Walter 2

Always a favourite fish to eat when we were in our camping/fishing days as a family, a favourite to catch (they fight hard!) and a favourite to look at, marvel over...those EYES, this fish ranks #1 in my MacGyver's mind.  This was another goal on my Q3 FAL list.

So of course I had to make him one.  We have Walter #1, who measures just over 25" long, weighed between 8-9 pounds, and whom we got mounted many years ago.  He lived in Jackson Lake in northern central Alberta when my husband caught him.  He is a big fish for an Alberta lake.

I made this mainly using Henry Glass fabrics from the Desire to Inspire Challenge I did in June.

This was another idea I'd had to do using the fabrics, make a hotpad/potholder but I ran out of time.  The backing which you see above is one of the squares in the panel I received.

I used a double layer of Warm 'n Natural batting because I didn't have any Insul-Bright left.  The water fabric is an old one out of my stash that I do not know whose it is; only a "Y" and the colour circles are left on the selvage.  That fabulous black I used for binding (of which I had a 3" strip left, that's all) is a Michael Miller.

I cannot for the life of me recall where I used this fabric, something that is not like me; I can usually place every piece!

Walter 2 is not exactly true to colour, but pretty darn close. That dark green Henry Glass fabric for his main body is really perfect for walleye skin/scales.  Love the random placement of a gold star near his tail.  Speaking of his tail, MacGyver it was who told me I had to make that white 'chunk' on the lower fin.  I didn't know they had that!  The gold Henry Glass fabric worked well for his fins.  For the fish shape/outline, I used a line drawing I got off a free online colouring book.

You know me with my quilts in trees pics so just had to do one, trying to get the lake in the far background.  It blends into the sky though.  I see our clematis is trying to climb up the Nootka Cypress! Better get it back on track on its trellis.

This potholder that could actually double as a mini, was all done with Lara's Crafted Appliqué method.  Love it for no fraying crisp edges.  For those that like to zoom in on photos, you may notice a teensy bit of fraying on one of the brown reeds I freehand cut.  Guess I missed getting the fabric treated right up to the edge, doh!

For quilting I just followed random lines in the water fabric and outlined all the fish parts as well as stitched in some gills detail.  Most of it was stitched with Exquisite thread in green with the white and grey stitched in Madeira Polyneon in silver.  Both of these threads have a lovely glint to them when the light catches them.

Speaking of getting back on track, the quarterly Finish Alongs really do help me, cough, try to stay focussed.  I have Dayna's quilt to blog about yet this week for another from that list!

Quilt Stats:
Pattern:  Original Design
Size: 10.25" square
Fabric: scraps and stash
Batting: Warm 'n Natural 100% cotton
Quilted: on my Bernina 180 Artista
Threads: appliquéd with Exquisite 100% polyester in olive green, and Madeira Polyneon in silver.

Linking up with
Connie at Free Motion by the River
Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts
Leanne at She Can Quilt for the Q3FAL
Nicky at Mrs. Sew & Sow for Scraptastic Tuesday