After you sew it together, You do the trim. The difficult part is piercing the layers of flannel for your first row of single crochetes or 1 sc followed by 1 ch. I use a very sharp yarn/darning needle I bought at WalMart that has a somewhat large eye to make pilot holes for that first row. I like to use a thin steel crochet hook and size 3 or 8 crochet thread, or Knit CroSheen, but sometimes I have used size 10 cotton crochet thread. After that first row, then I usually add another row of single crochet and then develop a design. Sometimes I do all shells (5 dc in one sc, skip 2 sc, 1 sc in next sc and repeat all around). Other times, I make a fancy edge by ch5, skip 2 sc and sc in next sc. Then I just do about 6 rows of that, sometimes making the chains longer in the last few rows. If you make a gradual curve at the corners (I shape them by tracing the edge of a soup bowl for the corner), then you don't have problems with puckering at the corners.

Hi guys, Sorry for the delay in responding. We have been on the road making other appliance choices. I was thrilled to see so many helpful responses when I got home. Thank you all for your contributions! Here are a few general answers/reflections: 1)Good point about this fridge not being built in so it can be replaced if desired. 2)We have yet to see the fridge in person (we have to drive a hour away so it is a long distance love affair at this point). I will see how the plates match at that time and see how true to cobalt it is. 3)We had thought about painting the island blue, but I think I would prefer a less bright navy colour. We had also thought about a dark walnut colour as suggested above, but not sure how that would look with a blue fridge. I don't think I could go do either perimeter cabinets, nor island in a royal blue. 4)We will be limited in our ability to match other appliances. The only other appliance we could get in the blue would be the DW. They make a range, but we are doing an induction cooktop and separate oven. So if we did the blue fridge it would have to look good with all stainless appliances. 5)We don't want the fridge to be the major focal point of the kitchen, as we thought the glass cabinet would be. The decorative glass we are going for on the glass cabinet is a repeat of the decorative glass we have on the front door (Lexington glass from Trimlite). 6)I agree that others have asked about alternatives to stainless steel fridges on this forum and there are some great options besides the blue. I am having trouble finding any ratings on this fridge, so the fridge itself needs to function well as a fridge, not just look pretty. 7)You are right that I need to consider balance, and one bold coloured appliance may not work alone 8)We definitely want a stained island colour as mentioned to limit dirt as we have a family. I will get my light painted cabinet fix with the perimeter cabinets. 9)The plates could go in my dining room if they look bad with the fridge. I have another collection of Hummel plates that could go on the kitchen plate shelf (the Hummels are creams, brown colours). 10)Thanks to all who posted on how to tie in the blue colourwise. This is an area that I need help with for sure. You have given me lots to think about. What shade of cream would look okay with the blue? Thank you all again for your time and thoughts. Sorry to not be able to respond to each and every one of you individually. Carol P.S. I am going to try to use the helpful suggestions of how to add an image of the Heartland fridge by editing my initial post (thanks for these tech tips).

Melanie...I went through the same thing. Foxy was sick, vet tried everything...but we both saw she was failing. I prayed that she would go quietly in her sleep, and lift that decision from me. She could barely walk. Didn't happen. She stayed in the lower level of our house (split level) where the floor was tiled, and she could look out to her beloved yard. One night, the sound of her crying woke me up. She was under our bed...had crawled up 2 flights of stairs to find me. I stayed with her until morning, I could her eyes begging me to help her go. She was ready...and so was I. I called the vet(they knew her time was near), and took her right over. That was a year ago, I still miss her....but I know I took the hard decision to relieve her of her pain. Don't second guess yourself, or let others make you doubt your decision. The communication between a beloved pet and owner is a mystery...but you have to trust it. Hugs

I have all of her books, tho EGG is the most significant to me. Be sure to read the sequel, The Solitary Summer, and, if you can find it, The April Baby's Book of Tunes, not a children's book despite the title. That was illustrated by Kate Greenaway and is therefore somewhat expensive. Last book Kate G. did before she died (and what an interesting life she had!) The other very compelling book Elizabeth did is Mr. Skeffington, her last. It was made into a movie starring my fav, Bette Davis. In real life, Elizabeth had great trepidation about the Germans and feared WW2 would result in catastrophe. She carried suicide materials with her at all times, in case the Germans won! A cannister of cyanide gas, at one point. Moved to the US when the war brok out in Europe in Sept 1939 and died at the Doubleday family's winter home in South Carolina. Her remains were returned to England after the war. Quite an intriguing woman. And you might like Vera, a novel and account of her second marriage to Bertrand Russell's brother. He sued her for libel but she threatened to tell even more on the stand so he withdrew his suit. She never divorced him--I think she loved being a countess--because she said staying married (tho apart) would prevent any other woman from suffering from a marriage to him!