The fishies arrived!  And I’m done hand stitching the locations with the exception of a few okinas and apostrophes.  Next, the trail {biting nails}.

Meet the fish:

Mr. Whale has a few new friends.

Two fish buddies cruising by Waipi'o Valley.

{Note: Isaac hand stitched the “y” in Valley, which happened to be the last letter to complete the locations.  He was upset that he only caught me on the last letter as he was hoping to do more.  I’ll share with you his new found interest at the end.  He’s too funny.  Ps. Isaac is my 11 yr old step son.}

And three more over by Magic Sands since there is a fish reserve in Keauhou.

Aw so fun!  I love these little guys.  I hand stitched them into place by using the color of their tail side.  I think they look oh so cute and I bet they will be loved by the little one.  My littlest, Carmen, was trying to convince me that I didn’t need to put them all on the quilt because she NEEDS a fish hair clip, especially the pink one by Mr. Whale.  Oh that girl…I think I heard “Please” 4 million times.  After reminding her about Nemo and how sad Miss Pink Fishy would be if we separated her from the pack, she agreed.  They should stick together and so they shall.

I also added more depth to the lava flow.  Thank you Sarah for the advice and help with the color selection.  Oh and I thank you a million times over for ripping out the “spider” craters for me.  She also hand stitched “Mauna Loa” for me, which guided me to enlarge some of the locations and hand stitch in a better way.  You just never know what “girls night” at my house will have you doing.  I promise not to torture you ever again…xoxo

Lava Flow

Here I am with just a few more things to do before I can baste and quilt.  I’ll be hand stitching the trail, soccer ball, and need to do something to add sand by the beach appliques.  My original plan was to have more appliqued locations, but at this point I’m thinking less is more.

Island Trails

{Note: If you are wondering what the purple marks are, it’s dissapearing ink.  Ironically, it’s still there…go figure.  However, it will wash out.}

I’ve also picked out the back fabric & binding fabric.  Thankfully, I purchased these when they came out.  Good luck finding them now.  It’s just insane how fast collections fly in and out of shops.

I’m so excited about both:

Back: Vice Versa by Alice Kennedy/Green

Binding: Make Life by Sweetwater from Moda/Tangerine

Back & Binding

And there you have it.  My WIP Wednesday is full of cuteness!

Oh and so is Isaac!  Here he is debuting his masculine and feminine side:

Isaac

 He was begging to hand stitch.  I found some extra fabric and stretched it in a hoop.  I outlined his name with “disappearing” ink and treaded a needle.  He had been watching me and took it from there.  He loved doing it and added the C. because he didn’t want to stop.  I was VERY impressed.

Hope you’re having a happy day…

♥ R