearing his tennis shoes. I haven't seen his boots in a long time. Maybe now that he's changed schools and has new friends and has new clothes, he has a new appreciation for what to wear. We all go through stages where we like something and we want to wear it no matter what anyone else thinks - that's just part of growing up. As far as fishing, my kids did have fishing poles, etc. My first husband and I had a boat and the fishing poles did not go in the boat. They stayed on the dock. We water skied and enjoyed the lake by joy riding. None of us like fish very well so, they fish go back in the lake. My son is an Eagle Scout so they fished lots at camp outs. I don't know if he learned to clean a fish or not. I have no idea if the scout master cooked the fish that the boys caught. He does take his two kids fishing once or twice a year. I don't think I'd have the patience to sit quiet long enough to fish plus I don't like the heat. Again, I love your block and you cracked me up.
ReplyDeletelove your rainbow "trout"
ReplyDeleteThank you :)
DeleteLoved your block! You used made fabric and an orphan block and did the appliqué!! I feel a bit like you regarding appliqué— but it’s growing on me. You can make such cute blocks!! Outstanding!!
ReplyDeleteThank you Susan for your kind words. Sometimes I just have to be in the "right mood". ;)
DeleteLove your scrappy river! You know catching The Rainbow Fish is going to make some little child cry, don't you? LOL This is a great block.
ReplyDeleteFantastic rainbow trout! Although he looks too happy to be caught.... maybe he knows he's undersize and the bear has to throw him back? Great scrappy river too. Maybe we can lure you to the appliqué dark side after all. :)
ReplyDelete