Fishing time in Florida has arrived!

Okay so you can fish all year round if you don't mind melting from the heat.  Last time we went out was the day before Mother's Day with Stephanie and Caelum and it was very hot!  But the fishing was hot that day too and we had a lot of spanish mackerel and assorted other species caught to everyone's delight.

But back to friday's fishing report.  neal caught a nice even dozen of these

the fish, not the shrimp LOL
We used them for bait.  We had three very nice hits in the channel in the bay but did not get any of them hooked!  We were so unprepared for it.  And lost all of our rigging to boot. :(  But how exciting.

I went hours and hours and hours with nothing!

then we headed in to the nursery area as I call it.  Inshore at cockroach bay and I caught a lovely sea trout, a mango snapper, a whiting, a lady fish that leaped in the air as it got hooked and a small bait fish.  no reds though :(  All of these in the last of the 6 hours we were out fishing!  Neal caught nothin' in the nursery area.  We are completely different fishing people as everything else in life we are opposite on.


Here is a pic of the sunrise as we headed out.

and we saw a playful dolphin or two as we headed closer to shore.  here is what you get when you are seeking a dolphin pic!  a lot of water, barely a splash and I managed to get ONE with a tail showing.  He was jumping up and slapping his tail on the water making a HUGE splash. and noise.

the trout i caught before he went back to his family and friends :)

Oh and I saw a manatee several times in the inshore/nursery area too.  I would have thought it was not cold enough for them yet but there he was.  A bit small, maybe 4 foot and in some very very shallow water too.  I heard him before I saw him.  They come up to the surface and exhale which sounds like a loud sighing noise.  Choco, our beloved-gone-to-heaven-3 years ago doggie, would make a great manatee sound as he settled in on the tile in front of the fireplace.  Or just about anywhere come to think of it.

And so you don't think i've been lax on stuff for the twins, here is a pic of the two candy corn hats i have finished and the first of the candy stripe hats i'm up to the crown shaping on

aren't they just too sweet?

Have a grand and glorious day!

blast! where are my thread snips?

You just got to know that your day is not slated for "nice" when you go to sit down to stitch on an antique quilt for someone and realize that you have gathered everything but something to clip the thread with, go to the top right-hand drawer in the sewing machine cabinet and all you find there are 2 pairs of 8" ginghers, one pair of 8" fiskars and one pair very sharp and cheap 8" joann's dump bin scissors!  Not a clue where to find any of my multiple pairs of thread snips or tiny scissors perfect for sharp cuts on threads for threading needles.

now that might not be a horrible happening in a younger person's day, but I am of the over 50 lot and cannot see a brick up close without my glasses and now... with adequate light.  so i'll use the cheap 8" pair of Joann's dump bin scissors today and then go project-raiding this afternoon to see which project has a pair of small scissors in it i can borrow.  and that does not even touch on the agony it was last night to find my needles and threader and thimbles to sew/quilt this antique with.  there has to be a better way and some day I'm going to figure it out.  But for now, I'll just get on to working on this quilt so i can have it finished and ready to go to Kathryn when we go to Mexico Beach Labor Day weekend.

the pic of the quilt 77" x 92 1/2" and yes that border is waaavy and yes it draws in terribly in the middle so i'm going to give it my best shot so it can be hung on the wall and enjoyed by the great grandson of the maker.  I just love these old quilts and i've never seen a hexagon quilt with this layout before.  rather lovely in icon size don't you think?
happy stitching!
denise/deBRAT

Look what I found!

Or rather what found me :)  I recently sold my beloved Sonata spinning wheel.  I promised myself that if I sold it and got what I thought was a very fair price I would buy something for the backing for the twins' quilts.  I really could not justify the absolutely perfectly stunning city girl large print in chocolate and pink at $8.95 / yd and needing to back two quilts so I waited. and what fell into my inbox but a sale for Quilt in a day!  I bought 5 yards of the green all that was available, and also all that they had of the dots, 2 yards.  i had ordered another one that got along colorwise for the backing also but it must have sold out before my order as it was not in the package, and a refund was on my debit card :(

so THIS absolutely perfect backing fabrics are what I splurged on!
I feel so in love with it I hope there is enough to make tiny pillows for the girls.

more twins!

and today i got two more pictures of the little darlings and some clarification too :)

The tubes in their noses are for feeding.

Amelia pretending to fly! and at such a young age too, isn't she talented?

Okay so maybe she needs to work on her flapping skills.  But what do you want from someone who is sleeping and trying to grow up to outside-the-womb stage?

Gran-TWINS

Amelia Jane was born 7/31/2010; 8:43PM; Length 15”; Weight = 2 lbs 15.9 oz; approx 2.998 lbs
Emma Jane was born 7/31/2010; 8:46PM; Length 16.125”; Weight = 3 lbs 10.4 oz; approx 3.660 lbs
(Note: not sure which it is for Emma the 3 or the 2 pounds. I had three written down and I assumed she was larger than Amelia) I'm sure he'll clarify after he gets my email.)  Emma was the 3 pounds 10.4 ounces!

Because they were born just over 7 weeks early, both remain in the Hospital NICU. This will probably be for another month or so, and most likely each of them will come home on different days.

the above is from their daddy, my oldest son!

two fish done!

two fish done and setting tri's laid out next to them to get a feel for the border and is it headed where i want it to be?

the fish for the living room condo comparison arrived today!

not sure if the "exact same one" is the same size but they ARE by the same company as the one up in Mexico Beach.  I'm hoping there are three sizes so we can have an asst of them on the wall
and another picture!  the one on tohe top is advertised as 12" fish bottom one is 6" fish. one on top is the same as the one up at the condo already.  now to wait for neal to come home from business trip and see if he thinks is the same size or not.