The baby quilt for Jools and Clare, in appreciation....

[Barbie]

For all they do!

I know I wouldn't have been nearly as successful at my hobby as I have been with planet catfish to support me. I definitely wouldn't be recognized by people the world over like I am now, just because I moderate a forum here (my favorite job of all time btw, hehe). I wanted to try to show that appreciation by giving Jools a special present at the Catfish Convention. As he's expecting his first successful breeding project in a couple weeks, I convinced my mom to help me make a baby quilt. I think it turned out far beyond my expectations. I thought I'd share it with everyone here . You can click on the pictures for larger versions. (hmmm, or plecos still has to have the e put back in to see the pics, sorry. It's definitely worth it)

The catfish on the blanket are from the banner images used for the site. I managed to ask Jools nicely for the larger versions without him questioning why I'd want them, hehe. Thank god he's such a trusting person!

Jools face when he first got it open.





Here are close up pictures of the quilt itself.



And of course, Jools in his kilt, with the quilt. I think I'm going to have this picture framed, hehe. (don't mind the empty cups all over the table, I don't have any idea how those got there and I'm sticking to that story!)



Hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I did .

Barbie

[MatsP]

Sadly, Jools' trick with replacing the e with a * in pleco makes all those links fail - but click on the link and put it back to pleco and all will be revealed.

--
Mats

[Barbie]

Yeah, I know, hence this bit in the above post ;). He's working on it. I thought this might be an incentive program, hehe. Did you go look at the pics?

For all they do!

You can click on the pictures for larger versions. (hmmm, or pl*cos still has to have the e put back in to see the pics, sorry. It's definitely worth it)

[MatsP]

I sure did - very nice.

--
Mats

[zenyfish]

Links do not work because of this silly plecos thing. Have to type e in place of * to get links to work. It's 2008, this superstitious thing is BS.

edit: Mats already said it ... except the BS part.

[worton[pl]]

Hey,

great job!

Congratulations Jools and Clare!

Regards.

[Dave Rinaldo]

Here are the first two pics.

[Richard B]

Top job Barbie & mom!

[andywoolloo]

oh my gosh! it's beautiful!! (clapping) (bravo)

truly beautiful, I love the colours you picked and well of course the fish are my fav part!!

[grokefish]

That was really nice of you,
Kath, my girly, makes quilts and so i can apreciate how long it will have taken to do this.
Good Luck Jools and Clare

Matt

[Barbie]

Thanks everyone. I was just glad to see Jools was happy with it and Clare sounded pleased. That was the idea. Like I said, it far exceeded my expectations for coolness. My mom is the greatest. Now to get to work convincing her to make one for my first grandchild that's due early 2009 ;). Think it would be a selling point to remind her it's her great grandchild? Or would that be shooting myself in the foot a bit?

Barbie

[worton[pl]]

Hey,

you look pretty good and young as a future grandmother Barbie

[Jools]

Sadly, Jools' trick with replacing the e with a * in pl*co makes all those links fail - but click on the link and put it back to pleco and all will be revealed.

I've taken out pl*cos (but pl*co) still exists until such a time as I can get it to stop changing links.

Jools

[Jools]

I can say with absolutely honesty, I have been bowled over by people generosity over the past week. Many Planet regulars have been very generous and kind to me (and Clare) and it's hard to find the words to describe our thankfulness.

On the flagship quilt, well, it's something really special. Both sets of grandparents and much of Clare's family have already been to see it and we are both delighted with it. Of course I've already thanked Barbie and her Mom, but that doesn't stop me writing this thank you in the virtual world.

Thank You Barbie.

Jools

[Jools]

Links do not work because of this silly plecos thing. Have to type e in place of * to get links to work. It's 2008, this superstitious thing is BS.

edit: Mats already said it ... except the BS part.

Zenyfish,

Thanks for that, nice language for such an otherwise positive post. The point has been made twice already too. Anyway, I think it's still relevant, tradition is an important fabric in building strong communities. That's online community building 101.

As it really impacts Barbie's site, I've taken the action to remove the transformation on the word plecos temporarily - although it would have been nicer to have done this without it being under a cloud.

Jools

[Barbie]

Jools I actually always liked the * in pleco until it kept me from posting pictures, hehe. It seems to be something people feel strongly about is all. I personally think it's silly and enjoy smiling remembering the days when it was such a trend "just in case"! I know all about the controversy as Fishaholics also has it censored out, or did, until I needed to post pictures there ;).

I really was amazed how nice the quilt turned out. It should be nice and durable so the washing machine won't be it's mortal enemy. I'm glad to hear the inlaws like it. I'd hate to cause a family feud just because you even wanted to bring the baby home catfish theme, hehe.

Barbie

[Jools]

Sadly, Jools' trick with replacing the e with a * in pleco makes all those links fail - but click on the link and put it back to pleco and all will be revealed.

For info., this feature can be switched off via the forum user control panel. The setting is under preferences and then in the display options menu. Switch "word censor" to off.

Jools

[bronzefry]

Here's another:

The only thing more spectacular than the quilt was Jools' reaction to seeing it! It's truly a Planet Catfish quilt.
Amanda

[addictinganimal]

I love it! I think you're going to have to start taking orders for all the people here on PC.

[pureplecs]

That was a VERY awesome quilt your Mom made Barbie!!! How cool!!

Congrats to Jools and Claire!!!

[Jools]

Congrats to Jools and Claire!!!

Baby Dignall isn't here yet (it says Nov 17th on the project plan) but I will be sure to let everyone know whenever he does arrive.

Jools

[Shane]

Great work Barbie! For those that do not know, my brother did the catfish "cartoon" artwork for the site. Very cool to see it incorporated in the quilt. I'll send him a link to the thread.
-Shane

[Barbie]

Thanks Jamie and Shane . My mom would have been years learning to use her new machine without me frantically dancing around complai... I mean, encouraging her to get it all done on time, hehe. I'm just going to keep telling myself that. It started out as a simple project, but then she kept suggesting all the things the machine could do and pretty soon it was totally out of control! I wanted to put the planet catfish logo in the center of it, but that would be touching the baby and the stitching is stiff enough I decided against it. It definitely didn't need it, I don't think ;).

As to making more quilts, I have a feeling they'd be pretty expensive if I asked her to do them right now, for some reason . She DID mention she can make the catfish patches themselves on a dissolvable backing that you stitch onto something else and the backing washes away in the laundry. I'll see how much she'd charge for something like that. We all know it's the catfish that are important anyway, right? hehe.

Barbie

[andywoolloo]

I would def buy a catfish quilt!! Or for sure the catfish patches!!

it's just a beautiful blankie!!